So who here has heard of Norman Borlaug? I hadn't.

He Only Saved a Billion People

It's a trifecta much bigger and rarer than an Oscar, an Emmy and a Tony. Only five people in history have ever won the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Gold Medal: Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Elie Wiesel ... and Norman Borlaug.

Norman who? Few news organizations covered last week's Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for Borlaug, which was presided over by President Bush and the leadership of the House and Senate. An elderly agronomist doesn't make news, even when he is widely credited with saving the lives of 1 billion human beings worldwide, more than one in seven people on the planet.

Borlaug's success in feeding the world testifies to the difference a single person can make. But the obscurity of a man of such surpassing accomplishment is a reminder of our culture's surpassing superficiality. Reading Walter Isaacson's terrific biography of Albert Einstein, I was struck by how famous Einstein was, long before his role in the atom bomb. Great scientists and humanitarians were once heroes and cover boys. No more. For Borlaug, still vital at 93, to win more notice, he would have to make his next trip to Africa in the company of Angelina Jolie.

Green Revolution, baby.

Green Revolution, baby.

Yay! I learned something new....

There's no vendors I know about, no.

I'm so overwhelmed trying to plan the book release signing/reading thing at Vroman's, I can't even think about asking another human for another favor.

It's not a favor. The bookseller would be making money.

And I guess they also must just be thinking it's not wrong to do. It's against the rules but not wrong.

Like counting cards in a casino!

There aren't any booksellers that I know of.

Like counting cards in a casino!

Exactly. That would be really easy for someone with that ability to rationalize. Especially if they thought that everybody they were competing against was also counting cards.

Hee. That just happened in an ep of Bones I watched the other night.

Here's the difference, though, at least to me -- you're playing against the casino (which makes the rules against counting). You're not racing against the cycling federation (which makes the rules against doping).