***Geek Club History Draft***

[Voltaire 5,392]

It was under one of their ablest and most renowned commanders, with a veteran army, and with every apparent advantage of time, place, and circumstance, that the Arabs made their great effort at the conquest of Europe north of the Pyrenees.

 

- Sir Edward Creasy

 

----------

 

Wars they always change history. It's just their nature. But I think the biggest war ever fought that had the potential to change Western History the most it was the Muslim Invasion of Europe in 732. Util then, Islam had seemed unstoppable it'd swept the Christians out of Syria, Egypt, North Africa, and the Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal). And now they had crossed the Pyranees.

They had been put in check previously by Odo, but now they had defeated him. Only one Army could stop them...

 

 

If ever a "Battle of Evermore" existed it was at Tours in northern France 732. "European schoolchildren learn about the Battle of Tours in much the same way that American students learn about Valley Forge and Gettysburg," writes Dexter Wakefield.

 

Islam vs Christianity. Umayyad vs Franks. Abderame vs.

 

Charles Martel - General (Strategic)

 

By the time of Tours in 732, Martel had already established himself as the dominate force in Christian Western Europe. He'd united the Frankish kingdoms and had conqured Baravia from the Gernamics. Odo to his south had retreated form the Muslims and sought aid, pledged loyalty. Charles Martel realized he would need to raise and train a full time Army.

 

To obtain money he seized church lands and property, and used the funds to pay his soldiers. The same Charles who had secured the support of the ecclesia by donating land, seized some of it back between 724 and 732. Of course, Church officials were enraged, and, for a time, it looked as though Charles might even be excommunicated for his actions. But then came a significant invasion.

 

The Muslims were not aware, at that time, of the true strength of the Franks, or the fact that they were building a disciplined army instead of the typical barbarian hordes that had dominated Europe after Rome's fall. The Arab Chronicles, the history of that age, show that Arab awareness of the Franks as a growing military power came only after the Battle of Tours when the Caliph expressed shock at his army's catastrophic defeat.

 

Charles Martel would spend the rest of his career pushing the Muslims back out of Gaul into Spain victorious each time. He'd turn away three Muslim invasions.

 

 

Many historians, including Sir Edward Creasy, believe that had he failed at Poitiers, Islam would probably have overrun Gaul, and perhaps the remainder of Western Europe. Gibbon made clear his belief that the Umayyad armies would have conquered from Japan to the Rhine, and even England, having the English Channel for protection, with ease, had Charles not prevailed. Creasy said "the great victory won by Charles Martel ... gave a decisive check to the career of Arab conquest in Western Europe, rescued Christendom from Islam, [and] preserved the relics of ancient and the germs of modern civilization."

 

Gibbon's belief that the fate of Christianity hinged on this battle is echoed by other historians including John B. Bury, and was very popular for most of modern historiography. It fell somewhat out of style in the 20th century, when historians such as Bernard Lewis contended that Arabs had little intention of occupying northern France. More recently, however, many historians have tended once again to view the Battle of Poitiers as a very significant event in the history of Europe and Christianity. Equally, many, such as William E. Watson, still believe this battle was one of macrohistorical world-changing importance, if they do not go so far as Gibbon does rhetorically.

 

Indeed, 12 years later, when Charles had thrice rescued Gaul from Umayyad invasions, Antonio Santosuosso noted when he destroyed an Umayyad army sent to reinforce the invasion forces of the 735 campaigns, "Charles Martel again came to the rescue."

[Voltaire 5,392]

Marcel Proust - Writer (Fiction)

 

TBBOM's two are in so it's to Bear.

[jerryskids 6,974]

Marcel Proust - Writer (Fiction)

 

TBBOM's two are in so it's to Bear.

Great call on Proust IMO. I was first introduced to his works through Steve Carell's character in Little Miss Sunshine, which was an awesome movie BTW. This late in the draft, to get the author of "In Search of Lost Time" which is arguably the best book/series of all time, is quite a coup.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Great call on Proust IMO. I was first introduced to his works through Steve Carell's character in Little Miss Sunshine, which was an awesome movie BTW. This late in the draft, to get the author of "In Search of Lost Time" which is arguably the best book/series of all time, is quite a coup.

 

1 Earnest Hemingway - BPB - 6.2

2 Charles Dickens - BPB - 14.3

3 Leo Tolstoy - TBBOM - 24.4

4 Mark Twain - Vudu - 30.2

5 John Steinbeck - Vudu - 45.4

6 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - BPB - 48.3

7 Fyodor Dostoyevsky - TBBOM - 60.3

8 Miguel de Cervantes - Volty - 62.7

9 James Joyce - Volty - 63.1

10 Agatha Christie - BPB - 73.4

 

Thanks. I'm glad he was there too.

