The ‘top 12’ lists

A few days ago, I had asked who are the 12 people (famous enough for the rest of us to have heard of them) whom you’d like to spend a day/have dinner with.  Some very, very intriguing people got nominated in the comments – some of whom did make it to the early versions of my list, but did not make the cut of being in the top 12.

And, I promised I’d post mine (I wrote them down before asking posing this question in the above-mentioned post), along with some others:  well, this is that post!

My list is as follows:

  1. Richard Feynman
  2. Xanthippe
  3. Hypatia
  4. Hatshepsut
  5. Cixi
  6. Archimedes
  7. Giordano Bruno
  8. Ludwig Von Mises
  9. Samo
  10. Mika Waltari
  11. Margaret Thatcher
  12. Mark Twain

My hubby’s list:

  1. Galileo Galilei
  2. Thomas Jefferson
  3. Albert Einstein
  4. Neil Armstrong
  5. Leonardo da Vinci
  6. Pete Townshend
  7. Chris Hadfield
  8. Julius Caesar
  9. Alexander the Great
  10. C. D. Howe
  11. the first human
  12. the last human

My younger son is in his early teens, so, citing the inexperience of his youth, he only picked 6:

  1. Richard Feynman
  2. Notch (Markus Persson)
  3. Albert Einstein
  4. Nicola Tesla
  5. Robin Walker
  6. Gabe Newell

Interestingly, my older son’s list starts with the same man as mine and his brother’s:

  1. Richard Feynman
  2. Euclid
  3. Leonhard Euler
  4. Archimedes
  5. Plato
  6. Isaac Newton
  7. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz  (on the grounds that he’d like to get the two of them in one room, then bring up Calculus…)
  8. Georg Cantor
  9. Edsger W. Djikstra
  10. Douglas Hofstadter
  11. Alan Turing
  12. Alonzo Church

His girlfriend’s list is also very interesting:

  1. Empress Wu
  2. Zhuge Liang
  3. Emperor Qing Shi Huang
  4. an early hominid
  5. Richard Feynman
  6. Beyonce Knowles
  7. a common Japanese soldier who participated in the Nan Jing massacre
  8. Karl Marx
  9. the Buddha
  10. an African pygmy before contact by European explorers
  11. a Mayan ruler
  12. a native of the Easter Islands

 

 

 

 

Here is the ever-enigmatic CodeSlinger’s list:

Alexander the Great
Genghis Khan
Julius Ceasar
Jesus Christ
Imhotep
The architect of Göbekli Tepe
Thomas Jefferson
Mayer Amschel Rothschild
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Albert Einstein
Paul Dirac

And, young Juggernaut has a short list:

  1. Jim Morrison
  2. Friedrich Nietzsche

My mom also contributed ‘her 12’:

  1. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
  2. Claude Monet
  3. Edgar Degas
  4. Napoleon
  5. Jesus Christ
  6. Mary, mother of Jesus
  7. Obama
  8. George W. Bush
  9. Jack Kennedy
  10. Marilyn Monroe
  11. Jan Evangelista Purkyne
  12. Ray Charles

My dad, however, gave perhaps the most Aspie answer possible:

Totally alone!

Though, he did say he’d like to bring this book.

Now, I’m going to have fun looking up and learning about all these people!

Posted in human nature. Tags: , . 3 Comments »

Thunderf00t: Feminism versus FACTS (Part 3, RE Damsel in distress II)

When I was about 14 years old, my parents hosted a dinner party.  One group of their guests was a family much like ours:  mother, father and a daughter, an only child.  Except that the other family’s daughter was about 5 years my senior and, while I was in High School, she was already attending University.

During the meal, the matriarch of this guest family, with an indulgently patronizing smile, responded to something my dad had said with:  “How can you say that, with two fine young feminists sitting at the table?”

Well, that got my hackles up!

I immediately responded with (loosely translated to English): “I am no such thing as a feminist!  Please, don’t insult my intelligence by calling me one!”

