Linus Torvalds (born December 28, 1969) is a Finnish software engineer, American naturalized, who is the creator, and former principal developer, of the Linux kernel, which became the kernel for operating systems (and many distributions of each) such as GNU and years later Android and Chrome OS. He also created the distributed revision control system Git. Torvalds believes “open source is the only right way to do software.” He currently resides in a suburb of Portland, Oregon.
Note: Despite his generous open-source software contributions, Torvalds is notorious for his gruff attitude that serves as a form of self-deprecation: “I’m not a nice person, and I don’t care about you. I care about the technology and the kernel—that’s what’s important to me.” – Linus Torvalds
John V. Blankenbaker, born in 1929 to a farming family in Oklahoma, is best known as the man who made the world’s first personal computer. His Kenbak-1 machine first went on sale in 1971—some five years before Steve Wozniak released Apple I. When Blankenbaker was a freshman at Oregon State College in 1949, he started the design of a computing device. By 1957, he had envisioned a simple computer, which he described in a paper, “Logically Micro-Programmed Computers,” published in Computer Transactions. In 1970, he began the design of Kenbak-1 as a private endeavor in his Los Angeles garage. The next year he founded Kenbak Corporation and built and sold about 40 Kenbak-1 digital computers, mainly to schools, before selling out to CTI Educational Products and shuttering his company entirely in 1973. Blankenbaker retired in 1985 and currently lives in Pennsylvania.
Steve Wozniak (born August 11, 1950), nicknamed “Woz,” is an American inventor, electronics engineer, programmer and technology entrepreneur who co-founded Apple Inc. He is known as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Wozniak single-handedly developed the 1976 Apple I, which was the computer that launched Apple. He primarily designed the 1977 Apple II, while Jobs oversaw the development of its unusual case and Rod Holt developed the unique power supply. In 1990, Wozniak helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation, providing some of the organization’s initial funding. Wozniak’s favorite video game is Tetris, and he has the condition prosopagnosia (or face-blindness).
I thought being character No. 1001 would be appropriate for a computing pioneer like Woz. Here are 14 other characters I chose to honor numerically: No. 88 (Doc Emmett Brown), No. 100 (Benjamin Franklin), No. 200 (Johnny Cash), No. 300 (Leonidas I), No. 400 (Charles Darwin), No. 500 (William Gibson), No. 600 (Jeff Mangum), No. 666 (Nero), No. 700 (J. D. Salinger), No. 800 (Niall Ó Glacáin), No. 888 (Bernie Sanders), No. 900 (Don Hertzfeldt), No. 999 (Edward Snowden), No. 1000 (Alan Turing). As I was compiling this short list, I realized all 14 were male. Sorry, ladies. The patriarchy’s role in gender inequality and my personal focus on political leaders, artists, popular athletes and technology innovators are certainly reflected in the characters I’ve selected. My 8-bit characters are almost exactly 80% male and 20% female, which isn’t very equitable, but I have been making efforts to discover and celebrate a greater proportion of female characters with ongoing series like women in STEM. Modern cultures and our history books are still pretty awful at acknowledging the contributions of women, especially women artists and scientists, but I’m trying to be better.
Edward Snowden (born June 21, 1983) is an American computer professional, former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee, and former contractor for the U.S. government who copied and leaked classified information from the National Security Agency (NSA) in 2013 without prior authorization. His disclosures revealed numerous global surveillance programs, many run by the NSA and the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance with the cooperation of telecommunication companies and European governments. On June 21, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed charges against Snowden of two counts of violating the Espionage Act of 1917 and theft of government property. Russian authorities granted him one-year asylum, which was later extended to three years.
Note: Edward Snowden’s principled whistleblowing has fueled important debates over mass surveillance and government secrecy. It’s been three years now. Snowden is still in Russia, but since September 2015 has been an essential voice on Twitter. Check out this Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) article: “3 Years Later, the Snowden Leaks Have Changed How the World Sees NSA Surveillance.”
