http://www.juilliard.edu/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_peace_prize#Laureates

"A genius is one who shoots at something no one else can see - and hits it."

"A successful person isn't necessarily better than her less successful peers at solving problems; her pattern-recognition facilities have just learned what problems are worth solving."
Ray Kurzweil

"Intuition is linear; our imaginations are weak. Even the brightest of us only extrapolate from what we know now; for the most part, we're afraid to really stretch."
Ray Kurzweil

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Medal_of_Technology

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_prize

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beethoven

Blogging for bucks:
http://tech.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/08/22/blogging-for-dollars/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fmoney.cnn.com%2Fmagazines%2Fbusiness2%2Fbusiness2_archive%2F2006%2F09%2F01%2F8384325%2Findex.htm&frame=true

http://www.medaloffreedom.com/GoldMedalRecipients.htm

Black belt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_belt_%28martial_arts%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Different

"The ones who see things differently.
They're not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
About the only thing that you can't do is ignore them.
Because they change things.
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.
Maybe they have to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
...
While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.
Because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can
change the world, are the ones who do."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirates_of_silicon_valley

"Steven Paul Jobs, inventor, founder and now the saviour of Apple Inc. once said
he never made a distinction between an artist and a scientist or an engineer of
the highest calibre. Artistry not just in the elegance of a solution but in
having an insight into what one sees around them. Both kinds of people are
headed towards the same goal he said, "which is to express something of what
they perceive to be the truth around them so that others can benefit by it.""

I kind of already half-way attend Harvard via the Internet.

MIT Robotics and Electronics Cooperative

http://web.mit.edu/rec/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Medal_of_Technology

The probability of a boy becoming a Distinguished Eagle Scout seems to be 0.00016%.

http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/home/

http://oa.greatplainsbsa.org/vigil_honor0.htm

Honorary President of the Boy Scouts of America-President of the U.S.

http://post369.columbus.oh.us/scouting.d/fact.sheets.d/02-531.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merit_badge_%28Boy_Scouts_of_America%29#List_of_current_merit_badges

I might go back and "earn" all the merit badges I don't already have. I already have 30+, which is enough for about a gold Eagle palm; there are about 100 total. I probably couldn't officially earn them, but I could look at all the books and/or teach them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver_Buffalo_Award

Adult Scout Leader Awards

http://www.scouting.org/factsheets/02-513.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nobel_Prize

Presidential Awards

http://www.preserveamerica.gov/presidentialaward.html
http://www.nsf.gov/awards/presidential.jsp
http://www.presidentschallenge.org/earn_awards/index.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_medal_of_freedom
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Gold_Medal_of_Honor

Presidential Service Awards

http://www.presidentialserviceawards.gov/

Presidential Medal of Freedom

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Medal_of_Freedom

"Only one in four boys in America will become a Scout, but it is interesting to know that of the leaders in this nation in business, religion and politics, three out of four were Scouts."

"About four percent of Scouts attain the Eagle Scout rank, and many have become notable for accomplishments in their later life and career.[22] Eagle Scouts are expected to set an example for other Scouts and to become the leaders in life that they have demonstrated themselves to be in Scouting. They are disproportionately represented in the military, service academy graduates, major professions, business and politics."

"The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA) is a special award, given only to Eagle Scouts, for distinguished service in their profession and the community for a period of at least 25 years after earning the Eagle Scout rank. Only about 1 in 1000 of all Eagle Scouts have been honored with this prestigious award."

"Famous Eagle Scouts

Bill Alexander - US Rep from Arkansas
Gary L. Anderson - US Rep from NY
Neil Armstrong - astronaut, first man on moon, from Wapakoneta, OH
Charles E. Bennett - US Rep from Florida
William Bennett - former Secretary of Education
Bill Bradley - Pro basketball star and US Senator from NJ
James Brady - press sec to Pres. Reagan
Milton A. Caniff - comic strip artist "Steve Canyon"
John W. Creighton, Jr. - President & CEO of Weyerhaeuser Company
William E. Dannemeyer - US Rep from Cal.
William Devries - MD, transplanted first artificial heart
Michael Dukakis - former governor of Massachusetts
Arthur Eldred - America's First Eagle Scout
Gerald Ford - U.S. President (1st Eagle to be pres.)
James Lovell - Navy pilot and astronaut, Flew on Gemini 7, 12 & Apollo 8, 13
Richard Lugar - Senator from Indiana (presidential candidate 1996)
J. Willard Marriott, Jr. - Pres. Marriott Corp.
Sam Nunn - US Senator from Georgia
Ellison Onizuka - Astronaut for Hawaii aboard the space shuttle Challenger
H. Ross Perot - self-made billionaire and presidential candidate
J. J. Pickle - US Rep from Texas, proudly displays his Eagle plaque inside his office
Samuel R. Pierce - former Sec. Housing & Urban Development
Harrison Salisbury - Pulitzer Prize winning author
William Sessions - former FBI director
Steven Spielberg - Movie producer
Wallace Stegner - Won a Pulitzer Prize in 1972 for "Angle of Repose"
Percy Sutton - Attorney, Chairman of the Board of City Broadcasting Corp.
John Tesh - TV celebrity and pianist
Famous Scouts, but not Eagles