Which seemed to puzzle my parents’ guests (both of whom [the parents] held doctorates in Physics):  they could not possibly imagine a young woman who isn’t driven by her immature teenage rebellion into the foolishness that is ‘Western feminism’.  Their own daughter was, indeed, a full blown feminist and a Marxist to boot – and, to the best of my knowledge, has remained so till now…

OK, it was one of my Aspie moments, I had embarrassed my parents and all that.  Jaws dropped all around – perhaps due to the passion with which my statement was delivered – and, looking back, my parents had a hard time getting the conversation back into the ‘safe’ zone.

Yet, even at the age of 14, I recognized and despised – to the core of my being – the hypocrisy of modern-day Western feminists who, far from attempting to create a ‘level playing field’ where every individual is treated equally, regardless of where they fall in the demographics game, were all about a power/money grab for a specific snotty elite…a corruption of an ideal if there ever was one!

I, for one, considered myself ‘an equalist’ – someone who despises special privileges for anyone. for any reason.  The rules of life (aka ‘the laws of the land’) had to apply to everyone equally!

After all, that is why we came to Canada:  so my family would no longer be persecuted because of my father’s beliefs (not actions, just beliefs).  Where teachers would not regularly single me out because of my pigmentation, my pale skin and hair and eye colour – ‘just the king of kid the Nazis would have liked – unlike the rest of my classmates, whom they would have gladly have exterminated’:  a statement my grade 3-5 homeroom teacher made, in class, several times week, and which inevitably led to a school-yard beating for me…at least, until I learned how to fight back…

So, I guess I learned the hard way to wish for the rules to apply to everyone equally – even to pale freaks like me!  And, I had expected that immigrating to a country with a heritage of liberal democracy, like Canada, would provide that!

How very Aspie of me…

The Cultural Marxists – led/bullied by the ‘feminists’ – had corrupted the spirit of liberal democracy in Canada long before I got here.

It saddens me to see so many smart people fall for their scam.

Yet, I am glad Thunderf00t is not one of them!

 

The Battle for Free Speech on Campus: Greg Lukianoff at the Museum of Sex

Here is something to expand the mind:

The new book by Greg Lukianoff is Unlearning Liberty.

A little light-hearted fun

The days are growing long, the weather is getting warm – it puts one into a whimsical mood.

So, what if you could spend a day with 12 people – famous people living or not.

As for ‘famous’ – it could be anyone you can name or describe (example:  the first person to invent the wheel) them.

Send your top 12 in in the comments and in a few days, I’ll make a post of the lists.

 

Posted in about. Tags: . 7 Comments »

US Supreme Court: the police can collect your DNA without a warrant

Warrantless DNA collection is now a reality in the USA, as per the US Supreme Court.

In a State that, with the coming of Obamacare, how long do you think it will take before the police and medical files are linked?

And in an increasingly broke state, how long do you think it will take before medical treatment is rationed – and denied to people with genetic markers for specific diseases, even if they are disease-free, simply because it would be a ‘risky’ investment for The State to make?

 

 

Reason TV on Bitcoins

Reason TV: Nanny of the Month – May 2013

 

Open Doors Ottawa – 2013

For all those who will find yourself in the Ottawa area this coming weekend, 1st and 2nd of  June, 2013, and you would like to see all kinds of wonderful places which are not usually open to the public, you are in luck!

Open Doors Ottawa is an excellent and fun way to spend a weekend. Whether you want to see how the traffic lights are controlled, or visit various Embassies, from Churches and Mosques to historical buildings to government offices – many have their doors open.

Here is the list of the 2013 events.

Enjoy!

David Wood EDL interview excerpt

 

“Free Amina!” – Femen stage a protest in front of a Tunisian court

FREE AMINA!

The ‘Amina’ in question is Amina Tyler, a Tunisian member of Femen.  (I have written about her here.)  She had posted a topless photo of herself on FaceBook with the Arabic words for ‘My body is my own’ written across her chest.  Her family had her committed to a mental institution, she ran away and now she is facing charges of indecency.

So, the day before her trial, three Femen activists staged the first Femen topless protest  in the Arab world in front of the Tunisian court where Amina is to be tried.

Considering they each could face 6 months in jail – and that is if the Islamists don’t get to them first:  that is very, very brave of them!

Femen against Sharia!

You go, girls!

H/T:  BCF