The winners of this year's Ig Nobel prizes have been announced. The spoof Ig Nobels are awarded for serious but unlikely scientific research.
Prize for Medicine goes to the doctor who researched the best kind of roller-coaster to dislodge kidney stones (Big Thunder Mountain) while the prize for Literature went to the manual that discussed the unwillingness of users - especially middle-aged men* - to read the large user guides that accompany equipment these days. It's called 'Life's too short to RTFM' (Read The - I know what you're thinking but it's - Field Manual). That's Husband's favourite.
But my favourite is the Ig Nobel Chemistry Prize winner: research concluded that saliva is good for cleaning surfaces, such as a child's face.**
* Haven't read it but sure it will confirm these suspicions of mine.
** Their research said it was good for cleaning fragile ceramics.
3 comments:
Oh, the spit on a hanky torture, the inevitable end of a train journey, however short.
No more steam trains, no more hankies, no more barley sugar.
You don't see barley sugar any more it's true. I remember my first flight in an aeroplane and being offered a sweet to suck at take-off.
Contrary to stereotypes, it is Hunky Husband who insists upon reading manuals in our house. I feel that no engineer worth her salt should need to read a F(ield) Manual. The exception that I make is on cars. When I buy a car, I read the manual though it weighs nearly as much as the car (slight exaggeration). While doing so, I mark the pages to which I may later need to refer and, forever after, ignore whatever capability I never quite get around to using.
"Spit on a hankie"? Being a germaphobe, I never did that. It was enough that I had to bow to my mother's ministrations. Of course, when one is a child in a house that has no indoor plumbing/running water, one must be flexible.
Cop Car
P.S. I've "always" loved listening to the presentation ceremonies for the IgNobel Prizes.
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