***Geek Club History Draft***

[Voltaire 4,578]

Yes it has to do with my uncle, I have to be there and I won't be able to dedicate any time this week honestly, even if I have wifi. I sent my list I'd love if you put a little write up for my picks because I know some of them at A++. Don't hijack any of my f*cking picks Volty.

 

By the way this is to fun.. I've learned a lot just from google and catching up on lost information. Maybe we should do another draft after this? Movie/Series Character draft?

Sure. I'm having a good time with this. I was thinking a US history draft at some point too. Just not for a while. When this is done, I'm going to want to rest a bit since it's consuming a rather large portion of my time.

[Voltaire 4,578]

Dr. Mengele from "Evil Motherfocker" to "Doctor."

While Mengele and Hippocrates argue about medical ethics, Freud can sit back and analyze both of them.

[vuduchile 1,941]

Jumping the gun a bit on my turn, but I've got sh!t to do later this morning. If Bear wants one of these people, I'll pick again later.

 

 

I feel like a journalist needs to be included in this category, so I consulted my dad since that's what he used to do. We were close pretty close to an agreement when he threw out Helen Thomas as a candidate. While I think he had some good points about her, I suspect his view is a little skewed since he sorta knows her.

 

Ultimately, we decided on: Joseph Pulitzer - Non Fiction writer:

 

His name is on the prize given for the best journalism contributions. Joseph Pulitzer wrote for newspapers and later purchased and ran the New York World.

 

He was once indicted for libel against Teddy Roosevelt and JP Morgan when he exposed an illegal payment to the French Panama Canal Company, but since the story was based on fact, the indictment was dismissed.

 

More here:

 

http://www.pulitzer.org/biography

[vuduchile 1,941]

Please move Marilyn Monroe to the seductress category.

 

DiMaggio, Sinatra, Hilton, Montand, Yul Brenner, Jack,Bobby and more.

 

She makes sense here.

[vuduchile 1,941]

Evil Mutha:

 

Gotta throw a B!tch in this category before we're done. And although my ex wife is a front runner, she takes a back seat to the B!tch of Buchenwald.

 

Evil Mutha - Ilse Koch was known for riding her horse through the German concentration camp and whipping and beating any prisoner who caught her particular interest. She would also ride through the camp and select specific prisoners with tattooed skin or interesting skin markings. She had these individuals killed and their skins tanned in order to make lampshades and other household items.

 

It was not uncommon for SS officers to have lampshades made of human skin, but as one witness recounts, her handbag was made of human flesh, and her extreme pride in it was very disturbing. [a more recent detailed discussion of the human skin objects can be found on scrapbookpages.com]

[Voltaire 4,578]

Updated through 91.2

 

Past the 5/8 mark. Like I said I have 90sbaby's picks. To Bear. If he passes on Pulitzer and Koch he can go twice. 90sbaby's first two are a bit obscure to me, I'm unfamiliar with both so the chance he hits one with his picks are low. I'll look them up on Wikipedia tomorrow.

[BiPolarBear 476]

No poaching from me. It's a big world full of over achievers, as my next pick will demonstrate:

 

He killed 25% of his country's population by execution, forced labor, malnutrition and poor medical conditions. Nobody else has come close to a 25% kill off, I don't believe.

 

Did you see the Killing Fields? Remember the Khmer Rouge?

 

http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Killing-fields.jpg

 

Pol Pot - Evil MoFo

[BiPolarBear 476]

Ethnic Cleansing. That is when Christians kill thousands of Muslims just for being Muslim. Christianity is another religion of peace, I guess.

 

It was nice of Greek Christians to join in the fun, by the way. As Radovan Karadzic said during a visit to Athens, "We have only God and the Greeks on our side." The Greek Volunteer Guard traveled to Bosnia and were (allegedly) in the vicinity of an atrocity or two.

 

These two men sometimes share the same "Butcher of Bosnia" title:

 

Bosnian Serb Leader, Radovan Karadzic and Bosnian Serb Military Leader, Ratko Mladdic - Evil Mofos

[Voltaire 4,578]

Here are 90sbaby's two...

 

George Stephenson - engineer

Albert Bandura - social scientist

 

----

 

I'm not familiar with either, will do a wiki-cut and paste from work. It's to TBBOM.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

I will do a lengthy write up later...

 

Stupid mofo - Chiang Kai Shek

[BiPolarBear 476]

I will do a lengthy write up later...

 

Stupid mofo - Chiang Kai Shek

 

I sold a car to Chiang Kai Shek.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Ok, let me do a write up of my newly acquired Chairman Mao, and the mouse to his cat, Chiang Kai-Shek.

 

Let us tell the story (in brief) of how Mao endid up ruling China while Chiang ruled Taiwan.

 

In the mid 1930's, Chiang's Nationalist party was far stronger than the fledgling Communists. In fact, this would hold true into about 1950.

Chiang, in fact, had the opportunity to destroy the Red Army once and for all early in its existence. He had them penned into their base at Rujin, surrounded by layers of blockhouses with machine guns. Instead of destroying them, he let them escape. More than once.

