you may get a pleasant surprise when you come back!
Archive for the ‘fun’ Category
is published in PLOS neglected tropical diseases. However, the study itself is certainly not shitty.
An In-Depth Analysis of a Piece of Shit: Distribution of Schistosoma mansoni and Hookworm Eggs in Human Stool
I am so envious of these people who can build a useful machine by LEGO which can save money. The building part itself must be a lot of fun!
From boingboing.net: LEGO robots in the laboratory
It is fair to say that there is still so much to learn about animal behaviour. 
Getting ready!
Caleb: I saw it I saw it I saw it! Jin: No, you don't.
Zeran: I can work hard even in the dark! I can work hard even without eating! I can work hard even without drinking! I can work hard even without sleeping! I can... I can ... I can... who am I?
Um… Purdue needs to be more creative.
It has been a while since the last update… well, just come across a funny website which can be useful in some ways.
By reading a number of titles from other people’s work, you will start to appreciate what works in your own setting and what does not.
This is not a new idea, but look at this funny experiment done at Harvard. I just can’t stop wondering how much we are missing when we are staring at our experiments with our own preconception…
Most People Are Not Observant – Watch more Funny Videos
Some interesting work here, the full winner list is available from their website:
PEACE PRIZE
Stephan Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael Thali and Beat Kneubuehl of the University of Bern, Switzerland, for determining — by experiment — whether it is better to be smashed over the head with a full bottle of beer or with an empty bottle.
REFERENCE: “Are Full or Empty Beer Bottles Sturdier and Does Their Fracture-Threshold Suffice to Break the Human Skull?” Stephan A. Bolliger, Steffen Ross, Lars Oesterhelweg, Michael J. Thali and Beat P. Kneubuehl, Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine, vol. 16, no. 3, April 2009, pp. 138-42.VETERINARY MEDICINE PRIZE
Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson of Newcastle University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, UK, for showing that cows who have names give more milk than cows that are nameless.
REFERENCE: “Exploring Stock Managers’ Perceptions of the Human-Animal Relationship on Dairy Farms and an Association with Milk Production,” Catherine Bertenshaw [Douglas] and Peter Rowlinson, Anthrozoos, vol. 22, no. 1, March 2009, pp. 59-69.ECONOMICS PRIZE
The directors, executives, and auditors of four Icelandic banks — Kaupthing Bank, Landsbanki, Glitnir Bank, and Central Bank of Iceland — for demonstrating that tiny banks can be rapidly transformed into huge banks, and vice versa — and for demonstrating that similar things can be done to an entire national economy.
MEDICINE PRIZE
Donald L. Unger, of Thousand Oaks, California, USA, for investigating a possible cause of arthritis of the fingers, by diligently cracking the knuckles of his left hand — but never cracking the knuckles of his right hand — every day for more than sixty (60) years.
REFERENCE: “Does Knuckle Cracking Lead to Arthritis of the Fingers?”, Donald L. Unger, Arthritis and Rheumatism, vol. 41, no. 5, 1998, pp. 949-50.LITERATURE PRIZE
Ireland’s police service (An Garda Siochana), for writing and presenting more than fifty traffic tickets to the most frequent driving offender in the country — Prawo Jazdy — whose name in Polish means “Driving License”.
MATHEMATICS PRIZE
Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank, for giving people a simple, everyday way to cope with a wide range of numbers — from very small to very big — by having his bank print bank notes with denominations ranging from one cent ($.01) to one hundred trillion dollars ($100,000,000,000,000).
REFERENCE: Zimbabwe’s Casino Economy — Extraordinary Measures for Extraordinary Challenges, Gideon Gono, ZPH Publishers, Harare, 2008, ISBN 978-079-743-679-4.