Medals of Achievement

Mostafa El-Sayed, an Egyptian-American scientist, has been awarded

a "National Medal of Science, Technology and Innovation" by president

George W Bush.  See the vid here.  (Skip to the interesting bits.)

Always amusing to see the high and mighty humble themselves in front

of the great and good.  GWB did a fine job of humbling himself, gotta say.

But you have to wonder how on earth a frat brat gets to be the fella awarding 

medals to these esteemed propeller-heads!  Something is amiss.  It is one

of the rare occasions when the guys at the bottom pull the strings and play

puppet-master.  The C-grade guy is made to present medals to people he

spent his entire life avoiding.

I enjoyed Professor Viterbi's treatment of GWB: "How odious it is to stand next

to you," he almost said.  Viterbi is the author of the Viterbi Algorithm, taught

in many a textbook - it was my first time to see the distinguished man on

camera.

The medals were awarded about a week ago.  I was in Egypt at the time,

and all the media gave the story prominence.  Professor El-Sayed invented

a method to help cure cancer via nanotechnology.  He authored many of his

papers with his son.

Still, an A+ to George W Bush for graciously playing his designated role of

humblest-in-chief.