Flutterby™! : Inessential

Michael Lewis: Portrait of an Inessential Government Worker

During the shutdown I’d stumbled upon a very long list of federal workers who had been nominated for an obscure public-service award called the Sammies. Virtually all the people on the list had been laid off without pay and more or less told by their society that their work was not all that important. I wondered what it felt like to be at once up for an award for one’s work, and required by law not to do it. The list was in alphabetical order. At the top was Arthur A. Allen.

Arthur A. Allen was an oceanographer focused on search and rescue. Fascinating read.

Via MeFi