Geronimo was a prominent leader from the Bedonkohe band of the Chiricahua Apache tribe. He led his people’s defense of their homeland against the United States military. Born on June 16, 1829 in Mexico, Geronimo continued the tradition of the Apaches resisting white colonization of their homeland in the Southwest, participating in raids in the northern Mexico states of Chihuahua and Sonora. Geronimo’s raids and related combat actions were a part of the prolonged period of the Apache-American conflict, that started with American settlement in Apache lands following the end of the war with Mexico in 1848. After years of war Geronimo finally surrendered to U.S. troops in 1886. While he became a celebrity, he spent the last two decades of his life as a prisoner of war. He died of pneumonia on February 17, 1909, as a prisoner at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
David Bazan (born January 22, 1976) is an indie rock singer-songwriter from Seattle, Washington. Bazan was the lead singer and creative force behind the band Pedro the Lion and was the lead singer of Headphones. In early 2006, he began performing and recording under his own name. Bazan’s solo ablums include Curse Your Branches (2009), Strange Negotiations (2011) and last month’s Blanco (May 13, 2016). Blanco is made up of remixed and updated songs that were previously available in a limited series called Bazan Monthly: Volume 1 (2014) and Bazan Monthly: Volume 2 (2015). Even more recently, on Twitter, Bazan and TW Walsh (former Pedro the Lion bandmate) announced their new rock band, Lo Tom, with Jason Martin and Trey Many.
I’ve been listening to Pedro the Lion for many years, but I also really enjoy David Bazan’s new music. Three of the first four songs on Bazan Monthly: Volume 1 (“Impermanent Record,” “Deny Myself” and “Sparkling Water”) are particularly amazing—as well as “Oblivion” (which appears on both Volume 2 and Blanco). I’d like to make it to one of Bazan’s summer tour dates in Washington or Idaho—especially one of the shows with Laura Gibson, who is fantastic. The June 16 show (happening in two days) in Boise, Idaho has become the only possibility now because work commitments conflicted with the Washington dates. However, since my wife is 36-weeks pregnant with our second child, I am thinking hard about traveling to Idaho this week—though yesterday she told me to go as a Father’s Day present. (So I’m probably going.) On March 21, 2016, I was able see David Bazan play an acoustic house show in Eugene, Oregon, and I am grateful for that; it was an ideal mix of solo, Pedro the Lion and Headphones songs. But I still want to see Bazan and Laura Gibson on tour together.
Edward Osborne Wilson (born June 10, 1929) is an American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist (conservationist) and author. His biological specialty is myrmecology, the study of ants, on which he is considered to be the world’s leading expert. Wilson is known for his scientific career, his role as “the father of sociobiology” and “the father of biodiversity,” his environmental advocacy, and his secular-humanist and deist ideas pertaining to religious and ethical matters. Among his greatest contributions to ecological theory is the theory of island biogeography, which he developed in collaboration with the mathematical ecologist Robert MacArthur. Island biogeography is seen as the foundation of the development of conservation area design, as well as the unified neutral theory of biodiversity of Stephen P. Hubbell.
Douglas Engelbart (January 30, 1925 – July 2, 2013) was an American engineer and inventor, and an early computer and Internet pioneer. He is best known for his work on founding the field of human-computer interaction, which resulted in the invention of the computer mouse, and the development of hypertext, networked computers and precursors to graphical user interfaces (bitmapped screens). These were demonstrated at The Mother of All Demos in 1968. The underlying technologies of the demonstration influenced both the Apple Macintosh and Microsoft Windows operating systems in the 1980s and 1990s. Engelbart’s Law, the observation that the intrinsic rate of human performance is exponential, is named after him.
Engelbart was born in Portland, Oregon, and graduated from Oregon State College in Corvallis in 1948. As someone who has worked at Oregon State University for over 11 years now, I can say that Engelbart is considered one of the luminaries of the institution; he’s up there with Linus Pauling. The OSU Alumni Association has a nice story on Engelbart: “Up Close and Personal: Inventor of the Computer Mouse.”
Vannevar Bush (March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator. During World War II he headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all wartime military R&D was carried out, including initiation and early administration of the Manhattan Project that produced the first nuclear weapons. Bush was the man behind the scenes of the atomic bomb project. He coordinated the activities of some 6,000 leading American scientists in the application of science to warfare. Bush was a well-known policymaker and public intellectual during World War II, when he was in effect the first presidential science advisor. He is also known in engineering for his work on analog computers, for founding Raytheon, and for the memex, a hypothetical adjustable microfilm viewer with a structure analogous to that of hypertext. Bush was also chiefly responsible for the movement that led to the creation of the National Science Foundation.
