World's Greatest Draft (1 Viewer)

[Gigantomachia]

I think I see an opportunity in this category, though it's been getting picked over.

"Nihil est in intellectu quod non fuerit prius in sensu"

(Nothing is in the intellect that was not first in the senses)

9.9 - St. Thomas Aquinas, Philosopher

Saint Thomas Aquinas, O.P. (also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino; born ca. 1225; died 7 March 1274) was a priest of the Roman Catholic Church in the Dominican Order from Italy, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism ... He was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology, and the father of the Thomistic school of philosophy and theology. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy was conceived as a reaction against, or as an agreement with, his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law and political theory.

Aquinas is held in the Catholic Church to be the model teacher for those studying for the priesthood. The works for which he is best-known are the Summa Theologica and the Summa Contra Gentiles.

Excellent pick!!Arguably one of the most influential philosophers in the whole western tradition. In fact, the textbook I am coauthoring with two other philosophers all agreed that our top 10 had to include Aquinas. He made Aristotle, and in many ways philosophy itself, ok to practice as a person of faith. This really opened the door for later skeptics, and ultimately, Descartes as well. Nice!

Please tell me you discussed this draft with your coauthors and you weren't just putting together a top 10 list for the book itself.

Oh, you know it.

 

[Fennis]

Can we get a ruling from each judge (preferably inserted into post #3) on how they're judging?

If they want to post it, I'll paste in post #3. I think Krista and one or two others did this already, but I'm not going to go back and look.

I've changed my criteria and will be judging primarily based on penmanship and height.

And I will have the generals align themselves alphabetically according to height.

Rebels will be solely judged on the amount of facial hair.

 

[Black Box]

Excellent pick!!Arguably one of the most influential philosophers in the whole western tradition. In fact, the textbook I am coauthoring with two other philosophers all agreed that our top 10 had to include Aquinas. He made Aristotle, and in many ways philosophy itself, ok to practice as a person of faith. This really opened the door for later skeptics, and ultimately, Descartes as well. Nice!

Please tell me you discussed this draft with your coauthors and you weren't just putting together a top 10 list for the book itself.

Oh, you know it.

Awesome.

 

[timschochet]

Lots of excellent picks here. I've always thought Aquinas is extremely important, and Gigantomachia pinpointed the reason. When you look at the difference between Christian and Islamic society today, one of the reasons is that Islam never had an Aquinas.

Beria is a good pick along the lines of Himmler, though there are still some upper tier monsters that can be selected, IMO.

Saladin= great military mind.

Cromwell is one of the most important figures in British history, hard to put him in the context of world history. As Thorn briefly noted, he also plays a large part in Irish history, helping to crush one of the seemingly endless Irish rebellions.

Hokusai, according to my wife the art major, is perhaps the most influential Asian artist of all time and she loves him. (Incidentally, nice to get a Japanese finally in this draft- at least a few more should be strongly considered, IMO.) Another challenge for Arsenal-figuring where this guy places among the western masters.

Well done, everyone!

 

[DCThunder]

Can we get a ruling from each judge (preferably inserted into post #3) on how they're judging?

If they want to post it, I'll paste in post #3. I think Krista and one or two others did this already, but I'm not going to go back and look.

I've changed my criteria and will be judging primarily based on penmanship and height.

And I will have the generals align themselves alphabetically according to height.

Rebels will be solely judged on the amount of facial hair.

Then my guy has a real decent shot at a high ranking

 

[Fennis]

Rebels will be solely judged on the amount of facial hair.

Then my guy has a real decent shot at a high ranking

Clean shaven high score to bearded low.

 

[timschochet]

I've said from the beginning that wildcards will be judged, just as they were in the American draft, on a "how hot?" basis. Only higgins seems to understand this so far.

 

[Abrantes]

Rebels will be solely judged on the amount of facial hair.

Then my guy has a real decent shot at a high ranking

Clean shaven high score to bearded low.

You need to get your priorities straightened out.

 

[Doug B]

Lots of excellent picks here. I've always thought Aquinas is extremely important, and Gigantomachia pinpointed the reason. When you look at the difference between Christian and Islamic society today, one of the reasons is that Islam never had an Aquinas.

This is a good extension of Giganto's points above -- critical study and interpretations of Scripture are traditional in most Christian denominations. IIRC, "line item" refutations of any part of the Quran is consdered sinful in most of Islam.

