I certainly didn't expect to win the Nobel Prize
This is what happens when you turn your phone off.
My daughter shared with me her impression of the 1980s—when I grew up.
It was a time, in her eyes, during which people had no style, their hairstyles were terrible, they wore round glasses, and “iPhones and iPads hadn’t even been invented yet.”
I didn’t know whether to be offended or nostalgic. But you know what? Sometimes I miss it.
Some of you might recall I had the odd out-of-the-blue chance to interview Michael Eisner a few months back—the former Disney CEO. He was talking about his book about summer camp, specifically the place he spent his childhood summers called Keewaydin in Vermont, where kids do overnight canoe trips and spend most of their time outdoors.
No electronics. No iPods. No cell phones, not even as cameras. They lock them in the camp safe on arrival.
“Do they do this for adults?” I asked him.
He laughed, but I was serious.
Which brings me to Fred Ramsdell.
I have 200 text messages
Ramsdell is a 64-year-old cancer researcher. He was parked at a campground in Montana on Monday afternoon after weeks of camping and hiking across the Rocky Mountains when his wife, Laura O’Neill, suddenly started shouting.
He first thought maybe she’d seen a bear. Instead, she’d regained cellular service and seen a flood of text messages. “You just won the Nobel Prize!” she yelled.
“No, I didn’t,” Ramsdell said. His phone had been on airplane mode. But his wife insisted: “I have 200 text messages saying that you did!”
They had missed a 2 a.m. call from the Nobel committee announcing that Ramsdell and two others had been awarded the 2025 prize for medicine for their research into the immune system. His lab later said he “was living his best life and was off the grid on a preplanned hiking trip.”
Ramsdell was offline, as he usually is while on vacation. His wife, on the other hand, preferred to stay connected.
“I certainly didn’t expect to win the Nobel Prize,” he told the NYT from a hotel in Montana. “It never crossed my mind.”
Three weeks in the Rockies
The stop in Montana near Yellowstone was nearly the end of a three-week vacation that crossed the mountain ranges of Idaho, Wyoming and Montana. Ramsdell, O’Neill, and two dogs -- a Gordon setter and rescue husky mix -- had set off from Seattle in their Toyota 4Runner with a small teardrop trailer in the back.
A teardrop trailer. Two dogs. Three weeks in the Rockies. This is a man who won the Nobel Prize and vacations like a retired park ranger.
(Note to my wife who reads this newsletter; I think a trip like this will be in our future, someday.)
When he got to the hotel in Livingston, Montana, on Monday night, Ramsdell finally spoke with Thomas Perlmann, the secretary-general of the Nobel Assembly—about 20 hours after Perlmann first tried to call him.
Perlmann said in an interview that it had never been this difficult to reach a laureate since he assumed the role in 2016. (Someone call Guinness.)
How do you think we pay the mortgage?
As much as I like to say I’m not addicted to my phone and other screens, I am. My daughter says maybe I need a screen time limitation app, like we use for her.
(Counterpoint, Darling Daughter: How do you think we pay the mortgage? Yes, with things I do on screens.)
Still, I’ve tried unplugging. I last maybe three hours before I convince myself I need to “just check one thing.”
But Ramsdell did it for three weeks , and the Nobel Prize waited. He set a boundary.
The research waited. The interviews waited. The congratulatory phone calls waited.
And when he finally came back online, the world was still there.
The Nobel Prize didn’t go away. It didn’t get rescinded. The Committee didn’t say, “Well, he didn’t answer, so we’re giving it to someone else.”
Almost everything can wait.
On Tuesday, Ramsdell planned to drive the six hours left on his trip to get to his fall and winter home near Whitefish, Montana. “I was just grateful and humbled by getting the award, super happy for the recognition of the work in general and just looking forward to sharing this with my colleagues, as well,” he said.
And then, presumably, he got back in his 4Runner with his two dogs and drove six more hours.
Maybe there’s hope for the rest of us yet.
7 other things worth knowing
The FAA is bracing for nationwide air traffic disruptions as a result of the shutdown. On Tuesday night, staffing shortages hit several major control centers: Chicago, Nashville, Houston and Las Vegas. Also, Hollywood Burbank Airport in California went without any air traffic controllers on duty for nearly 6 hours, as their duties were handed off to San Diego. (Fox Business)
The White House’s Budget Office says government workers aren’t guaranteed compensation during a shutdown, and President Trump opened the door to blocking back pay: “It really depends on who you’re talking about, but for the most part, we’re going to take care of our people,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “There are some people that really don’t deserve to be taken care of.” (Bloomberg)
The Treasury Department said it is working on a $1 coin featuring Trump’s image to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence next year. “No fake news here. These first drafts honoring America’s 250th Birthday and @POTUS are real,” U.S. Treasurer Brandon Beach wrote in a social media post. (CBS News)
Food Network star and longtime Sonoma County resident Guy Fieri said the 2024 heist of $1 million of his company’s tequila “hurt bad.” The celebrity chef recounted the devastating incident in an interview with “60 Minutes.” (Press Democrat)
Zelda Williams, daughter of Robin Williams, has asked people to stop sending her AI-generated videos of her father. “Please, just stop,” Zelda Williams posted on her Instagram stories. “Stop believing I wanna see it or that I’ll understand, I don’t and I won’t. … If you’ve got any decency, just stop doing this to him and to me.” (BBC)
Buckle up, the smart glasses backlash is coming. (Gizmodo)
Wait a sec, that’s Colonel Umberg! I came across this story: California legislators passed a law to mandate that the noise level of commercials is at the same level as the movie or TV series being streamed. [T]he bill, had been shepherded by Sen. Thomas Umberg (D-Santa Ana) through the legislative process. Lo and behold, Senator Umberg was my old commanding officer in the Army Reserve in the days just after 9/11, back when I was Lieutenant Murphy. Glad to hear he turned out O.K. (Hollywood Reporter)
Thanks for reading. Photo by Redd Francisco on Unsplash. I wrote about some of this before at Inc.com. See you in the comments.
About the Coin. I thought there was some rule stating that US coins cannot bear the image of a living president. LMK
Wishing everyone nice surprises when they reopen their emails after taking a break!