 

As for people falling, that doesn't surprise me in the slightest. The backlog of great names is endless and I suspect I'll be amazed (and frustrated) with who's still out there unchosen at the end of round 144. As for Proust, in fairness, it's a deep category with lots of talent. That's a solid list of names taken ahead of him. While I like him better than some of them, it's all subjective. Looking at them, they're all solid picks.

 

I've got more Great Women to get than I have spots for. There's a pretty good chance that I'll later move Jane Austen here from out of Great Woman so Proust could well be my last pick in the Fiction Writer category. Then again, I could utilize the Talk Show Guest and Wildcard category on them. I dunno yet. I do know there's not going to be nearly enough room for everybody I want to get.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Great call on Proust IMO. I was first introduced to his works through Steve Carell's character in Little Miss Sunshine, which was an awesome movie BTW. This late in the draft, to get the author of "In Search of Lost Time" which is arguably the best book/series of all time, is quite a coup.

 

 

1 Earnest Hemingway - BPB - 6.2

2 Charles Dickens - BPB - 14.3

3 Leo Tolstoy - TBBOM - 24.4

4 Mark Twain - Vudu - 30.2

5 John Steinbeck - Vudu - 45.4

6 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - BPB - 48.3

7 Fyodor Dostoyevsky - TBBOM - 60.3

8 Miguel de Cervantes - Volty - 62.7

9 James Joyce - Volty - 63.1

10 Agatha Christie - BPB - 73.4

 

People falling doesn't surprise me. The backlog of great names is endless and I suspect I'll be amazed with who's still out there unchosen at the end of round 144. As for Proust, in fairness, it's a deep category with lots of talent. I like Proust better than some of these names taken ahead of him but it's all subjective and looking at who went first, they're all solid picks.

 

I've got more Great Women to get than I have spots for. There's a pretty good chance that I'll later move Jane Austen here from out of Great Woman so Proust could well be my last pick in the Fiction Writer category. Then again, I could use the Talk Show Guest and Wildcard category on them. I dunno yet.

[BiPolarBear 495]

This bastard, named after an intestinal parasite, put about 7000 pregnant women and their families to death while grieving for the death of his mother. When someone stepped forward and mentioned that everybody dies, and you may want to stop killing your people, he conceded that the man was right and gave him a herd of cattle. I think we can all agree, that if you can admit your mistakes you are still growing.<br /><br />He is considered the greatest military leader to come out of the continent. He designed weapons and took his men on 50 mile hikes to get them in shape. Guess what happened to anyone that could not keep up or complained...(Yes, you are right!)<br /><br />He came up with a military tactic known as the Bull Horn: A group of seasoned warriors (this group referred to as the Chest), would confront an enemy army head on. Younger warrior (the Horns)would flank the enemy to both sides, and attempt to surround them. The last group of warriors (the Lions) were held in reserve. After the tribe was defeated he gave them a choice of joining up with him or being put immediately to death. That meant that every battle ended with a larger force and more subjects than he started with, before the fight. These tactics took him from 1500 subjects to a quarter of a million in 10 years. He also conquered. Two million square miles of land.<br /><br />I want to thank Volty for allowing me to participate in the GHD. I am learning history I never knew from the other participants and wrote this piece on my tablet without notes, from research I had already completed.<br /><br />Shaka Zulu - Conqueror<br />

[vuduchile 1,945]

Kidnapper, rapist, necrophiliac, and admitted murderer of 30 girls/women. He escaped jail twice, killing again while at large, and was finally caught by a Pensacola police officer during a stolen car stop.

 

You've all heard his name and probably have a general understanding of his crimes. But until you've read the details of his heinous journey from Philadelphia bast@rd to law student and serial killer, you won't fully understand just how evil a single human can be.

 

His death toll is small compared to the numbers put up by others in this category, but he didn't have henchmen or large armies of men to carry out his orders. He personally kidnapped, tortured, raped, killed and then re-raped the dead bodies of his victims.

 

Feel like being sick to your stomach?

 

Read more about Ted Bundy - Evil Mutha here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Bundy

 

 

 

 

 

[iam90sbaby 2,720]

Anders Celsius (scientist - astronomy) - Anders Celsius was a Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician who proposed the Celsius temperature scale and founded the Uppsala Observatory. Born in Sweden, he was raised in the shadow of his father, an astronomy professor. Anders showed an extraordinary talent in mathematics from childhood and after completing his education, decided to become an astronomer. He made earlier observations concerning aurora borealis (northern lights) and is regarded as the first astronomer to suggest a connection between aurora borealis and changes in the Earth's magnetic field. He also assessed the brightness of stars with measuring tools. Later, he participated in an expedition which proved the Newton’s theory that the Earth has the shape of an ellipsoid, flattened at the poles. After succeeding in the expedition, he laid the foundation of Uppsala Astronomical Observatory, the oldest astronomical observatory in Sweden. However, he is most famous for the temperature scale he proposed based on the boiling and freezing points of water. Later on, a reversed form of his original design was adopted as the standard and used in almost all the scientific works. He started many other research projects but died unexpectedly before he could complete most of them. He was an extraordinary astronomer, and as a tribute to his accomplishments, the standard unit on the temperature scale, “Celsius”, is named after him.

