World's Greatest Draft (2 Viewers)

[Mario Kart]

I select the greatest singer of all-time:

13.18 (258th pick) - Enrico Caruso - Muscian/ Performer

Not who I would have taken, but a great pick nonetheless. Finally someone went down the right path.

Guess I'll have to settle for best in the last 175 years then.

Going back as far as you are alluding to is simply asking for a rhetorical argument with no resolution.

There are definitely tenors from the pre-recording era who could be drafted; we'll see if anyone wants to take that risk.

I bet there is a caveman somewhere that could sing like an angel.

Oooga ooooooga ooga ooooga... Ahhhhhhh ahhhhh ooooga ogaaaaaa!! Gold album there.

 

[BobbyLayne]

13.20 Wassily Kandinsky Artist (Painter)

HOME RUN

 

[DCThunder]

Well, I'm glad to see The One in the same category as Princess Di, the Virgin Mary and Marilyn because he sure wouldn't qualify as a "Leader"...

 

[Thorn]

I select the greatest singer of all-time:

13.18 (258th pick) - Enrico Caruso - Muscian/ Performer

Not who I would have taken, but a great pick nonetheless. Finally someone went down the right path.

Guess I'll have to settle for best in the last 175 years then.

Going back as far as you are alluding to is simply asking for a rhetorical argument with no resolution.

There are definitely tenors from the pre-recording era who could be drafted; we'll see if anyone wants to take that risk.

I bet there is a caveman somewhere that could sing like an angel.

Oooga ooooooga ooga ooooga... Ahhhhhhh ahhhhh ooooga ogaaaaaa!! Gold album there.

!

 

[HERBERT THE HIPPO]

You can skip me.....

 

[DCThunder]

I select the greatest singer of all-time:

13.18 (258th pick) - Enrico Caruso - Muscian/ Performer

Not who I would have taken, but a great pick nonetheless. Finally someone went down the right path.

Guess I'll have to settle for best in the last 175 years then.

Going back as far as you are alluding to is simply asking for a rhetorical argument with no resolution.

There are definitely tenors from the pre-recording era who could be drafted; we'll see if anyone wants to take that risk.

I bet there is a caveman somewhere that could sing like an angel.

Oooga ooooooga ooga ooooga... Ahhhhhhh ahhhhh ooooga ogaaaaaa!! Gold album there.

Theres a man in the funny papers we all know (Alley Oop, oop, oop-oop) He lived 'way back a long time ago (Alley Oop, oop, oop-oop)

He dont eat nothin' but a bear cat stew (Alley Oop, oop, oop-oop)

Well this cat's name is-a Alley Oop (Alley Oop, oop, oop-oop)

 

[Yankee23Fan]

I was going to draft Obama until I moved Madonna to that spot. I think he's the perfect fit for the typical celebrity.

 

[BobbyLayne]

Well, I'm glad to see The One in the same category as Princess Di, the Virgin Mary and Marilyn because he sure wouldn't qualify as a "Leader"...

Are we still calling that category Celebrity?I was under the impression it was changed to Miscellaneous Dump.

 

[Arsenal of Doom]

13.20 Wassily Kandinsky Artist (Painter)

HOME RUN

I'm sorry, due to a certain Dutch painter's influence on Kandinsky, the previous comment has been disqualified by the art judge.

 

[Abrantes]

14.01 Tokugawa Ieyasu Military

The man responsible for the establishment of Japan's 268-year long Tokugawa shogunate, beginning in 1600. In the midst of a long, tortous history of strategic alliances (and broken alliances), the man slowly built his way to the shogunate piece by piece. Knew exactly when to strike and when to avoid conflict. Not sure where he'll rank among the heavy hitters in the category, but he's definitely cemented his name in history, both as a leader and military commander.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616)

Japanese military leader and statesman, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns. Born Matsudaira Takechiyo of the Matsudaira military clan, Ieyasu grew up in a chaotic period of feuding clans. He was sent at four years old as a hostage to cement a Matsudaira alliance with the neighbouring Imagawa clan in 1547, but was captured en route by their common enemy, the Oda clan. Held until his father's death in 1549, Ieyasu returned home briefly before going back to the Imagawa as a hostage. Their defeat by xxxxxxxxxxx in 1560 freed Ieyasu to regain leadership of the Matsudaira, and he immediately allied with xxxxxxxxxx, changing his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu and seizing Imagawa land.

In 1570 he moved his headquarters to former Imagawa territory and for the next 12 years expanded his lands and influence through xxxxxxxx's campaigns, despite being forced to kill his first wife and order his son's suicide in 1579 as proof of his loyalty to xxxxxx. He seized more land on xxxxxxx's death in 1582, becoming master of five provinces by 1583. After inconclusive fighting in 1584, Ieyasu allied with xxxxxxxx's successor xxxxxxxxxxxx and married his sister. Following victory at Odawara in 1590, which secured control of eastern Japan, xxxxxxxxx moved Ieyasu to new lands in the east to undercut his independence. Ieyasu began building an imposing new headquarters at a small fishing port called Edo, later Tokyo. Occupied in the east while xxxxxxxxxx pursued his futile invasions of Korea, Ieyasu consolidated his new base and, shortly before xxxxxxxxx's death in 1598, swore with the other great generals to serve xxxxxxxxx's successor, his infant son xxxxxxxxx. Promptly breaking this oath, he began allying with other leaders and in 1600, aided by treachery, crushed his principal opponents at the battle of Sekigahara, normally taken as marking the beginning of the Edo period.

In 1603 he assumed the historic title of shogun, confirming his pre-eminence. In 1605 he passed the title to his son but retained paramount authority, organizing two attacks on Osaka Castle in 1614 and 1615 which finally defeated xxxxxxxxx and the remaining xxxxxxxxxxx forces, thus completing the reunification of Japan under one government. He organized new laws to regulate the court and the military clans, and laid the foundations for over 250 years of peace under Tokugawa rule during the Edo period. After his death he was enshrined at Nikko as Tosho Daigongen, an aspect of the Buddha.

 

[Mario Kart]

Oooga ooooooga ooga ooooga... Ahhhhhhh ahhhhh ooooga ogaaaaaa!!

Gold album there.

Blue Swede is lucky they were not sued for copy right infringement. Sampling goes back a long time. But, the originators were dead since they were cavemen and no decendants could be found.

 

[BobbyLayne]

OK, I'm on the clock until 5:35...and may need to full hour, sorry to say.

 

[FUBAR]

Well, I'm glad to see The One in the same category as Princess Di, the Virgin Mary and Marilyn because he sure wouldn't qualify as a "Leader"...

Are we still calling that category Celebrity?I was under the impression it was changed to Miscellaneous Dump.

recognizeable people / names that we don't know what else to do with.