Gary Coleman (February 8, 1968 – May 28, 2010) was an American actor, voice artist and comedian, best known for his role as Arnold Jackson in Diff’rent Strokes (1978-1986) and for his small stature as an adult. He became the most popular fixture of Diff’rent Strokes, enhanced by his character’s catchphrase “What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?” Coleman was described in the 1980s as “one of television’s most promising stars.” After a successful childhood acting career, Coleman struggled financially later in life. In 1989, he successfully sued his parents and business adviser over misappropriation of his assets, only to declare bankruptcy a decade later. Coleman died of epidural hematoma at age 42.
Lauryn Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actress. She is best known for being a member of the Fugees and for her solo album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill (1998). In high school, Hill was approached by Pras Michel to start a band, which his cousin, Wyclef Jean, soon joined. As the Fugees, they released the albums Blunted on Reality (1994) and the Grammy Award-winning The Score (1996). The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill received massive critical acclaim, but remains Hill’s only solo studio album. Soon afterward, Hill dropped out of the public eye, dissatisfied with the music industry and suffering with the pressures of fame. Hill has six children, five of whom are with Rohan Marley, son of reggae legend Bob Marley. In 2012, she pleaded guilty to tax evasion for failure to pay federal income taxes, and in 2013, served a three-month prison sentence.
Sammy Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, he was also an actor of stage and screen, comedian, musician and impressionist, noted for his impersonations of actors, musicians and other celebrities. Davis’s film career began as a child in 1933. In 1954, he lost his left eye in a car accident, and several years later, he converted to Judaism. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film, Ocean’s 11. After a starring role on Broadway in 1956’s Mr. Wonderful, he returned to the stage in 1964’s Golden Boy. In 1966 he had his own TV variety show, The Sammy Davis Jr. Show. As an African-American during the pre-Civil Rights era, Davis was a victim of racism throughout his life and was a large financial supporter of the Civil Rights movement. Davis had a complex relationship with the black community, and drew criticism after physically embracing President Richard Nixon in 1972. Davis was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the NAACP.
Steve Kerr (born September 27, 1965) is an American retired professional basketball player and the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. Kerr is a six-time NBA champion, winning three with the Chicago Bulls and two with the San Antonio Spurs as a player, and one with the Warriors as a head coach. Kerr has the highest career three-point percentage (45.4%) for any player with at least 2,000 shot attempts in NBA history. On May 14, 2014, the Golden State Warriors named Kerr the team’s head coach. The Warriors went on to win the 2015 NBA Finals, making Kerr the first rookie coach to win a championship since 1982. On April 13, 2016, the Warriors broke the record for the most wins in an NBA season.
Martha Jane Canary (or Cannary), better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman and professional scout, known for her claim of being an acquaintance of “Wild Bill” Hickok, and fighting against Native Americans. Late in her life, she appeared in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, and at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition. She is said to have always exhibited kindness and compassion to others, especially to the sick and needy. This facet of her character, contrasted with her daredevil ways, helped make her a noted frontier figure. Calamity Jane was also known for her habit of wearing men’s attire. She was born on May 1, 1852 and died on August 1, 1903.
Edward “Duke” Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a career spanning over 50 years. Born in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City from the mid-1920s onward, and gained a national profile through his orchestra’s appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem. Often collaborating with others, Ellington wrote more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, with many of his works having become standards. Due to his inventive use of the orchestra, or big band, and thanks to his eloquence and charisma, Ellington is considered to have elevated the perception of jazz as an art form. His reputation continued to rise after he died, and he was awarded a special Pulitzer Prize for music in 1999.
Lucille Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedian, model, film studio executive and producer. She was best known as the star of the self-produced sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy and Life with Lucy. Ball’s career began in 1929, when she landed work as a model. In the midst of her work as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures in the 1930s and 1940s, Ball met and married Cuban bandleader Desi Arnaz. In 1951, she and Arnaz created the sitcom I Love Lucy, a series that would go on to become one of the most beloved programs in television history. In 1962, Ball became the first woman to run a major television studio, Desilu Productions, which produced many popular TV series, including Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. Ball was nominated for thirteen Primetime Emmy Awards, winning four times.