 

 

Aryabhata (scientist - astronomy) - Aryabhata was an acclaimed mathematician-astronomer. He was born in Kusumapura (present day Patna) in Bihar, India. His contribution to mathematics, science and astronomy is immense, and yet he has not been accorded the recognition in the world history of science. At the age of 24, he wrote his famed “Aryabhatiya”. He was aware of the concept of zero, as well as the use of large numbers up to 1018. He was the first to calculate the value for ‘pi’ accurately to the fourth decimal point. He devised the formula for calculating areas of triangles and circles. He calculated the circumference of the earth as 62,832 miles, which is an excellent approximation, and suggested that the apparent rotation of the heavens was due to the axial rotation of the earth on its axis. He was the first known astronomer to devise a continuous counting of solar days, designating each day with a number. He asserted that the planets shine due to the reflection of sunlight, and that the eclipses occur due to the shadows of moon and earth. His observations discount the “flat earth” concept, and lay the foundation for the belief that earth and other planets orbit the sun.

[vuduchile 1,945]

Doctor Otto Warburg

 

Dr. Otto Warburg was the man who discovered the cause of cancer, he was awarded the nobel prize in 1931 for his work. Many people have recognized a problem, a disease, a tumorous lump growing on someone and labeling it a disease. The cause of that disease is even more important and relevant than the disease itself if you want to do something about it. His work came to be known as the Warburg Effect or the Warburg Hypothesis which basically entailed that cancer cells live off sugar (glycolysis) and that they also thrive in an anaerobic environment

[BiPolarBear 495]

This guy launched a website from his dorm room in 2004. He has made about 44 billion dollars off of it.

 

Mark Zuckerberg - Businessman

 

Remember when he was automatically added to your "friends" list?

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Sir Francis Bacon - JOAT

 

Sir Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban[a] (22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist and author. He served both as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. After his death, he remained extremely influential through his works, especially as philosophical advocate and practitioner of the scientific method during the scientific revolution.

 

Bacon has been called the father of empiricism.[5] His works argued for the possibility of scientific knowledge based only upon inductive and careful observation of events in nature. Most importantly, he argued this could be achieved by use of a skeptical and methodical approach whereby scientists aim to avoid misleading themselves. While his own practical ideas about such a method, the Baconian method, did not have a long lasting influence, the general idea of the importance and possibility of a skeptical methodology makes Bacon the father of scientific method. This marked a new turn in the rhetorical and theoretical framework for science, the practical details of which are still central in debates about science and methodology today.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Jack Ma aka Ma Yun - businessman

 

Founder and CEO of alibaba group (the company which owns taobao, the Chinese version of Amazon, and alipay, the Chinese version of pay pal or Apple Pay, among other companies) he is the richest man in China and 18th richest man on earth, with a net worth of 24 billion. He is the first Chinese man to appear on the cover of Forbes.

[Voltaire 5,392]

That Forbes magazine comment is a nice segue into my pick here. Perhaps Mark Zuckerberg's announcement triggered thi run on businessmen but I'd already decided to go this route already.

 

A few years back, Forbes magazine published a ranking of the all time great businessmen ever (dead ones, they didn't rank living ones which is probably a sensible decision with the egos they'd had to deal with. Now I know that 90sbaby found that list online since I'd recognized his descriptions of Walron and Disney were pasted from there.

 

My fourth and final name in this category comes via that list. Ringing in at #6, here's the cut and paste:

 

Thomas Watson Jr - Businessman

 

In the early 1960s, Thomas Watson Jr. bet the future of the company his father made great, International Business Machines, on the success of computers in the workplacethen a revolutionary concept. He invested $5 billion developing the IBM System/360, a family of computers that gave customers the option of starting small and graduating to bigger computers as their needs grew. In 1969, IBM began selling hardware, services and software individually rather than as a package deal, giving birth to the multibillion-dollar software and services industries. Although IBM notoriously missed the personal computing revolution in the early 1980s, the current ubiquitousness of computers in the workplace has its origins in Watsons gamble.

[Voltaire 5,392]

My next pick is the world's first secular Jew. As an uprooted, homeless diasporic ethnic group, usually when Jews got expelled from the faith, they would just go and latch on to whatever the dominant faith was in their community. But as it were, the Christians were fed up with him too. Like the Jews, the Catholics also had his book on the banned list as well.

When your the first person brave/foolish enough to eloquently, logically, and forcefully question the machinations of the invisible man in the clouds pulling everyone's strings, challenge/refudiate Descartes, or more eloquently by Joseph Israel "the chief challenger of the fundamentals of revealed religion, received ideas, tradition, morality, and what was everywhere regarded, in absolutist and non-absolutist states alike, as divinely constituted political authority," not a whole lot of religions will welcome you.

