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***Geek Club History Draft***

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I had to laugh when I saw that Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso was still available and undrafted. I mean, come on people, he tied for the most popular world leader in a poll taken in 2013 in the U.S. and eight European countries.

 

Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso - Religious leader

 

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This is Bear's pick. You know this guy. TBBOM can go.

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This baby losing any steam?

Well, we're on the down side of the hill now. I've still got a good number of names that I'm trying to get in before the others take them. I'm still quite grumpy when names I've got backed up get swiped. But at some point, I'll transition to more obscure names I don't think that they have heard of.

 

But I'm still all congested at this point. I need eight talk show guests, I've only got about five really good ones in my head. Otherwise I pretty much am done.

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I've also got a decision to make on 'Wildcard'. Do I want to use it on guys who should get drafted but didn't, or on ones that don't fit in any category?

 

There are guys that should go but that aren't going to get picked and that's going to be quite frustrating.

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Josef Mengele - evil mother focker

 

A doctor at auschwitz who enjoyed performing selections, and carried out painful and deadly medical experiments.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josef_Mengele

 

When you are known as "the angel of death" anywhere, it's evil. At auchwitz, it's a special evil.

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Michael Phelps - Athlete

 

Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985)[6] is an American competition swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time, with a total of 22 medals in three Olympiads. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold medals (18, double the second highest record holders), Olympic gold medals in individual events (11), and Olympic medals in individual events for a male (13). In winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Games, Phelps took the record away from fellow swimmer Mark Spitz (7) for the most first-place finishes at any single Olympic Games. Five of those victories were in individual events, tying the single Games record. In the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, Phelps won four golds and two silver medals, making him the most successful athlete of the Games for the third Olympics in a row.[7]

 

Phelps is the long course world recordholder in the 100-meter butterfly, 200-meter butterfly and 400-meter individual medley as well as the former long course world recordholder in the 200-meter freestyle and 200-meter individual medley. He has won a total of 77 medals in major international long-course competition, totalling 61 gold, 13 silver, and 3 bronze spanning the Olympics, the World, and the Pan Pacific Championships. Phelps's international titles and record-breaking performances have earned him the World Swimmer of the Year Award seven times and American Swimmer of the Year Award nine times as well as the FINA Swimmer of the Year Award in 2012. His unprecedented Olympic success in 2008 earned Phelps Sports Illustrated magazine's Sportsman of the Year award.

 

After the 2008 Summer Olympics, Phelps started the Michael Phelps Foundation, which focuses on growing the sport of swimming and promoting healthier lifestyles. He continues to work with his foundation after the 2012 Olympics, which he has said would be his last. In April 2014, Phelps announced he would come out of retirement, and would enter an event later that month.[8]

 

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He's coming out of retirement and will still only be 30/31 by next summer's Olympics so he may have some more medals to go yet on his resume.

 

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Mayer Amschel Rothschild - Businessman

 

A German banker and the founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty, which is believed to have become the wealthiest family in human history. Referred to as the "founding father of international finance."

 

This was a very secretive family and many great rumors of the Illuminati, some secret Jewish cabal bent on taking over the Earth swirled around them. I dunno, I'm not big on conspiracy stuff and didn't look too hard into it, I'm more inclined to think that they were just really successful bankers.

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From Bear....

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The category is religious leaders and nobody has The Pope? Pope Francis - Religious Leader. Just think, there are a few people who can say they were bounced out of a night club by a guy who would become Pope. That gives me the Dalai Lama, Buddha, Krishna, and the Pope.

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To Vudu (or 90sbaby who is still owed two picks).

 

If 90sbaby gets his two in, he's on deck for another two after Vudu goes. If Vudu goes first, 90sbaby then gets four straight.

 

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Poet:

 

 

I don't have youtube access so I can't see this and don't know who the Poet pick is. Now, I did a search with the youtube address plugged in and I think it's Bob Dylan, but I'd like for someone to confirm that.

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From the great state of Oklahoma, Will Rogers - Thinker:

 

The fellow that can only see a week ahead is always the popular fellow, for he is looking with the crowd. But the one that can see years ahead, he has a telescope but he can't make anybody believe that he has it.