 

[BobbyLayne]

13.20 Wassily Kandinsky Artist (Painter)

HOME RUN

I'm sorry, due to a certain Dutch painter's influence on Kandinsky, the previous comment has been disqualified by the art judge.

Arseanal -If you are looking to make a positive contribution to something, you could go to Kandinksy's Wiki entry and update it to include the massive influence it is completely lacking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky

 

[Abrantes]

13.20 Wassily Kandinsky Artist (Painter)

HOME RUN

I'm sorry, due to a certain Dutch painter's influence on Kandinsky, the previous comment has been disqualified by the art judge.

Arseanal -If you are looking to make a positive contribution to something, you could go to Kandinksy's Wiki entry and update it to include the massive influence it is completely lacking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky

Y'all are speaking in tongues up in here.

 

[Arsenal of Doom]

13.20 Wassily Kandinsky Artist (Painter)

HOME RUN

I'm sorry, due to a certain Dutch painter's influence on Kandinsky, the previous comment has been disqualified by the art judge.

Arseanal -If you are looking to make a positive contribution to something, you could go to Kandinksy's Wiki entry and update it to include the massive influence it is completely lacking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky

Y'all are speaking in tongues up in here.

Just poking fun about BoobyLayne's previous statements about Vincent van Gogh not being remotely influential to the development of 20th century art. It's all in good fun.

 

[BobbyLayne]

You have posted more than the allowed number of quoted blocks of text

quote name='Arsenal of Doom' date='Apr 1 2009, 05:01 PM' post='10145741'

13.20 Wassily Kandinsky Artist (Painter)

HOME RUN

I'm sorry, due to a certain Dutch painter's influence on Kandinsky, the previous comment has been disqualified by the art judge.

Arseanal -If you are looking to make a positive contribution to something, you could go to Kandinksy's Wiki entry and update it to include the massive influence it is completely lacking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky

Y'all are speaking in tongues up in here.

Just poking fun about BoobyLayne's previous statements about Vincent van Gogh not being remotely influential to the development of 20th century art. It's all in good fun./quote

You have posted more than the allowed number of quoted blocks of text

####,

I just wanted to add the repeated misspellings of your name were errors...mere slips...freudian perhaps...I swear.

 

[John Maddens Lunchbox]

If it gets to 14:08 tonight I can be skipped.

I'll make mine in the morning if so

 

[BobbyLayne]

The Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration describes an era which extended from the end of the 19th century to the early 1920s. During this 25-year period the Antarctic continent became the focus of an international effort which resulted in intensive scientific and geographical exploration, sixteen major expeditions being launched from eight different countries. The common factor in these expeditions was the limited nature of the resources available to them before advances in transport and communication technologies revolutionised the work of exploration. This meant that each expedition became a feat of endurance that tested its personnel to physical and mental limits, and sometimes beyond. The "heroic" label, bestowed later, recognised the adversities which had to be overcome by these pioneers, some of whom did not survive the experience; during this period 17 expedition members died.

There are many worthy candidate from this era; I'll take the man who was the first to reach both the north and south poles.14.03 (263rd) - Roald Amundsen - Discoverer - Explorer

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (1872 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912. He was also the first person to reach both the North and South Poles. He is known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage. He disappeared in June 1928 while taking part in a rescue mission. With a handful of other great men, Amundsen was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Early life

Amundsen was born to a family of Norwegian shipowners and captains in Borge, between the towns Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg. His father was Jens Amundsen. The fourth son in the family, his mother chose to keep him out of the maritime industry of the family and pressured him to be a doctor, a promise that Amundsen kept until his mother died when he was aged 21, quitting university for a life at sea. Amundsen had hidden a lifelong desire inspired by the crossing of Greenland in 1888 and the doomed Franklin expedition. As a result, he decided on a life of exploration.

Northwest Passage

In 1903, Amundsen led the first expedition to successfully traverse the Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans (something explorers had been attempting since the days of Christopher Columbus), with six others in a 47 ton steel seal hunting vessel, Gjøa. Amundsen had the ship outfitted with a small gasoline engine. They travelled via Baffin Bay, Lancaster and Peel Sounds, and James Ross, Simpson and Rae Straits and spent two winters near King William Island in what is today Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, Canada.

During this time Amundsen learned from the local Netsilik people about Arctic survival skills that would later prove useful. For example, he learned to use sled dogs and to wear animal skins in lieu of heavy, woolen parkas. After a third winter trapped in the ice, Amundsen was able to navigate a passage into the Beaufort Sea after which he cleared into the Bering Strait, thus having successfully navigated the Northwest Passage. Continuing to the south of Victoria Island, the ship cleared the Canadian Arctic Archipelago on August 17, 1905, but had to stop for the winter before going on to Nome on the Alaska Territory's Pacific coast. Five hundred miles (800 km) away, Eagle City, Alaska, had a telegraph station; Amundsen travelled there (and back) overland to wire a success message (collect) on December 5, 1905. Nome was reached in 1906. Due to water as shallow as 3 ft (0.91 m), a larger ship could never have used the route.

It was at this time that Amundsen received news that Norway had formally become independent of Sweden and had a new king. Amundsen sent the new King news that it "was a great achievement for Norway." He hoped to do more he said and signed it "Your loyal subject, Roald Amundsen."

South Pole expedition (1910–12)

After crossing the Northwest Passage , Amundsen made plans to go to the North Pole and explore the North Polar Basin. Amundsen had problems and hesitation raising funds for the departure and upon hearing in 1909 that first one man and then then another claimed the Pole, he decided to reroute to Antarctica. However, he did not make these plans known. Using the ship Fram ("Forward"), he left Norway for the south, leaving Oslo on June 3, 1910. At sea, Amundsen alerted his men that they would be heading to Antarctica in addition to sending a telegram notifying simply: "BEG TO INFORM YOU FRAM PROCEEDING ANTARCTIC--AMUNDSEN." The expedition arrived at the eastern edge of Ross Ice Shelf at a large inlet called the Bay of Whales on January 14, 1911 where Amundsen located his base camp and named it Framheim. Further, Amundsen eschewed the heavy wool clothing worn on earlier Antarctic attempts in favour of Eskimo-style skins.

Using skis and dog sleds for transportation Amundsen and his men created supply depots at 80°, 81° and 82° South, along a line directly south to the Pole. Amundsen also planned to kill some of his dogs on the way and use them as a source for fresh meat. A premature attempt, set out on 8 September, 1911, but had to be abandoned due to extreme temperatures. One man quarrelled with Amundsen in front of the other men when he returned to camp and, along with two others who he had rescued, were sent to explore King Edward VII Land. A second attempt with a team, including Amundsen himself, departed on October 19, 1911. They took four sledges and 52 dogs. Using a route along the previously unknown Axel Heiberg Glacier they arrived at the edge of the Polar Plateau on November 21 after a four-day climb. On December 14, 1911, the team of five, with 16 dogs, arrived at the Pole (90°00'S). They arrived 35 days before Scott's group. Amundsen named their South Pole camp Polheim, "Home on the Pole". Amundsen renamed the Antarctic Plateau as King Haakon VII's Plateau. They left a small tent and letter stating their accomplishment, in case they did not return safely to Framheim. The team returned to Framheim on January 25, 1912 with 11 dogs. Amundsen's success was publicly announced on March 7, 1912, when he arrived at Hobart, Australia.