 

[timschochet]

Though I wasn't going to return to this subject, I believe I should point out one thing about Aquinas, though an anti-Semite like most people of his times, he was actually a friend to the Jewish people and saved them much misery. It was the practice of the Church during Aquinas' life to separate Jewish children from their parents and baptize them, in order to "save their souls"; the children would be raised by Christians, never to be seen by their parents again. Aquinas spoke out forcibly against this practice and ended it for several centuries. He wrote:

Injustice should be done to no man. Now it would be an injustice to Jews if their children were to be baptized against their will, since they would lose the rights of parental authority over their children as soon as these were Christians. Therefore these should not be baptized against their parent's will.

I quoted this to make the point that there are good acts in bad times, just as there are bad acts in good times. No one's behavior can ever be excused based upon the time they live in. Martin Luther was raised like Aquinas to despise the Jewish people, yet Aquinas used his reason and sense of fairness in deciding how to treat them. Luther turned away from reason, and caused great misery. This allows me to define Aquinas as essentially a good person and Luther as an evil one.

 

[higgins]

11. Big Rocks ON THE CLOCK

12. higgins ON DECK

13. John Madden's Lunchbox

 

[mad sweeney]

Writeup for Hokusai, easily my favorite painter of all time.

I've never been a big painting fan, sure I studied the masters, particularly the realistic styles with use of light to complement my film studies and had a few posters in college of some famous paintings. The only artist though that I really enjoyed thoroughly since I was younger is Hokusai. I've got several square feet of tattoos that are in the Japanese style, which is very much an offshoot of the Chinese style, and have especially liked the way that water and waves were depicted, most famously in the Great Wave Off Kanagawa. Now in researching him for this I find him infinitely more interesting as he appears to be a true artist's artist. A pioneer as well as a complete master of the traditional, he changed his name dozens of times, moved all over the country and although a prodigy while youg grew in his art and produced his best works late in his life . I'll start off with this great quote which shows his complete dedication to art.

"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs. but all I have done before the the age of seventy is not worth bothering with. At seventy five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am eighty you will see real progress. At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At a hundred I shall be a marvelous artist. At a hundred and ten everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokosai, but today I sign my self 'The Old Man Mad About Drawing."

Hokusai (1760-1849) lived during the Tokugawa period (1600 to 1867). In a Japan of traditional Confucian values and feudal regimentation, Hokusai was a thoroughly Bohemian artist: cocky, quarrelsome, restless, aggressive, and sensational. He fought with his teachers and was often thrown out of art schools. As a stubborn artistic genius, he was single-mindedly obsessed with art. Hokusai left over 30,000 works, including silk paintings, woodblock prints, picture books, manga, travel illustrations, erotic illustrations, paintings, and sketches. Some of his paintings were public spectacles which measured over 200 sq. meters (2,000 sq. feet.) He didn't care much for being sensible or social respect; he signed one of his last works as "The Art-Crazy Old Man". In his 89 years, Hokusai changed his name some thirty times (Hokusai wasn't his real name) and lived in at least ninety homes. We laugh and recognize him as an artist, but wait, that's because we see him as a Western artist, long before the West arrived in Japan.

Hokusai started out as a art student of woodblocks and paintings. During the 600-year Shogun period, Japan had sealed itself off from the rest of the world. Contact with Western culture was forbidden. Nevertheless, Hokusai discovered and studied the European copper-plate engravings that were being smuggled into the country. Here he learned about shading, coloring, realism, and landscape perspective. He introduced all of these elements into woodblock and ukiyo-e art and thus revolutionized and invigorated Japanese art.

Although Chinese and Japanese paintings had been using long distance landscape views for 1,500 years, this style had never entered the woodblock print. Ukiyo-e woodblocks were produced for bourgeoisie city gentry who wanted images of street life, sumo wrestlers, and geishas. The countryside and peasants were ignored.

Hokusai's most famous picture and easily Japan's most famous image is a seascape with Mt. Fuji. The waves form a frame through which we see Mt. Fuji in the distance. Hokusai loved to depict water in motion: the foam of the wave is breaking into claws which grasp for the fishermen. The large wave forms a massive yin to the yang of empty space under it. The impending crash of the wave brings tension into the painting. In the foreground, a small peaked wave forms a miniature Mt. Fuji, which is repeated hundreds of miles away in the enormous Mt. Fuji which shrinks through perspective; the wavelet is larger than the mountain. Instead of shoguns and nobility, we see tiny fishermen huddled into their sleek crafts as they slide down a wave and dive straight into the next wave to get to the other side. The yin violence of Nature is counterbalanced by the yang relaxed confidence of expert fishermen. Although it's a sea storm, the sun is shining.