 

Why would the dumb moron do this? Two reasons.

 

One, much of China at this time was controlled not by him, but by local warlords. They paid only lip service to the central government. Chiang decided he could herd the red army through these places, and then follow with his army, establishng his authority along the way. The crown jewel of these provinces was Sichuan, which would later host our very own Volty.

 

So he consistently blocked every exit except the one he wanted Mao to follow. And herded him eventually to a barren backwater.

 

The second reason? Moscow had his son. Chiang, like most Chinese males, put great stock in having a male heir to carry on the name, and appease his ancestors. Unfortunately, he was now infertile, due to syphillis. So he hoped that sparing the Reds would get him his son back. It did... but it cost China tens of millions of people, and him China.

 

Finally, after the Japanese invasion was over, the real throwdown between Chiang and Mao could begin. Mao's army was much smaller, and poorly trained, and inexperienced. Chiang's was much larger, American trained and equipped, and battle hardened against the Japs.

 

How did Mao win? Two reasons.

 

One, the Russians helped him take Manchuria. Where he gained a massive amount of men and supplies.

 

But the major reason... Chiang's entire general staff was made up of Communist moles, that had been sleeping since thier days with Chiang at military acadamy. And he knew it. One army commander in a crucial theatre time after time ordered battalions and brigades into steep ravines that he knew mao had an ambush waiting in. He told mao he was coming. He even let mao escape capture.

 

Another commander surrendered entire armies to mao, that joined the reds en masse.

 

Chiang also had troubles at home, that made his regime unpopular. His wifes family, who he had put in high positions, They manipulated the currency markets and whatnot to steal a staggering $380 milion USD. And this was in 1949 dollars!

 

Chiang handed China to mao on a silver platter. Stupid moron.

[Voltaire 4,578]

 

 

And herded him eventually to a barren backwater.

 

 

Guizhou province: my first job in China. I stayed there for five years.

 

On Chinese TV, whenever you need a sterotypiclal backwoods hillbilly redneck from the sticks character, you give him a Guizhou accent.

 

Guizhou is famous for Maotai ... Chinese moonshine. This is the stuff Mao served Nixon. Kissinger told Zhou Enlai that "With enough Maotai, we could solve all the world's problems."

[Voltaire 4,578]

Originally posted at Eds...

 

 

----

 

I can't log in to FFToday and have two picks that both require substantial write ups.

 

I started with the other one but this one is easier to write. Although it's taking a while since the school expects me to teach classes and stuff. No matter, my very very long lunch break begins now.

 

When last we visited Tang Taizong, it was pick 32.4 and I posted that he was the most highly praised Emperor in China and that all subsequent Emperors and their staff would look to his era as the prime guideline for how to organize a government and effectivly run the Empire.

 

In 638, a 14 year old named Wu Zetian became a concubine (lesser wife) of his. He called her "pretty" but she would never became a favorite. Taizong very much loved his #1 wife Wende. Still the girl was unusual in that she was already highly educated by the time she entered the palace. As a child, she hadn't been content to sip tea and do needlework. Her father had indulged her passion for education and so Wu read and learned about many different topics such as politics and other governmental affairs, writing, literature, and music. So Wu Zetian became a personal secretary for the Emperor - along the way learning first hand from the one of the all time greats that ever lived about how to effectivly manage an Empire. She serves in this capacity until Taizong dies in 649 ... eleven years she served as his personal secretary.

 

So at this point in the story we have a brilliant, ambitious, talented, uber-hot, and hardly touched 25 year old widow of the former Emperor. She must now shave her head ala Sinead O'Conner and retire to the monestary to live the rest of her life as a Bhuddist nun. Such is her lot in life. Off she goes. There goes the hair. Gone.

 

But that's not the end of Wu ZeTian. That's the opening act.

 

Let's jump ahead in the story from 649 when she is 25 to 690 where at age 65, she becomes Emperor or China. Not Empress, not acting as a dowager in the name of her son, no. Emperor. Full on Emperor. As in sitting on the throne, wearing the yellow robes, ruling in her own name, assunimg the title Huangdi. The only female Emperor in four millenia of Chinese history, her rein lasts for 16 years until her death at age 81.

 

So what was she doing in the forty years between 649 and 690? Well, she also was running China herself in those years as well, both in her (next) husband's name and in her son's. She was the effective leader of China not just for those sixteen years but for well over fifty years. And these was a great prosperous half century for China. The country expanded, enemies were thwarted, and great prosperity. She was an apt pupil of Taizong and became a great ruler in her own right.

 

But now let's go back and get her out of the monestary. Three stories of how that happened:

 

---- Story One (the unoffical one)----
But the former emperors son, Li Zhi, had begun an affair with Wu earlier, while still his father's concubine. After his father's death Li came to visit her, and found her more beautiful, intelligent, and intriguing than ever before, and decided to bring her back as his own concubine. Because she had become a concubine at age 14, she was now in her feminine and sexual prime, but also had spent time learning patience, control, and meditation on her will for power and superiority over men who had so easily had her vanquished to a nunnery.