Amundsen's expedition benefited from careful preparation, good equipment, appropriate clothing, a simple primary task (Amundsen did no surveying on his route south and is known to have taken only two photographs), an understanding of dogs and their handling, and the effective use of skis. In contrast to the misfortunes of Scott's team, the Amundsen's trek proved rather smooth and uneventful.

In Amundsen's own words:

"I may say that this is the greatest factor -- the way in which the expedition is equipped -- the way in which every difficulty is foreseen, and precautions taken for meeting or avoiding it. Victory awaits him who has everything in order -- luck, people call it. Defeat is certain for him who has neglected to take the necessary precautions in time; this is called bad luck."

--from The South Pole, by Roald Amundsen.

Later life

In 1918 Amundsen began an expedition with a new ship Maud, which was to last until 1925. Maud sailed West to East through the Northeast Passage, now called the Northern Route (1918-1920). Amundsen planned to freeze the Maud into the polar ice cap and drift towards the North Pole, but in this he was not successful. However, the scientific results of the expedition were of considerable value.

In 1923, Amundsen attempted to fly from Wainwright, Alaska to Spitsbergen across the North Pole. Amundsen's aircraft was damaged and he abandoned the journey.

In 1925, Amundsen took two Dornier Do J flying boats, the N-24 and N-25 to 87° 44' north. It was the northernmost latitude reached by plane up to that time. The planes landed a few miles apart without radio contact, yet the crews managed to reunite. One of the aircraft, the N-24 was damaged. Amundsen and his crew worked for over three weeks to clean up an airstrip to take off from ice. They shoveled 600 tons of ice while consuming only one pound (400 g) of daily food rations. In the end, six crew members were packed into the N-25. In a remarkable feat, Riiser-Larsen took off, and they barely became airborne over the cracking ice. They returned triumphant when everyone thought they had been lost forever.

In 1926, Amundsen and fifteen other men made the first crossing of the Arctic in the airship Norge designed by Nobile. They left Spitsbergen on 11 May 1926, and they landed in Alaska two days later. The three previous claims to have arrived at the North Pole – in 1908, in 1909, and 1926 (just a few days before the Norge) – are all disputed, as being either of dubious accuracy or outright fraud. Some of those disputing these earlier claims therefore consider the crew of the Norge to be the first verified explorers to have reached the North Pole. If the Norge expedition was actually the first to the North Pole, Amundsen and another man would therefore be the first persons to attain each geographical pole, by ground or by air, as the case may be.

Disappearance and death

Amundsen disappeared on June 18, 1928 while flying on a rescue mission with a Norwegian pilot, a French pilot, and three more Frenchmen, looking for missing members of Nobile's crew, whose new airship Italia had crashed while returning from the North Pole. Afterwards, a pontoon from the French Latham 47 flying boat he was in, improvised into a life raft, was found near the Tromsø coast. It is believed that the plane crashed in fog in the Barents Sea, and that Amundsen was killed in the crash, or died shortly afterwards. His body was never found. The search for Amundsen was called off in September by the Norwegian Government. In 2003 it was suggested that the plane went down northwest of Bear Island.

On 23 February 2009, the Norwegian Navy announced that in late August, a search would be made for the wreckage of Amundsen's plane, utilizing the unmanned submarine Hugin 1000. The search will focus on a 40 square mile area of the sea floor, and will be documented by the German production company ContextTV.

Legacy

A number of places have been named after him:

The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station is named jointly with his rival.

Amundsen Sea, off the coast of Antarctica.

Amundsen Glacier, in Antarctica.

Amundsen Bay, in Antarctica.

Mount Amundsen, in Antarctica.

Amundsen Gulf, in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of the Northwest Territories in Canada (separating Banks Island and the western parts of Victoria Island from the mainland).

A large crater covering the Moon's south pole is named Amundsen.

Several ships are named after him:

The Canadian Coast Guard named an icebreaker CCGS Amundsen, whose mission is to perform scientific research in the waters of the Arctic.

The Royal Norwegian Navy is building a class of Aegis frigates, the second of which, is the HNoMS Roald Amundsen (completed 2006).

The German brig Roald Amundsen.

Other tributes include:

The Amundsen Trail and Amundsen Circle, Oakwood, Staten Island, New York

Amundsen High School, Chicago, Illinois

 

[HERBERT THE HIPPO]

14.4 - Anna Nicole Smith - Celebrity

 

[BobbyLayne]

Skipped Pick

14.02 MisterCIA

14.05 Andy Dufrense - Next Selection OTC until 6:41 p.m. EST

14.06 thatguy - On Deck

14.07 Usual21 - In the Hole

14.08 John Madden's Lunchbox

14.09 higgins

14.10 Big Rocks

14.11 Mad Sweeney

14.12 Doug B

14.13 DC Thunder

14.14 Thorn

14.15 Yankee23fan

14.16 Acer FC

14.17 FUBAR

14.18 Arsenal of Doom

14.19 Larry Boy 44

14.20 Mario Kart

 

[flysack]

13.14 - W.B. Yeats - Playwright/Poet

William Butler Yeats (13 June 1865–28 January 1939) was an Irish poet and dramatist and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and English literary establishments, in his later years Yeats served as an Irish Senator for two terms. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival, and along with Lady Gregory and Edward Martyn founded the Abbey Theatre, and served as its chief during its early years. In 1923, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Literature for what the Nobel Committee described as "inspired poetry, which in a highly artistic form gives expression to the spirit of a whole nation;" and he was the first Irishman so honored. Yeats is generally considered one of the few writers whose greatest works were completed after being awarded the Nobel Prize;such works include The Tower (1928) and The Winding Stair and Other Poems (1929)

Yeats was born and educated in Dublin, but spent his childhood in County Sligo. He studied poetry in his youth, and from an early age was fascinated by both Irish legends and the occult. Those topics feature in the first phase of his work, which lasted roughly until the turn of the century. His earliest volume of verse was published in 1889, and those slowly paced and lyrical poems display debts to Edmund Spenser and Percy Bysshe Shelley, as well as to the lyricism of the Pre-Raphaelite poets.