To Westerners, this woodblock seems to be the quintessential Japanese image, yet it's quite un-Japanese. Traditional Japanese would have never painted lower-class fishermen (at the time, fishermen were one of the lowest and most despised of Japanese social classes); Japanese ignored nature; they would not have used perspective; they wouldn't have paid much attention to the subtle shading of the sky. We like the woodblock print because it's familiar to us. The elements of this Japanese pastoral painting originated in Western art: it includes landscape, long-distance perspective, nature, and ordinary humans, all of which were foreign to Japanese art at the time. The Giant Wave is actually a Western painting, seen through Japanese eyes.

Hokusai didn't merely use Western art. He transformed Dutch pastoral paintings by adding the Japanese style of flattening and the use of color surfaces as a element. By the the 1880's, Japanese prints were the rage in Western culture and Hokusai's prints were studied by young European artists, such as Van Gogh and XXXXXXXX, in a style called Japonaiserie. Thus Western painting returned to the West.

Here's a link to his most famous and critically acclaimed collection that includes the Great Wave.He was truly a groundbreaking Japanese artist that challenged, overcame, and changed traditional conceptions of art in a land where tradition was law and change was almost impossible. Already popular among the Japanese, as his art leaked out to the West he garnered legions of fans, among artists as well as laymen, and today his Great Wave is one of the most iconic paintings in the world, almost solely representative of Japanese art.

 

[Arsenal of Doom]

Writeup for Hokusai, easily my favorite painter of all time.

Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

One of my favorite paintings, and, along with Van Gogh's Starry Night over the Rhone, one the works from artists selected so far that I have reproductions of in my house.

 

[mad sweeney]

Writeup for Hokusai, easily my favorite painter of all time.

Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

One of my favorite paintings, and, along with Van Gogh's Starry Night over the Rhone, one the works from artists selected so far that I have reproductions of in my house.

I like the other starry night Van Gogh, whose name escapes me, and I've had an alarm clock with the Great Wave at the center of the dial for a decade. Great alarm clock, a traingle cut of wood with a dial in the middle and a large E chime. When it goes off the striker hits the chime once, then 10 minutes later it hits it again, then 5 minutes later, etc until it strikes continuously. After a while, you start getting up at the first chime and let me tell you it is a thousand times better to be gently led out of sleep than to be jarred awake by anything. If you are really tired, the chimes gently pull you from your dreams. So it's not a stretch for me to say I've awoken to Hokusai pleasantly thousands of times.My favorite Hokusai piece is actually this one.

My other piece of art I love is a charcoal drawing and poem on a flattened cardboard box by a homeless man that sells them at the Pasadena Swap Meet at the Rose Bowl. Makes me one of the relatively few people to own a piece of art that was actually slept in by the artist!

 

[Arsenal of Doom]

Writeup for Hokusai, easily my favorite painter of all time.

Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

One of my favorite paintings, and, along with Van Gogh's Starry Night over the Rhone, one the works from artists selected so far that I have reproductions of in my house.

I like the other starry night Van Gogh, whose name escapes me, and I've had an alarm clock with the Great Wave at the center of the dial for a decade. Great alarm clock, a traingle cut of wood with a dial in the middle and a large E chime. When it goes off the striker hits the chime once, then 10 minutes later it hits it again, then 5 minutes later, etc until it strikes continuously. After a while, you start getting up at the first chime and let me tell you it is a thousand times better to be gently led out of sleep than to be jarred awake by anything. If you are really tired, the chimes gently pull you from your dreams. So it's not a stretch for me to say I've awoken to Hokusai pleasantly thousands of times.My favorite Hokusai piece is actually this one.

My other piece of art I love is a charcoal drawing and poem on a flattened cardboard box by a homeless man that sells them at the Pasadena Swap Meet at the Rose Bowl. Makes me one of the relatively few people to own a piece of art that was actually slept in by the artist!

The other Starry Night is The Starry Night.

 

[mad sweeney]

Writeup for Hokusai, easily my favorite painter of all time.

Great Wave Off Kanagawa.

One of my favorite paintings, and, along with Van Gogh's Starry Night over the Rhone, one the works from artists selected so far that I have reproductions of in my house.

I like the other starry night Van Gogh, whose name escapes me, and I've had an alarm clock with the Great Wave at the center of the dial for a decade. Great alarm clock, a traingle cut of wood with a dial in the middle and a large E chime. When it goes off the striker hits the chime once, then 10 minutes later it hits it again, then 5 minutes later, etc until it strikes continuously. After a while, you start getting up at the first chime and let me tell you it is a thousand times better to be gently led out of sleep than to be jarred awake by anything. If you are really tired, the chimes gently pull you from your dreams. So it's not a stretch for me to say I've awoken to Hokusai pleasantly thousands of times.My favorite Hokusai piece is actually this one.

