Ada, Countess of Lovelace was a British mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on the Analytical Engine, an early mechanical general-purpose computer invented by Charles Babbage. The engine was to be programmed using punched cards. Lovelace’s notes on the engine include what is recognized as the first algorithm intended to be carried out by a machine. Specifically, she developed an algorithm to calculate a sequence of Bernoulli numbers. As a result, she is often regarded as the first computer programmer. Lovelace was born on December 10, 1815 and died on November 27, 1852 at the age of 36.
Franz Ferdinand was an Archduke of Austria-Este and the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Initially he was only third in line to the throne, but after his cousin’s suicide and his father’s unexpected death due to illness, Ferdinand was made the heir to the throne. His assassination in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia, precipitated Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. This caused the Central Powers (including Germany and Austria-Hungary) and Serbia’s allies to declare war on each other, starting World War I. Ferdinand was born on December 18, 1863 and died on June 28, 1914.
Ice King (or Simon Petrikov) is a main character of Adventure Time, an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network. Ice King’s magical abilities are contained in his crown he uses to rule the Ice Kingdom. The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo.
Note:Adventure Time launched as a Cartoon Network series on April 5, 2010. It’s been five years of Ooo!
Princess Bubblegum is a main character and the most recurring princess of Adventure Time, an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network. Princess Bubblegum is a scientist, inventor and ruler of the Candy Kingdom. The series follows the adventures of Finn (voiced by Jeremy Shada), a human boy, and his best friend and adoptive brother Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio), a dog with magical powers to change shape and grow and shrink at will. Finn and Jake live in the post-apocalyptic Land of Ooo.
Note:Adventure Time launched as a Cartoon Network series on April 5, 2010. It’s been five years of Ooo!
The Toast King is a large, anthropomorphic slice of toast who rules over the Moon, following his principle that “heat induces royalty.” He wears a crown bearing the initials “TK,” and is often depicted holding a golden pitchfork with a speared knob of butter. The Toast King’s friends include Insanity Prawn Boy and Moon Keith Moon, and he claims to rule over Moon Hitler’s Nazi Moon Base. British animator Jonathan “Jonti” Picking, also known as Weebl, created the On the Moon cartoon series and the rest of Weebl’s Stuff. Some of Weebl’s most famous creations include Cat Face, Weebl & Bob and 2003’s “Badgers” (plus a slew of other repetitive, overstimulating cartoons set to dance music). Since the release of the first On the Moon Flash cartoon in November 2005, 24 episodes have been produced. The most recent episode was released in August 2013.
Grace Kelly was an American film actress and Princess of Monaco as the wife of Prince Rainier III. After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of 20, she appeared in New York City theatrical productions and more than 40 episodes of live drama productions broadcast during the early 1950s Golden Age of Television. She starred in films from 1953 to 1956, including Dial M for Murder, Rear Window and The Country Girl (in which she gave a deglamorized, Academy Award-winning performance). She retired from acting at the age of 26 to marry Prince Rainier and enter upon her duties in Monaco. She retained her American roots, maintaining dual U.S. and Monégasque citizenship. She was born on November 12, 1929 and died on September 14, 1982.
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 realms of the 53-member Commonwealth of Nations (the “Commonwealth”). She is also the head of the Commonwealth and the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. Upon her accession in 1952, Elizabeth became head of the Commonwealth and queen regnant of seven independent Commonwealth countries (since expanded to 16 realms). She is the longest-lived and, after her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria, the second longest-reigning British monarch. Now 88 years old, Elizabeth was born on this day in 1926.
P.S. Merry Christmas! I enjoyed this forum thread, which addresses King Moonracer’s possible villain status: “Was King Moonracer a fraud?” Indeed. Why was King Moonracer holding the misfit toys hostage for so long? Since he regularly flies around the world collecting unwanted toys, why wasn’t he already collaborating with Santa to find new homes for those toys? Moonracer only thought to contact Santa afterRudolph, Hermey, and Yukon showed up? Really? King Moonracer is very possibly a manipulative cult leader with megalomaniac tendencies who hoards rare, emotionally damaged toys. It seems like the unexpected arrival of visitors to his remote island shamed him into doing the right thing with his sad toy collection.