From 1900, Yeats' poetry grew more physical and realistic. He largely renounced the transcendental beliefs of his youth, though he remained preoccupied with physical and spiritual masks, as well as with cyclical theories of life. Over the years, Yeats adopted many different ideological positions, including, in the words of the critic Michael Valdez Moses, "those of radical nationalist, classical liberal, reactionary conservative and millenarian nihilist".

I have no idea how he'll be ranked, but I absolutely love Yeats. Which means the common peoples must hate him.

 

[flysack]

14.4 - Anna Nicole Smith - Celebrity

So that pick was surprising....

 

[Funcooker]

yeats is waaaay hotter than anna nicole

 

[Ozymandias]

14.01 Tokugawa Ieyasu Military

The man responsible for the establishment of Japan's 268-year long Tokugawa shogunate, beginning in 1600. In the midst of a long, tortous history of strategic alliances (and broken alliances), the man slowly built his way to the shogunate piece by piece. Knew exactly when to strike and when to avoid conflict. Not sure where he'll rank among the heavy hitters in the category, but he's definitely cemented his name in history, both as a leader and military commander.

Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616)

Japanese military leader and statesman, founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns. Born Matsudaira Takechiyo of the Matsudaira military clan, Ieyasu grew up in a chaotic period of feuding clans. He was sent at four years old as a hostage to cement a Matsudaira alliance with the neighbouring Imagawa clan in 1547, but was captured en route by their common enemy, the Oda clan. Held until his father's death in 1549, Ieyasu returned home briefly before going back to the Imagawa as a hostage. Their defeat by xxxxxxxxxxx in 1560 freed Ieyasu to regain leadership of the Matsudaira, and he immediately allied with xxxxxxxxxx, changing his name to Tokugawa Ieyasu and seizing Imagawa land.

In 1570 he moved his headquarters to former Imagawa territory and for the next 12 years expanded his lands and influence through xxxxxxxx's campaigns, despite being forced to kill his first wife and order his son's suicide in 1579 as proof of his loyalty to xxxxxx. He seized more land on xxxxxxx's death in 1582, becoming master of five provinces by 1583. After inconclusive fighting in 1584, Ieyasu allied with xxxxxxxx's successor xxxxxxxxxxxx and married his sister. Following victory at Odawara in 1590, which secured control of eastern Japan, xxxxxxxxx moved Ieyasu to new lands in the east to undercut his independence. Ieyasu began building an imposing new headquarters at a small fishing port called Edo, later Tokyo. Occupied in the east while xxxxxxxxxx pursued his futile invasions of Korea, Ieyasu consolidated his new base and, shortly before xxxxxxxxx's death in 1598, swore with the other great generals to serve xxxxxxxxx's successor, his infant son xxxxxxxxx. Promptly breaking this oath, he began allying with other leaders and in 1600, aided by treachery, crushed his principal opponents at the battle of Sekigahara, normally taken as marking the beginning of the Edo period.

In 1603 he assumed the historic title of shogun, confirming his pre-eminence. In 1605 he passed the title to his son but retained paramount authority, organizing two attacks on Osaka Castle in 1614 and 1615 which finally defeated xxxxxxxxx and the remaining xxxxxxxxxxx forces, thus completing the reunification of Japan under one government. He organized new laws to regulate the court and the military clans, and laid the foundations for over 250 years of peace under Tokugawa rule during the Edo period. After his death he was enshrined at Nikko as Tosho Daigongen, an aspect of the Buddha.

Good pick. If you have read Shogun, this is the character that Toranaga was patterned after.

 

[mad sweeney]

Well, I'm glad to see The One in the same category as Princess Di, the Virgin Mary and Marilyn because he sure wouldn't qualify as a "Leader"...

Are we still calling that category Celebrity?I was under the impression it was changed to Miscellaneous Dump.

recognizeable people / names that we don't know what else to do with.

I'm really very much in protest of what us being picked as a celebrity. Having your name known throughout history doesn't make you a celebrity. Anne frank, Mary, tut, and anyone else I missed are NOT celebrities. Posthumous fame is almost the opposite of being a celebrity and famous names getting slotted there because there's no good category for them is terrible. . Seriously, if people aren't recognizable in their lifetime how are they possibly a celebrity?

 

[larry_boy_44]

Well, I'm glad to see The One in the same category as Princess Di, the Virgin Mary and Marilyn because he sure wouldn't qualify as a "Leader"...

Are we still calling that category Celebrity?I was under the impression it was changed to Miscellaneous Dump.

recognizeable people / names that we don't know what else to do with.

I'm really very much in protest of what us being picked as a celebrity. Having your name known throughout history doesn't make you a celebrity. Anne frank, Mary, tut, and anyone else I missed are NOT celebrities. Posthumous fame is almost the opposite of being a celebrity and famous names getting slotted there because there's no good category for them is terrible. . Seriously, if people aren't recognizable in their lifetime how are they possibly a celebrity?

I'd much rather use the Category for Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, & Elizabeth than for Anna Nichole Smith... wouldn't you?At least the way that gets those people in it actually honors people who are important to history... Who really cares about Anna Nichole, really? Was it fun to watch her spiral out of control at times? Sure... But that doesn't mean she's even remotely worthy for this...

I mean, really, which celebrity category is better:

1. Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, Elizabeth I

2. Anna Nichole Smith, Jenna Jameson, Paris Hilton

I mean... do you really want the draft to have a category for meaningless celebrities who do nothing at all to better the world (and barely do anything to better themselves)??

 

[BobbyLayne]

Well, I'm glad to see The One in the same category as Princess Di, the Virgin Mary and Marilyn because he sure wouldn't qualify as a "Leader"...

Are we still calling that category Celebrity?I was under the impression it was changed to Miscellaneous Dump.

recognizeable people / names that we don't know what else to do with.

I'm really very much in protest of what us being picked as a celebrity. Having your name known throughout history doesn't make you a celebrity. Anne frank, Mary, tut, and anyone else I missed are NOT celebrities. Posthumous fame is almost the opposite of being a celebrity and famous names getting slotted there because there's no good category for them is terrible. . Seriously, if people aren't recognizable in their lifetime how are they possibly a celebrity?

What to do at this point?

First celeb picked was Cleopatra?

After that the next three were legit: Marilyn Monroe, Princess Di, Jackie O (was Elvis picked around then? or is he a musician).

But once timschochet praised the first 'creative' pick for a celeb, pretty clear signal for everyone to just say eff, FFA it is, let the judge sort it out.

It's bull sheet, but can't unring the bell, just gotta deal with it and move forward.

 

[the moops]

I mean... do you really want the draft to have a category for meaningless celebrities who do nothing at all to better the world (and barely do anything to better themselves)??

You can be a celebrity and still have redeeming qualities.Hefner, Princess Di, Jacki O all fit very nicely into such a category.

