Okay.... It's the old IRC l337 speak thing, but it has it's roots in one common factor: Everybody on the internet seems to be the bastard offspring of Albert Einstien and Madame Curie. Stanford-Binet scores like phone numbers, all just smirking while all of the other -obviously inferior- folks on the net struggle to keep up with their brilliance.

Ho hum.

So....

Top Ten List:

Who really did, in your mind, have elite skills that set them over and above others? Who in history or contemporary society has earned your respect for their stunningly brilliant accomplishments in their field?

Just ten.

Here's mine:

10 - The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He was an orator and a social activist of staggering abilities who came along when he was needed, and was so profoundly feared by his enemies that they risked martyring him as opposed to letting him continue to speak. High praise for a man of peace.

09 - Peter Gabriel

An incandescantly brilliant musician who went off the beaten path, built a house there and brought back songs of devotion, passion, joy and profound sorrow from Africa and elsewhere. And it's danceable.

08 - Albert Einstien

Sorted out chunks of the universe that most of us can't even wrap our heads around at all. Not bad for a kid who flunked math.

07 - Jesus of Nazareth

A carpenter and a renegade, some might argue failed, rabbi who told people that all they had to do was treat people like they wanted to be treated, play fair, and that faith can save you when there's nothing else to hold on to. They nailed him to a tree for it. You may or may not buy the Son of God thing, but the guy has had the most profound effect on humanity of any person in the last two-thousand years.

06 - Sir Winston Churchill

He commanded the Royal Navy, became an MP, told the Prime Minister and everybody else to kiss his arse when he was chided for warning the world that Hitler was a no-good sonofabitch and that England should prepare for war. Re-appointed as the head of the Royal Navy once the shit hit the fan and became Prime Minister soon thereafter. Led England through the whole of WWII. Roundly acknowledged to be a pain in the arse, but told people "Yes, but I am a great man", and they roundly agreed.

05 - John Lennon

Slum kid starts a band, writes songs that change the world, marries for love, murdered by a lunatic. Pretty astounding career for a Liverpool dock rat from Mendips.

04 - Kurt Vonnegut Jr.

Wove odd and engaging tales of impossible characters in ridiculous situations in whom we all could see a bit of ourselves. Never wrote a bad book, IMHO.

03 - Abraham Lincoln

Self-taught. Dirt fucking poor. Became an attorney. Became president. Despite a less than co-operative cabinet, a country ready to rip at the seams and a wife who was about a dozen crackers short of an hors d'ouvres tray, flatly stated that things that are wrong are wrong and correcting them costs what it costs. That freedom mattered for everybody. Probably the last guy in the Whitehouse who was not a bought-and-paid-for charlatan. Several statues in his honour. Etc...

02 - Robert Noyce / Jack St. Clair Kilby

Invented the microchip. A lot of people talk about changing the world, but... Damn.

01 - Pablo Picasso

Artist, pain in the arse, treated his women like blow-up dolls, tempermental, snotty. Painted some of the most brilliant and moving works of art in history. Go figure.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

Meanwhile, the Scots were led by the Amazing Jock McHaggis, the Irish by that leprechaun off the Lucky Charms box, and the Welsh were led by Bazilla.

Yeah, Jock was a motherfucker.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

Come on Kramer, Scotland weren't in the war, all those people just blew up on their own, and the buildings fell down out of boredom.

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Dad was flammable

Sounds plausible.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

quote:

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Top Ten List:

Who really did, in your mind, have elite skills that set them over and above others? Who in history or contemporary society has earned your respect for their stunningly brilliant accomplishments in their field?

Just ten.

Here's mine:

10 - The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

He was an orator and a social activist of staggering abilities who came along when he was needed, and was so profoundly feared by his enemies that they risked martyring him as opposed to letting him continue to speak. High praise for a man of peace.

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quote:

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05 - John Lennon

Slum kid starts a band, writes songs that change the world, marries for love, murdered by a lunatic. Pretty astounding career for a Liverpool dock rat from Mendips.

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Most of the people who really changed the world will be unknowns. I suppose Matt Groening's quite good, though.

quote:

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05 - John Lennon

Slum kid starts a band, writes songs that change the world, marries for love, murdered by a lunatic. Pretty astounding career for a Liverpool dock rat from Mendips.

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Look out, Andrea Dworkin! Kajun's on the case!

Yes, I'm aware of that, I meant that if you die young, people still love and remember the person you were, as opposed to watch you slowly became an old has-been and lose respect for you. Lennon might be making crap techno records like Cher nowadays.

I didn't say you were, but I'm guessing that people would disagree with some of my choices, like I did with yours, and I'd get offended by their objections , like you did with mine.

I'm still trying to think of some choices

Alexander Graham Bell I guess would be one, I just love the quote "One day, every country in the world will have a telephone". Little did he know that one day nearly every POCKET in the world would have one.

Once again, I wasn't picking a fight or telling you that you were wrong, I have about 200 albums and not one by a female artist and I don't own or like any films with a woman in the leading role, if anyone's a sexist it's me.

(which I'm not)

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Dad was flammable

With all due respect, you're giving yourself a lot of credit here.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.

quote:

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Look out, Andrea Dworkin! Kajun's on the case!

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Yeah. Sonofabitch. How about that? Maybe the list will be different tomorrow... You can post women if you'd like. None immediately occurred to me. I'm sure that probably tosses up some obligatory PC feminist flags on to the pitch from where you're sitting. I just said what I meant. That's still legal here.

