Winston Churchill. Saved western civilization.
Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
31–40 of 240 posts
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#32pg, because this is a cult. ;)
Google Suggest always wants to autocomplete my searches for "site:news.ycombinator.com" as "site news.ycombinator.com pg cult." (try it yourself) Do people actually search for the term "pg cult?"
I wasn't sure if you were kidding so I tried it. It's true!
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#33Deng Xiaoping. In the pure utilitarian sense, he may have had the greatest positive impact of any person in the 20th century. In a century wracked by war between the ideologies, his philosophy was just the tonic the world needed: "Who cares if the mouse is black or white, as long it catches the mouse".
I'd give Chiang Ching-kuo the credit for preceding Deng in that point of view.
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know this was probably to provoke a reaction but Jesus as I understand him was a revolutionary who pushed people to stop following the established religion and financing its greed and instead to start living a good life. In this sense he was like Martin Luther in that he envisioned decentralised religion as the ideal - moral living for the masses not blind expensive ritual controlled by the few. But I could be comp…
I totally agree with you on all counts. Except for the moral living part. It's establishment religious types that promote moralism-- Jesus' whole point is that your good works don't do jack squat.
Sola fide is a controversial stance, at best. Consider James 2:26, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also."
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#35Elon Musk
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#36David Chappelle
I hate that he has faded so much from the public eye. If you've never seen Dave Chappelle's Block Party get it and watch it, whether you enjoy hip-hop or not. If you've seen that and are otherwise interested his Inside the Actors Studio interview is pretty solid too.
He is basically the type of role model I wish I could be someday.
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#37John Carmack. I think I've just always been an Id fan since I grew up with Quake, and I was just blown away the first time I read the Quake 1 source. I have just always dreamed of being a great C hacker like him. And he's doing even more amazing stuff now with Armadillo.
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#38Mr. Rogers. The guy was amazing on so many levels; there are lots of examples but I'll go with a HN related one. He contributed valuable testimony to the betamax case. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Rogers
Here's the Junod profile of Mister Rogers (it's never, ever "Mr."): http://www.thedqtimes.com/pages/castpages/other/fredrogersca... It will make you cry.
Indeed it did, and I have read it many times.
Re: Ask HN: Whom do you admire most?
#39My grandfather. You guys have probably never heard of him, but he rocked.
I am sure many of us look to our parents, grandparents, and other relatives as heroes.
For me, I look to my dad as a hero, which is kind of funny considering how often have disagreements. I'm reminded of that line from Randy Pausch's last lecture, "Just remember, when your father was your age, he was fighting the Germans." Growing up I always heard stories about what my dad was like and what he was doing when he was in college, and the stories always seemed so distant. Now, I am going through those same years, and it blows me away to think about what my dad went through when he was at the same point in my life as I am.
Coming to the US with only a few dollars in his pocket, not knowing the language, working full time at bad jobs in rough neighborhoods in Houston, going to school full time in engineering, and building a life based around making sacrifices for the benefit of his family -- comparing this to my own life, which has been free of these hardships ('cept full time school in engineering, of course!) largely due to his efforts, I can't help but be inspired.
Thanks dad.