A great read, the Jewish rabbi or whatever that wrote the edict expelling him from the faith community really outdid himself in shoveling contempt and insults on him:

 

---
The Lords of the ma'amad, having long known of the evil opinions and acts of Baruch de Espinoza, have endeavoured by various means and promises, to turn him from his evil ways. But having failed to make him mend his wicked ways, and, on the contrary, daily receiving more and more serious information about the abominable heresies which he practised and taught and about his monstrous deeds, and having for this numerous trustworthy witnesses who have deposed and born witness to this effect in the presence of the said Espinoza, they became convinced of the truth of the matter; and after all of this has been investigated in the presence of the honourable chachamin, they have decided, with their consent, that the said Espinoza should be excommunicated and expelled from the people of Israel. By the decree of the angels, and by the command of the holy men, we excommunicate, expel, curse and damn Baruch de Espinoza, with the consent of God, Blessed be He, and with the consent of all the Holy Congregation, in front of these holy Scrolls with the six-hundred-and-thirteen precepts which are written therein, with the excommunication with which Joshua banned Jericho, with the curse with which Elisha cursed the boys, and with all the curses which are written in the Book of the Law. Cursed be he by day and cursed be he by night; cursed be he when he lies down, and cursed be he when he rises up; cursed be he when he goes out, and cursed be he when he comes in. The Lord will not spare him; the anger and wrath of the Lord will rage against this man, and bring upon him all the curses which are written in this book, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven, and the Lord will separate him to his injury from all the tribes of Israel with all the curses of the covenant, which are written in the Book of the Law. But you who cleave unto the Lord God are all alive this day. We order that no one should communicate with him orally or in writing, or show him any favour, or stay with him under the same roof, or within four ells of him, or read anything composed or written by him.
---

 

Wow! Don't hold back. I haven't seen anybody verbally torn apart this thoroughly since Billy Madison. https://sp.yimg.com/ib/th?id=WN.Feei93QuLJ3UT1Fjl5HYvg&pid=15.1

 

But not all his books got burned. Enough survived that he became quite the superstar in philosophical circles. Gilles Deleuze refers to him as "the prince of philosophers. Unlike most philosophers, Spinoza was highly regarded by Nietzsche. In Santayana's autobiography, he characterized Spinoza as his "master and model" in understanding the naturalistic basis of morality.

 

Albert Einstein named Spinoza as the philosopher who exerted the most influence on his world view. Hegel said "we're all Spinozans now."

 

His religion may not want him, but I'm more than happy to see him wearing the Team Blue jersey.

Baruch Spinoza - Philosopher

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Charles V Holy Roman Emperor - Wildcard

 

Its hard to know what to even call this guy. At his apogee, he ruled over 4 milion square miles of territory, and is the first to be called "the emperor over which the sun never sets."

 

He is probably the best example of the "lucky sperm club in history."

 

From his own dynasty, the Hapsburgs, he inherited vast lands in Austria and central Europe, including Hungary, Czeckoslovakia, and others. He also inherited his grandfather's title of Holy Roman Emperor, a title his family had held for centuries. This gave him nominal rule over Germany.

 

From the Spanish House of Trastámara, he inherited the crowns of Castile, which was in the process of developing a nascent empire in the Americas and Asia, and Aragon. The latter included a Mediterranean empire that extended to Southern Italy. Charles was the first king to rule Castile and Aragon simultaneously in his own right, and, as a result, is sometimes referred to as the first King of Spain.^[5] The personal union, under Charles, of the Holy Roman Empire with the Spanish empire resulted in the closest Europe would come to a universal monarchy.

 

He inherited the Burgundian Netherlands and the Franche-Comté as heir of the House of Valois-Burgundy

 

His historical importance is huge.He warred with the French house of Valois for European suppremacy.

 

He halted the Ottoman advance into Europe at Vienna.

 

It was Charles who sanctioned the conquistadores to conquer the Incan and Aztec emprires.

 

And, through his treatment of a troublesome monk named Martin Luther, he enabled the Protestant Reformation, which he could have throttled in its cradle.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Both boards all updated through 85.2

 

Bear still on the clock for a bit.

[BiPolarBear 495]

I already had a book of his work when I first saw Alien. One look inside the alien spaceship and I knew the artist responsible for set design. He won an Oscar, of coarse.

 

There is a documentary streaming on Netflix right now if anybody is interested.

 

H.R. Giger - Artist (Visual)

 

[vuduchile 1,945]

Great woman Julia Child

 

I need to have a chef here somewhere, and there's nobody better to represent the culinary arts than Julia Child.

 

Watch the Meryl Streep movie if you want to get a quick snapshot of just how amazing this woman was.