Henry Aaron - baseball player, home run king
Walter Cronkite, Journalist, TV commentator
Richard Dean Anderson - taught Reptile Study, actor
Charles F. Barber - CEO of American Smelting & refining
Bill Clinton - Cub Scout, President of US
Harrison Ford - Life, taught Reptile Study, actor "Indiana Jones"
Bill Gates - Life, founder of Microsoft Corp.
David Hartman - TV personality
Cub Scout, Bruce Jenner, Olympic Gold Medal Decathlon
John F Kennedy - first US President who was a Scout
Branford Marsalis - Life Scout, Jazz musician
Merlin Olson - Pro football player and sportscaster
Eddie Rabbitt - Country & Western singer
John Ritter - actor, son of singer Tex Ritter
Richard Roundtree - actor
Nolan Ryan - pro baseball pitcher
Alberto Salazar - Life, 3 time winner NY marathon
Mark Spitz, Cub Scout, Olympic Gold Medal Swimmer
James Stewart - actor, USAF B. General, B-17 pilot in WWII
Joe Theisman - Life, former QB, Washington Redskins
Peter Ueberroth, Cub Scout, Former Commissioner of Baseball"

Wikimania
http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

"During the Korean War, Native American soldiers sent to Korea came back with
the surprising news that they found similar faces and even customs in a
peninsula thousands of miles away from home."

Digg

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_33/b3997001.htm?chan=top+news_top+news

Creation of Cambridge University
"In 1209, students escaping from hostile townspeople in Oxford fled to Cambridge and formed a University there. The oldest college which still exists, Peterhouse, was founded in 1284."
-Wikipedia

"There's really no other way [to be a billionaire] than to start a business, dominate your market and go from there."

Google Is Working on Statistical Translation:

http://blog.outer-court.com/archive/2005-05-22-n83.html

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0471416177/sr=1-1/qid=1154574434/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-3877961-5449551?ie=UTF8&s=books

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060763280/sr=8-1/qid=1154573980/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-3877961-5449551?ie=UTF8

"With such psychological nuggets as "Rich people focus on opportunities/ Poor
people focus on obstacles," Eker puts a positive spin on stereotypes, arguing
that poverty begins, or rather, is allowed to continue, in one's imagination
first, with actual material life becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy. To that
end, Eker counsels for admiration and against resentment, for positivity,
self-promotion and thinking big and against wallowing, self-abnegation and
small-mindedness. While much of the advice is self-evident, Eker's contribution
is permission to think of one's financial foibles as a kind of mental
illness—one, he says, that has a ready set of cures."

"One of the most hilarious parts to this book is the example of what happens
when someone says, "Oh! Money is not that important."

"T. Harv Eker's reaction is to tap the palm of his hand on his forehead as he
say's, "Oh! I get it. You're broke!"

1. Rich people believe "I create my life." Poor people
believe, "Life happens to me."
2. Rich people play the money game to win. Poor people
play the money game to not lose.
3. Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people
want to be rich.
4. Rich people think big. Poor people think small.
5. Rich people focus on opportunities. Poor people focus
on obstacles.
6. Rich people admire other rich and successful people.
Poor people resent rich and successful people.
7. Rich people associate with positive, successful
people. Poor people associate with negative or
unsuccessful people.
8. Rich people are willing to promote themselves and their
value. Poor people think negatively about selling and
promotion.
9. Rich people are bigger than their problems. Poor
people are smaller than their problems.
10. Rich people are excellent receivers. Poor people are
poor receivers.
11. Rich people choose to get paid based on results. Poor
people choose to get paid based on time.
12. Rich people think "both." Poor people
think "either/or."
13. Rich people focus on their net worth. Poor people
focus on their working income.
14. Rich people manage their money well. Poor people
mismanage their money well.
15. Rich people have their money work hard for them. Poor
people work hard for their money.
16. Rich people act in spite of fear. Poor people let fear
stop them.
17. Rich people constantly learn and grow. Poor people
think they already know."

A Jack of all trades may be a master of integration, since the individual
knows enough from many learned trades and skills to be able to bring their
disciplines together into a practical finished product. Such a person is known
as a polymath or a Renaissance man; the prototypical example of which is
probably Leonardo da Vinci.

