[tips] Re: Ig Nobel

[Beth Benoit]

As one of the "older" (both literally and, well, literally - I just turned 60 yesterday!) members of TIPS, I have to confess that I've done a bit of BIRGing over the years (for you non social psychologists, that's "basking in reflected glory") because I knew it was our own TIPSpersons who gave out the Ig Nobel prizes.  We love hearing about them each year, and will look forward to the CBS coverage tonight.   Incidentally, Wikipedia has a terrific piece on the Ig Nobel prizes.   Beth Benoit Granite State College Portsmouth NH ----- Original Message ----- From: Robin Abrahams To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 12:34 PM Subject: [tips] Re: Ig Nobel Well, we've copyrighted the phrase "Ig Nobel," so we're not changing it now, after 16 years of ceremonies. It's a pun on the Nobel prizes (which is why we give them out at the same time of year), and if anything's "ignoble," it's the prize itself, not the achievements that win it. Winners pay their own expenses to attend the ceremony, don't get to hang out with royalty (though they do get to hang with Nobel laureates, usually wearing funny hats), stay with friends of ours who volunteer spare bedrooms and couches, and the fanciest thing we treat the winners to is an afterparty at a friend's condo. (Though, to be fair, our friend is a caterer and the food is *awesome*.) It's deliberately low-budget and great fun for everyone. The media seems to be getting the point of the prizes pretty well--check out our most recent batch of press clippings, here: http://improbable.com/airchives/press/press-top.html Also, we'll be the final segment on the CBS Evening News tonight! Check us out, everyone! Robin --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english