 

[mad sweeney]

Well, I'm glad to see The One in the same category as Princess Di, the Virgin Mary and Marilyn because he sure wouldn't qualify as a "Leader"...

Are we still calling that category Celebrity?I was under the impression it was changed to Miscellaneous Dump.

recognizeable people / names that we don't know what else to do with.

I'm really very much in protest of what us being picked as a celebrity. Having your name known throughout history doesn't make you a celebrity. Anne frank, Mary, tut, and anyone else I missed are NOT celebrities. Posthumous fame is almost the opposite of being a celebrity and famous names getting slotted there because there's no good category for them is terrible. . Seriously, if people aren't recognizable in their lifetime how are they possibly a celebrity?

I'd much rather use the Category for Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, & Elizabeth than for Anna Nichole Smith... wouldn't you?At least the way that gets those people in it actually honors people who are important to history... Who really cares about Anna Nichole, really? Was it fun to watch her spiral out of control at times? Sure... But that doesn't mean she's even remotely worthy for this...

I mean, really, which celebrity category is better:

1. Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, Elizabeth I

2. Anna Nichole Smith, Jenna Jameson, Paris Hilton

I mean... do you really want the draft to have a category for meaningless celebrities who do nothing at all to better the world (and barely do anything to better themselves)??

Yes. That's what the category is for. In no way would I consider it an honor to be placed in a category. The word itself brings to mind glitz and glamour with no real substance. If I were to pick between your two choices fir which one is full of celebs then I would pick 2. We have wildcats spots to honor uncategorized people. The category isn't intended to honor anyone it's for celebrities. Also I wouldn't have any of those three on a top twenty list for this draft. Although if all six were in the celeb category the whores would rank 1 2 3 over the historically significant people. ThisIt's a fluff category not intended for honor.

 

[larry_boy_44]

recognizeable people / names that we don't know what else to do with.

I'm really very much in protest of what us being picked as a celebrity. Having your name known throughout history doesn't make you a celebrity. Anne frank, Mary, tut, and anyone else I missed are NOT celebrities. Posthumous fame is almost the opposite of being a celebrity and famous names getting slotted there because there's no good category for them is terrible. . Seriously, if people aren't recognizable in their lifetime how are they possibly a celebrity?

I'd much rather use the Category for Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, & Elizabeth than for Anna Nichole Smith... wouldn't you?At least the way that gets those people in it actually honors people who are important to history... Who really cares about Anna Nichole, really? Was it fun to watch her spiral out of control at times? Sure... But that doesn't mean she's even remotely worthy for this...I mean, really, which celebrity category is better:1. Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, Elizabeth I2. Anna Nichole Smith, Jenna Jameson, Paris HiltonI mean... do you really want the draft to have a category for meaningless celebrities who do nothing at all to better the world (and barely do anything to better themselves)??

Yes. That's what the category is for. In no way would I consider it an honor to be placed in a category. The word itself brings to mind glitz and glamour with no real substance. If I were to pick between your two choices fir which one is full of celebs then I would pick 2. We have wildcats spots to honor uncategorized people. The category isn't intended to honor anyone it's for celebrities. Also I wouldn't have any of those three on a top twenty list for this draft. Although if all six were in the celeb category the whores would rank 1 2 3 over the historically significant people. ThisIt's a fluff category not intended for honor.

if I would have thought of it the way you did from the start (instead of the way I did where Mary and Cleopatra and Tut and others were in it as well as people like Elvis and Di), I'd have objected to it being in the draft...Sorry, if there is any justification for Paris Hilton being drafted in any category of this draft, that category shouldn't be in this draft...

 

[mad sweeney]

recognizeable people / names that we don't know what else to do with.

I'm really very much in protest of what us being picked as a celebrity. Having your name known throughout history doesn't make you a celebrity. Anne frank, Mary, tut, and anyone else I missed are NOT celebrities. Posthumous fame is almost the opposite of being a celebrity and famous names getting slotted there because there's no good category for them is terrible. . Seriously, if people aren't recognizable in their lifetime how are they possibly a celebrity?

I'd much rather use the Category for Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, & Elizabeth than for Anna Nichole Smith... wouldn't you?At least the way that gets those people in it actually honors people who are important to history... Who really cares about Anna Nichole, really? Was it fun to watch her spiral out of control at times? Sure... But that doesn't mean she's even remotely worthy for this...I mean, really, which celebrity category is better:1. Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, Elizabeth I2. Anna Nichole Smith, Jenna Jameson, Paris HiltonI mean... do you really want the draft to have a category for meaningless celebrities who do nothing at all to better the world (and barely do anything to better themselves)??

Yes. That's what the category is for. In no way would I consider it an honor to be placed in a category. The word itself brings to mind glitz and glamour with no real substance. If I were to pick between your two choices fir which one is full of celebs then I would pick 2. We have wildcats spots to honor uncategorized people. The category isn't intended to honor anyone it's for celebrities. Also I wouldn't have any of those three on a top twenty list for this draft. Although if all six were in the celeb category the whores would rank 1 2 3 over the historically significant people. ThisIt's a fluff category not intended for honor.

if I would have thought of it the way you did from the start (instead of the way I did where Mary and Cleopatra and Tut and others were in it as well as people like Elvis and Di), I'd have objected to it being in the draft...Sorry, if there is any justification for Paris Hilton being drafted in any category of this draft, that category shouldn't be in this draft...

Coming from the guy who took Hogan as a great American this sounds as hypocritical as anything I've ever heard. We have a villain category. Does hitlers name belong next to Jesus or Gandhi? No it's a category for fluff to get away from the sriousness of most picks. As it stands Smith Is a thousand times better than Mary on that list as is Jameson and Hilton. And since you don't grasp statements from post to post I'll reiterate that I don't think any if those chicks belong in this draft.

 

[mad sweeney]

Don't worry ok not going to get into it with larry on this. Just had to vent about the category being filled with people who don't fit the description. Far be it for a celeb category to be filled with, you know, celebrities instead of posthumously famous people like say those in the wc categories. That's all I have to say on it til the judging is near.

Also want to apologize for a/ dragging down the thread yesterday, my part in it for not realizingbthe thickness of the brick I was head butting and b/ for poor sentence structures and other grammatica from posting on my iPhone.

