President Barack Obama overcame a very crowded field of potential finalists to win the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.  Obama took home the award, and the big cash prize, for “his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”  Given that he faced some pretty fierce competition, it’s kind of surprising that he won.  (I’m not sure anyone in America even knew he was nominated.)  It’s also kind of surprising that he won considering the universal response on Twitter this morning is people asking, “Wait, what?  Why did he win the Nobel Prize again?  What did he do?”

The only thing I can think that he’s done is win the Presidency and not be George Bush.  This historic and random victory makes Obama the third sitting President to win the Nobel Prize after Theodore Roosevelt in 1906 and Woodrow Wilson in 1919.  This must be some kind of weird gift from the Swedish and Norwegians.  I mean, that’s pretty much his big accomplishment, unlike people like Martin Luther King Jr., Mother Teresa, and other famous winners.

I have no place to criticize, I’m just mystified (like everyone else).  In the words of 1983 Nobel Laureate Lech Walesa, “So soon? Too early. He has no contribution so far. He is still at an early stage. He is only beginning to act.”

Tags: Barack Obama, President Obama, Obama Nobel Prize, Nobel Peace Prize 2009, President wins Nobel Prize

The Hump is one of many trendy foodie outposts in environmentally-conscious Santa Monica, California.  However, a sting operation conducted by the producers of the Oscar-winning short “The Cove,” about the annual dolphin kill in Japan, revealed that The Hump’s airport location has been serving meat from an endangered animal in its sushi.  The Hump’s head […]

Charles L. Stewart’s religious practices are a bit strange.  He claims that, as part of his religion, he had to illegally import a dangerously invasive species of Giant African Snail so as to protect his followers from illnesses.  Stewart, from Hialeah, Florida, maintains that drinking the mucus from living snails is a common practice to […]

Sometimes it’s really, really hard not to make a Polish joke.  For example, when a Polish guy robs a bank with a spoon.  Or, in this case, when a Polish great-grandmother gets banned from riding her bicycle after biking around while drunk.  However, while the concept is funny, the penalty is not.   Keystyna Patycka, a […]

On the remote island of Svalbard, Norway, is the most genetically-diverse spot on planet Earth.  The island itself isn’t the most pleasant place; in fact, it’s a miserable, frozen rock above the Arctic Circle where the only wandering life is polar bears.  However, dug into the side of Platåberget Mountain is the Doomsday Vault.  Better […]

I’m not sure what to blame for this one.  The recession?  The fact that nobody uses cash anymore?  The fact that she robbed what sounds to me like a little bodega?  Take your pick.  Either way, a woman in Thermal, California went to a lot of effort for very little reward.  She used a semiautomatic […]

After one too many close calls with a screeching, honking car, Peter Smith had officially had enough.  Tired of eating dust and getting cursed at by angry drivers, the dedicated bicycle rider from Austin, Texas, started circulating a petition.  Over 2 years and 50,000 signatures later, and he finally achieved his dream:  Google Maps has […]

Normally at this time of year, Wilbraham Park in West Cape May, New Jersey is a pretty depressing place.  It’s still at the tail-end of winter there, so everything’s dark and dreary and generally not the most pleasant to look at.  Of course, when spring comes, everything will be green again, but until then someone […]