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.
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.
Tim Berners-Lee (born June 8, 1955) is an English computer scientist, best known as the inventor of the World Wide Web. He made a proposal for an information management system in March 1989, and he implemented the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet sometime around mid-November of that same year. Berners-Lee is the founder and director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which oversees the continued development of the Web. He is also the founder of the World Wide Web Foundation, and is a senior researcher and holder of the founders chair at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL).
Note: In today’s New York Times article, “The Web’s Creator Looks to Reinvent It,” Tim Berners-Lee discussed how the modern web’s corporate control and government surveillance “completely undermines the spirit of helping people create.” On that note, Berners-Lee will give a live-streamed keynote address, “Re-decentralizing the web – some strategic questions,” today at the Decentralized Web Summit at 9:45 a.m. PT. The theme of the summit is “locking the web open.” Happy birthday to Tim.
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.
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.
Sally Ride (May 26, 1951 – July 23, 2012) was an American physicist and astronaut. Born in Los Angeles, she joined NASA in 1978 and became the first American woman in space in 1983. She remains the youngest American astronaut to have traveled to space, having done so at the age of 32. After flying twice on the orbiter Challenger, she left NASA in 1987. She worked at Stanford University, then at the University of California, San Diego as a professor of physics. She served on the committees that investigated the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters, the only person to participate on both. Ride died of pancreatic cancer in 2012.
Donald Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, politician, television personality, author, and the probable nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He is chairman of The Trump Organization, which is the principal holding company for his real estate ventures and other business interests. After graduating from college, Trump was given control of his father’s real estate development firm and has since built casinos, golf courses, hotels, a New York City neighborhood, and other real estate properties, many of which bear his name, and founded Trump Entertainment Resorts. Listed by Forbes as one of the world’s wealthiest people, Trump and his businesses, as well as his three marriages, have received prominent media exposure. He hosted The Apprentice, a popular reality television show on NBC, from 2004 to 2015.
Exactly four years ago, on February 29, 2012, I created the 8-bit Purple Squirrel in honor of Leap Year. The story behind that character is one of eye-catching strangeness and an unsettling fear of its existence. The reason for creating 8-bit Donald Trump is kind of the same. This orange-tinted populist con-artist is the absolute worst, and he may be the world’s greatest troll. Trump is a racist, sexist, authoritarian narcissist who represents the culmination of 30 years of antipolitics. And he doesn’t seem to be going away, because evidently America made him unstoppable. Happy Leap Year?
Update: It got even worse. I had to add this 8-bit character to my U.S. president series as #27 of 44.
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, artist and writer. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “The Times They Are a-Changin’” became anthems for the American civil rights and anti-war movements. Dylan’s songs defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture. His recording career, spanning 50 years, has explored the traditions in American song, including folk, blues, country and rock and roll. Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards and harmonica. He has sold more than 100 million records, making him one of the best-selling artists of all time; he has received numerous awards including Grammy, Golden Globe and Academy Award. Dylan was born on May 24, 1941.
P.S. Over the past five years, I’m not sure how I ended up making 8-bit versions of 944 other random characters before I got around to making Bob Dylan. Strange. Though perhaps not as strange as a disheveled 68-year-old Bob Dylan being escorted from a New Jersey shore community by police. Merry Christmas!
Nicole Kidman is an Australian actress and film producer. Kidman’s breakthrough film role was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm. After appearing in several films in the early 1990s, she came to worldwide recognition for her performances in the auto-racing film Days of Thunder (1990), the romance Far and Away (1992) and the superhero film Batman Forever (1995). Other acclaimed performances include her work in the erotic Kubrick thriller Eyes Wide Shut(1999), the musical Moulin Rouge! (2001), the horror-thriller The Others (2001) and The Hours (2002). Kidman was married to Tom Cruise from 1990 to 2001. She was born to Australian parents in Hawai’i on June 20, 1967.
