[mini-AIR] mini-AIR January 2014: Jerks, Jerks, Scientists' Hair Club Makeover, 100-Improbables

[Marc Abrahams]

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
January 2014, issue number 2014-01. ISSN 1076-500X.
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Monthly mini update/alert from the Annals of Improbable Research
	Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair/>
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2014-01-01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

2014-01-02 Imminent Events
2014-01-03 In the Magazine: Ig Issue Out and Also Imminent
2014-01-04 Hair Club Makover
2014-01-05 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Jerks in Montana History
2014-01-06 Jerks and Monopoles Competition
2014-01-07 Drift Poet
2014-01-08 The 100-Improbables Essay Contest
2014-01-09 MORE IMPROBABLE: Dogs & Owners Eyes, Five Haired Scientists
2014-01-10 MAY WE RECOMMEND: More Jerks in Montana History
2014-01-11 Improbable Research Events
2014-01-12 -- How to Get the Magazine (*)
2014-01-13 -- Our Address (*)
2014-01-14 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)
2014-01-15 -- How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

	Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.


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2014-01-02 Imminent Events

Arisia, Boston, MA, USA				Jan 18, 2014
Dramatic Improbable Readings, read by aloud by notable persons.

American Chemical Society Webinar		Feb 6, 2014

BITS Quark, Goa, India				Feb 8, 2013

AAAS Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, USA	Feb 15, 2014

Ireland, UK, Denmark, Sweden			Mar/Apr 2014

	Full events schedule at <http://goo.gl/tzwJt>


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2014-01-03 In the Magazine: Ig Issue Out and Also Imminent

The special Ig Nobel issue (vol. 19, no. 6) of the Annals of Improbable Research is almost online. The paper version is already in the hands of most subcribers. The e-book version (with identical content) will be in e-bookstores, imminently.

The special Tolstoys & Rifles issue (vol. 19, no. 5) is available as an e-book, and portions of it are online free at <http://goo.gl/qAuogp>:
 
	Download a FREE E-BOOK ISSUE <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>
	All issues of the magazine <http://www.improbable.com/magazine>

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2014-01-04 Hair Club Makover

The Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club (LFHCfS)'s web page has had a makeover. Behold the beauty: <http://www.improbable.com/projects/hair/>

The club has recently been graced with an inflow of new members, many of them from Valencia, Spain. If you have the qualifications (luxuriant flowing hair, and qualifications as a scientist), then you, too, can become a proud member of the LFHCfS!


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2014-01-05 RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT: Jerks in Montana History

This month's research spotlights jerks in Montana — specifically, their places in history:

Speaking Ill of the Dead: Jerks in Montana History, by Dave Walter, Salina Davis, Lyndel Meikle, Jodie Foley, Anne Sturdevant, Jon Axline, Twodot publishers, October 1, 2000. <http://goo.gl/zpJkNE>


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2014-01-06 Jerks and Monopoles Competition

Jerks and monopoles inspire this month's limerick competition. To enter, compose an original limerick that illuminates the nature of this patent:

"Jerks and Monopoles: Physical Effects of the Third Derivative," Morris W. Leen, American Journal of Physics, vol. 62, 1994, pp. 393-393. 
LINK: <http://goo.gl/CXFNuy>

[NOTE: Mr. Leen is inventor of the weight annunciator, "a device for producing an audio indication of the weight of an object", US patent #3782487 <http://goo.gl/oX9zUJ>]

Submit your limerick to:

	JERKS AND MONOPOLES LIMERICK COMPETITION
	c/o <marca at improbable.com>


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2014-01-07 Drift Poet

The judges declared, vexingly, that there is no winner for last month's Drift Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to honor this document:

"Random Drift and Large Shifts in Popularity of Dog Breeds," Harold A. Herzog, R. Alexander Bentley and Matthew W. Hahn, Biology Letters, vol. 271, no. S5, August 7, 2004, pp. 353-6. <http://goo.gl/36A2Z5>

Instead, savor this offering from LIMERICK LAUREATE MARTIN EIGER:

They study which dog breeds are hot,
And also which dog breeds are not.
   Trending, they show,
   Tends to go slow,
Except when it changes a lot.


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2014-01-08 The 100-Improbables Essay Contest

Because of impending re-construction in our building, we find ourselves having to jettison several stacks of old (yet pristine!) paper copies of the Annals of Improbable Research (AIR). We want to donate these splendid magazines to people and institutions who/that will put them to improbable use. Therefore, we're having an essay contest.