 

----Story Two (the official one)----
On or after the anniversary of Emperor Taizong's death, Emperor Gaozong went to Ganye Temple to offer incense, and when he and Consort Wu saw each other, both of them wept—and were seen by Emperor Gaozong's wife, Empress Wang. At that time, Emperor Gaozong did not favour Empress Wang, and much favored his concubine Consort Xiao; further, Empress Wang did not have any children, and Consort Xiao had one son (Li Sujie) and two daughters (Princesses Yiyang and Xuancheng). Empress Wang, seeing that Emperor Gaozong was still impressed by Consort Wu's beauty, hoped that the arrival of a new concubine would divert the emperor from Consort Xiao, and therefore secretly told Consort Wu to stop shaving her hair and, at a later point, welcomed her to the palace.

 

----Story Three----
Some modern historians dispute this traditional account, and some think that Consort Wu never had left the imperial palace and might have had an affair with Emperor Gaozong while Emperor Taizong was still alive.

 

Anyways no matter what the story is Wu Zetian is recalled back from the temple. The first and only time that an Emperor has taken on the concubine of a former Emperor. Very scandalous as it's a form of incest. She'd also have to deal with the Emperor's wife and his #1 consort. Also a chattering class of court officials in alliance against her.

 

Scandal ridden and slurred, at least she was back and in Gaozong's good graces. There was still much more, she would have to shake her ass and use her cunning to get to the top. It's a long story but she succeeds. Meanwhile, Gaozong himself isn't eactly the picture of health. He's frequently ill and incapacitated and relied on her heavily.

 

Even after her death and successful reign, there were problems with her reputation. Future Confuscian scholars for centuries did not approve of a female emperor nor her methods to play the insider game to box out the other women and men that she undertook to wiggle her way to gain power (a lot of mysterious deaths, scandals, and political retribution along the way, she was's just hot and brilliant but also vindictive and ruthless). They would wave a very "who did this woman she think she is? How dare she!" condescending finger wagging to her from the safety of time. But even her critics recognize how China prospered under both her regency and her outright reign.

 

Her reputation has really gotten a huge bost in modern times.

 

She'd sure made for a great Seductress... maybe ... for now...

 

Wu Zetian - Great Woman

 

Here's more, I found it after writing this up: http://www.womeninworldhistory.com/heroine6.html

 

Stupid me, I could have just cut and pasted that. It goes into more detail about her reign while passing over her ass shaking skill set that I have to focus on if I mover her to seductress.

[Voltaire 4,578]

OK, this one is a big chore to write, here we go...

Earlier Bear talked about the Duke of Windsor as the best dressed man ever, that just doesn't cut it.

What you want to do is grind up spiders and scorpions, not too much into a powder, after all, you want people to be able to identify where the bits and pieces cane from or else it defeats the purpose, and then you rub that all over your body. The most respected and dangerous of your enemies, you keep the bones and ears and lips and noses and whatever's left of their body parts that looks cool and wear it as jewelry.

Your hair long and unkept. It's always stained with the blood of your victims because you perform human sacrifices for a living. Evey day, you gotta get up really early, hey it's part of the job. You gotta go kill somebody and remove their still beating heart or else the sun won't come up.

You also want to create your own language. Harsh and gutteral and angry sounding so when you perform your sacred spiritual rituals, you deleberatly want the regular population to not understand you and dance and cleave hearts out of bodies, it seems magical. Too bad German wasn't availible because my pick sure went to a lot of trouble to make a language from scratch.

Anyways, Fock the Duke of Windsor, This is how real men dress and this is how they talk.

This is how Tlacaelel - Evil Motherfocker dresses.

I really worry there's something seriously wrong with this guy. Specifially his wrist. People who work in abattoirs have to change jobs frequently to prevent from getting carpal tunnel. All that repetive slicing isn't good for the wrist. Fortunatly the Aztecs they have two gods that they really worshiped. At the top of the Templo Mayor were two alters: one for Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and of war. The other alter was for Tlaloc, the god of rain and agriculture. The priests would sacrifice anything, honey, animals, and whatnot but what the gods really liked were people.

Huitzilopochtli was the god of war and of the sun. To make Huitzilopochtli happy, he liked sacrifices of warrior types, strong young guys, the fiercer the better. Brute strength, fighting prowess. The tougher the better. Get a good warrior drugged out on the poulta beverage, take him up there and you'd harvest his body parts for jewlery. His body was carried down as a sign of respect. Most were just tossed over the side but even then it was quite the honor to be sacrificed. They were warding off natural disasters.

Now, the rain god, Tlaloc was a much softer touch. What Tlaloc really enjoyed was the screaming of children. No poulta for you. But Tlaloc was also more picky too. The kids had to be just the right size; see it all depended on the height of the corn, that's how you could tell the size of the child that Tlaloc wanted. While this one is too tall, this one too short, ah, this one is just right. Then when the corn was mature and fully grown, the kids were safe. Now it was the time for the virgin women, because you know, Tlaloc likes virgins too.

So if I were Tlacaelel's doctor, I would really recommend switching back and forth between the two alters. You know alternate alters. Taking good care of the wrist is really so important in his line of work.

