The Most Extraordinary ______ that Humanity has ever produced

[bilby]

I find it astounding that the greatest vocalists in the entirety of human history have all lived in the past two or three decades.

Well, it's kinda difficult for people alive today to judge the vocal skills or prowess of performers who died before the invention of high fidelity sound recording, so that seriously narrows the pool.

 

[Elixir]

Well, it's kinda difficult for people alive today to judge the vocal skills or prowess of performers who died before the invention of high fidelity sound recording

The greatest genius ever born was a Congolese girl named Nsome Mbemba from the Taraba State in what is now Nigeria.
Unfortunately she died in 1891 at the age of four months.
By that time she had iterated a unified field theory, but was unable to write it down because her whole tribe was illiterate and she couldn't write with those tiny hands anyway.

 

[WAB]

Disagree. Little Mikey was an exceptional showman especially for his age, but not an epic singer.

He was eventually more noted as a dancer than as a singer, I think. He started in show business at age 5 (!??!!). YouTube has videos of him at age 10, though dancing only about as well as his brothers.

But here he is at age 16 dancing with Cher. Skip to 2:20 to see a dancing duet.

In my opinion Michael Jackson was the greatest dancer I've ever seen. True, his moonwalk has antecedents in the entertainment industry, but damn, no one did it like he did.

 

[bilby]

In my opinion Michael Jackson was the greatest dancer I've ever seen. True, his moonwalk has antecedents in the entertainment industry, but damn, no one did it like he did.

I still can't forgive him for "Thriller", which is entirely about horror movies. Thrillers are a totally different genre of film.

 

[WAB]

In my opinion Michael Jackson was the greatest dancer I've ever seen. True, his moonwalk has antecedents in the entertainment industry, but damn, no one did it like he did.

I still can't forgive him for "Thriller", which is entirely about horror movies. Thrillers are a totally different genre of film.

Yeah but...

 

[WAB]

The three most popular Black conservatives are...

Off to YouTube to check...

 

[ZiprHead]

The three most popular Black conservatives are...

Off to YouTube to check...

Assholes???

 

[gmbteach]

Queen of the Desert (2015) starring Nicole Kidman is about a British woman (Gertrude Bell) who assisted the Arabs in their Revolt during World War One. She was mentor and superior to T.E. Lawrence! (Is that accurate?)

Anyway, I really liked the first ⅔ or so of Lawrence of Arabia but was very disappointed by the last ⅓, disappointed enough so that it wouldn't quite make my Top 20 List. I'd make the exact same comment about Apocalypse Now. Life is Beautiful, OTOH, IS a candidate for my Top 20 List.

so nothing like Priscilla, Queen of the Desert then which stars Hugo Weaving and Guy Pearce?

 

[Politesse]

(This reminds me of my close relative who, upon hearing Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" for the first time quickly declared it to be "the 7th-best rock song of all time!" but with no particular opinion on the top six!)

Ah, I feel like this person and I would grok one another. They probably agree with me about Vertigo also.

I refuse to attempt to rank a song within the annals of all of Rock - what even defines the edges of Rock? - but Jefferson Airplane definitely put in the 2nd best performance at Woodstock, including of course "White Rabbit" and "Somebody to Love". (Janis Joplin was the 1st).

 

[Swammerdami]

(This reminds me of my close relative who, upon hearing Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit" for the first time quickly declared it to be "the 7th-best rock song of all time!" but with no particular opinion on the top six!)

Ah, I feel like this person and I would grok one another. They probably agree with me about Vertigo also.

Maybe you and I should Grok! That "close relative" of mine is VERY close genetically although we grew up with no contact. After finally connecting, the similarity of our personalities and intellectual interests was uncanny. I'd reommend books I thought somewhat obscure -- he'd already read them.

"White Rabbit" is one of my favorite songs. It would certainly appear on my Top Seven List.

 

[Swammerdami]

I'm not qualified to comment on greatest singers or greatest dancers. I am happy though, that Dylan is #15 on the Rolling Stones Singers List, ahead of Elvis (#17), McCartney (#26) and MANY other acclaimed singers.

In the olden days, Fred Astaire was called "the greatest dancer." There's a YouTube showing him dancing on the ceiling! Talk about "Moon Walk." Although Ginger Rogers was famous as his partner, Mr. Astaire said that Rita Hayworth was his favorite dance partner. I'll use this as a fact supporting my nomination of Miss Hayworth for the #2 Sexiest Actress slot.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Fred Astaire was a remarkable dancer. As others would note, Rogers did the same stuff, but in heels. Astaire is incredible in that he was self taught!

Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite is by far the most accessible music ever written. Classical with countless pop music hooks.

Close to the Edge is best song ever created.

 

[bigfield]

I'd be curious about anyone's lists of most extraordinary buildings. Or maybe most extraordinary buildings of a particular category, like churches, tombs, monuments or post offices.

There's just something really pleasing about a good-looking building. The problem is, I just haven't had time to go and look at them all. Actually I haven't gone to look at any buildings on purpose. I just look at them in books and on the Internet, and I haven't finished looking at either of those.

For me, "most extraordinary" basically means the most beautiful, because that's what buildings should be. And I'm biased towards certain kinds of architecture.

One of my favourite buildings is next to a really famous one. Everyone knows about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it mostly just a meme. I'd seen tons of pictures of the tower, but not the massive cathedral next to it. The Pisa Cathedral is damned nice looking building, even with the rough bits. I'd definitely put it in a shortlist of "someone did a fucking good job on that one" buildings. I'd go and look at it, but I'm broke, don't like long flights, and tourists are dickheads.

