I think you had published a Marine Lieutenant’s letter or email from the rat line, (river operation?) after gaining appropriate permissions. The letter was an eye opener and an appeal for support. That I believe, has more appeal for “a best of” and proceeds could go to a Wounded Warriors fund. Fitting I think.

On reflection I think the letter was Owen West’s. Could not find it in the archives, so it could be from the old old site.

I just wish that the collection of lop-eared duds that govern us had half the sense and love of our country, Constitution, and Western culture that is displayed here. And for that matter half of the good manners, and sense of humor that is found here. Much of the tragedy is that they are deadly serious about their lunacy.

Thanks to the efforts of our esteemed host, we are affecting the world in our own way. Our thoughts and conjectures go out, and we never know where they will land or who they may inspire. Our example of civil discourse on issues that most of our society is terrified to discuss seriously will hopefully spread.

Picking threads, or comments to honor over the entire life of the site is a daunting task. Yep. I’m daunted. All I can do is point to our “orchestra”, and try to keep up with the score.

Thank you Wretchard, for all you do, and thank you to all of my fellow BC-ers; who both enlighten me, and who put up with my mental meanderings.

Subotai Bahadur

Al Gore Advised Google About Its ‘Search Quality’

Google’s achievement of this goal depends in no small measure on the restless, we-are-never-satisfied energy of its founders and its engineers. Al Gore recounted a conversation he had with [co-founder Sergey] Brin and [co-founder Larry] Page several years ago in the conference room near their office. Gore raised specific concerns about aspects of search quality. “They had to go to another meeting,” Gore recalled, “and said, ‘If you can stay, Al, we’d like to bring in the search-quality researchers and specialists in charge of this part of the business.’ Ten of them came in. Larry and Sergey left. I spent another three hours. And then, when it was over, I gave Larry and Sergey an oral report.”

Some weeks later, Gore said, laughing, “I went up to their office and found that all ten of these people had been moved in. All ten of them!” He described how Page and Brin had had to cram twelve computer monitors into their office, and “move around some of their toys-a remote-control helicopter, flying messenger boards . . .” The researchers and specialists stayed-until Brin and Page “satisfied themselves that they had an ongoing system for maintaining hyper-vigilance.” He added, “I defy you to think of any other executives in the world who would bring a team like that into their personal office for weeks on end.”

So, a few years ago, Gore raised some concerns about “search quality,” and then sat in Google’s office for three hours watching ten “search-quality researchers and specialists in charge of this part of the business” work on solving problems he shared with the company’s owners.

It is not possible to pick one better than all, out of so many truly impressive comments. But here are some that I thought exceptional, in no particular order of preference:

Voltemand’s thorough and deft discussion of the legalities and moralities of torture at #68 on “The Mandate of Heaven” on 8-25-09.

Buddy Larsen’s tour de force on Dan Rather, and on Buddy’s son’s role in exposing Rather’s fraud, at #7 on “The One and the Many.”

Blert’s debunking of the idea of giving Russia the credit for the fall of the Nazis at #56 on “Nothing Half So Melancholy” on 7-23-09.

PapaBear’s short explanation of why Congressional bills are so large and confusing, on “The Constipation of Power” on 7-29-09.

Mongoose’s fine summary of the problems of the U.S. and what must be done (no link – sorry) at #21 on 7-23-09.

Hdgreene’s exposition on the economies of blue vs. red states, same thread as above, #100 on 7-23-09.

Subotai Bahadur’s masterly layout of the course he believes we should take as a nation at #83 on “The Mandate of Heaven” on 8-25-09.

Leo Linbeck III’s rousing explanation of what KIPP is, how it is working out in Houston, and his role in it. No link, sorry. But it was in response to the great post by Wretchard about LL3’s “outing” as a contributor to some fanatic right-wing blog known as “The Belmont Club.”

Like most here, I’m embarrassed to nominate so few, and would like to include everyone already nominated. Sigh. My apologies to the many others I wanted to include.

After 9/11, this particular type of problem was called ‘connecting the dots’. JoeB’s tremendously helpful post @46 shows us the controls of the Google search machine – nice. This is how machines Remember/Recall.

‘Connecting the dots’ machines constantly search, and the results of those machines is what we search, bottom-feeders, natch. Another layer up, the machines pick their own targets to connect. If we’re unlucky, like in the case of Google, ‘puny humans’ are assigning ‘values’ to search targets.

ERGO: Prof W’s current problem – finding our favorite post – aiiiyeeee.

The upside of the insolve-ability of the problem is that computers can’t yet mimic Human Memory. For example: I noticed several of us, HDGreene, Nahncee, me, others? discovered Wretchard’s unique perspective on the truth while we were trying to follow the war at the time of “First Fallujah” (~04/04). Of course, if you search for “First Fallujah” (~04/04), you find no joy – we don’t know which Belmont Clubs are included in our Search, and even worse – we don’t quite recall what fabulously creative Title our Prof W assigned.

Other TOPIC: the Big Picture, as revealed by Blindman 128 and Fletcher Christian 130, it was of course Hubble who proved by the red shift that the universe is expanding, proving we are not only infinitesimally tiny but growing tinier at an accelerating pace. Just like they told us in the Diamond Sutra, there’s nothing new under the sun.

Thus shall you think of this fleeting world:
A star at dawn, a bubble in a stream,
A flash of lightning in a summer cloud,
A flickering lamp, a phantom, and a dream.

Oh, wait, sorry — this IS Professor Wretchard’s Poetry, Philosophy, Writing Class, isn’t it?

rufus 2006
who dat

JakeGint 2007
who dat

RWE 2008
who dat

buddy 2009
who dat

My pick for best thread:

http://pajamasmedia.com/richardfernandez/2009/03/07/the-obama-economy/

I must say that, besides the odd toll or moonbat, there really are really very few posters I do not read and value, though I certainly agree with everyone’s lst here.

I think in the end, there is no one particular writer–LL3 has it right. However, I more would like to think of myself as a cello or a piano rather than a double base, but I get the point.

BC has a way of pulling the best out of people, I feel. The nature of this forum bring out a certain decorum, as certain honesty and a respect for ideas and language. We can thank wretchard for this–and also thank each other.

One wishes that there were more venues such as BC.

A similar thought occurred to me at first. But only momentarily because, at bottom, my honest opinion is: when something particularly meritorious comes along, it should be lauded and applauded.

I’d like to see more nominations. But will Wretchard drop the whole idea if too few come in before closing time?