[mini-AIR] mini-AIR: Insanity, Partial Insanity, Demonomania

Tue Nov 29 15:08:08 EST 2016

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
November 2016, issue number 2016-11. ISSN 1076-500X.
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  Research that makes people LAUGH, then THINK.
  A tiny supplement to the Annals of Improbable Research.
  Archive at <http://improbable.com/airchives/miniair>
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01 TABLE OF CONTENTS

02 Impending Events: 2017 EuroTour
03 In the Magazine Itself: Ig Soon, Red Now
04 SPOTLIGHT: Lycanthropy and Demonomania Issues
05 Insidious Gift of Improbability
06 Insane Partial Insanity Limerick Contest
07 Artificial Gummy Fingers Poet
08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Effect of Eating Garlic on Armpit Odor
09 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Coprophagy in Absence of Insanity
10 Improbable Research Events
11 — How to Get The Magazine (*)
12 — Contact Info (*)
13 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)
14 — How to start or stop receiving mini-AIR (*)

	Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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02 Impending Events: 2017 EuroTour

If your institution would like to host an event
on the 2017 Ig Nobel EuroTour, 
please get in touch with us... 
...if your institution is in Europe.

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03 In the Magazine Itself: Ig Soon, Red Now

The Special IG NOBEL issue (vol. 22, no. 6) of the magazine will be out soon. Meanwhile, the special RED issue is available: <https://is.gd/lslWa0>

	SUBSCRIPTIONS & SINGLE ISSUES: <https://gumroad.com/improbable>

	Tables of Contents: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>

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04 SPOTLIGHT: Lycanthropy and Demonomania Issues

This month's research spotlight shines on demonomania, as well as on lycanthropy:

"Lycanthropy and Demonomania: Some Psychopathological Issues," K. Koehler, H. Ebel, and D. Vartzopoulos, Psychological  Medicine, vol. 20, no. 3, August 1990, pp. 629-33. <https://is.gd/30ghK1> The authors, at University Psychiatric Clinic, Bonn, Germany, explain:

"This paper draws on Karl Jaspers' phenomenological views and focuses on some important albeit neglected psychopathological issues related to form which are relevant to any comprehensive consideration of lycanthropic phenomena."

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05 Insidious Gift of Improbability

The shackles of sociability may require you to give someone a gift. If you especially like or dislike that person, choose a gift they will find surprising.

Give them an issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. It's surprising, and it's cheap (five bucks):

Here's how: <http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>

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06 Insane Partial Insanity Limerick Contest

This month's challenge: Devise a limerick that explains this study:

"The Completely Insane Law of Partial Insanity: The Impact of Monomania on Testamentary Capacity," Bradley E.S. Fogel, Real Property, Probate and Trust Journal, 2007, pp. 67-111. <https://is.gd/VTqbu7> The author, at St. Louis University School of Law, USA, explains:

"In order to invalidate a will based on monomania, the contestant must show that the testator’s belief has no basis in fact. However, nearly all delusions have some basis in fact. Therefore, if one strictly applies this test, the monomania doctrine becomes vacuous. Fact-finders, however, frequently disregard some evidence. Essentially, the fact-finder determines if the testator’s belief was reasonable and consonant with their own biases. This is directly contrary to the doctrine of testamentary freedom, which allows a testator to dispose of his property however he chooses, even arbitrarily or unreasonably."

Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:

	INSANE PARTIAL INSANITY LIMERICK COMPETITION
	c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>

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07 Artificial Gummy Fingers Poet

The judges have chosen a winner in last month's Artificial Gummy Fingers Limerick Competition, which asked for a limerick to explain this study:

"Impact of artificial gummy fingers on fingerprint systems," Tsutomu Matsumoto, Hiroyuki Matsumoto, Koji Yamada, and Satoshi Hoshino, Electronic Imaging 2002, pp. 275-289. <https://is.gd/M8C9nr>

The winner is INVESTIGATOR TONY HARKER, who wrote a limerick and an after-limerick:

With gelatin, forgers can make
A finger that’s totally fake.
  You can fool the defence
  At the till to dispense
All the money your wallet can take.

[If you’re caught at this trick with the gel,
Your fate I can quickly foretell:
  A lengthy jail sentence,
  Then time for repentance
In many long years in a cell.]

The word from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

Your passwords identify you,
But they're insecure. What to do?
  Biometrics go far
  To confirm who you are,
But guess what!  Those are spoofable, too!

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08 MORE IMPROBABLE: Effect of Eating Garlic on Armpit Odor

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

The podcast:

	LISTEN / DOWNLOAD: <http://goo.gl/sxh7DX>

	#88 The Tooth Fairy, Swallowed Toothpick
	#89 Can a Cat Be Both a Solid and a Liquid? 
	#90 Effect of Eating Garlic on Armpit Odor
	#91 Teeth As a Dating Ornament

The blog <http://www.improbable.com/>:

<> Leaders' Inspirational Appeal Increases Post-Mortem
<> Relative Finger Lengths and Russian Wages
<> Galam’s Work on Galam Models (Reviewed by Galam)
	...and lots more

  TWITTER: @ImprobResearch, @MarcAbrahams, #IgNobel
  FACEBOOK: <http://www.facebook.com/improbableresearch>

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09 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Coprophagy in Absence of Insanity

"Coprophagy in Absence of Insanity: A Case Report," Morris M. Kessler and George E. Poucher, Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, vol. 102, no. 3, 1945, pp. 290-293. <https://is.gd/U1TmvF>

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10 Improbable Research Events

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

ARISIA, Boston					— Jan 2017
AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA	— Feb 18, 2017
Ig Nobel EuroTour					— Mar 2017
Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Annual Meeting
								— Apr 27, 2017

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11 — How to Get The Magazine (*)

The Annals of Improbable Research is a 6-issues-per-year magazine, published in PDF form. It's packed with research that makes people laugh, then think. (mini-AIR, the thing you are reading at this moment, is but a tiny, free-floating appendix to the actual magazine.)

	<http://www.improbable.com/magazine/>
	SUBSCRIPTIONS	(just $25) 
	SINGLE ISSUES 	(just $5 each)

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12 — CONTACT INFO (*)

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

Web Site & blog & subscriptions: <http://www.improbable.com>
Twitter: @ImprobResearch
EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>

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13 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)

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 2016, Annals of Improbable Research

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14 — How to start or stop receiving mini-AIR (*)

Mini-AIR is a (free!) tiny monthly *supplement* 
to the big, bold six-times-a-year magazine AIR.
   ...................................................
   To subscribe or unsubscribe to mini-AIR, please visit
   <http://five.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/mini-air>
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