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February 25, 2008

While I'm Deeply Honored, This Seems Like Déjà Vu All Over Again

E for ExcellentJames F. McGrath is not only busy Exploring Our Matrix he is also passing out awards. He even gave Abnormal Interests one. I am a recipient of the 'E for Excellent' award. In a comment where he informed me of this esteemed honor, he said, "Don't let it go to your head." I won't. As the saying, often attributed to Lincoln concerning a supposed occasion when he was tarred and feathered and driven out of town on a rail, goes, "If it weren't for the honor of it, I'd just as soon pass." See the more likely account of the saying below.

Not only do I get the honor I also am required to tar and feather ten other otherwise innocent but great bloggers. I'd hoped to get out of this be linking to a post from a year or so ago where I got the same honor and passed it on to others but I can't find it in my archives. I must have just dreamed that I was given this accolade sometime in the past.

I have over one hundred blogs in the part of my newsreader which is devoted to blogs I like and learn from. They wouldn't be there if they weren't darn good. So I now select ten victims honorees that I think have not already received the aware this time around and that I read everyday that I can. The following are indeed Excellent Blogs:

Afarensis - Afarensis

Archaeoastronomy - Alun Salt

Archaeoporn - Thaddeus Nelson

Biblische Ausbildung - Stephen L. Cook

Good Math, Bad Math - Mark Chu-Carroll

Informed Comment - Juan Cole

Iyov - ?????

Northstate Science - Christopher O'Brien

Snail's Tales - Aydin Örstan

Threads from Henry’s Web - Henry Neufeld

Now I won't blame any of you for not tagging ten additional Excellent Blogs. In fact, this, like many memes, is a very rapidly saturating ponzi game. If there are no duplicate blogs selected, one million blogs will have been awarded an E for Excellent in just six generations and virtually every blog will have had the honor in around eight generations.

P.S. The more likely Lincoln story is as follows:

Lincoln was never ridden out of town on a rail. However, he liked to tell a joke about a fellow who had been. According to General Horatio C. King, a group of friends from Illinois called on Lincoln in the White House. Toward the end of the visit, one of the men asked Lincoln if he liked being president. Lincoln smiled and replied: "You have heard the story haven't you, about the man as he was ridden out of town on a rail, tarred and feathered, somebody asked him how he liked it, and his reply was if it was not for the honor of the thing, he would much rather walk." [P. M. Zall, Abe Lincoln Laughing: Humorous Anecdotes from original Sources by and about Abraham Lincoln (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982), 143. From Lincoln Studies]

Something else Huchabee (and many others) gets wrong.

Posted by Duane Smith at February 25, 2008 7:55 PM | Read more on Odds and Ends |

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Comments

Many thanks for honoring me with such an abnormal distinction.

Posted by: Aydin at February 28, 2008 11:47 AM

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