Kublai Khan was the fifth Khagan (Great Khan) of the Mongol Empire, reigning from 1260 to 1294. He was the grandson of Genghis Khan. If one counts the Mongol Empire at that time as a whole, Kublai’s realm reached from the Pacific Ocean to the Black Sea, from Siberia to modern-day Afghanistan – one-fifth of the world’s inhabited land area. However, Kublai’s real power was limited to China and Mongolia. In 1271, he founded the Yuan Dynasty, which ruled over present-day Mongolia, China and Korea, and assumed the role of Emperor of China. Kublai was born on this day in 1215.
Note: Due to incredibly unlucky timing, Kublai failed to gain power over Japan, despite two Mongol invasion attempts. In 1268, Kublai demanded tribute from Japan, but Kyoto refused. The Mongols invaded Japan in 1274 with 700-800 ships, but a typhoon destroyed their armada. An even larger invasion was attempted in 1281, with a fleet of more than 4,000 ships and 140,000 troops. Stunningly, they met the same disastrous fate, losing up to 75% of their troops and supplies both times. The failed invasions marked the first use of the Japanese word kamikaze (“divine wind”). The massive typhoons also helped perpetuate the Japanese belief that they could not be defeated, which persisted until the end of World War II.
Nero was the fifth Emperor of the Roman Empire, from 54 to 68, and was the last in the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Nero was adopted by his great-uncle Claudius to become his heir and successor, and succeeded to the throne at age 17. During his reign, Nero focused much of his attention on diplomacy, trade and enhancing cultural life through theaters and athletic games. In 64, most of Rome was destroyed in the Great Fire of Rome, which many Romans believed Nero himself had started in order to clear land for his extravagant palatial complex, the Domus Aurea. For this he is infamously known as the Emperor who “fiddled while Rome burned.” Nero is also known for many executions, including that of his mother (and possibly apostles Peter and Paul), and for being the first persecutor of Christians. He reportedly captured Christians to burn them in his garden at night for a source of light. Nero was ultimately driven from the throne and, facing assassination, committed suicide in 68 at age 30.
Note: I saved Nero for my 666th pixel art character because biblical scholars contend that the number of the beast in the Book of Revelation has a specific symbolic correlation to the Emperor Nero, whose Greek name transliterated into Hebrew has the numeric value of 666. Basically it’s a code that identifies Nero as the Antichrist. Also, today is 9/11. Everything is coming together now. Illuminati, what?
Prester John is one of my favorite historical/mythological figures. The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Prester John was reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Wise Men and presided over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, including unicorns. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Garden of Eden. Prester John was first imagined to reside in India, as tales of the Nestorian Christians’ evangelistic success probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia. But as the Mongol Empire collapsed, Europeans began to shift away from the idea that Prester John had ever really been a Central Asian king. Eventually, Portuguese explorers convinced themselves that they had found him in Ethiopia. The legend of Prester John affected several hundred years of European and world history by encouraging generations of Europe’s explorers, missionaries, scholars and treasure hunters to venture into India, Asia and Africa.
Prester John, the fabled king/priest invented by Crusader kingdoms, is basically the Forrest Gump of the Middle Ages (1100s-1500s). Dude was everywhere. For example, during the Mongol Empire, Prester John was identified as both Genghis Khan and a Nestorian Christian monarch defeated by Khan. The myth of Prester John was a comforting (if ethnocentric) symbol to European Christians of their religion’s universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity. Even the boneheaded Christopher Columbus cited the discovery of Prester John’s kingdom among the goals of his travels. Despite centuries of European exploration in search of treasure—and evangelizing the locals—the quest for the fictitious kingdom remained unfulfilled. But the legend served many medieval Christian kingdoms, and the Catholic Church, handsomely.
Sri Vikrama Rajasinha was the last of four kings to rule the last Sinhalese monarchy of the Kingdom of Kandy on the island of Sri Lanka. The Nayak kings were Buddhists who spoke Tamil. The king was eventually deposed by the British under the terms of the Kandyan Convention, in 1815, ending over 2,300 years of Sinhalese monarchy on the island. The island was incorporated into the British Empire.
Yes, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha really was the King of Kandy. I like to think he lived at the top of a gumdrop-adorned Kandy Mountain surrounded by kandy kane fences, referred to his palace as Kandyland and snacked on only the finest kandy korn. This information is not verifiable via Wikipedia. But I did find that the British Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Kandy in 1815 and the king was exiled to India, never to return. In a related story, Candy told me nothing really matters anymore.