 

For a more in depth look at her impact on the food world read this:

 

http://www.biography.com/people/julia-child-9246767

[iam90sbaby 2,720]

Was reading an article last night before bed online and thought he would make a great pick in our History Draft

 

 

Andrew Marshall (adviser) - The Pentagon is, by all accounts, a very large building, so it may come as a surprise to learn that all of its top-secret decisions about which foreign threats to monitor have essentially been made by a single guy since 1973. His name is Andrew Marshall and, while we'd love to quote him in this article, we can't. He doesn't speak to anyone publicly. Virtually every report he writes is more secretive than the recipe for Coca-Cola. But there's a reason everybody in Washington calls him "Yoda," and it's not because he's a tiny old man who speaks like a stroke victim. No, it's because Andrew Marshall might well be clairvoyant.

 

From 1973 until his retirement in January 2015, Marshall headed the Pentagon's Office Of Net Assessment, a tiny think tank responsible for studying information from around the globe to determine potential threats. This includes monitoring foreign trends, predicting the future moves of various nations (sometimes decades in advance), and recommending where in the world we should probably start dropping bombs. Marshall was so precise in his work that he relied on psychological studies of world leaders, essentially acting like an FBI profiler to try to figure out whether Vladimir Putin is going to nuke half the globe anytime soon.Some of Marshall's notable predictions were the collapse of the Soviet Union and the rise of China as America's most powerful frenemy. He also guessed that drone strikes and computer espionage would become the new landscape of international conflict. He was so good at what he did that every single president, regardless of intelligence or political affiliation, retained Marshall as ONA director without question. When both Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush agree that you're the best person to run the country's defense center, odds are you're pretty good at your job.

 

Had my Jack of All not been filled already Avicenna would be there but for now....

 

Avicenna (doctor) -Avicenna was the most influential and renowned philosopher and scientist of the Islamic world. Popularly known as the father of modern medicine, he researched and came out with pioneering works in aromatherapy. He is known till date for his Aristotelian philosophy and medicine. He worked on various subjects including philosophy, astronomy, alchemy, geology, psychology, Islamic theology, logic, mathematics, physics, as well as poetry. He came up with more than 450 works in his lifetime of which only 240 survive. His most famous works include the ‘Kitāb al-shifāʾ (Book of Healing), which is a vast philosophical and scientific encyclopaedia. His other work‘Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb’ (The Canon of Medicine), falls amongst the most famous books in the history of medicine. The latter was employed as a text book in many medieval universities of Montpellier and Leuven.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Avicenna - great pick.

 

Andrew Marshall also very interesting I'll learn more, I'm surprised I never heard of the guy. I'll go look at that now.

 

Something is bugging me, I don't know if it's a major coincidence ... your last ten picks have all started with the letter A.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Great woman Julia Child

 

I need to have a chef here somewhere, and there's nobody better to represent the culinary arts than Julia Child.

 

Watch the Meryl Streep movie if you want to get a quick snapshot of just how amazing this woman was.

 

For a more in depth look at her impact on the food world read this:

 

http://www.biography.com/people/julia-child-9246767

It jsut so happens that your Great Woman category is already full ...

 

1 Joan of Arc - 10.2

2 Florence Nightingale - 18.1

3 Mother Theresa of Calcutta - 56.2

4 Clara Barton - 62.3s

 

I've never posted this before but maybe you've clairvoyant like 90sbaby's last pick, and you read my mind and want to expand the categories to go five deep and another 36 names...

 

Anyway, anyways, for now, I'll leave your Great Woman category as is and put Julia Child in as a Wildcard. If you want to shuffle the names around in a different way, tell me what your preference is.

[iam90sbaby 2,720]

Avicenna - great pick.

 

Andrew Marshall also very interesting I'll learn more, I'm surprised I never heard of the guy. I'll go look at that now.

 

Something is bugging me, I don't know if it's a major coincidence ... your last ten picks have all started with the letter A.

 

Do some research on him Jeff he is a pretty interesting guy, not much out there but I am sure you will have no trouble finding it. (oxymoron much?)

 

Hmmm, now that you mention it that is pretty weird, I didn't plan that and it's interesting you even pointed it out.

 

I did read an article not to long ago that people with names earlier in the alphabet are generally more successful than people with names in the back half of the alphabet. But I don't think this applies since some of my choices only have first names beginning with A.

[Voltaire 5,392]

That's long enough. Bear can go. Here's his message in my inbox.

 

He is the sexiest Astrophysicist alive (People Magazine) and yes; you know who it is!

