__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Team Historyectomy is proud to select in the Composer/Musician category, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Born Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg, Austria (present day) in 1756. Mozart composed over 600 works of music in his 46 years. I'm no expert in classical music or the composers of the time, but Mozart's work is timeless and immediately captivate me the first time I hear them. I don't think it's a stretch to call him the most influential composer of all time.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
Last edited by Displaced Flames fan; 07-23-2009 at 07:32 PM.
With our first pick Team Silent enim leges inter arma are proud to select in the Solider category Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877)
Forrest was probably one of the only competent soldiers/leaders that the Confederacy had in the War Between the States. After the war Jefferson Davis admits to misusing Forrest as a valuable asset. Forrest was one of Civil War Historian Shelby Foote's two geniusis of the Civil War along with Lincoln.
Forrest was a prickly man, and controversial in his legacy. After the war he became an Imperial Wizard of the KKK but left when his somewhat progressive views on race following the Civil War didn't jive with what the Klan was evolving into.
This guy wasn't a nice guy my any stretch of the imagination, however I'm glad to have him on my team as the category may prove a challenge to fit into and I'm proud to put some of my 400 Civil War course knowledge to use.
Here is the wiki link, however my info was posted by memory. Well I did steal their picture.
My first pick is the Inventor Johannes Gutenberg (1400-1468).
I don't know a hell of a lot about the guy so I'll let the good folks at the Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia give the details.
Quote:
Printer, regarded as the inventor of printing from movable type, born in Minz, Germany. Between 1430 and 1444 he was in Strasbourg, probably working as a goldsmith, and here he may have begun printing. In Mainz again by 1448 he entered into partnership with Johann Fust, who financed a printing press. This partnership ended in 1455, when Fust sued him for repayment of the loan, and forced him to give up his machinery, leaving him ruined. Aided by Konrad Humery, he was able to set up another press, but little is known of his work thereafter. His best known book is the 42-line Bible, often called Gutenberg's Bible (c. 1455).
There are lots of nifty inventions out there but I don't think you can beat this one. If it came a hundred years later or a hundred years earlier, everything would be different.*
*Not a deep philosophical thought or historical "fact" that I can back up. It just kinda struck me that it could be true. If people (besides monks and other religious types) had been reading since 1330 instead of 1430, we might be a ways ahead of where we are now.
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Last edited by RougeUnderoos; 07-24-2009 at 12:43 AM.
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Team History Is Written By The Victors, selects in the Military Leader category, Francisco Pizarro González, 1st Marqués de los Atabillos (c. 1471 or 1476 – 26 June 1541):
Tastes differs of course, but personally I'll go "meh" on this one. A surprise attack with all the elements in their side (training, tactics, weaponry, positions and simple superstition) onan unarmed, even if very large, diplomatic retinue, while the real incan troops were outside the actual battle.
The battle of Cajamarca is more a testament of Atahualpas stupidity and Pizarros ruthlessness than any special military genius. There's a reason it's also called the massacre at Cajamarca.
Tastes differs of course, but personally I'll go "meh" on this one. A surprise attack with all the elements in their side (training, tactics, weaponry, positions and simple superstition) onan unarmed, even if very large, diplomatic retinue, while the real incan troops were outside the actual battle.
The battle of Cajamarca is more a testament of Atahualpas stupidity and Pizarros ruthlessness than any special military genius. There's a reason it's also called the massacre at Cajamarca.
It's not just the Battle of Cajamarca. The whole campaign is remarkable. I just found it all very interesting - I'm certainly no fan of Pizarro.
Team Strange Things Afoot at the Circle-K selects Nikola Tesla in the inventors category. Amongst the greatest inventors ever, and certainly my favorite.
This eccentric inventor is the father of modern electricity, originally working for Edison, he perfected some of Edison's inventions, before leaving after a falling-out. Eventually, he would lock horns with Edison in the current wars, pitching his AC system against Edison's DC current.
A short list of his inventions includes the brushless induction motor, the tesla coil, the spark plug for gasoline engines, AC long distance electrical transmission, and adaptations to the fields of wireless controlled robotics, hydroelectrics, wireless transmission of energy, modern X-ray tubes, arc lamps, and radar. He also had a lot of questionable theories that were never verified, such as his death ray.
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Team Strange Things Afoot at the Circle-K selects Nikola Tesla in the inventors category. Amongst the greatest inventors ever, and certainly my favorite.
What an interesting dude.
I don't want to start a "Yank vs. Non-Yank" discussion, but if he had been a Yank (or an Englishman) that guy would be a household name.
And besides all the cool things he invented, I have to wonder if someone else didn't invent the word "gaunt" after they got a look at him.
In related news, the first round of this thing has gone way different than I expected.
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Last edited by RougeUnderoos; 07-24-2009 at 01:32 AM.
In related news, the first round of this thing has gone way different than I expected.
I hope there are many picks of less familiar figures. Tell me about someone I don't know. Or, like Aeneas did with Michelangelo, personalize your appreciation and introduce lesser known works.
I hope there are many picks of less familiar figures. Tell me about someone I don't know. Or, like Aeneas did with Michelangelo, personalize your appreciation and introduce lesser known works.
The "obscure figures of historys dark corners draft" is next week!
I think this draft will unearth many that others have not heard of.
My "strategy" if there is such a thing is to just pick my favorite persons from history until they are gone (or no category fits) at the start.
I will surely be picking someone more obscure by the 4th or 5th round.
With their fist pick team Know Your Role is proud to select, in the category of Political Leader
Thomas Jefferson
The third President of the United States, the principle author of the Declaration of Independence, the namesake of Jeffersonian Democracy and the man credited with the phrase "Separation of Church and State", Jefferson was not only a politician but an architect, a paleontologist, an inventor and the founder of the University of Virginia.
JFK is reported to have said, upon welcoming 49 Nobel Prize winners to the White House, "I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone."
Team Strange Things Afoot at the Circle-K selects Nikola Tesla in the inventors category. Amongst the greatest inventors ever, and certainly my favorite.
Tesla's biggest fans with their tribute to him and his unfortunate circumstance.
__________________ I am in love with Montana. For other states I have admiration, respect, recognition, even some affection, but with Montana it is love." - John Steinbeck
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Okay so I've decided to pick the man credited with inventing one of (if not the) most influential piece of equipment in the last 100 years at the very minimum.
As my Inventor I would like to select Konrad Zuse, who is said to have built the first functional tape stored, programable computer, the Z3.
I have some bad news. I have moved and may be out of internet for a while. I think its best if I drop out of this draft while its still early. Sorry team, have fun!
I have some bad news. I have moved and may be out of internet for a while. I think its best if I drop out of this draft while its still early. Sorry team, have fun!
How long is awhile? You can send me some picks or be AK'd a few rounds. This is probably a pretty slow moving draft. I'd like you to stay.
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Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