At that time, Mexico was hit with multiple natural disasters. With all the droughts and famines, and plagues and epidemics and mass killings of youth. Warding off these natural disasters was the entire excuse for doing all these sacrifices, the gods had to be appeased. Fortuantly, Tlacaelel knew how to do it.

You know how years later during the Irish potato famine, Malthus recomended the Irish eat their own children? He stole that idea from Tlacaelel. All these human sacrifices were really quite delicious. Especially the palms of the hands, that was the Aztec delicacy. Mmm ...

Another thing I need to mention is he set up something called the Flower Wars. The Aztecs didn't crush their enemies and neighbors like they could have, instead they farmed them for human sacrifices. The Flower Wars weren't really wars, they were ritual wars, all sides fought with equal armies. The Aztecs held back their full power because they were mearly looking for captives to feed their sacrifice machine.

They say only the good die young. Between nature and the Aztec religions, a lot of native Mexicans did die young. Then there's Tlacaelel, on the other hand, who lived to be 90.

Quite the living legend. He served in the capacty of chief priest for over 70 years setting the ground work for this nice, fine religion. He served in this capacity for his father, uncle, half-brother, nephew, and grand-nephew. And did I mention it wasn't just killing and slavery and human farming and genocide. He was into book burning too. Whatever history that existed prior to the Aztecs - didn't happen. It was to be wiped out. Forgotten. All that is, all that ever was, is Aztec history and is written by him. These human sacrifices have been going on throughout all time. It's always been like this and always will be.

The culmination of Tlacaelel's life work was the 7th Reconstruciton of the Templo Mayor. This was the version of the temple that Cortez saw and destroyed. Tlacaelel lived just long enough to see it. He was 87 years old and presided over it's dedication in 1484. Quite the party, over four days, the Aztecs sacrificed (grrr... wiki says 'only' 4000 people but another source says 20000-80000 people, which is a number more in lines with a Youtube video I saw a couple of years ago). Anyways it was quite the lovely bloody mess. Each day blood ran like a river onto the pavement of the Great Plaza, and the stairs of the great pyramid were literally bathed in blood. Tlacaelel died three years later in 1487.

I mentined his grand-nephew, that boy was Moctezuma II who grew up to be the guy Cortes encountered 32 years in 1520. Cortes estimated the Atzecs were sacrificing 50,000 people per year to their gods when he arrived. He conqured the Aztec empire, pulled down and looted the gold out of all their temples and shrines. Initially he put a cross at the top of the Templo Mayor but eventually tore the whole thing down. What a party pooper.

The temple wasn't completly destroyed. It was too big. Instead, Cortez simply leveled it and he rebuilt Mexico City on top of all the shrines. Excavators later found the base of the temple and recovered whatever was left and it's now a protected UNESCO site.

------

Tlacaelel is a great cook. Subutai and Machiavelli are usually picky eaters but they just love having him around. Machavelli says every day is Palm Sunday with Tlacaelel.

Sadly, Tlacaelel is having some trouble adjusting to living with he rest of the team. Most of us won't go near him but with Marconi help, we can stay in contact. Meanwhile, we have to keep Pizzaro away, those two don't get along at all.

Tlacaelel's talent as an interior decorator is underappreciated. He really put a lot of thought into constructing that Templo Mayor so he's got a good eye for how to arrainge bones and body parts into lovely art. Especially, heads, his wall of skulls is really lovely. Picasso is having a good time going over this with him, they're giving each other pointers.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Hasan-i Sabbah - criminal

 

This man founded the assassins, or the hashashin, a group of Ismali Muslims who seized a chain of fortresses in Persia in the eleventh century. For three centuries, they were the daggers in the dark, striking fear into the leaders of the region

 

 

In order to get rid of anti-Nizari rulers, clerics and officials, the Assassins would carefully study the languages and cultures of their targets. An operative would then infiltrate the court or inner circle of the intended victim, sometimes serving for years as an advisor or servant. At an opportune moment, the Assassin would stab the sultan, vizier or mullah with a dagger in a surprise attack. Assassins were promised a place in Paradise following their martyrdom, which generally took place shortly after the attack.

 

Officials throughout the Middle East were terrified of these surprise attacks; many took to wearing armor or chain-mail shirts under their clothes, just in case.

 

 

There are two theories on the origin of the name. One suggests the name comes from hashish, the cannabis related drug, which Marco Polo claimed the assassins used before a kill to simulate the joys of paradise for martyrs.

 

The other theory claims it derives from the Egyptian word for 'noisy people."

 

Either way. Badasses.

[Voltaire 4,578]

Hasan-i Sabbah - criminal

 

This man founded the assassins, or the hashashin, a group of Ismali Muslims who seized a chain of fortresses in Persia in the eleventh century. For three centuries, they were the daggers in the dark, striking fear into the leaders of the region

 

 

In order to get rid of anti-Nizari rulers, clerics and officials, the Assassins would carefully study the languages and cultures of their targets. An operative would then infiltrate the court or inner circle of the intended victim, sometimes serving for years as an advisor or servant. At an opportune moment, the Assassin would stab the sultan, vizier or mullah with a dagger in a surprise attack. Assassins were promised a place in Paradise following their martyrdom, which generally took place shortly after the attack.