-Wikipedia

The Most Influential People in History

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100

Rank Name Religious Affiliation Influence
1 Muhammad Islam Prophet of Islam; conqueror of Arabia; Hart recognized that
ranking Muhammad first might be controversial, but felt that, from a secular
historian's perspective, this was the correct choice because Muhammad is the
only man to have been both a founder of a major world religion and a major
military/political leader. More
2 Isaac Newton Anglican (rejected Trinitarianism, i.e.,
Athanasianism; believed in the Arianism
of the Primitive Church) physicist; theory of universal gravitation; laws of
motion
3 Jesus Christ * Judaism; Christianity founder of Christianity
4 Buddha Hinduism; Buddhism founder of Buddhism
5 Confucius Confucianism founder of Confucianism
6 St. Paul Judaism; Christianity proselytizer of Christianity
7 Ts'ai Lun Chinese traditional religion inventor of paper
8 Johann Gutenberg Catholic developed movable type; printed Bibles
9 Christopher Columbus Catholic explorer; led Europe to Americas
10 Albert Einstein Jewish physicist; relativity; Einsteinian physics
11 Louis Pasteur Catholic scientist; pasteurization
12 Galileo Galilei Catholic astronomer; accurately described heliocentric solar
system
13 Aristotle Platonism / Greek philosophy influential Greek philosopher
14 Euclid Platonism / Greek philosophy mathematician; Euclidian geometry
15 Moses Judaism major prophet of Judaism
16 Charles Darwin Anglican (nominal); Unitarian biologist; described Darwinian
evolution, which had theological impact on many religions
17 Shih Huang Ti Chinese traditional religion Chinese emperor
18 Augustus Caesar Roman state paganism ruler
19 Nicolaus Copernicus Catholic (priest) astronomer; taught heliocentricity
20 Antoine Laurent Lavoisier Catholic father of modern chemistry; philosopher;
economist
21 Constantine the Great Roman state paganism; Christianity Roman emperor who
completely legalized Christianity, leading to its status as state religion.
Convened the First Council of Nicaea that produced the Nicene Creed, which
rejected Arianism (one of two major strains of Christian thought) and
established Athanasianism (Trinitarianism, the other strain) as "official
doctrine."
22 James Watt Presbyterian (lapsed) developed steam engine
23 Michael Faraday Sandemanian physicist; chemist; discovery of
magneto-electricity
24 James Clerk Maxwell Presbyterian; Anglican; Baptist physicist;
electromagnetic spectrum
25 Martin Luther Catholic; Lutheran founder of Protestantism and Lutheranism
26 George Washington Episcopalian first president of United States
27 Karl Marx Jewish; Lutheran;
Atheist; Marxism/Communism founder of Marxism, Marxist Communism
28 Orville and Wilbur Wright United Brethren inventors of airplane
29 Genghis Khan Mongolian shamanism Mongol conqueror
30 Adam Smith Liberal Protestant economist; philosopher; expositor of
capitalism; author: The Theory of Moral Sentiments
31 Edward de Vere
a.k.a. William Shakespeare Catholic; Anglican literature; also wrote 6 volumes
about philosophy and religion
32 John Dalton Quaker chemist; physicist; atomic theory; law of partial
pressures (Dalton's law)
33 Alexander the Great Greek state paganism conqueror
34 Napoleon Bonaparte Catholic (nominal) French conqueror
35 Thomas Edison Congregationalist; agnostic inventor of light bulb, phonograph,
etc.
36 Antony van Leeuwenhoek Dutch Reformed microscopes; studied microscopic life
37 William T.G. Morton ?? pioneer in anesthesiology
38 Guglielmo Marconi Catholic and Anglican inventor of radio
39 Adolf Hitler Nazism; born into but rejected Catholicism; allegedly a
proponent of Germanic Neo-Paganism conqueror; led Axis Powers in WWII
40 Plato Platonism / Greek philosophy founder of Platonism
41 Oliver Cromwell Puritan (Protestant) British political and military leader
42 Alexander Graham Bell Unitarian/Universalist inventor of telephone *
43 Alexander Fleming Catholic penicillin; advances in bacteriology, immunology
and chemotherapy
44 John Locke raised Puritan (Anglican);
Liberal Christian philosopher and liberal theologian
45 Ludwig van Beethoven Catholic composer
46 Werner Heisenberg Lutheran a founder of quantum mechanics; discovered
principle of uncertainty; head of Nazi Germany's nuclear program
47 Louis Daguerre ?? an inventor/pioneer of photography
48 Simon Bolivar Catholic (nominal); Atheist National hero of Venezuela,
Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia
49 Rene Descartes Catholic Rationalist philosopher and mathematician