WILL ROGERS, The Autobiography of Will Rogers

 

You can't say civilization don't advance ... in every war they kill you in a new way.

WILL ROGERS, New York Times, Dec. 23, 1929

 

People are getting smarter nowadays; they are letting lawyers, instead of their conscience, be their guide.

WILL ROGERS, "Helping the Girls with Their Income Taxes," The Illiterate Digest

 

I am not a member of any organized party -- I am a Democrat.

WILL ROGERS, quoted in Phillips' Treasury of Humorous Quotations

 

Democrats always were a cheap lot. They never had much money to operate on.... They would rather make a speech than a dollar. They cultivate their voice instead of their finances.

WILL ROGERS, Never Met a Man I Didn't Like

 

A Democrat is just like a baby. If it's hollering and making a lot of noise, there is nothing serious the matter with it. When it's quiet and doesn't pay much attention to anything, that's when it's really dangerous.

WILL ROGERS, Never Met a Man I Didn't Like

 

As a young boy, I didn't know a Republican from a Democrat, only in one way: If some man or bunch of men rode up to the ranch to sit or stay all night, and my Father set me to watching 'em all the time they was there -- what they did and what they carried off -- I learned they were Republicans.

WILL ROGERS, Never Met a Man I Didn't Like

 

The Republicans always looked bad three years out of four. But the year they look good is election year. A voter don't expect much. If you give him one good year he is satisfied.

WILL ROGERS, Never Met a Man I Didn't Like

 

I will admit it has rained more under Republican administrations, that was partially because they have had more administrations than Democrats. There is no less sickness, no less earthquakes, no less progress, no less inventions, no less morality, no less Christianity under one than the other. They are all the same. It won't make 50 cents difference to a one of you. Unless you're foolish enough to bet on it.

 

WILL ROGERS, Never Met a Man I Didn't Like

 

Income tax has made more liars out of the American people than golf.

WILL ROGERS, Sanity Is Where You Find It

 

I tell you folks, all politics is applesauce.

WILL ROGERS, The Illiterate Digest, 1924

 

Politics is the ruination of the country. Elect me for life, then they won't have to cater to any interest. If you elect one party to power, why the other party don't do any useful work for the next 4 years, only try to work some scheme to get back in. But if they were elected for life they wouldn't have to worry. The minute a man knows he can't get a political job, he may turn to something useful. A business that's doing well don't change people every 4 years. A man don't no more than get into the White House and learn where the Ice Box is than he has to get out again, then he is never any good for hard work again.

 

All I know is what I read in the papers.

WILL ROGERS, New York Times, Sep. 30, 1923

 

Here we are in a country with more wheat, and more corn, more money in the banks, and more cotton, more everything in the world. There's not a product that you can name that we haven't got more of it than any country ever had on the face of the earth and yet we've got people starving. We'll hold the distinction of being the only nation in the history of the world that ever went to the poor house in an automobile. The potter's fields are lined with granaries full of grain. Now if there ain't something -eyed in an arrangement like that, then this microphone here in front of me, it's, well, it's a cuspidor, that's all.

WILL ROGERS, "Bacon, Beans & Limousines," radio broadcast, Oct. 1931

 

Always drink upstream from the herd.

WILL ROGERS, The Manly Wisdom of Will Rogers

 

This would be a great world to dance in if we didn't have to pay the fiddler.

WILL ROGERS, attributed, Will Rogers (Alworth)

 

Here a few years ago we was so afraid that the poor people were liable to take a drink, that now we're fixed so they can't even get something to eat.

WILL ROGERS, "Bacon, Beans & Limousines," radio broadcast, Oct. 1931

 

Heroing is one of the shortest-lived professions there is.

WILL ROGERS, New York Times, Feb. 15, 1925

 

Be it pestilence, war, or famine, the rich get richer and poor get poorer.

WILL ROGERS, attributed, Diary of America

 

If you ever injected truth into politics you'd have no politics.

WILL ROGERS, Weekly Article #31, Jul. 15, 1923

 

Buy land. They ain't making any more of the stuff.