My other piece of art I love is a charcoal drawing and poem on a flattened cardboard box by a homeless man that sells them at the Pasadena Swap Meet at the Rose Bowl. Makes me one of the relatively few people to own a piece of art that was actually slept in by the artist!

The other Starry Night is The Starry Night.

Ha, those obtuse artists with the obsequious names!I don't really like a lot of non realist paintings, although these Dutch works and a few others are fine by me. I think my nature bieing in film is to really not like pieces that appear "out of focus". It's pretty much anathema to me. Monet? Can barely even look at his work. Caravaggio and others of that time/movement I do like due to their use of light and chiarusco even though I never remember the names. Those are the paintings I studied most since they are the most relevant directly to the film lighting that I do.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Have Big Rocks & Higgins timed out?

I'm ready with mine

 

[HERBERT THE HIPPO]

Have Big Rocks & Higgins timed out?I'm ready with mine

I think you can pick............ this draft has really slowed down.

 

[higgins]

Have Big Rocks & Higgins timed out?I'm ready with mine

I PMed Big Rocks -- I can make my pick at any time as well.eta: if somebody tells me to go, or that Big Rocks has timed out....I'll pick.

 

[HERBERT THE HIPPO]

Have Big Rocks & Higgins timed out?I'm ready with mine

I PMed Big Rocks -- I can make my pick at any time as well.eta: if somebody tells me to go, or that Big Rocks has timed out....I'll pick.

Big Rocks has timed out.........

 

[higgins]

Another perfect wildcard...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Leader,
Explorer,
Military,
Rebel,
Villain.Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca (Spanish pronunciation: [erˈnan korˈtes]; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the King of Castile, in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Born in Medellín, Extremadura, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda and, for a short time, became alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funded. His enmity with the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored. Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous peoples against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as interpreter; she would later bear Cortés a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec empire, Cortés was awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. Cortés returned to Spain in 1541 where he died peacefully but embittered.

Because of the controversial undertakings of Cortés and the scarcity of reliable sources of information about him, it has become difficult to assert anything definitive about his personality and motivations. Early lionizing of the conquistadors did not encourage deep examination of Cortés. Later reconsideration of the conquistadors' character in the context of modern anti-colonial sentiment and greatly expanded concern for human rights, as typified by the Black Legend, also did little to expand understanding of Cortés as an individual. As a result of these historical trends, descriptions of Cortés tend to be simplistic, and either damning or idealizing.

Plans were made for Cortés to sail to the Americas with a family acquaintance and distant relative, Nicolás de Ovando y Cáceres, the newly appointed governor of Hispaniola (currently Haiti and the Dominican Republic), but an injury he sustained while hurriedly escaping from the bedroom of a married woman from Medellín, prevented him from making the journey. Instead, he spent the next year wandering the country, probably spending most of his time in the heady atmosphere of Spain's southern ports of Cadiz, Palos, Sanlucai, and Seville, listening to the tales of those returning from the Indies, who told of discovery and conquest, gold, Indians and strange unknown lands[citation needed]. He finally left for Hispaniola in 1504 where he became a colonist.

The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire was one of the most important campaigns in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. The invasion began in February 1519 and was achieved on August 13, 1521, by a coalition army of Spanish conquistadors and Tlaxcalan warriors led by Hernán Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger.

Simply too much to fill in on this guy -- if you don't know anything about the guy, the links are merely a starting point.bonus pic

 

[DCThunder]

Beria is a good pick along the lines of Himmler, though there are still some upper tier monsters that can be selected, IMO.

The comparison between Himmler and Beria is an interesting one. On the one hand, Himmler presided over a formal, state policy of genocide against Jews and other "Undesireables" and killed millions in extermination camps. There is no question that the Gestapo was a feared organization for the average German, solider or civilian. But the Purge of the Nazi Party on the Night of the Long Knives ony killed several hundered. On the other hand, Beria was in power longer and the Great Purge of the Communist Party of the '30s and then the Red Army in the early 40s killed tens of thousands and sent millions into internal exile in Siberia where they were worked to death. The Soviets didn't have a formal policy of extermination of Jews, although anti-Semitism was well intwined in Russian society. Beria was also involved much more in such things as the Katyn Massacre of Polish POWs and in foreign espionage. The system of block leaders andbuilding captains all designed to report the slightest deviancey from Party orthodoxy is more Russian than German, I believe, and the system can be traced to Beria. Finally, he was involved in the Great Famine in the Ukraine and the entire period is know as the Great Terror.It'll be ineteresting to see how the Villain judge evaluates these two.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Have Big Rocks & Higgins timed out?I'm ready with mine

I PMed Big Rocks -- I can make my pick at any time as well.eta: if somebody tells me to go, or that Big Rocks has timed out....I'll pick.

