Friday 9 October 2009

'Ello, 'ello, 'ello

The Ig Nobel awards have been announced this year, given mostly for improbable scientific research, and usually featuring an actual Nobel winner as prizegiver. Particular respect and the Literature prize goes, this year, to An Garda Siochana, the Irish police force. Their achievement was to dole out more than fifty traffic awards to Mr. Prawo Jazdy, a Polish gentleman. The story's been doing the rounds in Ireland for months, but it's nice to gain international recognition.

Prawo Jazdy isn't a careless driver. His name translates as 'driving licence'.

The Peace prize went to a Swiss team who investigated whether it's worse to be smashed over the head with full or empty bottles, the Economics proze rather predictably went to the Icelandic banks (wonder if they sent a representative to collect the prize), the Chemistry award went to the Mexican (of course) team who made diamond films from tequila, and the Medicine one was awarded to a man who cracked the knuckles on one hand for 60 years to discover whether it caused arthritis. And so on ad nauseam.

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