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Welcome to
Anthology Recapitulates Hilarity: This Book Warps Space and TimeJIR’s new anthology is a fast-paced frolic of humorous and quirky tidbits in science, math, academe, bureaucracy, and witty wordplay. More than 250 entries ponder and pun the practical and peculiar. Edited by JIR’s Norman Sperling, published by Andrews McMeel. 289 pages, 6 x 6 inches (but only the dimensions are square), soft cover. In US stores October 2008. A great gift! custom-inscribed any way the customer wants, $15.99 including US postage. eMail or snail-mail your order.
The winner
is All Theories Proven With
One Graph by Don Grace of Florence, Alabama. Click the picture
to see it in most of its glory. To get a copy professionally printed on
paper suitable for a magazine cover, backed by page after page of more
graphs and science humor, subscribe! |
JIR is now the biggest part of Everything in the Universe.
Hi! I'm Norm Sperling, the editor since 2004. I've subscribed to JIR since the 1970s. I was assistant
editor of Sky & Telescope magazine, and Science Editor of AltaVista.com.
I teach astronomy in universities around San Francisco, wrote the
book What Your Astronomy Textbook Won't Tell You, and
co-designed Edmund Scientific's Astroscan telescope.
Meet the Editor! In Person At:
November 1-2: Wonderfest, the Bay Area Festival of Science. November 1 at Stanford in Palo Alto; November 2 at the University of California in Berkeley. Find JIR in the Science Expo. Norm also chairs the 1 PM Saturday discussion, "Does Anything Happen at Random?". New and old JIRs, books, Spandex graphs. Bring your camera: we have a JIR front cover that you can take your picture on!
April 4, 2009: San Diego Science Festival. Performing "Irreproducible Results from the Journal" as well as exhibiting. New and old JIRs, books, Spandex graphs. Bring your camera: we have a JIR front cover that you can take your picture on!
In 6 funny issues a year, JIR offers:
- spoofs
- parodies
- whimsies
- burlesques
- lampoons
- satires
JIR appeals to:
- scientists
- doctors
- science teachers
- word-lovers
JIR targets hypocrisy, arrogance, and ostentatious sesquipedalian circumlocution. We're a friendly escape from the harsh and the hassle. JIR makes you feel good :-).
Changes since 2004:
- Articles from new authors.
- Updated graphics.
- Subscribing teachers may reprint for free one JIR article per semester for their students, if they cite the author's and publication's names, starting with vol. 50 #5.
- A few ads. We really appreciate your tips on who would be appropriate advertisers.
- 1-liner ads - 1 line, all the way across the page - for just $39. 1-liners are a great way to tout a website or a briefly-described product.
Subscriptions to JIR make great gifts!
Guidelines for Authors
JIR is always pleased to receive submissions. We can accept them by snail-mail on paper, CD-ROM, or 3.5-inch floppy, or by eMail to nsperling@california.com.JIR articles should be humorous. Appeal to scientists, doctors, and engineers. Make your points in good humor. Make readers feel good about having read them. Minimize bitter aftertaste.
The rule for length is simple: write it for what it's worth. Include everything that ought to be there, and then stop. Don't leave out anything that helps the article, but don't pad, either.
Parts of articles that deal with real science should be valid both in technicalities and in sense of proportion. 70% of JIR readers have doctorates - they can spot problems.
Many readers don't enjoy slogging through complex equations in unfamiliar specialties, so use only as much math as your points require.
Use the citation format appropriate for the topic.
Please include appropriate illustrations.
Each article is distinctive. Do what makes your article the best it can be. We look forward to reading your submission.