Big Rocks has timed out.........

1 hour and 20 minutes ago

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

In selecting my villain I don’t need to read books or look through history topics in wikipedia.

All I have to do is look at a newspaper.

I had plenty of other good names that deserve to be drafted for their scum sucking thuggery and brutality, but this guy wants most people on the face of this earth wiped out NOW!!. Never has the world faced such a threat and with technology advancing every day it’s scary to think what would happen should he or his imbecilic followers get their grubby paws on chemical or Nuclear weapons.

Been looking at this piece of excrement for the last few rounds, but I’m going to pick him now.

I don’t know how he compares against past Villains, because unfortunately he is still active and terror is spread in his name.

If he were captured, killed or removed in another way tomorrow, he has started this ball rolling and remains Al Qaeda’s figurehead of modern terror.

New York, London, Madrid, Bali, India and countless other attacks in his name.

He is the reason that a lot of people today are living in fear of further and unpredictable attacks.

Osama Bin Laden – Villain

Osama bin Laden (Arabic: أسامة بن محمد بن عوض بن لادن transliteration: Usāmah bin Muḥammad bin `Awaḍ bin Lādin; with numerous variations) (born 10 March 1957) is a member of the prominent Saudi bin Laden family and the founder of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda, best known for the September 11 attacks on the United States. Al-Qaeda has also been associated with numerous other mass casualty attacks against civilian targets.

Since 2001, Osama bin Laden and his organization have been major targets of the United States' War on Terrorism. Bin Laden and fellow Al-Qaeda leaders are believed to be hiding in the border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Beliefs and ideology

Main article: Beliefs and ideology of Osama bin Laden

Bin Laden believes that the restoration of Sharia law will set things right in the Muslim world, and that all other ideologies—"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed.[21] These beliefs, along with violent expansive jihad, have sometimes been called Qutbism. [22] He believes Afghanistan under the rule of XXXX XXXX Taliban was "the only Islamic country" in the Muslim world.[23] Bin Laden has consistently dwelt on the need for jihad to right what he believes are injustices against Muslims perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states,[24] the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East. He has also called on Americans to "reject the immoral acts of fornication (and) homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," in an October 2002 letter.[25]

Probably the most controversial part of Bin Laden's ideology is that civilians, including women and children, can be killed in jihad.[26][27] Bin Laden is antisemitic, and has delivered warnings against alleged Jewish conspiracies: "These Jews are masters of usury and leaders in treachery. They will leave you nothing, either in this world or the next."[28] Shia have been listed along with "Heretics, ... America and Israel," as the four principal "enemies of Islam" at ideology classes of bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization.[29]

In keeping with Wahhabi beliefs,[30] bin Laden opposes music on religious grounds,[31] and his attitude towards technology is mixed. He is interested in "earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants", on the one hand, but rejects "chilled water" on the other.[32]

Early attacks and aid for attacks

It is believed that the first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the 29 December 1992 bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.[68]

It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people. According to a fatwa issued by XXXX, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to Paradise if they were good Muslims and to hell if they were bad or non-believers.[69] The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.

In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in Algeria, Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary, XXXX, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the war that followed killed 150,000-200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government. Another unsuccessful effort by bin Laden was funding of the Luxor massacre of November 17 1997, [70][71][72] which killed sixty two civilians, but revolted the Egyptian public and turned it against Islamist terror. In mid-1997, the Northern Alliance threatened to overrun Jalalabad, causing Bin Laden to abandon his Nazim Jihad compound and move his operations to Tarnak Farms in the south.[73]

A later effort that did succeed was an attack on the city of Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. Bin Laden helped cement his alliance with his hosts the Taliban by sending several hundred of his Afghan Arab fighters along to help the Taliban kill between five and six thousand people overrunning the city.[74]

In 1998, Osama bin Laden and XXXX co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of the North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Mecca) from their grip".[75][76] At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets." He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."[77]

September 11, 2001 attacks

See also: September 11 attacks

Wikinews has related news: Wikileaks obtains 10 years of messages, interviews from Osama bin Laden translated by CIA