You can put me on there if you like. I don't mind being worshipped.

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I am a delicate fucking flower. https://beacons.ai/jesskent

I just got the feeling that there was some resentment towards me in your posts, like this one, despite you give me "all due respect".

I guess I have to try harder to piss you off.

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Dad was flammable

I think Brad needs to be on that list somewhere.

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Batman created by Bob Kane

Yay! Bunner's a PG fan! He has been my favourite for years and, despite being criminally under-rated by the general public, I sincerely believe him to be the greatest popular music performer of the last thirty years. The man is nothing short of a musical genius. Uh... PG, that is, not Bunner... though Bunner is cool too. :)

Credit where credit is due - any man who could terrify the Roman Empire at its peak, even more so after he was dead, was a force to be reckoned with. Talk about rocking the establishment...

He was a rude, egomaniacal arsehole, but he managed the impossible.

...and Paul! Everyone forgets Paul! It was Paul who wrote Yesterday and performed it acoustically onstage at a gig, making everyone suddenly say, "Wow, what else are these guys capable of?"

Sorry, too much going on in my brain to do my own ten right now.

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

He made enough crap with that monstrous Yoko Ono, thank you very much. Even so, he released plenty of classic throughout the seventies in spite of her sucking on his arteries. John Lennon didn't die young - he was in his early forties when he was murdered. He was widely recognised as one of the most influential and original musicians of his time long before his death.

The one thing about him that I object to is that, despite his "be nice to everyone" doctrine, he was always a total prick to Paul McCartney. Every time Paul would release an album, John would be there, saying it was a load of shit. I happen to really like a lot of Paul's solo stuff, and much of it is extremely innovative and creative. I am sure that John was just being bitchy, which diminishes his legend somewhat in my eyes.

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

That "...in their field" part thankfully eliminates the need to compare the apples and oranges of different fields. Here's who I think would be the most likely victims of the daylight pickoff play were they the baserunner and the shortstop the other members of their field:

10. Lincoln - Not only the best president in my opinion, but also endowed with a strength of character never matched before or since.

9. Martin Luther King - He gets my nod for public speaking skills. MLK could say "Big Mac, Fries, and a strawBERRY shake." and I'd get chills.

8. Alexander - I don't know a lot about him other than he used to own a big chunk of the world. Put that on a resume.

7. Beethoven - Someone who's staying power is measured in centuries.

6. Michael Jordan - I have never seen anyone more apt at imposing his will. Michael Jordan willed wins.

5. Jesus Christ - A philosophy of kindness that's resonated with billions.

4. Freud - Not only the psychoanalytical technique, but also the Id-Ego-Superego dilineation of the psyche.

3. Babe Ruth - In 1919 Babe Ruth hit 29 homeruns. That was a higher homerun count than 10 of the other 15 TEAMS in the Majors at the time.

2. Darwin - Darwin didn't evolve his field, he created it.

1. Isaac Newton - Unlike Darwin, Newton didn't create a field. He created two - Physics and Calculus. If Einstein was Man of the Century, Newton was Man of the Millenium.

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I ate a hooker half a bottle of knife.

I haven't thought up my own yet - but have comments on this good list.

He could also change direction in mid air without thrusters. He pushed off of the dirty air in Chicago, I guess.

He wrote referring to the greats that came before him, "If I have seen far it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants." Isaac Newton was the world's first technical writer. He took the insights of others and worded them succinctly. I say this in his praise. That is a fine and underrated skill.

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"Jelly-belly gigglin, dancin and a-wigglin, honey that's the way I am!" Janice the Muppet

I can't be arsed to do a whole list (damn, I'm starting to talk like you people!). I agree with a lot of the choices (Lincoln, Newton, etc.) but I would eliminate all athletes in favor of list would include:

- Thomas Jefferson
- Carl Sagan
- Albert Einstein
- The guy who invented the plow.

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...Trot and Cap'n Bill were free from anxiety and care. Button-Bright never worried about anything. The Scarecrow, not being able to sleep, looked out of the window and tried to count the stars.

This reminded me of an early SC comic. So I looked it up and it turns out it's one of yours.

[Click to view comic: 'I stole this joke from my friend. Dont' tell him']

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

If I had to pick one important popular musical figure from the last fifty years, it'd have to be Pete Seeger. Tireless, courageous, prolific, generous-- more people picked up guitars and sang because of Seeger than probably anyone. What would popular music look like without his work? I wonder what Bob Dylan or John Lennon would have become if Seeger hadn't laid the way? What would the British Invasion have been without the revival of interest in American folk and blues, led largely by him? And he had the balls to stand up to McCarthy.

While we're on pop music giants, how about Jimi Hendrix, who pretty much invented everything worth doing with a cranked electric guitar? Or Chet Atkins, or Roger McGuinn? Peter Gabriel or even John Lennon don't belong on the same page with those guys...

...in my extremely humble, never-contentious opinion.

Or if you're a songwriter, and you want to feel small, check the heft of Bob Dylan's catalog. Then try Woody Guthrie's, if you can lift it.

Shoot, all I've done is talk about late 20th century popular music. I'll have to come back later with, like, Shakespeare and shit.

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"Blow me." --Mother Teresa

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

You forgot to decloak, boo.

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."