WILL ROGERS, attributed, Land in America: It's Value, Use, and Control (Wolf)

 

This country has gotten where it is in spite of politics, not by the aid of it. That we have carried as much political bunk as we have and still survived shows we are a super nation.

WILL ROGERS, Daily Telegram, Nov. 1, 1932

 

Why not go out on a limb? That's where the fruit is.

WILL ROGERS, The Reader's Digest, vol. 76, 1960

 

Everybody is ignorant, only on different subjects.

WILL ROGERS, New York Times, Aug. 31, 1924

 

Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.

WILL ROGERS, New York Times, Apr. 29, 1930

 

What the country needs is dirtier fingernails and cleaner minds.

WILL ROGERS, The Saturday Evening Post, 1943

 

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.

WILL ROGERS, attributed, King's Treasury of Dynamic Humor

 

When you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do — well, that's Memoirs.

WILL ROGERS, The Autobiography of Will Rogers

 

There are three kinds of men: The ones that learns by reading. The few who learn by observation. The rest of them have to pee on the electric fence for themselves.

 

 

 

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Will Rogers is a fun pick. Another not on my radar that should have been. I especially love the picks like this that I'd not remembered and then realize how well they stack up against the ones I'm looking at.

 

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90sbaby has been gone since before Thanksgiving. Things have gone full circle and he is now on the clock for four straight picks. We'll wait for him.

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Oh boy.

 

Normally We're at the point where I'd give Vudu the go ahead to skip 90sbaby. The problem is we did that last time. Its unprecedented to skip somebody twice. We haven't heard from him since a day or two before Thanksgiving.

 

I'm not at present giving Vudu the go ahead, I'd rather solicit advice. Its morning in Florida, by evening I hope I things clear up by him posting. If not, its decision time.

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Another day without 90sbaby.

 

Skip him again? Pick for him? Give him another day or three? You guys aren't going to force me to make a decision on my own are you?

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Another day without 90sbaby.

 

Skip him again? Pick for him? Give him another day or three?

The work week starts back up again tomorrow. Perhaps he'll be back at work and have some time that needs wasting then.

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I'm here ladies, I was on the road, I've informed Jeff a few weeks ago what was going on and now thing are coming to a head. I was stuck at a house this last week in Taylorsville, KY (these people are still living in the stone age), and I am flying out again tomorrow. So I checked the first page looks like it hasn't been updated in a few rounds, so I am just going to throw a few names out there. I probably won't be back on the computer in another week but I think all the individuals i want aren't even on anyones board anyway, feel free to skip me and I will post in randomly. I have some family issues and when we started this draft in September I just couldn't predict this. Don't count me out I am in it till the end.

 

APJ Abdul Kalam (scientist) -Little did Jainulabdeen and Ashiamma know that their son would grow up to be the first citizen of India. An Indian scientist and administrator, Kalam served as the 11th President of India from 2002 until 2007. One amongst the most respected people of the country, Kalam contributed immensely both as a scientist and as a president. His contribution at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was immense. He was responsible for numerous projects such as Project Devil and Project Valiant and launch of the Rohini-1, besides developing missiles under the missions Agni and Prithvi. For the same, he was popularly tagged as the “Missile Man of India”. Kalam was honored with great laurels and awards for his work by both the Government of India and other countries. After completing his term as President, Kalam served as a visiting professor in various esteemed institutes and universities of India.

 

 

AC Benson (poet) - Arthur Christopher Benson was an accomplished English author, poet and essayist. A number of his ghost stories have also been published along with stories of the same genre created by his illustrious brothers, Edward Fredric Benson and Robert Hugh Benson. But, he is best known as the author of a particular British patriotic song, ‘Land of Hope and Glory’. He lived closed to a renowned Cathedral as his father was the Archbishop of Canterbury. Perhaps this brought out the ecclesiastical influence in his life. Though marred by spells of deep depression right from childhood to his last years, A. C. Benson was a distinguished academic, who became the 28th Master of Magdalene College at Cambridge. His notable works include ‘The Upton Letters’ and ‘From a College Window’. As he was also a notable biographer - he co-edited Queen Victoria’s letters. However, A. C. Benson is renowned for his diary entries that he had recorded in about 180 notebooks. The author was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in Britain, and founded the Benson Medal to honour most meritorious works in fiction, poetry, history and “belles-lettres”.