Osama bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.[78][79][80] The attacks involved the hijacking of United Airlines Flight 93, United Airlines Flight 175, American Airlines Flight 11, and American Airlines Flight 77; the subsequent destruction of those planes and the World Trade Center in New York City, New York; severe damage to The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia;[81] and the deaths of 2,974 people excluding the nineteen hijackers.[82] In response to the attacks, the United States launched a War on Terrorism to depose the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and capture al-Qaeda operatives, and several countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation to preclude future attacks.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has stated that evidence linking Al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks of September 11 is clear and irrefutable.[83] The Government of the United Kingdom reached the same conclusion regarding Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden's culpability for the September 11, 2001, attacks.[84] Bin Laden initially denied involvement in the September 11, 2001 attacks. On 16 September 2001, bin Laden read a statement later broadcast by Qatar's Al Jazeera satellite channel denying responsibility for the attack.[85]

Bin Laden asserted that America was massacring Muslims in 'Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir and Iraq' and that Muslims should retain the 'right to attack in reprisal'. He also claimed the 9/11 attacks were not targeted at women and children, but 'America's icons of military and economic power'.[94]

 

[Ozymandias]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

 

[thatguy]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

I think a man who wiped out an entire civilization, a beautiful and interesting one at that, makes a fine villain. I hate Cortez.

 

[mad sweeney]

Speaking of antisemitism, Tim (or any others) you seem to be very informed of antisemtism throughout the years. Can you recommend any books on the subject that would help understand, from any perspective (scholarly or semitic, not AS propaganda), why Jews have been so reviled throughout history? I have been curious of this before and the Luther discussion set my gears turning again to find out why since the time of pharoahs and before I guess, the Jews have been so ill thought of. Don't want to get into any discussion about the topic here, just looking for some suggested reading. Thanks.

 

[mad sweeney]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

I think a man who wiped out an entire civilization, a beautiful and interesting one at that, makes a fine villain. I hate Cortez.

I was very much considering him as my villain.

 

[higgins]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

I think a man who wiped out an entire civilization, a beautiful and interesting one at that, makes a fine villain. I hate Cortez.

Hes' many things at once, thus he's a perfect wildcard...but I'll elaborate later when I have more time.

 

[The Real Hipster Doofus]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

Cortes

 

[timschochet]

Cortes is a very evil man who changed history. It will be a challenge for higgins to come up with a "hot" picture related to Cortes, but but I'm sure he's up to it- he'll have to come up with something, since this is a wildcard selection (I would prefer a photo of a well-stacked model, naked except for the Conquistadore armor and helmet.)

On a more serious note, Osama is certainly the villain of the decade, but is he really one of the worst 20 people who ever lived? Not sure I'm willing to put him yet with such dreadful names. I mean, there are still some absolute monsters who have yet to be picked.

 

[Ozymandias]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

I think a man who wiped out an entire civilization, a beautiful and interesting one at that, makes a fine villain. I hate Cortez.

One of the most beautiful parts about it was human sacrifice. Oh, if weren't for Cortes, we might have had it today, for leaders of Congress and the business world.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_sacrifi...n_Aztec_culture

 

[Usual21]

Osama Bin Laden – Villain

Just got sniped. Good pick and great villian. Give me a few minutes. Gotta take my students to gym class.

 

[timschochet]

Speaking of antisemitism, Tim (or any others) you seem to be very informed of antisemtism throughout the years. Can you recommend any books on the subject that would help understand, from any perspective (scholarly or semitic, not AS propaganda), why Jews have been so reviled throughout history? I have been curious of this before and the Luther discussion set my gears turning again to find out why since the time of pharoahs and before I guess, the Jews have been so ill thought of. Don't want to get into any discussion about the topic here, just looking for some suggested reading. Thanks.

The historian Martin Gilbert is a good place to start.

 

[Fennis]

Rebels will be solely judged on the amount of facial hair.

Then my guy has a real decent shot at a high ranking

Clean shaven high score to bearded low.

You need to get your priorities straightened out.

nag nag nag. Fine, I'll reverse it.

 

[thatguy]

Gonna head out for a bit, I assume that when I come back Usual will have picked and I'll be ready to pick at that time. Shouldn't be gone for more than 20 minutes.

 

[Orange Crush]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

I think a man who wiped out an entire civilization, a beautiful and interesting one at that, makes a fine villain. I hate Cortez.

I doubt there's been a more horrible use of biological warfare in the history of the world.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

Usual21 has timed out (again)

thatguy UP

 

[Fennis]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

I think a man who wiped out an entire civilization, a beautiful and interesting one at that, makes a fine villain. I hate Cortez.

I doubt there's been a more horrible use of biological warfare in the history of the world.

You obviously haven’t spoken to my wife after I eat a big bowl of chili.

