B-List Archive: October 2002

B-List Archive

October 2002

Postings to the B-List.

Subject: B-List: 2002 Ig Nobel Prizes
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2002 08:43:37 +0930

The Ig Nobel Home Page
   < http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-top.html >

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor people whose achievements "cannot or should not
be reproduced".

The 2002 Ig Nobel Prize Winners
   < http://www.improbable.com/ig/ig-pastwinners.html#ig2002 >

The 2002 Prizes were announced on October 3, and the winners include:
  + PHYSICS
Arnd Leike of the University of Munich, for demonstrating that beer froth
obeys the mathematical Law of Exponential Decay.
  + INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Karl Kruszelnicki of The University of Sydney, for performing a comprehensive
survey of human belly button lint -- who gets it, when, what color, and how
much.  [Yes, it's Triple J's own Dr Karl!]
  + PEACE
Keita Sato, President of Takara Co., Dr. Matsumi Suzuki, President of Japan
Acoustic Lab, and Dr. Norio Kogure, Executive Director, Kogure Veterinary
Hospital, for promoting peace and harmony between the species by inventing
Bow-Lingual, a computer-based automatic dog-to-human language translation
device.
  + ECONOMICS
The executives, corporate directors, and auditors of Enron, Lernaut & Hauspie
[Belgium], Adelphia, Bank of Commerce and Credit International [Pakistan]
Cendant, CMS Energy, Duke Energy, Dynegy, Gazprom [Russia], Global Crossing,
HIH Insurance [Australia], Informix, Kmart, Maxwell Communications [UK]
McKessonHBOC, Merrill Lynch, Merck, Peregrine Systems, Qwest Communications
Reliant Resources, Rent-Way, Rite Aid, Sunbeam, Tyco, Waste Management,
WorldCom, Xerox, and Arthur Andersen, for adapting the mathematical concept
of imaginary numbers for use in the business world.

My pick:
  + LITERATURE
Vicki L. Silvers of the University of Nevada-Reno and David S. Kreiner of
Central Missouri State University, for their colorful report "The Effects of
Pre-Existing Inappropriate Highlighting on Reading Comprehension."
[I always knew highlighter pens were evil]

----

Not to be confused with the Nobel Prize ...
2002 Nobel Prize Winners
   < http://www.npr.org/news/specials/nobel2002/ >

Subject: B-List: Rich Lists
Date: Wed, 16 Oct 2002 08:59:53 +0930

1. The Forbes Fictional Fifteen
   < http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/400fictional.html >
Who's the richest "non-person" - Bruce Wayne, J.R. Ewing, Richie Rich or
Montgomery Burns?

2. The World's Billionaires
   < http://www.forbes.com/worldsrichest/ >
Apparently there are 497 billionaires, down from 538 in 2001.

3. The Forbes 400 (Americans)
   < http://www.forbes.com/2002/09/13/rich400land.html >
List of the 400 richest Americans.

4. The Forbes Celebrity 100
   < http://www.forbes.com/celebrity100/ >

5. Five Ways To Spend $1 Billion
   < http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/09/13/0913fiveways.html >
Got a spare billion burning a hole in your bank account and out of ideas
what to do with the money?  Here are a few suggestions from ...
* the Geek
   < http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/09/13/0913fiveways_2.html >
* the Limousine Liberal
   < http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/09/13/0913fiveways_3.html >
* the Thrill Seeker
   < http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/09/13/0913fiveways_4.html >
* the Hedonist
   < http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/09/13/0913fiveways_5.html >
* the Narcissist
   < http://www.forbes.com/home/2002/09/13/0913fiveways_6.html >

6. Millionaires fair will feature the best of everything
   < http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_664575.html >

Subject: B-List: Pulling Faces
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2002 08:50:31 +0930

Gurning = face-pulling

1. "Gurners flock to country fair"
   < http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_675318.html >

2. "Michaela Strachan wins gurning contest"
   < http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_675706.html >

3. Gurner of the Month
   < http://www.cumbria.uk.com/cumbria/fun/gurn.htm >
   Previous Winning Gurners
   < http://www.cumbria.uk.com/cumbria/fun/previous-winners.htm >

4. Halfbakery: Gurning as therapy
   < http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Gurning >

----

"Man breaks record by clipping 153 clothes pegs to his face"
   < http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_681222.html >

Subject: B-List: Some Toilet Humour, er News
Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2002 09:02:09 +0930

1. "Toilet paper novels hit German stalls"
   < http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s697693.htm >

2. "Mobile phone saves man stuck in toilet after shower slip"
   < http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s704608.htm >

3. "Hi-tech toilet swallows woman"
   < http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/18312.html >

4. "Norwegian police investigate exploding toilet"
   < http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_689580.html >

5. "Frozen toilet waste drops into family's bathroom"
   < http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_666017.html >

6. "IBM's busted flush ..."
   < http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t479-s2124145,00.html >

7. "Sicilian resort dedicates new toilets to World Cup ref"
   < http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_668548.html >

8. "Bull traps woman in portable loo"
   < http://www.ananova.com/News/story/sm_655805.html >

Subject: B-List: evilfinder
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 08:32:19 +0930

evilfinder
   < http://lcamtuf.coredump.cx/evilfinder/ef.shtml >

"uses a trivial engine and a small database of numerologically significant
 integers - dates, sacred numbers, symbols ... to verify whether the subject
 of your choice is truly evil, perhaps the devil himself"

B!?

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