 

 

AA Milne (poet) - “A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside.” Does this quote remind you of someone? Of course, of the cute little yellow bear, Winnie the Pooh. Wondering who fancied the creation of this bear character? Well, it was A. A. Milne. A pioneer in penning children’s books, Milne has contributed immensely to the literary world throughout his career. From his satirical write-ups in Punch, to his spy story in “The Red House Mystery” to the highly imaginative and creative tales of Winnie the Pooh, Milne has catered to a wide array of audience. During his active years, Milne made a name for himself as a playwright as well. Milne’s contribution as a novelist and poet in the genre of children’s literature has been exemplary and it is for the same that his character still continues to enjoy roaring success even today. To know more about the life and career of Milne, browse through the following lines.

 

 

Aeschylus (poet) - Aeschylus was a Greek tragedian who gave his life to dramatic arts. He laid the foundation and groundwork that was required for the art to flourish in the world. While he served as the initiator, Sophocles and Euripides took over as his notable successors. Till date, the works of the trio, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides survive and can be read or performed. Aeschylus often referred to as the father of tragedy, was truly the founder of Greek tragedy. It is through his works that the basic understanding of the earlier tragedies was developed. His plays have been serving as the point of reference till date. At the time when Aeschylus began writing, theatre was just about evolving. Plays performed then were just about choral poetry supplemented with expressive dance. Aeschylus not just worked on the genre but brought about new theme by introducing a second actor in the play in the form of chorus. In his lifetime, he is said to have written about ninety plays of which only seven survive till date. Nevertheless, these seven plays help in the basic understanding of earlier tragedies.

 

 

Alexander Pope (poet) can't believe he is still on the board - An 18th-century English poet, Alexander Pope was best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of the works of Homer. Born in London, England, he was raised as a Catholic, which proved to be a matter of concern as Catholics were barred of their fundamental rights and forcefully ousted from London. He nevertheless did not let this hamper his learning ability and read on everything he could lay his hands on. Since an early age, he was inspired by the works of classical literary figures Horace, Juvenal, Homer, Virgil, William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer and John Dryden. Throughout his life, he came up major works titled, ‘Pastorals’, ‘Essays on Criticism’, ‘Essay on Man’, ‘The Rape of the Lock’, ‘Windsor Forest’ and so on. His magnum opus was ‘The Dunciad’ which he first published in 1728. Later on, he came up with revised versions of ‘The Dunciad’ until 1740s. His works are mostly written in the heroic couplet style. To know more about his life and works, read through the following lines.

 

 

and last but not least my favorite pick....

 

 

Albert Hofmann (scientist) - Albert Hofmann was a Swiss scientist who was intrigued by nature. This led him to a career in chemistry in which he sought answers to his uncertainties. He worked at Sandoz Laboratories where he nurtured his research work, and there he made a lot of success working with various plants and converting them into something useful. He became famous when he became the first person to produce lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). In addition, he was also the first person to taste it and learn about its hallucinogenic effects. He was deeply connected to the nature and argued that LSD, besides being useful for psychiatry, could also be used to promote awareness of mankind’s place in nature. However, he was disappointed that his discovery was being carelessly used as a drug for entertainment. Because of his discovery, LSD fans have fondly called him ‘The Father of LSD.’ Besides carrying out his scientific experiments, he also authored numerous books and more than 100 scientific articles. In 2007, he featured in a list of the 100 greatest living geniuses, published by The Telegraph newspaper.

 

 

 

 

 

​PS Jeff if I am the highest scorer in CCMDL I wan't Primal Fear as the feature.

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General - tactical

 

Chief Sitting Bull (collaborator Crazy Horse)

 

Driven from their land, with their people being wiped out by starvation, disease, and genocide these 2 men decided to take a stand against it all.

 

They did so by waging the greatest battle the west had ever seen at Little Big Horn.

 

They knew all about Custer's arrogance and thirst for Indian blood and they used it against him to give him what he had coming

 

Say what you want about the nation's progress, but most of the atrocities inflicted upon the natives were wholly unnecessary.