50 Michelangelo Catholic painter; sculptor; architect
51 Pope Urban II Catholic called for First Crusade
52 'Umar ibn al-Khattab Islam Second Caliph; expanded Muslim empire
53 Asoka Buddhism king of India who converted to and spread Buddhism
54 St. Augustine Greek state paganism; Manicheanism; Catholic Early Christian
theologian
55 William Harvey Anglican (nominal) described the circulation of blood; wrote
Essays on the Generation of Animals, the basis for modern embryology
56 Ernest Rutherford ?? physicist; pioneer of subatomic physics
57 John Calvin Protestant; Calvinism Protestant reformer; founder of Calvinism
58 Gregor Mendel Catholic (Augustinian monk) Mendelian genetics
59 Max Planck Protestant physicist; thermodynamics
60 Joseph Lister Quaker principal discoverer of antiseptics which greatly
reduced surgical mortality
61 Nikolaus August Otto ?? built first four-stroke internal combustion engine
62 Francisco Pizarro Catholic Spanish conqueror in South America; defeated Incas
63 Hernando Cortes Catholic conquered Mexico for Spain; through war and
introduction of new diseases he largely destroyed Aztec civilization
64 Thomas Jefferson Episcopalian; Deist 3rd president of United States
65 Queen Isabella I Catholic Spanish ruler
66 Joseph Stalin Russian Orthodox; Atheist; Marxism revolutionary and ruler of
USSR
67 Julius Caesar Roman state paganism Roman emperor
68 William the Conqueror Catholic laid foundation of modern England
69 Sigmund Freud Jewish; atheist; Freudian psychology/psychoanalysis founded
Freudian school of psychology/psychoanalysis (i.e., the "religion of
Freudianism")
70 Edward Jenner Anglican discoverer of the vaccination for smallpox
71 Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen ?? discovered X-rays
72 Johann Sebastian Bach Lutheran; Catholic composer
73 Lao Tzu Taoism founder of Taoism
74 Voltaire raised in Jansenism;
later Deist writer and philosopher; wrote Candide
75 Johannes Kepler Lutheran astronomer; planetary motions
76 Enrico Fermi Catholic initiated the atomic age; father of atom bomb
77 Leonhard Euler Calvinist physicist; mathematician; differential and integral
calculus and algebra
78 Jean-Jacques Rousseau born Protestant;
converted as a teen to Catholic;
later Deist French deistic philosopher and author
79 Nicoli Machiavelli Catholic wrote The Prince (influential political treatise)
80 Thomas Malthus Anglican (cleric) economist; wrote Essay on the Principle of
Population
81 John F. Kennedy Catholic U.S. President who led first successful effort by
humans to travel to another "planet"
82 Gregory Pincus Jewish endocrinologist; developed birth-control pill
83 Mani Manicheanism founder of Manicheanism, once a world religion which
rivaled Christianity in strength
84 Lenin Russian Orthodox;
Atheist; Marxism/Communism Russian ruler
85 Sui Wen Ti Chinese traditional religion unified China
86 Vasco da Gama Catholic navigator; discovered route from Europe to India
around Cape Hood
87 Cyrus the Great Zoroastrianism founder of Persian empire
88 Peter the Great Russian Orthodox forged Russia into a great European nation
89 Mao Zedong Atheist; Communism; Maoism founder of Maoism, Chinese form of
Communism
90 Francis Bacon Anglican philosopher; delineated inductive scientific method
91 Henry Ford Protestant developed automobile; achievement in manufacturing and
assembly
92 Mencius Confucianism philosopher; founder of a school of Confucianism
93 Zoroaster Zoroastrianism founder of Zoroastrianism
94 Queen Elizabeth I Anglican British monarch; restored Church of England to
power after Queen Mary
95 Mikhail Gorbachev Russian Orthodox Russian premier who helped end Communism
in USSR
96 Menes Egyptian paganism unified Upper and Lower Egypt
97 Charlemagne Catholic Holy Roman Empire created with his baptism in 800 AD
98 Homer Greek paganism epic poet
99 Justinian I Catholic Roman emperor; reconquered Mediterranean empire;
accelerated Catholic-Monophysite schism
100 Mahavira Hinduism; Jainism founder of Jainism

Leonardo da Vinci was an architect, physicist, astronomer, anatomist,
sculptor, engineer, inventor, geometer, musician, and painter.

"In addition to his political career, Thomas Jefferson was an agriculturalist,
horticulturist, architect, etymologist, archaeologist, mathematician,
cryptographer, surveyor, paleontologist, author, lawyer, inventor, violinist,
and the founder of the University of Virginia."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Map-of-human-migrations.jpg

Race is not a biological reality:

http://raceandgenomics.ssrc.org/Lewontin/