Dave Barry................................

 

.......................................a national treasure.

On Sunday the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Such As Hairdressing will present the 98th Oscars telecast, which means millions of us will be tuning in to watch people involved with movies that we have not seen give speeches thanking long lists of people we have never heard of, which is why the Oscars broadcast often does not start and finish in the same fiscal quarter.

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prevail...............................

 

I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet's, the writer's, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet's voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.

-William Faulkner, from his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, December, 1950

Fifty years ago today.................

 

Michael Shaara was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for writing one of the all-time great books.

Color me.................................

....................................................................a winner!

A pretty low bar...............................

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Beware......................

.............................................of mathematical optimization.

Another reason I like.............................

........being self-employed:  I'm not eligible for one of these:

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Fifty years ago..................................

Martin Luther King Jr. accepts the Nobel Prize for Peace

A few of my favorite things.......................

Kurt Harden's roughly ten minute commencement address:

Samizdata takes a look-see at the intervention in Iraq:  "Dreaming about what might be accomplished by gods is insufficient. One must instead discuss what is actually achievable by men."

Ka-Ching! adds his two cents on the situation in Iraq.

Joe Hanson offers an explanation for the mysteries of the Universe.  Works for me.

The Astronomy Picture of the Day blog.   A scroll through the archives is a delight.

Fifty years ago............................

President John F. Kennedy presents the Collier Trophy to the seven Mercury astronauts:

Imagine this...........................

And the Nobel Peace Prize goes to.....................

“'The decision to award the 2013 prize to Edward Snowden would - in addition to being well justified in itself - also help to save the Nobel Peace Prize from the disrepute that incurred by the hasty and ill-conceived decision to award U.S. President Barack Obama 2009 award,'  Svallfors said."

Ouch.   Full post, from whence the excerpt was taken, is here.

Thanks Ann

The Unnecessary Punctuation Ribbon would look sharp, hanging from my bookcase................

thanks Ka-Ching!