 

Fock Custer.

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For Bear

 

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Contributions to quantum theory, nuclear reactions and nuclear fission

Niels Henrik David Bohr, a native of Copenhagen, Denmark and his contribution to the world of physics rests on his study and explanation of the atomic structure. In addition, he helped in the understanding of quantum mechanics and in so doing founded the Institute of Theoretical Physics located at the University of Copenhagen, the institute has been renamed to the Niels Bohr Institute.

 

Niels Bohr - Scientist (Physics)

 

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TBBOM goes

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My second pick...

 

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel - engineer

 

 

(born Bonickhausen dit Eiffel; /ˈaɪfəl/; French pronunciation: ​[efɛl]; 15 December 1832 27 December 1923) was a French civil engineer and architect. A graduate of the prestigious École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures of France, he made his name with various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the Garabit viaduct. He is best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, and his contribution to building the Statue of Liberty in New York. After his retirement from engineering, Eiffel concentrated his energy on research into meteorology and aerodynamics, making important contributions in both fields.

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My first choice on this corner was a big believer in cross cultural exchanges ...

 

 

"I, or rather the Lord, beseech you as Christ's heralds to publish this everywhere and to perse all people of whatever rank, foot-soldiers and knights, poor and rich, to carry aid promptly to those Christians and to destroy that vile race from the lands of our friends. I say this to those who are present, it is meant also for those who are absent. Moreover, Christ commands it.... this land which you inhabit, shut in on all sides by the seas and surrounded by the mountain peaks, is too narrow for your large population; nor does it abound in wealth; and it furnishes scarcely food enough for its cultivators. Hence it is that you murder one another, that you wage war, and that frequently you perish by mutual wounds. Let therefore hatred depart from among you, let your quarrels end, let wars cease, and let all dissensions and controversies slumber. Enter upon the road to the Holy Sepulchre; wrest that land from the wicked race, and subject it to yourselves ... God has conferred upon you above all nations great glory in arms. Accordingly undertake this journey for the remission of your sins, with the assurance of the imperishable glory of the Kingdom of Heaven." - Pope Urban II at the Council of Clairmont November 27, 1095

 

 

...involving swords and arrows.

 

Here are Robert the Monk comments on the Pope's speech

 

When Pope Urban had said these ... things in his urbane discourse, he so influenced to one purpose the desires of all who were present, that they cried out "It is the will of God! It is the will of God!". When the venerable Roman pontiff heard that, [he] said: "Most beloved brethren, today is manifest in you what the Lord says in the Gospel, 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst of them.' Unless the Lord God had been present in your spirits, all of you would not have uttered the same cry. For, although the cry issued from numerous mouths, yet the origin of the cry was one. Therefore I say to you that God, who implanted this in your breasts, has drawn it forth from you. Let this then be your war-cry in combats, because this word is given to you by God. When an armed attack is made upon the enemy, let this one cry be raised by all the soldiers of God: It is the will of God! It is the will of God!"

And thus began the First Crusade.

 

Pope Urban II - Wildcard

 

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And my other pick is

 

Sappho - Great Woman

 

Keep her in Great Woman for now but I will likely later move either her to Poet or Jane Austen to Fiction Writer (or move both) because I think both can hold their own shoulder to shoulder with the guys and I also because I have three more Great Women candidates I really want and only two spots so it depends on how things play out.

 

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TBBOM has his corner done already so go on to Bear now.

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Although cannons were in wide use in the 1500's, the Japanese navy liked to board other ships and fight hand to hand. When you have Samurai swordsman, this is not a bad idea. They would mount a single cannon on their ships, give the warriors muskets and keep the fighting close-in.

On the other hand, if you knew you were going to face the Japanese, at the time, you would be wise to consider a long range approach. Redesign a ship with eighteen cannons of four types. The Japanese muskets had an effective range of about the same distance as a bow and arrow. Most of your cannons would have a range of 200 to 300 yards, while one of your small cannons could reach out and touch someone from 1200 yards. To further vex the Japanese, you cover the top deck of your ship in iron spikes, while hiding you men below, away from the reach of a musket. Your ship gets a dragon head that belches yellow sulfur smoke that cloaks your movement. The dragon head can also put out poisonous smoke and house yet another cannon. For speed, you have 80 rowers on a 100 foot ship. The design gives you the ability to turn completely around on the ships axis. The ships were called Turtle Ships.