 

[bilby]

The Natural History Museum in South Kensington, London, is not only a beautiful building in its own right, but is covered with carvings of various plants and animals.

 

[Politesse]

Pisa is such a bizarre town to me. Its "architectural district" doesn't feel like it matches the rest of it, and it's all so old-school gaudy, like a collection of Victorian follies trying to look like the Italian Renaissance. The cathedral is massive, and visually arresting, I'll give you that. My feelings on the Piazza San Marco in Venice are similar.

My favorite Italian cathedral is Santa Maria Del Fiore, "Il Duomo", which earns its fame I think. Instantly recognizable from every angle, ornate without being overdone, dripping with beautiful artwork, fascinating history. It does not hurt that it is the centre point of one of my favorite cities. Take the walk up to Brunelleschi's dome early in the morning (before all the teenage tourists wake up) and listen to all the sounds of Florence getting going.

 

[ideologyhunter]

The Most Extraordinary Cash Register Receipts that Humanity Produced, you ask? There are two. I own BOTH.

1. Venue: Caremark Cinemas, Sandusky, Ohio, 1992
Circumstance: Ticket purchase for Honey I Blew Up the Kid
Receipt: printed as much of the title as it could, which turned out to be Honey I Blew U.

2. Venue: Jitney Jungle grocery store, Yazoo City, Mississippi, late 80s
Circumstance: I had become fond of the Tom's brand of packaged snacks, so I bought a bag of Tom's Hot Peanuts
Receipt: Printed it up as Tom's Hot Pea. When I showed this later to my boss, he said, "Ah yes. Tom's hot pea. One of those lesser known Southern refreshments. Goes well with catfish."

 

[hurtinbuckaroo]

I'd be curious about anyone's lists of most extraordinary buildings. Or maybe most extraordinary buildings of a particular category, like churches, tombs, monuments or post offices.

There's just something really pleasing about a good-looking building. The problem is, I just haven't had time to go and look at them all. Actually I haven't gone to look at any buildings on purpose. I just look at them in books and on the Internet, and I haven't finished looking at either of those.

For me, "most extraordinary" basically means the most beautiful, because that's what buildings should be. And I'm biased towards certain kinds of architecture.

One of my favourite buildings is next to a really famous one. Everyone knows about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but it mostly just a meme. I'd seen tons of pictures of the tower, but not the massive cathedral next to it. The Pisa Cathedral is damned nice looking building, even with the rough bits. I'd definitely put it in a shortlist of "someone did a fucking good job on that one" buildings. I'd go and look at it, but I'm broke, don't like long flights, and tourists are dickheads.

My list starts with the Chrysler Building. That’s as far as I’ve gotten.

 

[Swammerdami]

I'd like to work on a new List:

List of Very Important Inventions that are Missing from Most Lists of Important Inventions​

As preliminary, what are the important inventions NOT missing from such Lists? In chronological order a few are

• Harnessing the use of fire
• (beast-pulled vehicles for transport, traction and warfare)
• Written Language
• Printing Press
• Steam Engine
• Incandescent Lightbulb
• Transistor, etc.
• Satellites, GPS

Should multiple related inventions be lumped together as I've done with Satellites and GPS? Can "the invention of transistors" include BOTH the first transistor AND the improvements whereby a million transistors now occupy less space than the first transistor? As an extreme case, would it be fair to lump wagons, plows and war chariots together? I think the 7 or 8 inventions I've listed above would belong somewhere on an all-time List of 10 or 15 Most Important Inventions.

But perhaps more fun would be the List of Very Important Inventions that are Missing from Most Lists of Important Inventions. I have a few candidates in mind, and will post them later today.

 

[bilby]

The two most important inventions that are routinely disregarded - two inventions that can save the world if only the irrational obstructiveness of neo-luddite morons can be overcome - are the oral contraceptive pill, and nuclear fission power.

One has already defused the "population bomb" but is widely opposed by religious extremists.

The other could have fixed anthropogenic climate change by now (with the side-effect of saving millions from an early death), but has been successfully prevented from doing so by a bunch of boomer hippies led by Jane Fonda.

 

[Swammerdami]

Both birth control and nuclear fission are important inventions, bilby. BUT neither of them satisfies the Missing from Most Lists of Important Inventions criterion -- both of them are prominently mentioned as "important" in such lists. I deliberately omitted them from my list of 6 or 7 important inventions because I wanted inventions I was absolutely certain should appear on a Top 12 list.

Here is somebody's List of 22 Important Inventions. It includes both of bilby's, all 6 or 7 of mine, and also vaccines, antibiotics, telephone, smartphones, internal combustion engine, airplanes. It also includes a few that MIGHT be good candidates for Important Inventions Missing from most Lists (though I'm not sure they even qualify as Very Important), e.g.: nails, concrete, the compass. (Magnifying glass is another, which is "important" if broadened to include eye-glasses, microscope and telescope, though with that broadening may not be "usually missing.")

I've one special candidate for Important Invention Missing from most Lists that is likely to get me booed off the stage! Maybe I'll post it tomorrow, but for now, how about

• Cheese

By discovering or inventing a dairy product that did not spoil quickly, people of the steppes were able to make long journeys without fear of starvation; this helped them conquer much of the world. (Or not?) Perhaps this "special" type of food needs to be broadened to include beer and wine!