IF you would like one hundred (100) free copies of assorted issues of Improbable Research for your school, lab, hospital, or other educational or research or medical entity,

AND you can have someone pick them up at our office in Cambridge, Massachusetts before the end of this month (January 2014),

THEN write an essay consisting of:

	one (1) long sentence
	that lists one hundred (100) improbable research topics

and

	one (1) short sentence
	that describes the group to whom you will give the magazines

Email your entry to:

	THE 100-IMPROBABLES ESSAY CONTEST
	c/o <marca at improbable.com>


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2014-01-09 MORE IMPROBABLE: Dogs & Owners Eyes, Five Haired Scientists

Recent improbable bits you maybe missed:

IMPROBABLE BLOG:
<> Dogs' eyes resemble their owner's' eyes, study says
	<http://goo.gl/tu0m0A>
<> Dung beetle Milky Way Ig Nobel winners implicate the sun
	<http://goo.gl/t8jcJW>
<> Another small possible effect of drinking coffee on some people who don't regularly drink coffee
	<http://goo.gl/0bO4fp>

...and MORE, MORe, MOre, More, more at <http://improbable.com>

New LFHCfS (Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists) members:
	Juan-Carlos Perez-Cortes: <http://goo.gl/l4ZmsK>
	Maria de la Iglesia Vayá: <http://goo.gl/pOjmjC>
	Marien Gadea Domenech: <http://goo.gl/jeAOdi>
	Marc Schoenwiesner: <http://goo.gl/xHSnsC>
	Anne Madden: <http://goo.gl/cve2AQ>

Newspaper column: <http://goo.gl/KuywJ>

twitter:	@ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
facebook:	<http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>
book:		<http://goo.gl/rHMb3t>


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2014-01-10 MAY WE RECOMMEND: More Jerks in Montana History

MORE JERKS IN MONTANA HISTORY
Still Speaking Ill of the Dead: More Jerks in Montana History, by Jon Axline, Jodie Foley, Ellen Baumler, Kristin Gallas, Lyndel Meikle, TwoDot publishers, 2005. <http://goo.gl/vyMH2R>

HISTORICAL JERKS AND MORE HISTORICAL JERKS ELSEWHERE
<http://goo.gl/GDvk3r>


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2014-01-11 Improbable Research Events

For details and additional events, see
<http://improbable.com/improbable-research-shows/complete-schedule>

ARISIA, Boston, USA				— Jan 18, 2014
American Chemical Society Webinar	— Feb 6, 2014
BITS Quark, Goa, India				— Feb 8, 2013
AAAS Annual Meeting, Chicago, USA	— Feb 15, 2014
NEW BOOK — Publication day UK		— Mar 6, 2014
Dublin, Ireland					— Mar 13, 2014
Ig Nobel Tour of Denmark	 		— Mar, 2014
Ig Nobel Tour of the UK				— Mar, 2014
Stockholm, Sweden			 		— Mar, 2014
USA Sci & Eng Fest, Washington, DC	— Apr 24, 2014
NIST, Gaithersburg, MD, USA			— Apr 25, 2014
ESOF, Copenhagen, Denmark		— Jun, 2014
Ig Nobel TICKETS go on sale		— midsummer, 2014
NEW BOOK — Publication day USA	— Aug 12, 2014
Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony			— Sep 18, 2014


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2014-01-12 -- How to Get the Magazine (*)

The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine. (It's much bigger and better than the little bits in this newsletter.)
We produce each issue as an e-book, as well as on traditional paper.

E-BOOKS:
	<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
	DOWNLOAD A FREE E-BOOK ISSUE: <http://goo.gl/BMzMw>

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2014-01-13 -- Our Address (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
PO Box 380853, Cambridge, MA 02238 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437, FAX: (+1) 617-661-0927

EDITORIAL: <marca at improbable.com>
PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS: <subscriptions at improbable.com>
Web Site and blog: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch


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2014-01-14 -- Please Forward/Post This Issue! (*)

Please distribute copies of mini-AIR (or excerpts!) wherever appropriate. The only limitations are: A) Please indicate that the material comes from mini-AIR. B) You may NOT distribute mini-AIR for commercial purposes.

	------------- mini-AIRheads -------------
EDITOR: Marc Abrahams
CO-CONSPIRATORS: Kees Moeliker, Alice Shirrell Kaswell, Gary Dryfoos, Ernest Ersatz, Stephen Drew
PROOFREADER: Ambient Happenstance
AUTHORITY FIGURES: Nobel Laureates Dudley Herschbach, Sheldon Glashow, Richard Roberts

Key words: improbable research, science humor, Ig Nobel, AIR, the
(c) copyright 2014, Annals of Improbable Research


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2014-01-15 -- How to start or stop receiving this newsletter (*)

Mini-AIR is a (free!) teeny-tiny monthly *supplement* to the actual six-times-a-year magazine AIR.
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