This was the tactical advantage that allowed Korean Naval General Yi Sun shin to win every battle. He defeated 133 Japanese ships with 13.

British Admiral George Alexander Ballard said of him:

It is always difficult for Englishmen to admit that Nelson ever had an equal in his profession, but if any man is entitled to be so regarded, it should be this great naval commander of Asiatic race who never knew defeat and died in the presence of the enemy; of whose movements a track-chart might be compiled from the wrecks of hundreds of Japanese ships lying with their valiant crews at the bottom of the sea, off the coasts of the Korean peninsula... and it seems, in truth, no exaggeration to assert that from first to last he never made a mistake, for his work was so complete under each variety of circumstances as to defy criticism...

Yi Sun-shin - General (Tactical)

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We've got two picks in the tiller for 90sbaby so if Vudu doesn't take one, he can go twice.

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He paved the way for Martin Short, Jim Carrey, Peter Sellers, Eddie Murphy, Mike Meyers and countless other big screen buffoons.

He also showed the world that comedians can be great serious actors, again laying the path for Michael Keaton, Tom Hanks and others. He could also cut the rug a little bit.

From 1966-2010, he hosted an annual telethon that raised over $2B for muscular distrophy.

Just ask the French about Performing Artist - Jerry Lewis

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90sbany's picks of Alexander Pope and Hoffman the LSD guy go in here and it's back to Vudu.

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Social Scientist

 

Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber, one of the founding thinkers of sociology. In his lifetime, Weber penned numerous essays and books.

 

Some of his most important theoretical contributions include his formulation of the connection between culture and economy; conceptualizing how people and institutions come to have authority, and how they keep it; and, the "iron cage" of bureaucracy and how it shapes our lives.

 

Weber's most well-known and widely read work is The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This book is considered a landmark text of social theory and sociology generally because of how Weber convincingly illustrates the important connections between culture and economy. Positioned against Marx's historical materialist approach to theorizing the emergence and development of capitalism, Weber presented a theory in which the values of ascetic Protestantism fostered the acquisitive nature of the capitalist economic system.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Trivia: Jerry Lewis only wears a pair of socks once.

That's awesome.

 

He never fails to make me crack a smile.

 

There seems to be very little middle ground on people's opinions of Jerry. I think he's great, but my dad claims to hate him and all slapstick comedy. Yet, he used to laugh out loud at coyote and road runner cartoons.

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Any example I gave of this man's music would be a misrepresentation of the rest of his work.


Many people who followed him were musicians who, like me just couldn't believe what they were hearing. He reminds me of the lesson I learned from Steely Dan. I thought Steely Dan was going to change everything with the breadth and dynamics of there music, when in fact, they changed nothing at all. Nobody else could combine the song writing with the studio grade players.


Here is a misrepresentation for you. I considered "Billy was a Mountain" and "Village of the Sun", but being a guitar player I trip on this one:




Frank Zappa - Composer
  • Like 1

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Any example I gave of this man's music would be a misrepresentation of the rest of his work.
Many people who followed him were musicians who, like me just couldn't believe what they were hearing. He reminds me of the lesson I learned from Steely Dan. I thought Steely Dan was going to change everything with the breadth and dynamics of there music, when in fact, they changed nothing at all. Nobody else could combine the song writing with the studio grade players.
Here is a misrepresentation for you. I considered "Billy was a Mountain" and "Village of the Sun", but being a guitar player I trip on this one:
Frank Zappa - Composer

 

Nice work!

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Sir Francis Drake - jack of all trades

 

He was a slaver and businessman.

 

He was a military man, including capturing Cadiz and Corunna and defeating the Spanish Armada.

 

He was a politician, serving in parliament and as mayor of Plymouth.

 

He was an explorer, completing the second circumnavigation of the globe, and the first captain to survive the voyage.

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Never mind. He's taken.

