Chaos Magnet

Strapless evening gowns and the IgNobel prize

The first significant computer program I ever wrote was in high school, and it was an analysis of the text of A Stress Analysis of a Strapless Evening Gown (apparently from the book of the same name). Despite the risque nature of handing this task to high-school students -- I know I'd complain if my son had this assignment -- I was irrevocably hooked on The Journal of Irreproducable Results. The editor has gone on to found the Ig Nobel awards, presented to "honor" achievements that "cannot or should not be reproduced," and now he's got a new book: The Ig Nobel Prizes: The Annals of Improbable Research. Can't wait to check this one out.