Smoke this bitches:

Neal DeGrasse Tyson - Scientist (Astronomy/Physics)

 

So to TBBOM

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

I choose George C. Parker- criminal

 

George Parker (18701936) was an American con man. He made his living conducting illegal sales of property he did not own, often New York's public landmarks, to unwary immigrants. The Brooklyn Bridge was the subject of several of his transactions, predicated on the notion of the buyer controlling access to the bridge. Police removed several of his victims from the bridge as they tried to erect toll booths.[1]

 

Other public landmarks he incorporated into his scams included the original Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb and the Statue of Liberty.[2] Parker had multiple methods for making his sales. When he sold Grant's Tomb, he would often pose as the general's grandson, and he set up a fake office to handle his real estate swindles. He produced convincing forged documents as evidence to suggest that he was the legal owner of whatever property he was selling. He also successfully sold several successful shows and plays, of which he had no legal ownership.[1]

 

Parker was convicted of fraud three times. After his third conviction on December 17, 1928 he was sentenced to a life term at Sing Sing Prison by a Judge McLaughlin in the Kings County Court. He spent the last eight years of his life incarcerated there, and was popular among guards and fellow inmates, who enjoyed hearing of his exploits. Parker is remembered as one of the most successful con men in the history of the United States, as well as one of history's most talented hoaxers. His methods have passed into popular culture, giving rise to phrases such as "and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you",[3] a popular way of expressing a belief that someone is gullible.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Johannes Brahms - Composer

 

(German: [joˈhanəs ˈbʁaːms]; 7 May 1833 3 April 1897) was a German composer and pianist. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria. In his lifetime, Brahms's popularity and influence were considerable. He is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs", a comment originally made by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow.

 

Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works. He worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim (the three were close friends). Many of his works have become staples of the modern concert repertoire. Brahms, an uncompromising perfectionist, destroyed some of his works and left others unpublished.[1]

 

Brahms is often considered both a traditionalist and an innovator. His music is firmly rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Baroque and Classical masters. He was a master of counterpoint, the complex and highly disciplined art for which Johann Sebastian Bach is famous, and of development, a compositional ethos pioneered by Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and other composers. Brahms aimed to honour the "purity" of these venerable "German" structures and advance them into a Romantic idiom, in the process creating bold new approaches to harmony and melody. While many contemporaries found his music too academic, his contribution and craftsmanship have been admired by subsequent figures as diverse as Arnold Schoenberg and Edward Elgar. The diligent, highly constructed nature of Brahms's works was a starting point and an inspiration for a generation of composers. Within his meticulous structures is embedded, however, a highly romantic nature.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Claude Monet - Artist (Visual)

 

Oscar-Claude Monet (/moʊˈneɪ/; French: [klod mɔnɛ]; 14 November 1840 5 December 1926) was a founder of French Impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting.[1][2] The term "Impressionism" is derived from the title of his painting Impression, soleil levant (Impression, Sunrise), which was exhibited in 1874 in the first of the independent exhibitions mounted by Monet and his associates as an alternative to the Salon de Paris.

 

Monet's ambition of documenting the French countryside led him to adopt a method of painting the same scene many times in order to capture the changing of light and the passing of the seasons. From 1883 Monet lived in Giverny, where he purchased a house and property, and began a vast landscaping project which included lily ponds that would become the subjects of his best-known works. In 1899 he began painting the water lilies, first in vertical views with a Japanese bridge as a central feature, and later in the series of large-scale paintings that was to occupy him continuously for the next 20 years of his life.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Odysseus (AKA Ulysses) - Advisor

 

When Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman of her age, reached marriageable age, her father faced a dliemma. Every king and man of importance in Greece asked for her hand. He feared that whatever man he gave her hand (and his throne, as Helen was his heir) to, would have many powerful enemies in the rejected suitors.

 

He followed the advice of Odysseus. Odysseus advised that he make all the suitors gather, and swear a sacred oath to support the marriage rights of Helen and her husband, He also advised that he let Helen choose her own bride. Helen chose Mennelaus, brother to Aggamemnon, King of Mycenae, and the most powerful man in Greece.

 

Later, of course, this advice had an unforseen consequence. Helen ran off with Paris of Troy, and all the Kings of Greece, himself included, were bound to defend Mennalaus's rights. So the trojan war began.

 

Odysseus did not want to fight in the war. So he pretended to be mad. He began plowing his fields, but sowed salt instead of grain. The other kings placed his infant son in front of the plow, so Odysseus blew his cover by swerving to avoid the infant.

 

Dragooned into the war, Odysseus became Agammemnon's best advisor. He advised Aggamemnon to pull his troops back in the initial assault on the fabled walls of Troy, before their certain destruction. He mediated between Aggamemnon and Achiles, the finest warrior in Greece and warlord of the elite Myrmidion, securing the services of this crack force in the war.

 

After the war had bogged down into a seige lasting years, it was Odysseus who found the solution... the Trojan Horse.This piece of advice won the war and saved the greek armies.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Where we're at now... Vudu was skipped last turn and has one make up pick coming.

 

Meanwhile, Bear is on the clock and can go any time. If Bear goes, Vudu may get skipped a second time allowing 90sbaby to go twice as well. But at that point, it doesn't return to Bear, we'd wait for Vudu.

