Noam Chomsky
The man is the progenitor of modern linguistics. His work was incredibly influential in the area of cognitive psychology and provided an opposing viewpoint to previous ideas in the field of linguistics, especially the work of B.F. Skinner. He is credited with completely revolutionising psychology in the U.S.A. from behavioural to cognitive psychology. Overall a great man who provided the groundwork for a monumental amount of research in cognitive psychology and particularly the study of linguistics.

George Orwell
One of the most important and influential writers in the past century. Nineteen Eighty-Four remains to this day one of the greatest critical works on totalitarianism. The influence of the book can not be denied, it is so great that it has infiltrated popular culture for the most part unknown by younger generations. Orwell's influence is so great that is name has entered common vernacular.

Slayer
Not so much one person as four great men. Easily one of the best metal bands ever to have graced the planet. Their rise to fame on the back of Reign in Blood was nothing short if monumental. Along with Anthrax, Metallica and Megadeath, they created the thrash metal scene, which paved the way for both black and death metal.

Adolf Eichmann
Known as "the architect of the Holocaust" he is responsible for the efficiency and quickness of the mass slaughter of millions of people. Eichmann was in charge of organising the Final Solution, the transportation of millions of Jews to death camps.

This thread is so pretentious.


Think I'll join in...

Joel Alvarado
The greatest smash bros player alive, he reads the game like no other. He was the 7th best in the world at melee without even taking it seriously, he would almost never try, and he practically invented sandbagging. Techniques that have been discovered by him have changed the way smash is played competetively, such as the isai drop, no impact drop and the shield drop (in both melee and 64). He is the greatest player in the world at 64 (with ANY character) and probably the best teams player in the world at melee, even today.

George Carlin

I know you put him on your honorable mentions. but i thought id come out and give my man a paragraph. George Carlin taught me everything i know about swearing. Now even though he was before my time. I still remember the first time I listened to one of my fathers cassettes of george carlin. In my eyes he is a legend for many reasons. But mainly because of his ability to be fucking timeless. the first video i have added is stand up from 1978!!!! over 30 fucking years ago, and its still a MOTHER FUCKING classic. And not only is he a funny fucking bastard, but he pushed the envelope for his entire career. He was never afraid of what other people thought about him. He didnt give a fuck if you came to his show and you were offended. It was his mother fucking show and we were all just along for the ride. Ill leave you with a few of my favorite George Carlin quotes. ahhh fuck!! edit. i also fucking HATE religion. and george carlin and me are like connected at the brain stem on that matter. which i love.

The very existence of flame-throwers proves that some time, somewhere, someone said to themselves, You know, I want to set those people over there on fire, but I'm just not close enough to get the job done. ---G.C

You know the good part about all those executions in Texas? Fewer Texans. --- G.C

I think I am, therefore, I am. I think.--- G.C

So far, this is the oldest I’ve been.---G.C

The planet is fine. The people are fucked.---G.C

I think it’s the duty of the comedian to find out where the line is drawn and cross it deliberately. ---G.C

:<

Why did Carlin have to die?

I meant this one


And why so mean? A simple "Seriously, please" would've sufficed...

George Carlin :(

On a lighter note, this guy


"Ever heard of Stanislav Petrov?
Probably not—but you may very well owe him your life.
Petrov, a former member of the Soviet military, didn’t actually do anything but that’s precisely the point.
In 1983, Petrov held a very important station: As lieutenant colonel, he was in charge of monitoring the Soviet Union’s satellites over the United States, and watching for any sign of unauthorized military action.
This was the Cold War era, and suspicions were high; on September 1, the Soviet Union had mistakenly shot down a Korean aircraft it had believed to be a military plane, killing 269 civilians, including an American Congressman. The Soviet Union believed that the United States might launch a missile attack at any moment, and that they would be forced to respond with their own arsenal of nuclear weapons.
Several weeks after the airplane disaster, on September 23, another officer called in sick, so Petrov was stuck working a double shift at a secret bunker, monitoring satellite activity, when “suddenly the screen in front of me turned bright red,” Petrov told BBC News. “An alarm went off. It was piercing, loud enough to raise a dead man from his grave.”
According to the system, the United States had launched five missiles, which were rapidly heading into Soviet territory. The U.S.S.R. was under attack.
All Petrov had to do was push the flashing red button on the desk in front of him, and the Soviets would retaliate with their own battery of missiles, launching a full-scale nuclear war.
“For fifteen seconds, we were in a state of shock,” he told The Washington Post. “We needed to understand, what’s next?”

Though the bunker atmosphere was chaotic, Petrov, who had trained as a scientist, took the time to analyze the data carefully before making his decision. He realized that, if the U.S. did attack, they would be unlikely to launch a mere five missiles at once. And when he studied the system’s ground-based radar, he could see no evidence of oncoming missiles.
He still couldn’t say for sure what was going on, but “I had a funny feeling in my gut,” he told The Post. “I didn’t want to make a mistake. I made a decision, and that was it.”
Luckily for all of us, he decided not to push that button. Later, his instincts were proven right—the malfunctioning system had given him a false alarm, and the U.S. had not deployed any missiles. Thanks to Petrov’s cool head, nuclear war had been narrowly averted, and millions of lives were saved.
Unfortunately, Petrov didn’t exactly receive a heroic reward from the Soviet military: Embarrassed by their own mistakes, and angry at Petrov for breaking military protocol, they forced him into early retirement with a pension of $200 a month. Petrov’s brave act was kept secret from the outside world until the 1998 publication of a book by one of Petrov’s fellow officers, who witnessed his courage on that terrifying night.
Since the book’s publication, Petrov has been honored by the United Nations and presented with a World Citizen Award, and there has been talk of giving him the Nobel Prize. Still, the humble Russian scientist plays down his role in averting a nuclear crisis: “I was simply the right person in the right time, that was all,” he said in the upcoming documentary, The Red Button and the Man Who Saved the World.
We’ve got to disagree with him. Sure, he may have done nothing but in this case, it might just be the hardest thing to do."
~By Kathryn Hawkins for Gimundo, the site for good news, served daily.

Copy pasted from http://www.bspcn.com/2009/10/10/the-...world-in-1983/

John Terry

Petrov is now on my list.