Note: In my search for Nicole Kidman’s most iconic outfit, I found this lime-green or chartreuse dress she wore to the 69th Academy Awards in 1997.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, conservationist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the Aqua-Lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the French Academy. Cousteau described his underwater world research in series of books, perhaps most successful being his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure, published in 1953. He also directed films, most notably the documentary adaptation of the book, The Silent World, which won a Palme d’or at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival. Cousteau was born on June 11, 1910 and died on June 25, 1997.
Nancy Sinatra is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of Frank Sinatra and is widely known for her 1966 signature hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’.” Other defining recordings include the title song from the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, several collaborations with Lee Hazlewood and her cover of Cher’s “Bang Bang,” which was used in the opening sequence of the 2003 Tarantino film Kill Bill: Vol. One. The promo clip for “These Boots Are Made for Walkin'” popularized and made her synonymous with go-go boots. The song was written by Lee Hazlewood, who wrote and produced most of her hits and sang with her on several duets, including the critical and cult favorite “Some Velvet Morning.” Sinatra also had a brief acting career in the mid-1960s, including a costarring role with Elvis Presley in the movie Speedway, and with Peter Fonda in The Wild Angels. She was born on June 8, 1940.
I have a framed print of “Escape,” a 1962 portrait by artist Margaret Keane, in my living room; the woman depicted has always reminded me of an idealized version of Nancy Sinatra. I don’t care for most of Keane’s big-eyed art, but I specifically love that painting. Also, this dubstep mashup of “Bang Bang” by Fytch is fantastic. I’ve listened to it dozens of times over the past three years. It features samples from four songs—by Nancy Sinatra, Cas One, Biggie and Ella Fitzgerald. You can download it for free.
Ian Bavitz, better known by his stage name Aesop Rock, is an American hip-hop recording artist and producer residing in Portland, Oregon. He was at the forefront of the new wave of underground and alternative hip-hop acts that emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Aesop Rock was signed to Definitive Jux until El-P put the label on hiatus in 2010. Aesop Rock’s solo discography includes Labor Days (2001), Bazooka Tooth (2003) and None Shall Pass (2007). An analysis of Aesop Rock’s lyrics found that he has the largest vocabulary in hip-hop music. He is a member of the groups The Weathermen, Hail Mary Mallon (with Rob Sonic & DJ Big Wiz), The Uncluded (with Kimya Dawson) and Two of Every Animal (with Cage). Aesop Rock was born on June 5, 1976.
Allen Ginsberg was an American poet and one of the leading figures of both the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the counterculture that soon would follow. He vigorously opposed militarism, economic materialism and sexual repression. Ginsberg is best known for his epic poem “Howl,” in which he denounced what he saw as the destructive forces of capitalism and conformity in the United States. In 1957, “Howl” attracted widespread publicity when it became the subject of an obscenity trial for depicting heterosexual and homosexual sex. Ginsberg was a practicing Buddhist who studied Eastern religious disciplines extensively. He took part in decades of nonviolent political protest against everything from the Vietnam War to the War on Drugs. Ginsberg was born on June 3, 1926 and died on April 5, 1997.
Miles Davis was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Davis was, together with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz, hard bop, modal jazz and jazz fusion. His 1959 album Kind of Blue, widely considered his magnum opus, has sold over four million copies in the United States. This makes it the bestselling album in jazz history. In 2009, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a symbolic resolution recognizing and commemorating the album Kind of Blue on its 50th anniversary, “honoring the masterpiece and reaffirming jazz as a national treasure.” Davis was born on May 26, 1926 and died on September 28, 1991.
P.S. In 2009, Andy Baio released Kind of Bloop, an 8-bit tribute to Miles Davis. Have a listen.
Dirk Nowitzki is a German professional basketball forward for the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks. He was chosen as the ninth pick in the 1998 NBA Draft and has played 16 seasons for the Mavericks. Nowitzki led the Mavericks to 13 NBA Playoffs (2001-2012; 2014), including the franchise’s first Finals appearance in 2006 and only championship in 2011. He is a 12-time All-Star, a 12-time All-NBA Team member, and the first European player to start in an All-Star Game. Nowitzki has been named NBA Most Valuable Player (2007) and NBA Finals MVP (2011). He was born on this day in 1978.