 

[thatguy]

I'm going to draft my composer now. I admittedly don't know a great deal about most of the people in this category, but after the big three, this is the name I most commonly hear.

Richard Wagner - Composer



Wilhelm Richard Wagner (IPA: /ˈrɪtʃ.ərd ˈvɑɡ.nər/, German pronunciation: [ˈʁi.çaʁt ˈvaɡ.nɐ]; 22 May 1813, Leipzig, Germany – 13 February 1883, Venice, Italy) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works.

Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for contrapuntal texture, rich chromaticism, harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with particular characters, locales or plot elements. Wagner pioneered advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, which greatly influenced the development of European classical music.

He transformed musical thought through his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork"), the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, epitomized by his monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876). To try to stage these works as he imagined them, Wagner built his own opera house, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Influence and legacy

In his lifetime, and for some years after, Wagner inspired fanatical devotion. His compositions, in particular Tristan und Isolde, broke important new musical ground. For years afterward, many composers felt compelled to align themselves with or against Wagner. #### and #### are indebted to him especially, as are ####, ####, ####, ####, ####, #### and dozens of others. #### said, "There was only Beethoven and Wagner". The twentieth century harmonic revolutions of #### and #### (tonal and atonal modernism, respectively) have often been traced back to Tristan. The Italian form of operatic realism known as verismo owes much to Wagnerian reconstruction of musical form.

Wagner made a major contribution to the principles and practice of conducting. His essay On conducting (1869) advanced the earlier work of #### and proposed that conducting was a means by which a musical work could be re-interpreted, rather than simply a mechanism for achieving orchestral unison. The central European conducting tradition which followed Wagner's ideas includes artists such as ####, ####, #### and H####.

Wagner also made significant changes to the conditions under which operas were performed. It was Wagner who first demanded that the lights be dimmed during dramatic performances, and it was his theatre at Bayreuth which first made use of the sunken orchestra pit, which at Bayreuth entirely conceals the orchestra from the audience.

Wagner's influence on literature and philosophy is significant. #### was part of Wagner's inner circle during the early 1870s, and his first published work The Birth of Tragedy proposed Wagner's music as the Dionysian rebirth of European culture in opposition to Apollonian rationalist decadence. #### broke with Wagner following the first Bayreuth Festival, believing that Wagner's final phase represented a pandering to Christian pieties and a surrender to the new demagogic German Reich. In the twentieth century, #### once called Wagner "perhaps the greatest genius that ever lived", while #### and Marcel Proust were heavily influenced by him and discussed Wagner in their novels. He is discussed in some of the works of James Joyce. Wagner is one of the main subjects of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, which contains lines from Tristan und Isolde and refers to The Ring and Parsifal. ####, ####and ####worshipped Wagner. Many of the ideas his music brought up, such as the association between love and death (or Eros and Thanatos) in Tristan, predated their investigation by Sigmund Freud.

 

[Ozymandias]

No elaborate writeup at this time...

9.12 -- Hernán Cortés, wildcard.

Cortes

Cortes conquest of Mexico

It is incredible that with only a few hundred men, he was able to conquer an empire which numbered in the millions. In this he was aided by horses, cannon, smallpox, and his alliance with subjugated tribes who hated the Aztecs. But his personal act of heroism of burning the ships, with the idea of "conquer or die", gives evidence to his courage. As was common in Spaniards of that era, he was cruel and rapacious. But what a conquest.

I think a man who wiped out an entire civilization, a beautiful and interesting one at that, makes a fine villain. I hate Cortez.

I doubt there's been a more horrible use of biological warfare in the history of the world.

They brought it with them. They didn't have labs to isolate the strain, and then seed it among the population. They had developed immunity, the locals hadn't. By the way, that's what happened with the plague in Europe, which came from Asia.But BTW, it was deadly in Europe too. By the mid-18th century smallpox was a major endemic disease everywhere in the world except in Australia and in several small islands. In Europe smallpox was a leading cause of death in the 18th century, killing an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year, including five reigning European monarchs.

 

[flysack]

I've changed my criteria and will be judging primarily based on penmanship and height.

And I will have the generals align themselves alphabetically according to height.

Rebels will be solely judged on the amount of facial hair.

I'm now judging the Composers by athletic ability and the Athletes will be judged on how hot their s/o is.

Note the judge did not say "current" S/Os. I take this to mean the athlete's full body of work will be considered.Pick 1.01 - The Current Captain of the NY Yankees.

/end Athlete discussion.

 

[Abrantes]

I'm going to draft my composer now. I admittedly don't know a great deal about most of the people in this category, but after the big three, this is the name I most commonly hear.Richard Wagner - Composer

Wagner gets a bad rep for his political beliefs and anti-semitism, but as a composer, he belongs among the greatest. Truly incredible music.