[BiPolarBear 495]

B. R. Ambedkar - Reformer

 

From wiki:

 

 

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar ([bʱiːmraːw raːmdʑiː aːmbeːɽkər]; 14 April 1891 – 6 December 1956), popularly known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, economist, politician and social reformer who inspired the Modern Buddhist Movement and campaigned against social discrimination against Untouchables (Dalits), while also supporting the rights of women and labour. He was Independent India's first law minister and the principal architect of the Constitution of India.

 

Ambedkar's legacy as a socio-political reformer, had a deep effect on modern India.^[99][100] In post-Independence India, his socio-political thought is respected across the political spectrum. His initiatives have influenced various spheres of life and transformed the way India today looks at socio-economic policies, education and affirmative action through socio-economic and legal incentives. His reputation as a scholar led to his appointment as free India's first law minister, and chairman of the committee for drafting the constitution. He passionately believed in individual freedom and criticised caste society. His accusations of Hinduism as being the foundation of the caste system made him controversial and unpopular among Hindus.^[101] His conversion to Buddhism sparked a revival in interest in Buddhist philosophy in India and abroad.^[102]

[Voltaire 5,392]

Skip Vudu again. He's owed two picks now. 90sbaby can go twice. If 90sbsby plugs in his two, it's back to Vudu and pauses, waiting for him to put in three.

 

If Vudu gets his two in first, it's to 90sbaby for two then back to Vudu for one.

[vuduchile 1,945]

Religious leader. St Nicholas

 

The true story of Santa Claus begins with Nicholas, who was born during the third century in the village of Patara. At the time the area was Greek and is now on the southern coast of Turkey. His wealthy parents, who raised him to be a devout Christian, died in an epidemic while Nicholas was still young. Obeying Jesus' words to "sell what you own and give the money to the poor," Nicholas used his whole inheritance to assist the needy, the sick, and the suffering. He dedicated his life to serving God and was made Bishop of Myra while still a young man. Bishop Nicholas became known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need, his love for children, and his concern for sailors and ships.

[vuduchile 1,945]

Writer Fiction. John Irving

 

A refreshing modern day literary writer in a sea of shock and romance peddlers.

 

Check him out.

 

Garp

Cider House Rules

A Prayer For Owen Meany

The Hotel New Hmapshire

The Water Method Man

 

And more.

[BiPolarBear 495]

Volty getting Brahms and Monet together, at this point, looks like strong work to me.

[Voltaire 5,392]

Volty getting Brahms and Monet together, at this point, looks like strong work to me.

Thanks.

 

Brahms closes out that category for me. Like I've said throughout, Composer is my weakest category and I rely heavily on outside opinion and web searches to put it together.

 

Actually, I rely on such polls quite frequently, but pretty much exclusively in this one category. Any other poll is tempered with my own opinion.

 

I wound up taking five composers not four along the way. As I was scouting the category, Liszt stood out as an all time great concert pianist as well as a composer. He was polling well enough to look but not as high as the guys I took. But I just loved, loved, loved reading the biography and the double-dipping I could get if I slapped him in the performing artist category.

 

Monet had been on my mind a long time. He was the runner up when I took Picasso so that he was still around all these many rounds later was nice.

[iam90sbaby 2,720]

Plotinus (philosopher) - Plotinus was an ancient philosopher considered as the pioneering founder of Neo-Platonism, a philosophical movement of the Graeco-Roman world in late antiquity. He is also known as the last most famous pagan philosopher and his metaphysical writings have inspired centuries of Pagan, Christian, Jewish, Islamic and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics. He developed metaphysics of comprehensible sources of the rational world and the human soul and told the world that the definitive cause of everything is 'the One' or 'the Good'. It is entirely simple and cannot be seized by thought or given any positive resolve. He was the true follower of Plato and considered himself as the expositor and advocator of the philosophical stance whose supreme exemplar was Plato himself. Apart from highly influencing the Western thought, he also influenced the 17th century England, medieval Islamic spirituals and medieval Indian philosophers. The philosophy of Plotinus is characterized in the complete collection of his discourses, collected and edited by his student Porphyry into six books of nine discourses each. They have been handed down to us under the title of the ‘Enneads’.

 

 

 

 

 

Heraclitus (philosopher) - was a Greek philosopher who was an independent thinker and unlike other ancient philosophers, he is not considered to belong to any particular school of thought. Born into an aristocratic family, he described himself as self-taught and was unsparing in his criticism of his predecessors and contemporary thinkers and philosophers. He was a loner who suffered from bouts of melancholia which prevented him from completing several of his works. His personality was characterized by a general contempt for mankind which coupled with the obscure nature of his works earned him the nickname the ‘Weeping Philosopher’. The ambiguous nature of his writings makes them open to several interpretations that are often of conflicting nature. He believed in the ever changing nature of the universe and the unity of opposites. His works have been influential in the development of the concept of ‘Logos’ which he considered a principle of order and knowledge. Regarded as one of the most important pre-Socratic philosophers, he was famous for departing from the accepted norms and traditions of his days and criticizing the generally accepted conventional wisdom of others who were deemed to be “wise” men by the society. Even though his own work was influenced by the works of his predecessors, he is regarded as a unique thinker who contributed immensely to the development of Western Philosophy.

