I’m sitting in the hotel bar with a half dozen science humorists. This is the life!
I remember reading Joel Achenbach’s "Why Things Are" column for years, and it was hysterical. He’s sitting next to me now, talking about the Washington Post, reporters, and the decline of the web (I may have that somewhat mixed up).
One person listening to him is Marc Abrahams, who runs the Annals of Improbable Research. Marc presented a two hour tour-de-force a little while back about the world famous "Ig Nobel awards, given to people who have done dubious (and generally unintentionally hilarious) scientific research. He showed pictures from people who have won awards for
- creating a big foam suit to act like armor, and then letting a log swing from a rope and smack into him, hard (think end of the movie Predator),
- inventing Karaoke,
- writing a scientific paper about whether cats prefer men with beards (it turns out — shocker– cats are indifferent to facial hair),
- creating a periodic table table– literally, a conference table set up like the periodic table of elements. It even has sample of each element (well, almost each element in it) under the tile of the element in question.
This talk was brilliant, and he even had some past winners there to present their work. Go read the webpage for the Ig Nobels: it’s killer stuff. Science is funny.
Anyway, at this bar was also a woman by the name of Elizabeth Kolbert who just won an award from the AAAS for a series of articles she wrote on global warming. Also here was another freelance journalist by (coincidentally) the name of Joel, whose last name I missed, and Lara Ricci, an Italian journalist who writes science humor in Italy.
This was a fascinating evening, full of fun and also some serious discussion on the future of newspapers, the attacks on science (a huge topic at this meeting!)… but mostly a lot of big laughs (Joel Achenbach’s writing is very funny; he used to hang out with Dave Barry if that means anything to you) .
I’ve observed over the years, and it’s been confirmed by countless other scientists, that the real business of meetings is conducted at restaurants and bars. The symposia, the posters, the plenary lectures– those are interesting, and they can spark conversations, but those conversations thrive and bloom over drinks and calamari. Maybe I can figure out some way of getting it included in my per diem…
February 19th, 2006 at 12:11 am
I could have told you that about cats, they only care about getting fed, beard or no beard. If you don’t feed a cat for a couple of days, I will zip of to find a new home..
A dog however will stay until it dies from hunger*.
So what do you want? smart or loyal?
*It is possible that the dog thinks you are not getting any food either and is just waiting for you to die so it can eat your corpse. That would make them smarter than I give them credit for, this calls for investigation.
February 19th, 2006 at 2:02 am
Dogs have owners, cats have staff.
February 19th, 2006 at 4:43 am
noooooooo you eat Calimari? Ewwwwwww!
February 19th, 2006 at 4:46 am
Cats are placeholders until you can obtain a dog.
Cats can be made to SOUND like a dog. Dip it in lighter fuel and ignite it WOOF!
Yes, dog can make sounds like cats too. Drop them in a deep freezer for a few hours then put them through a bandsaw…. Meeeeeeeooooooowwwww!
Truth be told, I don’t care for cats. They’re no fun. Dogs, on the other hand, are you pals, buddies, your co-vivants! Give them a lab coat (pun intended) and a little training, and they would happily prepare slides, wash beakers, run errands (and even feed the damned cat)…
February 19th, 2006 at 5:19 am
If you figure out how to get the “real work” counted in your per diem, please let the rest of us in on the secret, won’t you? (hopeful smile)
A couple years back, I got to be in an Ig Nobel “marching delegation”. My friends and I wore helmets decorated with very bright, colored, flashing, digitally controlled lights and paraded in front of the stage at the beginning of the ceremony. It was an inspiring moment.
February 19th, 2006 at 5:44 am
And there’s some really great stuff in Achenbach’s blog:
(From “Daddy Carbucks”, 28 January 2006)
February 19th, 2006 at 5:49 am
And one more I couldn’t resist –
(From Planet OGLE BLOG!!!”, 25 January 2006)
February 19th, 2006 at 8:46 am
Hey, I’ve learned a lot from cats,,,namely, never hold a mouse upside down by its tail,,,it will barf on you.
A Dead Head once friend told me, when you feed a dog, it thinks you’re God. When you feed a cat, it thinks IT’S God,,,
Gary 7
February 19th, 2006 at 9:15 am
Thanks for reminding me about the site about the Periodic table table… truly a thing of beauty, I want one!
