The 2011 MacArthur Genius Grants (aka "The Emmys of Smart People") have been announced. Among the 22 winners of the $500,000 prize were a physicist, a cellist, a silversmith and Jad Abumrad, the host of the NPR radio show "Radiolab". Now they will be flown to the rain forests of Brazil to do battle in a series of increasingly-absurd physical challenges. See who emerges as "America's Strongest Genius!" Wednesdays, this fall on NBC.

David Simon, creator of The Wire, was among 23 recipients of the $500,000 MacArthur "Genius" grant. Clearly the MacArthur committee spent all last week watching The Wire instead of choosing geniuses and did this to justify their procrastination.