[vuduchile 1,945]

Statesman - Pericles

 

Pericles (c. 495 - 429 B.C.) brought Athens to its peak, turning the Delian League into the empire of Athens, and so the era in which he lived is named the Age of Pericles. He helped the poor, set up colonies, built the long walls from Athens to the Piraeus, developed the Athenian navy, and built the Parthenon, the Odeon, the Propylaea, and the temple at Eleusis. The name of Pericles is also attached to the Peloponnesian War. During the war he ordered the people of Attica to leave their fields and come into the city to stay protected by the walls. Unfortunately, Pericles didn't foresee the affect of disease on the crowded conditions and so, along with many others, Pericles died of the plague near the start of the war. More »

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

I picked Pericles a long time ago.

[vuduchile 1,945]

 

I picked Pericles a long time ago.[/quote

 

Ok. Sorry. Let's go with the Poet category:

 

The dates of Sappho of Lesbos are not known. She is thought to have been born around 610 B.C. and to have died in about 570. Playing with the available meters, Sappho wrote moving lyric poetry, odes to the goddesses, especially Aphrodite (the subject of Sappho's complete surviving ode), and love poetry, including the wedding genre of epithalamia, using vernacular and epic vocabulary. There is a poetic meter named for her (Sapphic).

 

Of course, the word lesbian is derived from the island Lesbos, where she was born. So, there's that.

 

Surviving poems and fragments here(translated):

 

http://www.uh.edu/~cldue/texts/sappho.html

[Voltaire 5,392]

Uh oh. That's two misses in a row. While Pericles has been long gone, you just missed out on Sappho a couple of rounds ago. I don't have her listed under Poet I have her under Great Woman.

 

Pericles 33.2 to TBBOM

Sappho 81.1 to me

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

I'm going to go ahead and enter my first pick, because its late here, and I want to do a good write up of this one.

 

Jiang Qing aka Lan Ping - Temptress

 

This woman had many names. In China, at this period in time, girls were not given names. They were simply referred to as "first sistter" or "second daughter."

 

She became famous in Shanghai as an actress under the name Lan Ping in the 1930's. She gained quite the reputation, racking up several husbands, and more lovers. Her last husband tried to commit suicide. Eventually, even cosmoplitan Shanhgai wanted her gone.

 

She left and joined the Communist Party of China, taking the Revolutionary name Jiang Qing. She began attending Chairman Mao's lectures, sitting in the front row, in a better than usual cut Communist uniform, asking wide eyed questions, and keeping her hair long, which was against communist custom.

 

One night, she was performing in an Opera, which Mao attended. He came backstage and put his coat over her shoulders. The next night, she went to his home to return it... and stayed the night.

 

The rather puritanical society of the communist Party was outraged. Not least because Mao was already married, to his third wife. His first wife was executed by the Nationalists, with Mao not lifting a finger to save her. His current wife was living in Russia, where he had sent her. She had, while on the long march, been forced to give birth in the most appalling conditions more than once, and more than once was forced to abandon her children. She was well respected by the communist party.

Furthermore, Jiang Qing had a political problem... she had been imprisoned by the Nationalists, and had only been released because she signed a recantation... a treason to the Party. Rumor also strongly held that she slept with guards to be released.

 

Many members of the party wrote letters to Mao, some openly, some secretly, begging him not to marry her. Even the nominal Party Chief sent a letter. Mao tore it in pieces publicly, and announced that he was marrying her the next day.

 

He dismissed his current wife with a curt letter to Moscow, informing her that they "were now only comerades." She eventually suffered a nervous breakdown and was incarcerated.

 

Jiang Qing thus acquired the sobriquet she would become most known for... Madame Mao.

 

She parlayed her sex appeal into power, eventually becoming Mao's chief propogandist. She was mainly responsible for building the cult of personality that exists to this very day. She also became a member of the Politboro, China's Ruling elite.

 

She formed the political alliance known as the "gang of four" and played a major role in the Cultural Revolution, the effects of which haunt China still. She controlled Chinese media for decades.

 

However, when you rise to power on a man's coatails, you better be ready for what happens when he dies. Most of the other prominent politicians hated her, and when Mao died, she was arrested and most of the blame for the cultural revolution was put on her and her allies. She was sentenced to death, which was ultimately commuted to life imprisonment. While on release for medical treatment, she committed suicide.

 

___

 

By the way, I heard most of this in a book I'm reading now called Mao: The Unknown Story.by Jung Chang and Jon Halliday. It is excellent. What a focked up story the Comminist Party's rise was! I hghly recommend it.