Diana, Princess of Wales, was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, and member of the British Royal Family. She was also known for her fundraising work for international charities. Lady Di remained the object of worldwide media scrutiny during and after her marriage, which ended in divorce in 1996. Media attention and public mourning were considerable after her death in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.
Note: Diana’s 8-bit outfit is her iconic “Elvis” dress, made by Catherine Walker for her 1989 trip to Hong Kong. The silk dress had a standup collar and was embellished with pearls and sequins.
Leopold II was the king of the Belgians. Born in Brussels, Leopold is remembered as the founder and sole owner of the Congo Free State, a large, privately controlled colonial region in Central Africa. He extracted a fortune from the Congo during the late 1800s, through the collection of ivory, and by forcing the population to collect sap from rubber plants. His harsh regime was responsible for the deaths of 10 million people. He was born on this day in 1835.
I know 8-bit Leia is missing her classic cinnamon-bun hairdo, but I couldn’t resist the iconic slave girl costume. Behold her metal bikini from Jabba the Hutt’s palace at the beginning of Return of the Jedi.
The name of the mummy of a warrior and ruler found in Sipán, an archaeological site in northern Peru, in 1987. The Lord of Sipán tomb is a Moche culture site and important archaeological discovery because the main tomb was found intact and untouched by thieves. The Moche Empire’s refinement of art and technology rivaled the Maya Empire.
A hero-king of Sparta who was believed in mythology to be a descendant of Heracles. Leonidas is notable for his leadership at the Battle of Thermopylae during the second Persian invasion of Greece in 480 BC. In one of history’s most famous last-stands, Leonidas led 300 Spartans against an invading Persian army of 100,000+ led by Xerxes I.
In the midst of all these holiday characters, I chose Leonidas for today because I wanted him to be my 300th 8-bit character. This. Is. Caketown.
A fictional heroine in the Filmation cartoon and series of toys produced by Mattel called She-Ra: Princess of Power. She is the alter ego of Princess Adora and the twin sister of He-Man. She-Ra was intended to appeal to young girls in the same way that He-Man appealed to young boys. She wielded her power through the Sword of Protection.
Remember the pink Crystal Castle playset? My sister still owns this She-Ra accessory. Her daughter plays with it now.
An archduchess of Austria and the queen consort of France and of Navarre. At the height of the French Revolution, her husband Louis XVI of France was deposed and the monarchy abolished in 1792. The royal family was subsequently imprisoned at the Temple. On this day in 1793, Marie Antoinette was tried, convicted of treason and executed by guillotine.
Prester John – No. 622
Prester John is one of my favorite historical/mythological figures. The legends of Prester John were popular in Europe from the 12th through the 17th centuries, and told of a Christian patriarch and king said to rule over a Christian nation lost amidst the Muslims and pagans in the Orient. Prester John was reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Wise Men and presided over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, including unicorns. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Garden of Eden. Prester John was first imagined to reside in India, as tales of the Nestorian Christians’ evangelistic success probably provided the first seeds of the legend. After the coming of the Mongols to the Western world, accounts placed the king in Central Asia. But as the Mongol Empire collapsed, Europeans began to shift away from the idea that Prester John had ever really been a Central Asian king. Eventually, Portuguese explorers convinced themselves that they had found him in Ethiopia. The legend of Prester John affected several hundred years of European and world history by encouraging generations of Europe’s explorers, missionaries, scholars and treasure hunters to venture into India, Asia and Africa.
Prester John, the fabled king/priest invented by Crusader kingdoms, is basically the Forrest Gump of the Middle Ages (1100s-1500s). Dude was everywhere. For example, during the Mongol Empire, Prester John was identified as both Genghis Khan and a Nestorian Christian monarch defeated by Khan. The myth of Prester John was a comforting (if ethnocentric) symbol to European Christians of their religion’s universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity. Even the boneheaded Christopher Columbus cited the discovery of Prester John’s kingdom among the goals of his travels. Despite centuries of European exploration in search of treasure—and evangelizing the locals—the quest for the fictitious kingdom remained unfulfilled. But the legend served many medieval Christian kingdoms, and the Catholic Church, handsomely.