IG Peace Prize for Belarus President for banning applause

[bohemian]

The Peace Prize went to the president and state police of Belarus for making public applause illegal and having arrested a one-armed man for the offence,

 

See all the Ig-Nobel Prize awards:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24061992

[trottigy]

Yeah, spoofs are interesting:

Ig Nobel awards are a humorous spoof-like version of their more sober cousins, the Nobel prizes.

Winners have 60 seconds to make a speech to avoid being booed off stage by an eight-year-old girl.

[bohemian]

Yeah, spoofs are interesting:

Ig Nobel awards are a humorous spoof-like version of their more sober cousins, the Nobel prizes.

Winners have 60 seconds to make a speech to avoid being booed off stage by an eight-year-old girl.

 

But the research is real too:

 

 

 

Although a light-hearted event, the awards are handed out for work that is for the most part serious research. Prof Bushman said that his study significantly contributed to the existing literature.

And the study about cows standing up or lying down was important to be able to detect health problems early on, say its authors.

"We were surprised by the prize. We thought we did a decent piece of work and did not realise it made other people laugh," lead author Bert Tolkamp from Scotland's Rural College, UK, told BBC News. But he added that anything that promoted interest in science was very welcome.

 

The Belarus story in "The Economist"

 

http://www.economist.com/node/18929417

Edited September 13, 2013 by bohemian

[trottigy]

So, not ALL public applause is banned and no one armed man was arrested, but they do have a dictator in charge in Belarus.

[bohemian]

So, not ALL public applause is banned and no one armed man was arrested, but they do have a dictator in charge in Belarus.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2011/0708/In-Belarus-one-armed-man-arrested-for-clapping

[trottigy]

 

 

he crackdown in Belarus grew more indiscriminate this week. Among the 400 arrested: a one-armed man charged with taking part in the clapping protests and mute person accused of shouting antigovernment slogans.

 

Thanks for the other link. The first and second article you posted made no mention of a "one armed man" being arrested. Obvious,ly he wasn't arrested for applauding, but I see he was arrested for taking part in protests. What a government. This is just another example of how much we need the kingdom, eh?

 

note I also see that IG-Noble handed out prizes for:

 

- Public Health Prize: or the medical techniques of penile re-attachment after amputations (often by jealous wives). Techniques which they recommend, except in cases where the amputated penis had been partially eaten by a duck.

- Probability Prize: a UK team scooped an Ig for observing that a cow is more likely to stand up the longer it has been lying down.

- Psychology Prize: for confirming that people who think they are drunk also think they are more attractive.

- Physics Prize:  for discovering that some people would be physically capable of running across the surface of a pond - if those people and that pond were on the Moon.

 

When I saw this and the remaining list - I found it difficult to take the story you commented on seriously. Thanks for "setting me straight".

Edited September 13, 2013 by trottigy

[bohemian]

That's OK, Jerry. At first sight those things do seem too ridiculous to be true, but they are all true research papers!

 

The amazing thing to me is that Governments often fund this 'research' with taxpayers' money!