Hey, it's nice to discover that this list has been gatewayed to
Usenet!  It's always annoying to re-subscribe when I want to post a
question or check recent traffic, then un-subscribe again.
 
In article <[log in to unmask]>, Eric Siegel
<[log in to unmask]> writes:
>           I once picked up a t-shirt in Seattle with the logo for the
>           Museum of Hysteria and Indecision. I never saw the place
>           itself, if it ever existed.
>
>           Any other *intentionally* funny museums or exhibits that
>           people can remember?
 
I haven't visited the MIT Museum, but they had a definitive exhibition
some time ago on collegiate pranks (a field in which MIT is one of the
world's leading institutions) and I hear it was pretty good.
 
Also, the museum sponsors a notably silly project, the annual Ig Nobel
Prize Ceremony, in conjunction with the fine folks who run *The Annals
of  Improbable Research* (refugees from the moribund *Journal of
Irreproducible Results*).  As it happens, I've just received the
announcement of this year's ceremony, which I'll append.
 
--
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> From: [log in to unmask]
> Date: Wed, 21 Sep 94 15:37:37 EDT
> Subject: Call for Ig Nobel Delegations!
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
>
>                               Please post/forward this as appropriate
> ===============================================================
> CALL FOR DELEGATIONS!
> to the 1994 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony
> ===============================================================
>
> You are invited to attend the 1994 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony on
> Thursday, October 6, 1994, at 7:30 p.m., in Kresge Auditorium at
> MIT.  The ceremony honors individuals "whose achievements cannot
> or should not be reproduced."
>
>
> DELEGATIONS
> A limited number of seats is reserved for official theme
> delegations of 4-12 beings (human participants only).  The
> Ceremony commences with the formal Grand Entrance Parade of the
> Delegations, an experience not to be missed   If you wish to bring
> a delegation, please get in touch IMMEDIATELY with:
>      Margaret Ann Gray     617-253-0217     [log in to unmask]
>
>
> TICKETS
> Tickets are on sale at the MIT Museum Shop in The MIT Student
> Center.  The price is $2 per ticket.  There will be a strict limit
> of five (5) tickets per person.  We have been asked to remind you
> that scalping is illegal in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
> For ticket information call 617-253-1533.
>
>
> BACKGROUND INFO
> In case you want too much background info, it is attached
> starting here:
>
>
> ======================================================
> Scientists Dreading Oct. 6 Ig Nobel Prize Announcement
> ======================================================
>             Ceremony to feature
>             Nobel Laureates, 1200 Hecklers, and a Convicted Felon
>
> (CAMBRIDGE, MA, Sept. 21, 1994)    Four Nobel Laureates, 1200
> hecklers, and a convicted felon will gather at MIT's Kresge
> Auditorium on October 6 to honor this year's Ig Nobel
> Prizewinners.  The annual ceremony honors individuals whose
> achievements "cannot or should not be reproduced."
>
> Ten Ig Nobel Prizes are given in categories including Chemistry,
> Medicine, Literature and Economics.  Past winners include: Los
> Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates (1992 Ig Nobel Peace Prize "for
> his uniquely compelling methods of bringing people together;"
> Yvette Bassa, the inventor of bright blue Jell-O (Ig Nobel
> Chemistry Prize, 1992) and Dr. James Nolan, author of the
> painstaking medical report "Acute Management of the Zipper-
> Entrapped Penis (Ig Nobel Medicine Prize, 1993).
>
> The Prizes are handed out by genuine Nobel Laureates, with
> assistance from a crowd of 1200 good-natured hecklers, many of
> whom wear lab coats, bathrobes, animal costumes, or old computer
> equipment.  A group of official Authority Figures lends dignity
> and tone to the occasion -- last year they included a dentist who
> has performed more than 10,000 root canal procedures, a past
> president of the American Bar Association, and Russell Johnson,
> Professor Emeritus from Gilligan's Island.  This year's Authority
> Figures will include a convicted felon.
>
> This year's Ceremony will take place at MIT's Kresge Auditorium on
> Thursday, October 6, 1994 at 7:30 p.m.  Arrangements are being
> made to video broadcast it live over the Internet.  National
> Public Radio's "Talk of the Nation Science Friday" will be
> recording the entire ceremony for broadcast on the day after
> Thanksgiving.  Last year's ceremony was also broadcast on NPR, and
> was covered by press from around the world.
>
> The 1993 Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony saw the debut of the Heisenberg
> Certainty  Lectures, delivered by some  of the greatest minds of
> our age.   Each lecture is on a topic of the speaker's own
> choosing -- and is limited to 30 seconds or less.  The time limit
> is strictly enforced by a professional soccer referee.  This
> year's Heisenberg Lecturers include: Nobel Laureates Sheldon
> Glashow, William Lipscomb, Dudley Herschbach, and Richard Roberts;
> astronomer Margaret Geller, the discoverer of the "Great Wall" of
> galaxies;  and Marvin Minsky, who founded the field of artificial
> intelligence.
>
> The MIT Museum cosponsors the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony in
> conjunction with its ongoing exhibitions and programs related to
> humor at MIT including the MIT Hall of Hacks and The Annals of
> Improbable Research, the new scientific humor magazine edited by
> Ig master of ceremonies, Marc Abrahams -- the former editor of the
> Journal of Irreproducible Results. When Abrahams left the Journal
> for the Annals, he brought with him the entire staff and a- 40-
> member editorial board that includes seven Nobel laureates and IQ
> champion Marilyn Vos Savant. The Ig Nobel Ceremony is sponsored in
> part by the Peter DeFlorez Fund for Humor at MIT.
>
> Tickets are $2 and may be purchased in advance at the MIT Museum
> Shop at the MIT Student Center at 84 Massachusetts Avenue (across
> the street from the main entrance of MIT) or at the door prior to
> the ceremony.
>
> For ticket information call 617-253-1533.
>
>
>
> ================================================================
> Ingest some mini-AIR
> ================================================================
>
> The mini-Annals of improbable Research (mini-AIR) is the mini-
> journal of record for inflated research and personalities.
>
> mini-AIR is an electronic publication, available over the
> Internet, free of charge. We publish approximately 12 issues per
> year.  To subscribe, send a brief E-mail message to either of
> these addresses:
>       [log in to unmask]     or      LISTSERV@MITVMA
> The body of your message should contain ONLY the
> words "SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR" followed by your name.
> Here are two examples:
>       SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR Irene Curie Joliot
>       SUBSCRIBE MINI-AIR Nicholai Lobachevsky
>
>