 

[krista4]

13.17 - Giovanni Boccaccio - Novelist/short storyGiovanni Boccaccio was most probably born in Tuscany, the illegitimate son of a merchant of Certaldo, who launched him on a commercial career, during which he spent some time at Paris. As a young man, Boccaccio abandoned commerce and the study of canon law. At Naples he began to write stories in verse and prose, mingled in courtly society, and fell in love with the noble lady whom he made famous under the name of Fiammetta. Up to 1350 Boccaccio lived at Florence and at Naples, producing prose tales, pastorals, and poems. The Teseide is a version in ottava rima of the medieval romance of Palamon and Arcite, which was partly translated by Chaucer in the Knight's Tale, and is the subject of Fletcher's Two Noble Kinsmen. The Filostrato deals with the loves of Troilus and Cressida, also in great part translated by Chaucer. After 1350 Boccaccio became a diplomat entrusted with important public affairs, and a scholar devoted to the new learning. During this period, in which he formed a lasting friendship with Francesco Petrarch, Boccaccio, as Florentine ambassador, visited Rome, Ravenna, Avignon and Brandenburg.In 1358 he completed his great work, the Decameron, begun some ten years before. During the plague at Florence in 1348, seven ladies and three gentlemen left the city for a country villa and over a period of ten days told one hundred stories. In graceful Italian, Boccaccio selected the plots of his stories from the popular fiction of his day, and especially from the fabliaux which had passed into Italy from France, the matter being medieval while the form is classical. Boccaccio's originality lay in his narrative skill and in the rich poetical sentiments which adorns his borrowed materials. The two great tendencies which run through European literature, the classical and the romantic, work together in the Decameron.The influence of the Decameron on European literature has been lasting, not merely in Italy, but in France and England. Chaucer and Shakespeare both borrowed from it. The Decameron has also been the subject of poems by Yeats, XXXX, XXXX During his last years Boccaccio lived principally in retirement at Certaldo, and would have entered into holy orders, moved by repentance for the follies of his youth, had he not been dissuaded by Petrarch. Boccaccio died at Certaldo, December 21, 1375.

Well this threw me for a loop. Not that it's a bad choice by any means, but just unexpected. Going to have to research more, as this is one I having only a passing familiarity with.

 

[larry_boy_44]

I'd much rather use the Category for Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, & Elizabeth than for Anna Nichole Smith... wouldn't you?At least the way that gets those people in it actually honors people who are important to history... Who really cares about Anna Nichole, really? Was it fun to watch her spiral out of control at times? Sure... But that doesn't mean she's even remotely worthy for this...I mean, really, which celebrity category is better:1. Tut, Cleopatra, Mary, Elizabeth I2. Anna Nichole Smith, Jenna Jameson, Paris HiltonI mean... do you really want the draft to have a category for meaningless celebrities who do nothing at all to better the world (and barely do anything to better themselves)??

Yes. That's what the category is for. In no way would I consider it an honor to be placed in a category. The word itself brings to mind glitz and glamour with no real substance. If I were to pick between your two choices fir which one is full of celebs then I would pick 2. We have wildcats spots to honor uncategorized people. The category isn't intended to honor anyone it's for celebrities. Also I wouldn't have any of those three on a top twenty list for this draft. Although if all six were in the celeb category the whores would rank 1 2 3 over the historically significant people. ThisIt's a fluff category not intended for honor.

if I would have thought of it the way you did from the start (instead of the way I did where Mary and Cleopatra and Tut and others were in it as well as people like Elvis and Di), I'd have objected to it being in the draft...Sorry, if there is any justification for Paris Hilton being drafted in any category of this draft, that category shouldn't be in this draft...

Coming from the guy who took Hogan as a great American this sounds as hypocritical as anything I've ever heard. We have a villain category. Does hitlers name belong next to Jesus or Gandhi? No it's a category for fluff to get away from the sriousness of most picks. As it stands Smith Is a thousand times better than Mary on that list as is Jameson and Hilton. And since you don't grasp statements from post to post I'll reiterate that I don't think any if those chicks belong in this draft.

except pop culture status (and cultural icon status) matter a TON more in an American Draft than they do in a World Draft...modern pop culture iconography is irrelevant in light of world history, it is relevant in light of American history...That's why Hogan was a decent pick in the GAD (especially if I could have gotten wrestling counted as a sport), and why Anna Nichole is a horrible pick in the World Draft...Mary and Elizabeth I and Tut and Cleopatra will still be known in 1000 years, Jackie O, Elvis, and Marylin Monroe's names will likely still be remembered as well...Anna Nichole's name won't. Heck, Hulk Hogan is a better pick for this category than Anna Nichole is...

 

[thatguy]

Andy D just timed out, so I am going to make my pick.

A short time ago, I had 3 explorers remaining on my list. My top 2 recently went off the board in Vasco de Gama and Roald Amundsen. The man I am about to select was the third name on my list, so naturally, I was a little disappointed. However, after doing some more research on this man, I am glad he is the one left standing, because it seems to me he deserves serious consideration for top 5 in the category.

This man was a Chinese eunuch who is said to have stood nearly 7 feet tall. He was the admiral of a massive fleets of some 200+ ships and 28,000 crewman on his 7 documented voyages. How far he actually traveled is not known due to the accounts of his final two voyages being destroyed by the Chinese regime. During this man's time as Admiral, China is said to have ruled the sea. Soon after his death, China more or less closed its ports and looked internally to solve its needs, forever altering history as we know it. In spite of this, the man I am selecting is largely responsible for spreading Islamic culture all over Southeast Asia.

It should also be noted that at least one man believes it was he, and not Columbus, who first encountered America, and that it was he, and not Magellan, who first circumnavigated the globe. For an interesting read, check out this link: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/artic...223/23zheng.htm

Zheng He - Explorer



Zheng He (1371–1433), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.



Expeditions

Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. Emperor #### designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, and impress foreign peoples in the Indian Ocean basin. He also might have wanted to extend the tributary system.

Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of around 300 ships(other sources say 200) holding almost 28,000 crewmen. These were probably mainly large six-masted ships - it is now thought that the large and flat nine-masted "treasure ships" were probably river ships used by the Emperor.



Zheng He's fleets visited Arabia, East Africa, India, Indonesia and Thailand (at the time called Siam), dispensing and receiving goods along the way. Zheng He presented gifts of gold, silver, porcelain and silk;in return, China received such novelties as ostriches, zebras, camels, ivory and giraffes.



Zheng He generally sought to attain his goals through diplomacy, and his large army awed most would-be enemies into submission. But a contemporary reported that Zheng He "walked like a tiger" and did not shrink from violence when he considered it necessary to impress foreign peoples with China's military might. He ruthlessly suppressed pirates who had long plagued Chinese and southeast Asian waters. He also intervened in a civil disturbance in order to establish his authority in Ceylon, and he made displays of military force when local officials threatened his fleet in Arabia and East Africa. From his fourth voyage, he brought envoys from thirty states who traveled to China and paid their respects at the Ming court.

In 1424, the Yongle Emperor died. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor (reigned 1424–1425), decided to curb the influence at court. Zheng He made one more voyage under the Xuande Emperor (reigned 1426–1435), but after that Chinese treasure ship fleets ended. Zheng He died during the treasure fleet's last voyage. Although he has a tomb in China, it is empty: he was, like many great admirals, buried at sea.

