Marc Abrahams

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy

editor of Annals of Improbable Research, organizer of the Ig Nobel Prize ceremony. I write about research (and other stuff) that makes people LAUGH then THINK […]

🌉 bridged from ⁂ https://mstdn.science/@MarcAbrahams, follow @ap.brid.gy to interact

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 11, 2026, 2:10 PM

Techniques of Successful Con Men: Find a reason to pardon people, no matter what they have done.
A headline in The Existentialist Republic, on May 15, 2026, says: “Untangling the Trump Crime Family’s Multi-Billion Dollar Pardon Market.— It’s all out in the open […]

[Original post on mstdn.science]

Artist's rendering of that article in the Existential Republic

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 11, 2026, 4:31 AM

"So now, after more than a decade of pretending that he is not associated with Russia and that he would honor the U.S. national security position of support for Ukraine and our European allies, Trump is openly backing Russia’s president Vladimir Putin." [Heather Cox Richardson] […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 7, 2026, 7:29 PM

#WellWrittenHeadline: "Justice Department Hired Criminals as Veteran Employees Fled"

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 7, 2026, 6:04 PM

The people who have command of the US government further extend their warm welcome to visitors: ' Effective October 1, the Department of State will broaden its online presence review to cover applicants in the following additional nonimmigrant visa classifications: I (foreign media […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 7, 2026, 4:15 AM

The Festival of Looting & Destruction further loosens its hinges and speeds up its uninspected roller-coasters, promising free money to everyone who survives the ride and immediately gives birth. https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/october-6-2026

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 6, 2026, 8:10 PM

Yup, a thousandfold: "A Crazy Rant Isn’t a ‘Speech’ or an ‘Interview’... By lopping off his full replies and interweaving explanatory narrative, reporters often wind up sanitizing Trump’s babbling, as TIME did." […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 6, 2026, 2:52 PM

“Quantification of Scalp Hair — A Computer-Aided Methodology". Hair counters count hairs. Scalp-hair counters can and maybe should celebrate that this year, 2026, is the fortieth anniversary year of the publication of one of the most treasured studies of how to […]

[Original post on mstdn.science]

The top of the first page of that study.

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 4, 2026, 12:32 PM

Techniques of Successful Con Men: Realize that everyone can profit if you have a forgiving nature. A June 24, 2026 headline by CBS News says “A Trump-linked firm is lobbying for pardons. Its first client already paid $500,000” […]

[Original post on mstdn.science]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 2, 2026, 10:05 PM

People believe he has no #empathy This news headline makes clear the empathy he does have: 'Trump says ‘I feel badly’ for accused Cornell gang rapists because his nemesis is investigating them' [news report in The Independent] […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 2, 2026, 9:38 PM

Watch for King-Canute-of-the-Golden-Arches to insist this is not happening: 'With so many elements stacking on top of one another to increase ocean heights, it’s “highly probable” that California will soon witness its highest sea levels ever recorded, Dr. Merrifield said.' [NY Times report] […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 2, 2026, 11:37 AM

Now that you mention it, yup: 'Time magazine today released a “lightly edited” transcript of an interview their senior political correspondent Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs conducted with Trump... The interview reveals a man unable to answer questions coherently, obsessed with […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 2, 2026, 3:51 AM

NY TIMES RAISES A DELICATE ETIQUETTE QUESTION: Is there any reason to be polite to six people who have the power to screw you over, and persistently for years have been screwing you over? [Asking for 350,000,000 friends] Times: "as the Supreme Court has reshaped American life and handed more […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 2, 2026, 2:32 AM

In other words, most of my dog is a cat: "Most of today’s higher prices are Biden-era inflation" https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/10/01/trumps-economy-is-strong-so-why-are-voters-so-sour/

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 2, 2026, 12:06 AM

A New Appreciation of Bill Lipscomb, Chemist and Theatrical Performer https://improbable.com/2026/10/01/a-new-appreciation-of-bill-lipscomb-chemist-and-theatrical-performer/

Photo of Bill LIpscomb and a dancer performing the Interpretive Dance of the Electrons, at the 1994 Ig Nobel Prize ceremony at MIT.

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 1, 2026, 10:53 PM

"I am pleased to have been proved wrong. It is a delight to discover how many different enthusiasms exist in the world. I am not buying what Bad Girl Books is selling, but that is not the point: others are purring with satisfaction, and that’s good enough for me" [Tim Harford] […]

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Oct 1, 2026, 8:02 PM

Élodie Chabrol parle des prix Ig Nobel sur Radio France. https://www.radiofrance.fr/franceculture/podcasts/la-science-cqfd/remise-des-ig-nobel-temperature-du-t-rex-atmosphere-de-venus-et-discriminations-dans-la-recherche-5650485

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Sep 30, 2026, 4:42 PM

RE: https://newsie.social/@servelan/117360853562759186

The Golden Law of Technology: if anyone can be persuaded to purchase it, it must be marketed and sold.
(NOTE: The law is valid for all values of "it".)

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Sep 30, 2026, 1:34 PM

RE: https://glammr.us/@overholt/117360071668182839

Computers will make our lives and work easier, and closer to carefree.

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Sep 30, 2026, 12:31 PM

Politicians’ Fervent Boosts to Medical Education (Hooray for the Florida measles outbreak!) https://improbable.com/2026/09/30/politicians-fervent-boosts-to-medical-education/

@marcabrahams.mstdn.science.ap.brid.gy Sep 30, 2026, 12:07 PM

"Florida’s proposal to remove school vaccine mandates arrives at a moment when measles vaccination coverage in the state has fallen below the level needed to prevent sustained outbreaks. Using a mathematical model, we show that repealing the mandate could trigger the largest measles epidemic in […]

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