The Most Influential People List..........(from an article in "The New Republic")

The reason for this entry is that we read a great article by Cass R. Sunstein in "The New Republic" which was an extended book review of "Who's Bigger? Where Historical Figures Really Rank." The length of the subjects' Wikipedia pages was one consideration. We should warn reader that this is a CONTROVERSIAL list. The image of Karl Marx at the top is the Little Thinker toy based on his image:


1) Jesus Christ

2) Napoleon

3) Mohammed

4) William Shakespeare

5) Abe Lincoln

6) George Washington

7) Adolf Hitler

8) Aristotle

9) Alexander the Great

10) Thomas Jefferson (Monticello, his historical home in Charlottesville, Virginia, is pictured in the middle)

11) Henry VIII

12) Charles Darwin

13) Elizabeth I

14) Karl Marx (pictured top)

15) Julius Caesar

16) Queen Victoria

17) Martin Luther

18) Joseph Stalin

19) Albert Einstein (pictured bottom)

20) Christopher Columbus

http://www.newrepublic.com

http://www.philosophersguild.com

http://www.monticello.org

http://www.visitcharlottesville.org

Sunday Night Tweets- Malaysia Airlines Wishes You a Happy Monday

As most of you know by now George McGovern, the long-time U.S. Senator from South Dakota died in his home state early this morning at age 90; we will have a tribute to him later in the week. One of his campaign buttons from his race for the White House against Richard Nixon in 1972 is pictured above. We also have an image of Liberace because it was the best thing we could think of of for gay marriage. And, we were not able to find an image of a flight attendant from Malaysia Airlines so we are going with this image of Christina Ricci from the 2011 tv series "Pan Am," which never quite got off the ground....pardon the pun.

Here are tonight's tweets from the 8:00-9:00 p.m. hour on Sunday night, New York time:

1) @ABC11_WVTD (ABC11 WVTD, a tv station in Raleigh, NC): "Vice president's son Beau Biden makes stop in the Triangle."

2) @Markknoller (Mark Knoller is the CBS News White House correspondent): "Earlier today, Pres. Obama issued statement on passing of George McGovern calling him a 'generous, kind, honorable man. He will be missed."

3) @davidcnsswanson (David Swanson, an author from Charlottesville, Va.): "What Senator George McGovern Got Right_ Let's Try Democracy."

4) @PeterBeinart (Peter Beinart is a columnist for "The Daily Beast"): "I will never forget reading McGovern's 1970 speech where he says 'this chamber reeks of blood' during Vietnam, would any pol say that today?"

5) @LunarAnticsZeno (Zeno is from what we can tell some sort of comic book character; and yes he apparently tweets as do family cats and dead celebrities): "The difference between stupidity and genius has its limits, Albert Einestein."

6) @TeaPartyCat (Top Conservative Cat, actually a liberal blogger who rakes Republicans over the coals): "Romney changed his position on gay marriage, but since he was changing back to a previously abandoned position, it's not a big deal."

7) @MAS (Malaysia Airlines, and yes it is Malaysia Airlines as opposed to Malaysian Airlines we checked with our correspondent in Kuala Lampur to be sure): "Hopefully your Monday will be much better. Have a great Monday, and an incredible week ahead."

http://www.malaysiaairline.com

Quote of the Day/Week- Albert Einstein

Today's quote of the day comes from Albert Einstein (1879-1955), the brilliant scientist who is considered the father of modern physics. Einstein also developed the theory of relativity. One has to wonder if he would agree with the assertion that the video game Angry Birds teaches children about physics.

We are quoting Einstein because this month we are quoting people associated with all 16 of the European teams competing in the Euro 2012 Cup in Poland and Ukraine. Though Einstein spent much of his adult life abroad, including here in the United States, where he died in Princeton, NJ, Einstein was German. Since he was Jewish, Einstein decided to leave Germany for good in 1933 when Adolf Hitler rose to power.

Einstein is also one of the famous figures who has been humorously merchandised by the American novelty company The Unemployed Philosophers Guild, though the Einstein plush toy, which retails for $17.95 is currently out of stock.

I happen to have an Einstein necktie which I found for five dollars from a street vendor in Washington, DC.

Here is his quote:

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."

http://www.einstein.biz

http://www.philosophersguild.com

This and That- Apparently Smart People Have Intimacy Issues

I was thumbing through the current issue of "Psychology Today" this afternoon in a public library when this article caught my attention. The headline read something like: "Why Smart People Have Less Sex."

I did not take any notes from the article, but my assumption is that if a guy is reading Leo Tolstoy's "War and Peace" in its entirety, well yes, it might well take precendent over other things.

The article did mention (I believe) that if men make more money, they are more likely to have more sex. I did not see any mention in the article of how income levels affected women's sex lives.

But, I found out tonight, that this matter has been discussed for a while. In a Sept. 2008, a blogger from Palo Alto, Calif., where Stanford- a smart school-is siad that a recent test had found that teenagers with low iqs in the 100 range were up to five times more likely to be sexually actually than teens with high iqs in the 1200-1300 range.

The blogger later mentioned that only 56 percent of undergrads at Priceton University were having sex while only 65 percent of MIT grads had found time to make love and presumably kick butt on their final exams.

All of this could be argued though I suppose, as everything these days seems to be argued irregardless if it is from the ACLU or the Tea Party (editorial comment: we prefer the ACLU). And, there is the case of Karen Owen, a Duke University student who made a Powerpoint presentation on her thesis in 2010 about her college romps which included having sex with 13 male Blue Devils athletes, most of whom were reportedly lacrosse players. Maybe, those guys weren't reading Tolstoy.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Che Guevara Plush Toy

A few weeks ago, I put the Che Guevara plush toy, which would probably more popular in San Francisco than Provo, Utah, on a mock Christmas gift list. I actually saw the item at a novelty shop in Greensboro, NC, along with similar plush toys for artist Frida Kahlo and scientist Albert Einstein.

Most of the plush toys retail for $16.95, and other figures that The Little Thinkers produce include Jesus Christ, Charlie Chaplin, William Shakespeare and Sigmund Freud.

I did not get the Che Guevara plush toy this year, but next Christmas is just around the corner, right?! Perhaps, there will be a socialist revolution by then (well, it couldn't be any worse than the Tea Party movement!)