Zheng He led seven expeditions to what the Chinese called "the Western Ocean" (Indian Ocean). He brought back to China many trophies and envoys from more than thirty kingdoms — including King Alagonakkara of Ceylon, who came to China to apologize to the Emperor.

The records of Zheng's last two voyages, which are believed to be his farthest, were unfortunately destroyed by the Ming emperor. Therefore it is never certain where Zheng has sailed in these two expeditions. The traditional view is that he went as far as to Iran.

There are speculations that some of Zheng's ships may have traveled beyond the Cape of Good Hope. In particular, the Venetian monk and cartographer Fra Mauro describes in his 1459 Fra Mauro map the travels of a huge "junk from India" 2,000 miles into the Atlantic Ocean in 1420. What Fra Mauro meant by 'India' is not known and some scholars believe he meant an Arab ship.Interestingly, Professor Su Ming-Yang thinks "the ship is European, as it is fitted with a crow’s nest, or lookout post, at the masthead, and has sails fitted to the yards, unlike the batten sails of Chinese ships."

Zheng himself wrote of his travels:

"We have traversed more than 100,000 li (50,000 kilometers or 30,000 miles) of immense water spaces and have beheld in the ocean huge waves like mountains rising in the sky, and we have set eyes on barbarian regions far away hidden in a blue transparency of light vapors, while our sails, loftily unfurled like clouds day and night, continued their course [as rapidly] as a star, traversing those savage waves as if we were treading a public thoroughfare…" — Tablet erected by Zheng He, Changle, Fujian, 1432.

Zheng He, on his seven voyages, successfully relocated large numbers of Chinese Muslims to Malacca, Palembang, Surabaya and other places and Malacca became the center of Islamic learning and also a large international Islamic trade center of the southern seas.



Zheng He and Islam in Southeast Asia



Indonesian religious leader and Islamic scholar #### (1908–1981) wrote in 1961: "The development of Islam in Indonesia and Malaya is intimately related to a Chinese Muslim, Admiral Zheng He." In Malacca he built granaries, warehouses and a stockade, and most probably he left behind many of his Muslim crews. Much of the information on Zheng He's voyages was compiled by ####, also Muslim, who accompanied Zheng He on several of his inspection tours and served as his chronicler / interpreter. In his book 'The Overall Survey of the Ocean Shores' written in 1416, ####gave very detailed accounts of his observations of the peoples' customs and lives in ports they visited. Zheng He had many Muslim Eunuchs as his companions. At the time when his fleet first arrived in Malacca, there were already Chinese of the 'Muslim' faith living there. #### talks about them as tángrén who were Muslim. At places they went, they frequented mosques, actively propagated the Islamic faith, established Chinese Muslim communities and built mosques.

Indonesian scholar #### writes: "Zheng He built Chinese Muslim communities first in Palembang, then in San Fa (West Kalimantan), subsequently he founded similar communities along the shores of Java, the Malay Peninsula and the Philippines. They propagated the Islamic faith according to the Hanafi school of thought and in Chinese language."

After Zheng He's death, Chinese naval expeditions were suspended. The Hanafi Islam that Zheng He and his people propagated lost almost all contact with Islam in China, and gradually was totally absorbed by the local Shafi’i school of thought. When ####was successively colonized by the Portuguese, the Dutch, and later the British, Chinese were discouraged from converting to Islam. Many of the Chinese Muslim mosques became San Bao Chinese temples commemorating Zheng He. After a lapse of 600 years, the influence of Chinese Muslims in Malacca declined to almost nil. In many ways, Zheng He can be considered a major founder of the present community of Chinese Indonesians.

 

[Fennis]

This man was a Chinese eunuch

I would have thought a eunuch wouldn’t have the drive to do anything significant. I know I would just sit around and cry all day. Turns out I was wrong. This guy proves a eunuch can accomplish anything since he has no distractions.

 

[higgins]

14.05 Andy Dufrense -Timed out

14.06 thatguy - Picked

14.07 Usual21 - Up

14.08 John Madden's On deck

14.09 higgins

14.10 Big Rocks

 

[Mister CIA]

I hate to make a second wild card selection while I have many slots left to fill, but this next is is too valuable to pass up at this juncture.

14.02- Henry Ford - Wild Card

Wiki

Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was the American founder of the Ford Motor Company and father of modern assembly lines used in mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry. He was a prolific inventor and was awarded 161 U.S. patents. As owner of the Ford Company he became one of the richest and best-known people in the world. He is credited with "Fordism", that is, the mass production of large numbers of inexpensive automobiles using the assembly line, coupled with high wages for his workers. Ford had a global vision, with consumerism as the key to peace. Ford did not believe in accountants; he amassed one of the world's largest fortunes without ever having his company audited under his administration. Henry Ford's intense commitment to lowering costs resulted in many technical and business innovations, including a franchise system that put a dealership in every city in North America, and in major cities on six continents. Ford left most of his vast wealth to the Ford Foundation but arranged for his family to control the company permanently.

 

[Big Rocks]

Thanks to whoever gave me the 1-star . I'd look back to see who I sniped a pick from, but it's not worth it...

 

[thatguy]

Thanks to whoever gave me the 1-star . I'd look back to see who I sniped a pick from, but it's not worth it...

Probably DC Thunder since you just owned him 32-3 in the GAD playoff.

 

[Big Rocks]

JML said at the top of the page to skip him at 14.08.

 

[Mister CIA]

Thanks to whoever gave me the 1-star . I'd look back to see who I sniped a pick from, but it's not worth it...

Five stars from me.

 

[thatguy]

This man was a Chinese eunuch

I would have thought a eunuch wouldn’t have the drive to do anything significant. I know I would just sit around and cry all day. Turns out I was wrong. This guy proves a eunuch can accomplish anything since he has no distractions.

They say he walked like a tiger too, was ruthless and did not shrink from violence. I wouldn't expect that from a eunuch either.

 

[Fennis]

Thanks to whoever gave me the 1-star . I'd look back to see who I sniped a pick from, but it's not worth it...

Five stars from me.

 

[thatguy]

Thanks to whoever gave me the 1-star . I'd look back to see who I sniped a pick from, but it's not worth it...

Five stars from me.

Me too.

 

[BobbyLayne]

A short time ago, I had 3 explorers remaining on my list. My top 2 recently went off the board in Vasco de Gama and Roald Amundsen. The man I am about to select was the third name on my list, so naturally, I was a little disappointed. However, after doing some more research on this man, I am glad he is the one left standing, because it seems to me he deserves serious consideration for top 5 in the category.