 

[flysack]

I have now also changed my criteria.

All leaders will be judged by their penis size.

Feminists: boil in your envy.

 

[Fennis]

I'm going to draft my composer now. I admittedly don't know a great deal about most of the people in this category, but after the big three, this is the name I most commonly hear.Richard Wagner - Composer

Tim?

 

[Abrantes]

I have now also changed my criteria.

All leaders will be judged by their penis size.

Feminists: boil in your envy.

Good thing I picked Cyrus the Great.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I'm going to draft my composer now. I admittedly don't know a great deal about most of the people in this category, but after the big three, this is the name I most commonly hear.

Richard Wagner - Composer



Wilhelm Richard Wagner (IPA: /ˈrɪtʃ.ərd ˈvɑɡ.nər/, German pronunciation: [ˈʁi.çaʁt ˈvaɡ.nɐ]; 22 May 1813, Leipzig, Germany – 13 February 1883, Venice, Italy) was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas (or "music dramas", as they were later called). Unlike most other great opera composers, Wagner wrote both the scenario and libretto for his works.

Wagner's compositions, particularly those of his later period, are notable for contrapuntal texture, rich chromaticism, harmonies and orchestration, and elaborate use of leitmotifs: musical themes associated with particular characters, locales or plot elements. Wagner pioneered advances in musical language, such as extreme chromaticism and quickly shifting tonal centres, which greatly influenced the development of European classical music.

He transformed musical thought through his idea of Gesamtkunstwerk ("total artwork"), the synthesis of all the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, epitomized by his monumental four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (1876). To try to stage these works as he imagined them, Wagner built his own opera house, the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Influence and legacy

In his lifetime, and for some years after, Wagner inspired fanatical devotion. His compositions, in particular Tristan und Isolde, broke important new musical ground. For years afterward, many composers felt compelled to align themselves with or against Wagner. #### and #### are indebted to him especially, as are ####, ####, ####, ####, ####, #### and dozens of others. #### said, "There was only Beethoven and Wagner". The twentieth century harmonic revolutions of #### and #### (tonal and atonal modernism, respectively) have often been traced back to Tristan. The Italian form of operatic realism known as verismo owes much to Wagnerian reconstruction of musical form.

Wagner made a major contribution to the principles and practice of conducting. His essay On conducting (1869) advanced the earlier work of #### and proposed that conducting was a means by which a musical work could be re-interpreted, rather than simply a mechanism for achieving orchestral unison. The central European conducting tradition which followed Wagner's ideas includes artists such as ####, ####, #### and H####.

Wagner also made significant changes to the conditions under which operas were performed. It was Wagner who first demanded that the lights be dimmed during dramatic performances, and it was his theatre at Bayreuth which first made use of the sunken orchestra pit, which at Bayreuth entirely conceals the orchestra from the audience.

Wagner's influence on literature and philosophy is significant. #### was part of Wagner's inner circle during the early 1870s, and his first published work The Birth of Tragedy proposed Wagner's music as the Dionysian rebirth of European culture in opposition to Apollonian rationalist decadence. #### broke with Wagner following the first Bayreuth Festival, believing that Wagner's final phase represented a pandering to Christian pieties and a surrender to the new demagogic German Reich. In the twentieth century, #### once called Wagner "perhaps the greatest genius that ever lived", while #### and Marcel Proust were heavily influenced by him and discussed Wagner in their novels. He is discussed in some of the works of James Joyce. Wagner is one of the main subjects of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, which contains lines from Tristan und Isolde and refers to The Ring and Parsifal. ####, ####and ####worshipped Wagner. Many of the ideas his music brought up, such as the association between love and death (or Eros and Thanatos) in Tristan, predated their investigation by Sigmund Freud.

Damn.

 

[Abrantes]

I'm going to draft my composer now. I admittedly don't know a great deal about most of the people in this category, but after the big three, this is the name I most commonly hear.Richard Wagner - Composer

Tim?

Why you gotta be like that, man?

 

[Fennis]

I'm going to draft my composer now. I admittedly don't know a great deal about most of the people in this category, but after the big three, this is the name I most commonly hear.Richard Wagner - Composer

Never heard of him.

Music of the Nazis AND wrote "Here Comes the Bride"

 

[flysack]

I'm going to draft my composer now. I admittedly don't know a great deal about most of the people in this category, but after the big three, this is the name I most commonly hear.

Richard Wagner - Composer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gz3Cc7wlfkI...feature=relatedMandatory link posted.