Maurice Sendak was an American illustrator and writer of children’s books. He became widely known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, first published in 1963. Born to Jewish-Polish parents, his childhood was affected by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Sendak’s works include In the Night Kitchen and Outside Over There, and illustrations for Little Bear. He was born on this day in 1928 and died on May 8, 2012.
Gale Sayers is a retired National Football League (NFL) player who played as a running back for seven seasons (1965-1971) with the Chicago Bears. Known as “The Kansas Comet,” Sayers is a member of both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the College Football Hall of Fame. His friendship with fellow Chicago Bear Brian Piccolo (who was diagnosed with testicular cancer) was the basis for the 1971 movie Brian’s Song. He is a successful entrepreneur in the information technology field and an active philanthropist. Sayers was born on this day in 1943.
Warrior (born James Brian Hellwig) was an American professional wrestler, who wrestled most famously under the ring name the Ultimate Warrior. He was best known for his appearances in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) from 1987 to 1996, as well as his stint in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in 1998. Warrior died last week, on April 8, 2014, at the age of 54. Over the preceding three days he had been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, appeared at WrestleMania XXX and made his final public appearance on Raw.
Note: I never followed the WWF closely, but I do remember junior-high classmates discussing rumors of how the Ultimate Warrior had died in 1991, and was secretly being portrayed by a new wrestler—thus the drastic change in his appearance (shorter, blonder hair and a smaller physique). It seems he was always Hellwig though. Shrug.
Born in Seattle, Apolo Anton Ohno is a retired American short track speedskater and an eight-time medalist (two gold, two silver, four bronze) in the Winter Olympics (2002, 2006, 2010). At the age of 14, he became the youngest U.S. national champion in 1997 and was the reigning champion from 2001-2009, winning the title a total of 12 times. Ohno retired from speed skating in 2013 and now works as a commentator, TV host and motivational speaker.
Josephine Baker was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Born in St. Louis, she became a citizen of France in 1937. Fluent in both English and French, Baker was an international icon, perhaps best known for her infamous banana dance. She was the first African-American female to star in a major motion picture, Zouzou (1934), integrate an American concert hall and become a world-famous entertainer. Baker is also noted for her contributions to the civil rights movement in the United States, for assisting the French Resistance during World War II and for receiving the French military honor, the Croix de guerre.
Note: Baker was offered the unofficial leadership of the civil rights movement by Coretta Scott King in 1968 following the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., but turned it down.
Donald Trump – No. 965
Donald Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, politician, television personality, author, and the probable nominee of the Republican Party for President of the United States in the 2016 election. He is chairman of The Trump Organization, which is the principal holding company for his real estate ventures and other business interests. After graduating from college, Trump was given control of his father’s real estate development firm and has since built casinos, golf courses, hotels, a New York City neighborhood, and other real estate properties, many of which bear his name, and founded Trump Entertainment Resorts. Listed by Forbes as one of the world’s wealthiest people, Trump and his businesses, as well as his three marriages, have received prominent media exposure. He hosted The Apprentice, a popular reality television show on NBC, from 2004 to 2015.
Exactly four years ago, on February 29, 2012, I created the 8-bit Purple Squirrel in honor of Leap Year. The story behind that character is one of eye-catching strangeness and an unsettling fear of its existence. The reason for creating 8-bit Donald Trump is kind of the same. This orange-tinted populist con-artist is the absolute worst, and he may be the world’s greatest troll. Trump is a racist, sexist, authoritarian narcissist who represents the culmination of 30 years of antipolitics. And he doesn’t seem to be going away, because evidently America made him unstoppable. Happy Leap Year?
Update: It got even worse. I had to add this 8-bit character to my U.S. president series as #27 of 44.