Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Counting counts a lot

The axiom "Publish or perish!" is one that is lived by all in academia. Most of the time, people publish in the field in which they specialise, be it the hard sciences (carbon nanotube construction anyone?) or the soft ones (porn virgins are as elusive as unicorns, you know).

But Prof. John W Trinkaus has made a career out of being OCD about counting. Wonder how many people like wearing their baseball cap backwards? He's published it. What about people who take more than a dozen items to the express lane checkout counter? He's done it. What ever it was that caught his eye or irritates the heck out of him, you can be sure he'd be there to tally and publish it.

Go here for a report of all the weird and wacky stuff he has reported.

Incidentally, he teaches management at Zicklin School of Business in New York City. Therefore, it is not necessary that you publish only in your field; you just need a little OCD-ness, verve and imagination.

*hats off to Prof. Trinkaus*

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