Madam President, I wanted to let a bit of time pass before enquiring. Just over two weeks now and no fellows have actioned my application. I wanted to check in as to the procedure should no other fellow take it up? Even if you are not an expert on my subject (which I don't think any of the other fellows are either) would you hazard an attempt at an appraisal?

I would love to assist with this.

Quote from: Iason Taiwos on Today at 05:26:32 PMI think we should make it January 19th, her birthday. Dolly Parton entering the world was a better event than her departing it.

I agree and I've made the change.

-Txec R

Dolly Parton, may she rest in peace, made it one of her many missions in life to help improve child literacy, and to honour her as a socity, I think we too should do somthing simaler, Gather books together to do donate to a GTA school or Youth organisation.

We are the society for the advancement of knowledge and this is surely the least we can do.

I think we should make it January 19th, her birthday. Dolly Parton entering the world was a better event than her departing it.

She was probably my favorite singer of all time and her joy and music will never be replicated.

-Txec R

Quote from: Baron Alexandreu Davinescu on Today at 02:23:53 PM

Proclamation of Mourning in Honour of Dolly Parton

The Government of the Kingdom of Talossa notes with sorrow the passing of Dolly Rebecca Parton, who died peacefully in Nashville, Tennessee, on the 25th of August, 2026, at the age of eighty. While the world will rightly remember her as one of the great voices of American music, it is for her works of generosity and compassion that we particularly remember her.

Dolly Parton understood, from the poverty of her own childhood, that dignity is not a luxury. Inspired by a father she loved who never learned to read, she built the Imagination Library -- now the largest early childhood book-gifting program in the world, with more than 300 million free books delivered to children across five countries (including my own). Through her Dollywood Foundation, she reduced her home county's high school dropout rate from thirty-five percent to six, funded children's hospitals, and created thousands of jobs in a region that badly needed them. When wildfires struck the Great Smoky Mountains in 2016, she raised over twelve million dollars for displaced families. When the COVID-19 pandemic threatened the world, her million-dollar donation to Vanderbilt University helped fund the early research behind the Moderna vaccine -- and then she rolled up her rhinestone sleeve on camera to get the shot, because she knew her people trusted her more than they trusted a press release.

The Kingdom of Talossa extends its deepest sympathies to the Parton family and to the countless communities she lifted. Her legacy is not measured in platinum records, but in children who learned to read, in families who kept their homes, and in lives that were saved because one woman from the hills of Tennessee decided that she could help. May she rest in peace.

I would like to countersign this proclamation. I had the great pleasure of seeing Dolly in concert some years back at the Hollywood Bowl. My heart aches at the loss but it also feels great joy when thinking of all that she did for the world and her love for life, music, and her fellow humans.

(Baron you beat me to this as I was going to post my own proclamation when I had a few moment!)

I would as King like to take this one step further and declare that henceforth, January 19 shall be known as Dolly Parton Day.

-Txec R

Via a private donation (without use of treasury funds), a full page in the MicroCon 2027 program has been procured.

While we await design criteria from the hosts (Slowjamistan) those interested can be pondering draft layouts.

We have a new winner! Or at least a different one from last year. Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here did not make it through the semifinal, which means we're gonna have a different winner from last year. The rest of last years top 5 is still in the race. Of course Starman would still be a repeat winner if it won and would enter the Hall of Fame in that case.

Spotify playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3QAHYdPpVnElXYd8h1yEpA