 

Officials throughout the Middle East were terrified of these surprise attacks; many took to wearing armor or chain-mail shirts under their clothes, just in case.

 

 

There are two theories on the origin of the name. One suggests the name comes from hashish, the cannabis related drug, which Marco Polo claimed the assassins used before a kill to simulate the joys of paradise for martyrs.

 

The other theory claims it derives from the Egyptian word for 'noisy people."

 

Either way. Badasses.

This pick reminds me of the Thuggie you got from India earlier. You seem to know a heck of a lot about South Asian criminal syndicates for some reason. Everything I know about them is because it was pointed out by you.

[Voltaire 4,578]

It was implied when 90sbaby gave me the list of names that he wanted me to post some stuff about the guys he picked. So here those are:

 

----

George Stephenson (9 June 1781 – 12 August 1848) was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public inter-city railway line in the world to use steam locomotives, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Renowned as the "Father of Railways", the Victorians considered him a great example of diligent application and thirst for improvement, with self-help advocate Samuel Smiles particularly praising his achievements. His rail gauge of 4 feet 8 1⁄2 inches (1,435 mm), sometimes called "Stephenson gauge", is the standard gauge by name and by convention for most of the world's railways.

 

-----

 

Albert Bandura OC (/bænˈdʊərə/; born December 4, 1925) is a psychologist who is the David Starr Jordan Professor Emeritus of Social Science in Psychology at Stanford University. For almost six decades, he has been responsible for contributions to the field of education and to many fields of psychology, including social cognitive theory, therapy and personality psychology, and was also influential in the transition between behaviorism and cognitive psychology. He is known as the originator of social learning theory and the theoretical construct of self-efficacy, and is also responsible for the influential 1961 Bobo doll experiment.

 

Social learning theory is how people learn through observing others. An example of social learning theory would be the students imitating the teacher. Self-efficacy is "the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations." To paraphrase, self-efficacy is believing in yourself to take action. The Bobo Doll Experiment was how Albert Bandura studied aggression and non-aggression in children.

A 2002 survey ranked Bandura as the fourth most-frequently cited psychologist of all time, behind B. F. Skinner, Sigmund Freud, and Jean Piaget, and as the most cited living one.[1] Bandura is widely described as the greatest living psychologist,[2][3][4][5] and as one of the most influential psychologists of all time.[6][7]

 

In 1974 Bandura was elected to be the Eighty-Second President of the American Psychological Association (APA). He was one of the youngest president-elects in the history of the APA at the age of 48. Bandura served as a member of the APA Board of Scientific Affairs from 1968 to 1970 and is well known as a member of the editorial board of nine psychology journals including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology from 1963 to 1972.[8] At the age of 82, Bandura was awarded the Grawemeyer Award for psychology.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

This pick reminds me of the Thuggie you got from India earlier. You seem to know a heck of a lot about South Asian criminal syndicates for some reason. Everything I know about them is because it was pointed out by you.

The hashashin I learned about reading about the crusades. They were active players in that period.

 

The thugee I read about in a book on the British empire in India. They are servants of Kali and believe murder is akin to prayer. The British finally stamped them out in the 19th century.

 

And of course, they are where the words "assassin" and "thug" come from.

[BiPolarBear 476]

Ever hear of the Pirates Code?

 

1. Every man shall have an equal vote in affairs of moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure unless a scarcity may make it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted.
2. Every man shall be called fairly in turn by the list on board of prizes, because over and above their proper share, they are allowed a shift of clothes. But if they defraud the company to the value of even one dollar in plate, jewels or money, they shall be marooned. If any man rob another he shall have his nose and ears slit, and be put ashore where he shall be sure to encounter hardships.
3. None shall game for money either with dice or cards.
4. The lights and candles should be put out at eight at night, and if any of the crew desire to drink after that hour they shall sit upon the open deck without lights.
5. Each man shall keep his piece, cutlass and pistols at all times clean and ready for action.
6. No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man shall be found seducing any of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise he shall suffer death.
7. He that shall desert the ship or his quarters in time of battle shall be punished by death or marooning.
8. None shall strike another on board the ship, but every man's quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol in this manner. At the word of command from the quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately. If any man do not, the quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draw the first blood shall be declared the victor.
9. No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living till each has a share of 1,000. Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have 800 pieces of eight from the common stock and for lesser hurts proportionately.
10. The captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize, the master gunner and boatswain, one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune one share each.
11. The musicians shall have rest on the Sabbath Day only by right. On all other days by favor only.

 

Pirate Bartholomew Roberts gave us that, while taking over 400 hundred ships, making him the most successful pirate of the golden age of pirates. He was consider ruthless to the extreme.

 

Bartholomew Roberts - Criminal

[vuduchile 1,941]

Ever hear of the Pirates Code?