 

I'll take friedrich nietzsche - thinker

 

Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche (/ˈniːtʃə/[1] German: [ˈfʁiːdʁɪç ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈniːt͡sʃə]; 15 October 1844 – 25 August 1900) was a German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, and Latin and Greek scholar whose work has exerted a profound influence on Western philosophy and modern intellectual history.[2][3][4][5]

 

Nietzsche's body of writing spanned philosophical polemics, poetry, cultural criticism, aphorism, and fiction while displaying a fondness for metaphor and irony.[6] His thought drew variously on philosophy, art, history, religion, and science, and engaged with a wide range of subjects including morality, metaphysics, language, epistemology, value, aesthetics, and consciousness. Among the chief elements of his philosophy are his radical rejection of the existence and value of objective truth; his atheistic critique of religion and morality, and of Christianity in particular, which he characterized as propagating a slave morality in the service of cultural decline and the denial of life;[2][7] his characterization of the human subject as the expression of competing wills, collectively understood as the will to power;[8] and the affirmation of existence in response to the "death of God" and the profound challenge of nihilism.[2] His later work, which saw him develop influential (and frequently misunderstood) concepts such as the Übermensch and the doctrine of eternal recurrence, became increasingly preoccupied with the creative powers of the individual to overcome social, cultural, and moral contexts toward a state of aesthetic health.[5]

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So I was standing at the front gate for a half hour doing the 'greet the children' bit I do each morning responding to PMs from TBBOM.

 

-Sorry, Drake's taken.

 

-Nietzsche is taken too.

 

-Yes he is, he's hiding out in JoaT.

 

So now TBBOM is off to class and we have to wait two hours.

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Ok. Now that I have more time, let's do this right.

 

I'll finish out my Statesman category.

 

I select William Pitt the Younger - Statesman

 

Twice Prime Minister of England, Pitt was able to rehabilitate the Crown's finances after the American War of Independence, and resolved the debt crisis.

 

He solidified British control over India, by shifting more power away from the East India Company into control of his majesties government.

 

But he earns this pick for steering the British Government through the Napoleonic Wars. Just like in World War II, for much of this conflict, Britain stood alone. Pitt was able to adjust British finance to weather the effects of Napoleon's Continental System, and pay for the massive buildup in British naval power to fight the war.

 

He also was instrumental in forming the coalitions that brought Napoleon down.

 

After the battle of Trafalgar, this exchange occured...

 

At the annual Lord Mayor's Banquet toasting him as "the Saviour of Europe", Pitt responded In a few words that became the most famous speech of his life:

I return you many thanks for the honour you have done me; but Europe is not to be saved by any single man. England has saved herself by her exertions, and will, as I trust, save Europe by her example.

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For my second pick... I'm thrilled this guy is still availiable this late. He's one of my favorites.

 

Thomas More - Jack of all trades.

 

You can call him Sir Thomas More. Or Saint Thomas More. Whichever.

 

More was an English lawyer, social philosopher, author, statesman and noted Renaissance humanist. He was also a councillor to Henry VIII, and Lord High Chancellor of England from October 1529 to 16 May 1532.

 

He had several notable accomplishments. He was high steward at Oxford and Cambridge universities. He held a long list of political offices, and was an important diplomat. He was a noted jurist, eventually serving as Chancellor of the Dutchy of Lancaster, basically running the judicial system of northern England.

 

But the two biggies...

 

He wrote the book Utopia which, you can make a strong argument, invented communism hundreds of years before Marx and Engles did. In fact, the Soviet Union once posthumously honored him for just that. If you haven't read it, I recommend it. Its a very interesting book. It creates an island society and spells out in detail the Utopian way of life. The book is where the word Utopia comes from obviously.

 

And secondly, he strongly opposed the Protestant Reformation. He refused to acnowledge his boss, and friend, Henry VIII, as the head of the church, and refused to acknowledge the annulment of his marriage to Catherine of Aragon.

 

Ultimately, he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, and was beheaded for treason.

 

More was beatified by the Catholic Church as a Reformation martyr in 1866. He is also honored by the Anglican church, who commermorates him every year on the anniversary of his death. Even though they killed him, they too call him "reformation martyr."

 

He was called "the heavenly patron of statesmen and politicians" by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

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