February 19th, 2006 at 9:19 am
AAAS Report 4.1
I had the great fortune to hear Phil give a talk at the Science Under Attack symposium – wowswer. The passion was palpable – so that’s what a scientist that’s “pissed off” looks like – and the subject matter spot on. Judging by the applause at the end, I’d say that unadulterated, straight forward and passionate is a winning combination. The whole panel was great and well moderated.
One question that was asked at the end was how do you appeal to those who are in the middle and uncommitted – the “greens?” I know a number of people that have been non-political and non-scientific all their lives that are livid over an administration that is shrouded in secrecy, that is advancing a radical right agenda, and is censoring science for political and religious purposes. My best answer to the question is that those in the middle are generally united in their concern about the future of their children and their children’s children. By painting a picture of a hopeful future as opposed to an America that has abadoned basic scientific research for fundamentalist religious orthodoxy and that prevents the truth of scientific findings from seeing the light of day I think that a lot of raw nerves will be touched. Who but the hardest core fundamentalists want to condemn their kids right out of the gate with a non-competetive position in the world? Jack kennedy tapped into this hope for the future.
PS If you’re looking for interesting local fare…
Broadway Oyster Bar (I remember the first time a bunch of geologists from GSA came in – who’d a guessed so much beer could be consumed in the interests of science – probably why I’m a geologist today). Just south of downtown on broadway.
BBs Jazz Blues & Soups, walking distance from Broadway oyster Bar.
O’Connell’s Pub – great for scientific roundtable discussions…..really, if you’ve got a group ask for the round table. Good non-fancy pub grub, Guiness on draft and a good scotch selection. Kingshighway & I-44 – not far from downtown.
Blueberry Hill – a STL Classic. Delmar Loop area near Wash U.
February 19th, 2006 at 11:12 am
As for science humor, don’t forget the Journal of Irredproducible Results.
http://www.jir.com/
Rob
February 19th, 2006 at 12:41 pm
Blake Stacey, that’s a hilarious paean to coffee. A keeper for those of us who wake up at 12:00 a.m. “lusting” for the stuff. Thanks for the link to that.
February 19th, 2006 at 1:10 pm
Phil,
I wish I could have been the fly on the wall at that conversation! I bet at times it was hilarious.
Just briefly wandered on the Ig Nobel site and saw the “snot vacuum for kids”. Had to laugh thinking two things: 1) there’s no way any kid would allow that to come near his/her face and 2) what’s wrong with the current bulb syringe one? At least with that one, you don’t have to worry about digging out the safety plug in the outlet to use, it’s cheaper, and probably about as effective.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Jim, thanks! I’m glad what I said was effective. I was nervous, walking away from my prepared talk… I wrote up a long blog entry on the plane about it, and I’ll post it tonight probably.
February 20th, 2006 at 10:20 am
Astonomer 1: “…..so anyway, the cop pulls me over and asks if I realized I had just run a redlight. So I said that I did not see the light as being red, because it must have blue-shifted as I was approaching it.”
Astronomer 2: “And he let you go?”
Astronomer 1: “No. He gave me a speeding ticket instead.”
February 20th, 2006 at 3:13 pm
The Joel was Joel Shurkin (moi) and wasn’t Lara lovely?
j
February 20th, 2006 at 10:19 pm
I love the igs, I’ve been a few times, sometimes as part of one of the delegations (Usually the local SCA sends one)
The Periodic table table is pretty cool too.
I also managed to see my first few DSO’s last night. I got myself a set of 7×50 binocs for my birthday and got decent views of the Orion nebula and the Pleadies (and a bunch of other stuff)
February 21st, 2006 at 10:14 am
Dogs are are OK it just depends on how you prepare them. I like BBQ best. Cats rule. Of course my cat is sitting here watching me type this and I dare not offend his majesty.
March 14th, 2006 at 6:57 pm
Sounds like an incredible night. But, I do hope you learned your lesson. You can write as much as you like, with any slant, about any subject you like, but as soon as you mention a cat, even in the most obscure way, that just became the whole point of your article. Yes, we cat folks are like that…and damn proud too. By the way, the rest of this posting (blah, blah, blah) was interesting too.