 

• Every man shall have an equal vote in affairs of moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure unless a scarcity may make it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted.
• Every man shall be called fairly in turn by the list on board of prizes, because over and above their proper share, they are allowed a shift of clothes. But if they defraud the company to the value of even one dollar in plate, jewels or money, they shall be marooned. If any man rob another he shall have his nose and ears slit, and be put ashore where he shall be sure to encounter hardships.
• None shall game for money either with dice or cards.
• The lights and candles should be put out at eight at night, and if any of the crew desire to drink after that hour they shall sit upon the open deck without lights.
• Each man shall keep his piece, cutlass and pistols at all times clean and ready for action.
• No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man shall be found seducing any of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise he shall suffer death.
• He that shall desert the ship or his quarters in time of battle shall be punished by death or marooning.
• None shall strike another on board the ship, but every man's quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol in this manner. At the word of command from the quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately. If any man do not, the quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draw the first blood shall be declared the victor.
• No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living till each has a share of 1,000. Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have 800 pieces of eight from the common stock and for lesser hurts proportionately.
• The captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize, the master gunner and boatswain, one and one half shares, all other officers one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune one share each.
• The musicians shall have rest on the Sabbath Day only by right. On all other days by favor only.

Pirate Bartholomew Roberts gave us that, while taking over 400 hundred ships, making him the most successful pirate of the golden age of pirates. He was consider ruthless to the extreme.

 

Bartholomew Roberts - Criminal

Haha. I drove past a Long John Silver's fish joint tonight and wondered aloud if anyone had picked a pirate in this draft yet.

[vuduchile 1,941]

Jack of all trades.

If Richard Francis Burton had never set foot in Africa, he would still be remembered as the most erudite adventurer of the Victorian Age. Today, he is as well known for translating the Arabian Nights (and adding Aladdin and His Magic Lamp and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves to its canon) and the Kama Sutra into English as for discovering the source of the Nile with his expedition partner John Hanning Speke. Burtons accomplishments extend well beyond these, however, and the range of his interests, as reflected in the terms often used to describe him, is truly astonishing: explorer, translator, writer, soldier, orientalist, ethnologist, linguist, poet, hypnotist, fencer, diplomat. According to one count, he spoke twenty-nine European, Asian, and African languages, including Arabic, Greek, Hindustani, Icelandic, Swahili, and Turkish. During his life he published forty-three volumes on his explorations and almost thirty volumes of translations.

More here:

http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/websites/africa/burton/burton.html

 

I was most intrigued by Burton's adventures into the "forbidden" Arab world.

 

Disguising himself as a Pathān, an Afghanistani Muslim, in 1853 he went to Cairo, Suez, and Medina, then traveled the bandit-ridden route to the sacred city of Mecca, where at great risk he measured and sketched the mosque and holy Muslim shrine, the Kaʿbah. Though not the first non-Muslim to penetrate and describe the “mother of cities,” Burton was the most sophisticated and the most accurate. HisPilgrimage to El-Medinah and Mecca (1855–56) was not only a great adventure narrative but also a classic commentary on Muslim life and manners, especially on the annual pilgrimage. Instead of returning to London to enjoy his sudden fame, however, he organized a new expedition in 1854 to the equally forbidden East African city of Harar (Harer) and became the first European to enter this Muslim citadel without being executed. He described his adventures in First Footsteps in East Africa (1856).

By this time Burton had become fascinated by the idea of discovering the source of the White Nile and in 1855 planned an expedition with three officers of the British East India Company, including John Hanning Speke, intending to push across Somaliland. Africans attacked the party near Berbera, however, killing one member of the party and seriously wounding Speke. Burton himself had a javelin hurled through his jaw and was forced to return to England. After recovery, in July 1855, he went toCrimea to volunteer in the war against Russia. At the Dardanelles he helped train Turkish irregulars but saw no action at the front.

[Voltaire 4,578]

The next on 90sbaby's list are

 

Cao Cao - General (Tactical)

 

and

 

Henry the Navigator - Inventor

 

Yes Inventor.

 

I think that Henry pick was a typo but not mine. He's as fine an Administrator pick as can be expected, but I don't know what it is that he invented.

[Voltaire 4,578]

Burton is a fun pick. I wasn't aware of him and enjoyed reading the link.

 

Here are the wikis on 90sbaby's two picks this corner: Cao Cao and Henry...

 

-------

Cao Cao (Chinese: 曹操; 155 – 15 March 220), courtesy name Mengde, was a warlord and the penultimate Chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty who rose to great power in the final years of the dynasty. As one of the central figures of the Three Kingdoms period, he laid the foundations for what was to become the state of Cao Wei and was posthumously honoured as "Emperor Wu of Wei". Although he is often portrayed as a cruel and merciless tyrant in subsequent literature, Cao Cao has also been praised as a brilliant ruler and military genius who treated his subordinates like his family. He was also skilled in poetry and martial arts and wrote many war journals.