This man was a Chinese eunuch who is said to have stood nearly 7 feet tall. He was the admiral of a massive fleets of some 200+ ships and 28,000 crewman on his 7 documented voyages. How far he actually traveled is not known due to the accounts of his final two voyages being destroyed by the Chinese regime. During this man's time as Admiral, China is said to have ruled the sea. Soon after his death, China more or less closed its ports and looked internally to solve its needs, forever altering history as we know it. In spite of this, the man I am selecting is largely responsible for spreading Islamic culture all over Southeast Asia.

It should also be noted that at least one man believes it was he, and not Columbus, who first encountered America, and that it was he, and not Magellan, who first circumnavigated the globe. For an interesting read, check out this link: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/artic...223/23zheng.htm

Zheng He - Explorer



Zheng He (1371–1433), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.



Expeditions

Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions.

Great pick, thatguy. We were working off the same list apparently and I struggled with this one; in fact I told Ozy 2 or 3 days ago this is the one I thought I would take, but still wasn't sure. In the end I rejected it because he didn't discover any new routes, and the voyages had no lasting impact. Tell you what, thought - this is a guy more need to learn about.I want to add a couple a things I didn't see when I skimmed through (with apologies in advance if this is a :honda: ).

First off, his ships were 450 feet long with a beam (width) of 180 feet. To give a reference point, that's about the same length as modern day frigate - and three times as wide as a Missouri-class battleship. Holy frackin' sheet, eh? It is estimated the gross tonnage on one of these junks was 10 times that of the Santa Maria.

Marco Polo was very impressed with these vessels. They were superior to anything in the western world, with huge center line rudders that acted as keel drops, and bulkheads that could seal off leaking sections - the latter concept was not introduced into European ships for centuries.

The second thing I'd like to add is these Chinese exploratory voyages were in striking contrast to those of later generations of Europeans, for whom such expeditions led inevitable to conquest and empire. The Chinese fleet may have made a show of force, but in seven voyages Zheng He resorted only twice to military action, and once was against a pirate.

These were primarily diplomatic and commercial missions, their aim was to make friends and allies in the wider world. A few recalcitrant princes had to be replaced with more compliant figures along the way - but these actions are in stark conquest to the atrocities committed by the Portuguese along the Indian coasts in the early years of the following century.

The last thing - and I just thought this was a cool factoid - is Zheng He was a Chinese Muslim. On his voyage to Hormuz (at the mouth of the present day Persian Gulf), they took subsidiary voyages to Dhufar and Jeddah. At the latter port, Zheng He made a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Now that's pretty effing cool.

The death of the great Admiral known as the Three Jewel Eunuch brought an abrupt end to Chinese exploration. Confucian aloofness began again to dominate Chinese policy, which viewed the rest of the world with indifference. Foreign voyages were banned, and his great fleet rotted at their moorings.

How different would the world be if they went the other way? But for a curious twist of history, China, rather than Europe, might have become the great colonial power.

Awesome pick, good luck with it.

 

[thatguy]

A short time ago, I had 3 explorers remaining on my list. My top 2 recently went off the board in Vasco de Gama and Roald Amundsen. The man I am about to select was the third name on my list, so naturally, I was a little disappointed. However, after doing some more research on this man, I am glad he is the one left standing, because it seems to me he deserves serious consideration for top 5 in the category.

This man was a Chinese eunuch who is said to have stood nearly 7 feet tall. He was the admiral of a massive fleets of some 200+ ships and 28,000 crewman on his 7 documented voyages. How far he actually traveled is not known due to the accounts of his final two voyages being destroyed by the Chinese regime. During this man's time as Admiral, China is said to have ruled the sea. Soon after his death, China more or less closed its ports and looked internally to solve its needs, forever altering history as we know it. In spite of this, the man I am selecting is largely responsible for spreading Islamic culture all over Southeast Asia.

It should also be noted that at least one man believes it was he, and not Columbus, who first encountered America, and that it was he, and not Magellan, who first circumnavigated the globe. For an interesting read, check out this link: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/culture/artic...223/23zheng.htm

Zheng He - Explorer



Zheng He (1371–1433), was a Hui Chinese mariner, explorer, diplomat and fleet admiral, who made the voyages collectively referred to as the travels of "Eunuch Sanbao to the Western Ocean" or "Zheng He to the Western Ocean", from 1405 to 1433.



Expeditions

Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions.

Great pick, thatguy. We were working off the same list apparently and I struggled with this one; in fact I told Ozy 2 or 3 days ago this is the one I thought I would take, but still wasn't sure. In the end I rejected it because he didn't discover any new routes, and the voyages had no lasting impact. Tell you what, thought - this is a guy more need to learn about.I want to add a couple a things I didn't see when I skimmed through (with apologies in advance if this is a :honda: ).

First off, his ships were 450 feet long with a beam (width) of 180 feet. To give a reference point, that's about the same length as modern day frigate - and three times as wide as a Missouri-class battleship. Holy frackin' sheet, eh? It is estimated the gross tonnage on one of these junks was 10 times that of the Santa Maria.

Marco Polo was very impressed with these vessels. They were superior to anything in the western world, with huge center line rudders that acted as keel drops, and bulkheads that could seal off leaking sections - the latter concept was not introduced into European ships for centuries.

The second thing I'd like to add is these Chinese exploratory voyages were in striking contrast to those of later generations of Europeans, for whom such expeditions led inevitable to conquest and empire. The Chinese fleet may have made a show of force, but in seven voyages Zheng He resorted only twice to military action, and once was against a pirate.

These were primarily diplomatic and commercial missions, their aim was to make friends and allies in the wider world. A few recalcitrant princes had to be replaced with more compliant figures along the way - but these actions are in stark conquest to the atrocities committed by the Portuguese along the Indian coasts in the early years of the following century.

The last thing - and I just thought this was a cool factoid - is Zheng He was a Chinese Muslim. On his voyage to Hormuz (at the mouth of the present day Persian Gulf), they took subsidiary voyages to Dhufar and Jeddah. At the latter port, Zheng He made a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Now that's pretty effing cool.

The death of the great Admiral known as the Three Jewel Eunuch brought an abrupt end to Chinese exploration. Confucian aloofness began again to dominate Chinese policy, which viewed the rest of the world with indifference. Foreign voyages were banned, and his great fleet rotted at their moorings.

How different would the world be if they went the other way? But for a curious twist of history, China, rather than Europe, might have become the great colonial power.

Awesome pick, good luck with it.

Thanks BL. And thanks for adding those tidbits.

 

[Big Rocks]

Thanks to whoever gave me the 1-star . I'd look back to see who I sniped a pick from, but it's not worth it...

Five stars from me.

Me too.

 

[higgins]

Do we have a clock for evening, or is that daytime only?

The reason I ask is that I've got a 6am flight, and will be incommunicato most of tomorrow -- worst case (if Usual21 doesn't show up), can someone take a PM for this next pick?