Ig Nobels

Recognizing that some areas of science should be more, er, recoginized these awards have been going since 1991. The Ig Nobels are given for research which "cannot or should not be reproduced". The Guardian has a lot of fun with the velocity of penguin crap, but I quite liked the one for literature:

The internet entrepreneurs of Nigeria, for using email to distribute a bold series of short stories, thus introducing millions of readers to a cast of rich characters, each of whom requires just a small amount of money so as to obtain access to the great wealth they will share with you.

For those curious about the history of these awards, there is a list of past winners here.