 

---------

Infante Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Henry the Navigator (Portuguese: Henrique, o Navegador) was an important figure in 15th-century Portuguese politics and in the early days of the Portuguese Empire. Through his administrative direction, he is regarded as the main initiator of what would be known as the Age of Discoveries. Henry was the third [2] child of the Portuguese king John I and responsible for the early development of Portuguese exploration and maritime trade with other continents through the systematic exploration of Western Africa, the islands of the Atlantic Ocean, and the search for new routes.

 

King John I was the founder of the House of Aviz. Henry encouraged his father to conquer Ceuta (1415), the Muslim port on the North African coast across the Straits of Gibraltar from the Iberian Peninsula. He learnt of the opportunities from the Saharan trade routes that terminated there, and became fascinated with Africa in general; he was most intrigued by the Christian legend of Prester John and the expansion of Portuguese trade. Henry is regarded as the patron of Portuguese exploration.

[Voltaire 4,578]

Oh boy. I just found a mistake with Vudu's roster.

 

I was in there updating stuff ... earlier he took Story Musgrave as a JoaT but I never added our multi-talented astronaut friend to the roster in the second post. He did make it to the third thread. So now Richard Francis Burton is his fifth JoaT.

 

If Vudu wants to cut him, that's OK. Let me tell you something though, I love this pick and if he does get cut, this guy is absolutely on my Talk Show Guest radar. Also Vudu has a 4th spot in Explorer.

 

I guess this is a good time to request you guys to double check me. I am prone to mistakes as you can see. Each one of us should have 93/94 names in both the second and third threads.

 

Anyways, it's Vudu's pick anyways so we can clear this up. Bear on deck then TBBOM.

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

The next on 90sbaby's list are

 

Cao Cao - General (Tactical)

 

and

 

Henry the Navigator - Inventor

 

Yes Inventor.

 

I think that Henry pick was a typo but not mine. He's as fine an Administrator pick as can be expected, but I don't know what it is that he invented.

I believe Henry invented a method of determining ones longitudinal position. Either the astrolabe or sextant. Very crucial to navigation.

[vuduchile 1,941]

Oh boy. I just found a mistake with Vudu's roster.

 

I was in there updating stuff ... earlier he took Story Musgrave as a JoaT but I never added our multi-talented astronaut friend to the roster in the second post. He did make it to the third thread. So now Richard Francis Burton is his fifth JoaT.

 

If Vudu wants to cut him, that's OK. Let me tell you something though, I love this pick and if he does get cut, this guy is absolutely on my Talk Show Guest radar. Also Vudu has a 4th spot in Explorer.

 

I guess this is a good time to request you guys to double check me. I am prone to mistakes as you can see. Each one of us should have 93/94 names in both the second and third threads.

 

Anyways, it's Vudu's pick anyways so we can clear this up. Bear on deck then TBBOM.

That's ok. Move Burton to explorer please.

[vuduchile 1,941]

Volty's write up of Tlacaelel is creeping me out.

[Voltaire 4,578]

Volty's write up of Tlacaelel is creeping me out.

It's why I did the female emperor first. Writing that was taxing.

 

I'm the father of three small kids. A few days ago, as I was first reading about the disturbing cr@p, specifically, about how they sacrificed children depending on the height of the corn, I was laying on my bed with my phone as my two year old was crawling around playing beside me.

 

Not good.

 

Then, the whole thing was written during the extended lunch break where I work: a kindergarten.

 

Tlacaelel's decorative wall of skulls and body parts I presume wasn't just skulls and bones, they were likely fresh kills with the flesh still on them.

[vuduchile 1,941]

General - Strategist

 

Alexander Suvorov is one of the few generals in history who never lost a battle, being undefeated in over 60 large battles while frequently having numerical disadvantage.^[1] He was famed for his military manual The Science of Victory and noted for several of his sayings, including "What is difficult in training will become easy in a battle," "The bullet is a mad thing; only the bayonet knows what it is about," and "Perish yourself but rescue your comrade!" He taught his soldiers to attack instantly and decisively: "Attack with the cold steel! Push hard with the bayonet!". He joked with the men, calling common soldiers "brother," and shrewdly presented the results of detailed planning and careful strategy as the work of inspiration.

 

Russians have long cherished the memory of Suvorov as a great captain of the Russian nation, and for the character of his leadership. In an age when war had become an act of diplomacy, he restored its significance as an act of force. He had a great simplicity of manner, and while on a campaign lived as a private soldier, sleeping on straw and contenting himself with the humblest fare.^[18]

 

 

 

[BiPolarBear 476]

Napoleon Bonaparte and George S. Patton are among the list of military leaders that consider him one of the greatest generals of all time. He is also known as the "Father of Modern Warfare".

He got rid of the mix of guns used by the infantry in favor of a standard caliber musket. Most people have seen movies where one line of muskets would fire and move back and then the next line would move up and fire. If you think about that method, you can understand that if you did not get hit by the first round of shot that you would be emboldened, and keep charging forward. Now imagine that all three lines of muskets fire at once and kill a larger number all at once. The remaining cavalry or infantry has lost a lot of stream and is demoralized.