Prince Nelson, known as Prince, was an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor. He was a musical innovator and known for his eclectic work, flamboyant stage presence, extravagant dress and makeup and wide vocal range. His music integrates a wide variety of styles, including funk, rock, R&B, soul, psychedelia and pop. Prince has sold over 100 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time. He won seven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and an Academy Award. In 1984, he released Purple Rain, which served as the soundtrack to his film debut of the same name and was met with widespread acclaim. Prince was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, the first year of his eligibility. He was born on June 7, 1958 and died yesterday, April 21, 2016, at the age of 57.
Michael Render (born April 20, 1975), better known by his stage name Killer Mike, is an American hip-hop recording artist, activist and occasional actor from Atlanta, Georgia. Mike made his debut on “Snappin’ and Trappin’,” from Stankonia (2000) by Outkast. Mike has since released five full-length albums as a solo artist. In 2012, he released R.A.P. Music, produced entirely by American rapper-producer El-P. In 2013, the two subsequently formed a duo, branding themselves Run the Jewels, They have since released Run the Jewels (2013) and Run the Jewels 2 (2014), with Run the Jewels 3 forthcoming in 2016. Mike is also known as a social and political activist, focusing on subjects including social equality, police brutality and institutional racism. He has been featured in the films 20 Funerals, Idlewild and ATL.
Killer Mike has been a visible and vocal supporter of Senator Bernie Sanders during his 2016 U.S. presidential campaign. On November 23, 2015, Killer Mike sat down with Sanders in Atlanta to discuss topics ranging from gun control to democratic socialism. I enjoyed the entire hour-long conversation, but particularly part 3 of 6 about America’s rigged economy and Martin Luther King, Jr. Three months later, on February 16, 2016, Killer Mike gave a powerful eight-minute speech at the Bernie Sanders rally at Morehouse College in Atlanta. Mike and Sanders are good people genuinely trying to change our world for the better.
Ken Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969) nicknamed “Junior” and “The Kid,” is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds, along with a short stint with the Chicago White Sox. A 13-time All-Star, Griffey is one of the most prolific home-run hitters in baseball history; his 630 home runs rank as the sixth-most in MLB history. Griffey was also an exceptional defender and won 10 Gold Glove Awards in center field. In 2016, Griffey was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving a record 99.32% of the vote, breaking pitcher Tom Seaver‘s record of 98.84%. He is the son of former MLB player Ken Griffey Sr.
Steve Wozniak – No. 1001
Steve Wozniak (born August 11, 1950), nicknamed “Woz,” is an American inventor, electronics engineer, programmer and technology entrepreneur who co-founded Apple Inc. He is known as a pioneer of the personal computer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, along with Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. Wozniak single-handedly developed the 1976 Apple I, which was the computer that launched Apple. He primarily designed the 1977 Apple II, while Jobs oversaw the development of its unusual case and Rod Holt developed the unique power supply. In 1990, Wozniak helped found the Electronic Frontier Foundation, providing some of the organization’s initial funding. Wozniak’s favorite video game is Tetris, and he has the condition prosopagnosia (or face-blindness).
I thought being character No. 1001 would be appropriate for a computing pioneer like Woz. Here are 14 other characters I chose to honor numerically: No. 88 (Doc Emmett Brown), No. 100 (Benjamin Franklin), No. 200 (Johnny Cash), No. 300 (Leonidas I), No. 400 (Charles Darwin), No. 500 (William Gibson), No. 600 (Jeff Mangum), No. 666 (Nero), No. 700 (J. D. Salinger), No. 800 (Niall Ó Glacáin), No. 888 (Bernie Sanders), No. 900 (Don Hertzfeldt), No. 999 (Edward Snowden), No. 1000 (Alan Turing). As I was compiling this short list, I realized all 14 were male. Sorry, ladies. The patriarchy’s role in gender inequality and my personal focus on political leaders, artists, popular athletes and technology innovators are certainly reflected in the characters I’ve selected. My 8-bit characters are almost exactly 80% male and 20% female, which isn’t very equitable, but I have been making efforts to discover and celebrate a greater proportion of female characters with ongoing series like women in STEM. Modern cultures and our history books are still pretty awful at acknowledging the contributions of women, especially women artists and scientists, but I’m trying to be better.