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Greatest American; ...who do you think?
Topic Started: Jun 23 2005, 08:08 AM (942 Views)
The 89th Key
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Since AOL/Discovery Channel is doing that greatest american thing, and they are down to five. MLK, Reagan, Washington, Lincoln, and someone else...but anyway, who do you think is a good nominee?

I'm thinking maybe Bill Gates...since everyone always thinks political people. Bill Gates basically invented the modern computer as we know it which revolutionized production and basically every other piece of technology as we know it. I know there's Apple and Gates stole the idea from Steve Jobs...but Gates built himself up from nothing and now he's the richest guy on Earth. He's the epitome of the American dream. (minus the stealing. :whome:)

Who do you think?
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Rick Zimmer
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Fulla-Carp
The 89th Key
Jun 23 2005, 09:08 AM
Since AOL/Discovery Channel is doing that greatest american thing, and they are down to five. MLK, Reagan, Washington, Lincoln, and someone else...but anyway, who do you think is a good nominee?

I'm thinking maybe Bill Gates...since everyone always thinks political people. Bill Gates basically invented the modern computer as we know it which revolutionized production and basically every other piece of technology as we know it. I know there's Apple and Gates stole the idea from Steve Jobs...but Gates built himself up from nothing and now he's the richest guy on Earth. He's the epitome of the American dream. (minus the stealing. :whome:)

Who do you think?

Define "greatest."

As in most influential?

As in the greatest achievement?

As in the closest to American ideals?

As in having the most impact?

I am not quibbling, it is just that I can't name one unless I know what the criteria is.
[size=4]Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul -- Benedict XVI[/size]
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justme
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HOLY CARP!!!
http://tv.channel.aol.com/greatestamerican
"Men sway more towards hussies." G-D3
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
I've already recused myself.
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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NAK-1.0
Senior Carp
Posted Image
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:thumb:
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justme
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HOLY CARP!!!
NAK
Jun 23 2005, 12:16 PM
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:thumb:

lol, sweetie.

Meanwhile in Pianoworld Norbert wants me gone again "when he's ready". oh well.



http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ulti...ic/1/10930.html
"Men sway more towards hussies." G-D3
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NAK-1.0
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justme
Jun 23 2005, 09:25 AM
NAK
Jun 23 2005, 12:16 PM
Posted Image
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:thumb:

lol, sweetie.

Meanwhile in Pianoworld Norbert wants me gone again "when he's ready". oh well.



http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ulti...ic/1/10930.html

:sad: *sigh*
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ivorythumper
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I am so adjective that I verb nouns!
justme
Jun 23 2005, 08:25 AM
NAK
Jun 23 2005, 12:16 PM
Posted Image
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:thumb:

lol, sweetie.

Meanwhile in Pianoworld Norbert wants me gone again "when he's ready". oh well.



http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ulti...ic/1/10930.html

I was going to vote for you as well, Peg, until you decided to drag us through the PWF muck. :(

:D
The dogma lives loudly within me.
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Fizzygirl
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justme
Jun 23 2005, 11:25 AM
NAK
Jun 23 2005, 12:16 PM
Posted Image
^
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:thumb:

lol, sweetie.

Meanwhile in Pianoworld Norbert wants me gone again "when he's ready". oh well.



http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ulti...ic/1/10930.html

Some never change....... :shrug:

No worries Peggy, you have a good head on your shoulders! :biggrin:
Cats are intended to teach us that not everything in nature has a purpose. ~ Garrison Keillor


My latest videos.

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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
justme
Jun 23 2005, 08:25 AM
NAK
Jun 23 2005, 12:16 PM
Posted Image
^
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:thumb:

lol, sweetie.

Meanwhile in Pianoworld Norbert wants me gone again "when he's ready". oh well.



http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ulti...ic/1/10930.html

That is a strange thread.....some of the folks over there are in risk of being "larry-ized".

Tell the truth one too many times, and there will be many that think horns are sprouting out of your head...
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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justme
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HOLY CARP!!!
ivorythumper
Jun 23 2005, 12:38 PM
I was going to vote for you as well, Peg, until you decided to drag us through the PWF muck. :(

:D

gosh, I'm sorry guys. I really do have to stay away from that place.

sorry, 89th, for the hi-jack.