Instead of locating heavy artillery on a distant hill, he used lighter "battalion guns" and put them in control of individual infantry commanders on the field. Imagine that you are a field commander and instead of wishing those far off big guns were giving you some cover, you had twelve cannons of your own, right there with you firing point blank at the enemy. All the other field commanders had their own fast moving field cannons. The modern equivalent of tanks.

O.K., now all the bullets fit all the guns and you have your own cannons. Where is the King?

He is on the field with you. He took the field at the age of 17 when he inherited the throne and three wars from his father. He is Gusavus Adolphus The Great of Sweden.

 

Here is an overview of one of his battles:

 

 

Gusavus Adolphus The Great - General (tactical)

[Voltaire 4,578]

:mad:

 

good job guys

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Samuel Johnson - nonfiction writer

 

Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 [O.S. 7 September] 13 December 1784), often referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory, and has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters in English history".[1] He is also the subject of "the most famous single biographical work in the whole of literature," James Boswell's Life of Samuel Johnson.[2]

 

Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson attended Pembroke College, Oxford for just over a year, before his lack of funds forced him to leave. After working as a teacher he moved to London, where he began to write for The Gentleman's Magazine. His early works include the biography Life of Mr Richard Savage, the poems London and The Vanity of Human Wishes, and the play Irene.

 

After nine years of work, Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language was published in 1755. It had a far-reaching effect on Modern English and has been described as "one of the greatest single achievements of scholarship".[3] This work brought Johnson popularity and success. Until the completion of the Oxford English Dictionary 150 years later, Johnson's was viewed as the pre-eminent British dictionary.[4] His later works included essays, an influential annotated edition of The Plays of William Shakespeare, and the widely read tale The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia. In 1763, he befriended James Boswell, with whom he later travelled to Scotland; Johnson described their travels in A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. Towards the end of his life, he produced the massive and influential Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, a collection of biographies and evaluations of 17th- and 18th-century poets.

[Voltaire 4,578]

Thomas Hobbes - Thinker

 

William Butler Yeats - Poet

 

Write up later

[titans&bucs&bearsohmy! 2,745]

Cheung Po Tsai and Ching Shih - criminals

 

Cheung Po Tsai was a fishermans son, captured by a pirate and his wife to later be adopted by them and become a pirate himself. In the height of his career, he commanded an army of over 50,000 men and several hundred ships (Caribbean pirates seem to pale in comparison). He terrorized the Guangdong coastline, amassing great treasure, which he hid in a small cave that is today named after him. Eventually the Chinese government managed to catch him, though he struck a deal with them and became enlisted as a captain in the Qing Imperial Navy. He was appointed to the rank of colonel and spent the rest of his life aiding the Chinese government in capturing other pirates.

 

Also known as Cheng I Sao, Ching Shih is not only the most successful of all female pirates, she is also the most fascinating. She gained equality to her husband, the pirate Cheng and took over his operation upon his demise. She ordained her husbands second-in-command, her adopted son, Cheung Po Tsai, the captain of her fleet (which equaled that of all the other most successful pirates combined). Beautiful and a former prostitute, Captain Sao controlled more than 1,500 ships with 80,000 men, and robbed and taxed towns, plundering ships along the coast of the South China Sea, all the while enforcing a strict code of conduct upon her men. She also married her adopted son, Chang Pao. When the Chinese government offered her universal pirate amnesty in exchange for peace, she accepted. Her pirates, on the other hand, were able to keep their riches and were given military jobs. She lived out her 69 years in charge of a casino and brothel with her husband.

 

ETA: so with an assist from volty, I have found out the story is better. The two I mentioned were the wife and adopted son. Turns out it was a love triangle. The father kidnapped a boy as his gay lover, who later ended up focking and marrying his wife. The trio terrorized the South China Sea for years.

 

Good stuff. Learn new things doing this.

[Voltaire 4,578]

That's long enough. Vudu can go twice.

 

As usual that comes with a risk but we'll deal with it.

 

Especially this time, 90sbaby has got a pretty solid name we all know coming down the pike so the small chance of doubling up Vudu could be a problem this time.

[BiPolarBear 476]

Opps. Mis-clicked and lost my write up.

 

Luis Garvito - Criminal

 

147 Colombian street kids confirmed killed. The number may continue to rise to around 300. He liked prolonged torture and dismemberment.

 

The maximum sentence in Columbia is 40 years. He has been very helpful in helping the police find bodies, so his sentence has been reduced to 22 years. Luis wishes to help disadvantaged youth and he may get his chance. He gets extra time off for good behavior.

[vuduchile 1,941]

Andy Hildebrand, an engineer working for Exxon. developed methods for interpreting seismic data and subsequently realized that the technology could be used to detect, analyze, and modify the pitch in audio files.

 

His invention is now commonly known Autotune and has forever changed the world of music.....not for the better.

 

Fock him, his invention and all who have ever used it.

 

Andy Hildebrand - Dumb Muthafocka.

[Voltaire 4,578]

Guru Nanak - religious leader

Andy Warhol - artist

 

90sbaby's two .. back to Vudu

[Voltaire 4,578]

I have no idea what autotune is.

 

Grr....

 

I'm not sure I want to find out either but like a moth to flame here I go...