[mini-AIR] mini-AIR: some P-P-P-P and P-P-P Problems

Thu Jan 19 16:30:10 EST 2017

mini-Annals of Improbable Research ("mini-AIR")
January 2017, issue number 2017-01. 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: NYC, AAAS-Boston, EuroTour
03 In the Magazine Itself: The Ig Nobel Ceremony
04 SPOTLIGHT: P-p-p-p Power (on pp. 259-265)
05 Cesspits/P-P-P-P-Problem Limerick Contest
06 Using-Coffee-to-Fuel-Cars Poet
07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Armpit Smell Symmetry? Carp Music.
08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Danish PPPP/PPP Problem
09 Improbable Research Events
10 — How to Get The Magazine (*)
11 — Contact Info (*)
12 — Standard Gobbledegook (*)
13 — How to start or stop receiving mini-AIR (*)

	Items marked (*) are reprinted in every issue.

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02 Impending Events: NYC, AAAS-Boston, EuroTour

	92nd Street Y, New York, NY			— Feb 5, 2017
	AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA	— Feb 18, 2017
	Ig Nobel Spring EuroTour			— Mar-Apr 2017
		(Austria, UK, Switzerland, 
		Norway, Sweden, Italy)

	Details: <https://is.gd/sy1Asc>

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03 In the Magazine Itself: The Ig Nobel Ceremony

The Special IG NOBEL issue (vol. 22, no. 6) of the magazine has full details, and copious pix, from the Ig Nobel ceremony. And other stuff. https://is.gd/1rMmap <https://is.gd/1rMmap>

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

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

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04 SPOTLIGHT: P-p-p-p Power (on pp. 259-265)

This month's research spotlight shines on P, P, P, and P:

"The P-p-p-p-Power of the Words, Words, Words: 'Finnegans Wake' as Words Wake," Timothy Ransom, James Joyce Quarterly, vol. 9, no. 2, Finnegans Wake Issue (Winter, 1972), pp. 259-265. <https://is.gd/lReaDJ>

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05 Cesspits/P-P-P-P-Problem Limerick Contest

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

"Cesspits and the P-P-P-P-problem: The Pitfall of the Pompeii Premise and the Palimpsest," Roos van Oosten, Quaternary International, epub 2016. <https://is.gd/uN5F4o> (Thanks to Tom Gill for bringing this to our attention.) The author, at Leiden University, The Netherlands, reports:

"This article calls for a re-evaluation of the formation processes associated with archaeological examples of cesspits.... If artefacts and ecofacts are studied in isolation from the other materials in the cesspit without a full understanding of its formation and stratigraphy, the result may be quite misleading."

Submit your perfectly formed, delightfully enlightening limerick to:

	Cesspits/P-P-P-P LIMERICK COMPETITION
	c/o <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>

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06 Using-Coffee-to-Fuel-Cars Poet

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

"In-situ transesterification of wet spent coffee grounds for sustainable biodiesel production," Jeongseok Park, Bora Kim, and Jae W. Lee, Bioresource Technology, vol. 221, December 2016, pp. 55–60. <https://is.gd/ujShAM>.

The winner is INVESTIGATOR STEPHEN HALE, who wrote:

We, driving, drink coffee like fools,
Then convert the spent grounds into fuels.
  Dump those grounds in a pot
  With some goo that is hot.
Our car runs on transester'fied joules.

The word from our LIMERICK LAUREATE, MARTIN EIGER:

When your coffee's been ground to the ground,
And the coffee you've ground has been downed,
 Don't discard or deny it,
 Transesterify it!
Results, all around, are profound!

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07 MORE IMPROBABLE: Armpit Smell Symmetry? Carp Music.

Recent improbable research bits you may have missed...

The podcast:

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

	#95 Does One Armpit Smell Like the Other?
	#96 Umbrella Progress on a Crowded Sidewalk
	#97 And Now, a Needle in the Rectum
	#98 Using Voodoo Dolls to
		Measure Aggression 
		in Married Couples

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

<> When a monkey loved a deer…
<> Music discriminations by carp (Cyprinus carpio)
<> University course proposal: "Calling Bullshit"
	...and lots more

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

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08 MAY WE RECOMMEND: Danish PPPP/PPP Problem

"PPP versus PPPP — What is Wrong in Denmark?" Christina D. Tvarnø and Kim Østergaard. <https://is.gd/hJc9Lh> The authors, at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark, explain:

"This paper addresses Public Private Partnerships (PPP) and Pharmaceutical Public Private Partnerships (PPPP) in Denmark or the lack of PPP(P)'s in Denmark. It would seem, that the market for PPP(P)'s in Denmark is either very small, non-existing or it might be disturbed by several factors."

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09 Improbable Research Events

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

ARISIA, Boston				— Jan 13, 2017
92nd Street Y, New York, NY		— Feb 5, 2017
AAAS Annual Meeting, Boston, MA — Feb 18, 2017
Ig Nobel Spring EuroTour		— Mar-Apr 2017
Bahfest, MIT, Cambridge, MA		— Apr 23, 2017
Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Annual Meeting
							— Apr 27, 2017
Ig Nobel Ceremony TICKETS go on sale	— Jul, 2017
2017 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony	— Sep 14, 2017
Ig Informal Lectures			— Sep 16, 2017
Ig Nobel Fall EuroTour			— Oct/Nov 2017

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10 — 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.)

	<www.improbable.com/magazine/>
	SUBSCRIPTIONS	($25, for six issues) 
	SINGLE ISSUES 	($5 each)

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11 — CONTACT INFO (*)

Annals of Improbable Research (AIR)
<www.improbable.com>
EDITORIAL: <MARC aaattt IMPROBABLE dddooottt COM>
SUBSCRIPTION QUESTIONS: <subscriptions AT improbable.com>
44-C Sacramento St., Cambridge, MA 02138 USA
(+1) 617-491-4437
Twitter: @ImprobResearch

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12 — 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 2017, Annals of Improbable Research

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13 — 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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