I vote for Ben Franklin because he helped create the first post office which led directly to the internet.
"Men sway more towards hussies." G-D3
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jazzyd
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Junior Carp
We had a Greatest Briton poll over here a little while ago. The results:


Winston Churchill (28.1%)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (24.6%)
Diana, Princess of Wales (13.9%) :no: :banghead: :puke:
Charles Darwin (6.9%)
William Shakespeare (6.8%)
Isaac Newton (5.2%)
Queen Elizabeth I (4.4%)
John Lennon (4.2%) :shrug:
Horatio Nelson (3%)
Oliver Cromwell (2.8%)


Good luck with yours. :rolleyes:


David



One has a stronger hand when there's more people playing your same cards.
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justme
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HOLY CARP!!!
John Lennon????? gosh, I wouldn't even pick him as my favorite Beatle.

now, George, well...

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"Men sway more towards hussies." G-D3
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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
Sorry 89th but Bill Gates did not come up from nothing. His family was very well off.

He is a thief of ideas.

Not a great american by any stretch of the imagination.

Thomas Jefferson gets my vote.
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jon-nyc
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Cheers
I think its a toss-up between W.E.B. DuBois and Gus Hall.
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
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Mark
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HOLY CARP!!!
ivorythumper
Jun 23 2005, 08:15 AM
I've already recused myself.

Damn!

I was going to vote for you too!

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When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race. H.G. Wells
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kentcouncil
Fulla-Carp
Greatest American: Lincoln. Washington an infinitesimally close second. They are the two indispensable figures of American history.

Greatest Brit: I could go along with Churchill. Shakespeare is right up there, though.
It was a confusion of ideas between him and one of the lions he was hunting in Kenya that had caused A. B. Spottsworth to make the obituary column. He thought the lion was dead, and the lion thought it wasn't.

- P.G. Wodehouse
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
Hands down:

Washington.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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taiwan_girl
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Fulla-Carp
I think I would vote for Abraham Lincoln
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katie
Fulla-Carp
Being an outsider & looking into your fish bowl of America, I'd like to think the greatest Americans are the inventors. Off the top of my head (& desktop), I think I'd like to thank these individuals for their contributions to modern society:

Frank McNamara: Guess what he did?
Don Wetzel: Another American Nobody .... Or,
How About These Guys?: ..May God Bless The Nerds of America, Eh?

Some of this stuff is fascinating. To take a look for other famous Americans Check Out This !! :

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big al
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Bull-Carp
jazzyd
Jun 23 2005, 10:19 AM
We had a Greatest Briton poll over here a little while ago. The results:


Winston Churchill (28.1%)
Isambard Kingdom Brunel (24.6%)
Diana, Princess of Wales (13.9%) :no: :banghead: :puke:
Charles Darwin (6.9%)
William Shakespeare (6.8%)
Isaac Newton (5.2%)
Queen Elizabeth I (4.4%)
John Lennon (4.2%) :shrug:
Horatio Nelson (3%)
Oliver Cromwell (2.8%)


Good luck with yours. :rolleyes:


David

I'm really surprised to see Brunel at number 2. I would have thought that few outside the engineering community would have even thought of him. Just demonstrates how far off base assumptions can be sometimes.

My vote in the US - Abraham Lincoln. George Washington right behind. There very well might not be a US or at least one in the shape we know without these two leaders. I still subscribe to the great man theory of history, at least in part. The wars may come regardless of who leads, but the outcomes are not foreordained.

Katie, you suggestion resonates with me but there are too many choices to make just one.

Big Al
Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
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Luke's Dad
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Emperor Pengin
How about Franklin?, Or Oppenheimer? Edison?
The problem with having an open mind is that people keep trying to put things in it.
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Phlebas
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Bull-Carp
What about WT Sherman?

:)
Random FML: Today, I was fired by my boss in front of my coworkers. It would have been nice if I could have left the building before they started celebrating. FML

The founding of the bulk of the world's nation states post 1914 is based on self-defined nationalisms. The bulk of those national movements involve territory that was ethnically mixed. The foundation of many of those nation states involved population movements in the aftermath. When the only one that is repeatedly held up as unjust and unjustifiable is the Zionist project, the term anti-semitism may very well be appropriate. - P*D


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justme
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HOLY CARP!!!
Phlebas
Jun 23 2005, 04:45 PM
What about WT Sherman?

:)

You know, he came to my mind. He literally destroyed the South while saving the Union.

He was one nasty dude.
"Men sway more towards hussies." G-D3
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dolmansaxlil
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HOLY CARP!!!
Reagan?!? Reagan!??! Really?!?!

I mean, I know he "ended the cold war" blah blah blah. But greatest American?? Not buying it. Not even close.

I think I'd have to go with Lincoln as well.

The British list is interesting. I can't say I disagree with Churchill being at the top. I feel like a moron for saying this, but I have no idea who Brunel is :blush: Shakespeare and Queen E II are both also good choices. Oliver Cromwell is rather a surprise, though!
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