Ali made me wish I was black. 
Honey you can do that by joining a tanning salon 
I donât really have any role models I look up to.
I do, however, admire a lot of people:
Anyone who can play a musical instrument well (something I have never had the patience to do).
Anyone who starts their own business and becomes their own boss.
Anyone who has taken in others children and raised them as their own.
Anyone who defeats a disease such as cancer, or even someone who died from it but while they were living they did not let the disease rule their life.
Anyone who adopts a dog or cat from a shelter instead of going to the puppy or kitty mill at the mall.
jm
Sweet, look up to me dude!
HG
An eclectic mix
God, no. A political charlatan (canât comment on the linguistics side).
You redeem yourself! Bob!
I donât have any role models a la mod langâs rant. But if youâre talking about people I admire for something, though not everything, then:
Christopher Hitchens: polemicist extraordinaire.
Anthony Burgess: language-obsessed novelist.
Graham Greene: nothing need be said here.
Bob Pollard: lo-fi god.
Pat Fish: pop singer and all-around cool person.
Friedensreich Hundertwasser: confounding and brilliant artist who spoke of the âtyranny of the straight line.â
James Legge: Scottish minister and translator of the Chinese classicsâundoubtedly among the most compelling and awe-inspiring personages ever to have walked the earth.
There may be more, but these come to mind at this sitting.
To Huang Guang Chen,
Good for you. You are among heros in my mind. Way to go!!
I myself have only accomplished one thing on my list, but I am on my way to achieving one more.
As far as the rest of my list, I hope one never happens to me, another I see in my distant future, another I may just dream of.
Keep up the good work.
You are now on my list of Role Models.
John
Thomas âStonewallâ Jackson.
His Valley Campaign and his assault on the Unionâs right flank at Chancellorsville was pure military genius.
He was also a weirdo. 
Before he became Governor Iâd have had less ridicule for this one.
Arnold.
He achieves his goals.
Iâve read 2 bioâs and lots of articles when I was a body builder and was friends with an aussie who boarded him when he visited Australia a long time ago as just a world champion body builder. (Arnold seduced the babysitter, otherwise he appeared to be well behaved).
Examples of his single minded way.
[color=blue]Training.[/color]
Training partner âDonât go so hard we have 3 more sets of this exerciseâ.
Arnold âThere is only this one, there is nothing elseâ
[color=blue]Flying on an American tour to help children take an interest in fitness. [/color]Some guy was talking on a plane off an a tangent from the fitness goals.
Arnold told him âRight now, there is only thisâ
I use this strategy in family and business to great effect. Total focus on the issue at hand then move on.
Interesting. As for âlooking up to peopleâ I would of picked Erik von Manstein.
yes!
Forgot Jung and his castle. Wayyyy cool.
[quote=âsmell the gloveâ]An eclectic mix
Examples, but I couldnât read it with out laughing because I totally âhearâ his voice saying those things.
[quote=âDurins Baneâ]Thomas âStonewallâ Jackson.
He was also a weirdo. [/quote]
He sucked on a lot of lemons every day.
In cronological order, some of my favourite economists:
Adam Smith - for dumping on the merchantilist theory of political economy.
David Ricardo - for refining the principle of comparative advantage.
John Maynard Keynes - for overturning Sayâs Law (i.e. that supply creates itâs own demand).
Milton Friedman - for calling a spade a spade on the inflation tax.
James Tobin - for reminding us that not all investment is good.
Paul Krugman - for bringing the Bushies to account on just about everything.
And one more, who isnât an economist:
Mark Rothko - for creating beauty that leaves me speechless.
Blue, Green and Brown 1951.
Sorry but the more I think about this the more in bugs me. The question wasnât âWho do you idolize?â It was âWho do you look up to?â and while âlook up toâ might not have been an entirely fortunate choice of words either, it is a long way from âidolizeâ.
This was a good pointâŚ
but your psychology doesnât seem to leave room for any genuine respect and admiration for people who do remarkable things despite their flaws. The fact of John Lennonâs heroin addiction doesnât diminish my admiration for him one bit.
Apologies in advance if I misunderstood you.
[quote=âDurins Baneâ][quote=âbismarckâ]
General Heinz Guderian
[/quote]
Interesting. As for âlooking up to peopleâ I would of picked Erik von Manstein.[/quote]
Heinz Guderian was the father of modern armoured warfare. He revolutionised the tactical, operational and strategic usage of the armoured platform. He wrote books about all his ideas, specifically Achtung! Panzer! The main ideas concerned the concept of Blitzkrieg, manoueverability and speed in modern warfare. His works on the subject werenât taken seriously by the allies prior to hostilities in 1939 much to their chagrin as his 5th Army smashed the allied forces having traversed the Ardennes forest. This was a move that no one at the time thought possible, which caught the French and the Brits unawares.
Also to his credit, he was vehemently opposed to the Naziâs (one of the reasons why he never made Field Marshal) and he was also oppossed to the politicisation of the armed forces, and the banning of Jews from the armed forces.
As found in Wikipedia (and other sources), âGuderian was not charged with any war crimes during the Nuremberg Trials, as his actions and behavior were considered consistent with that of a professional soldier.â
No idea who Erik Von Manstein was. Sorry.
True, he slept with them - he didnât have sex with them. In his later years, Gandhi took a vow of celibacy. In order to test himself, he had younger girls in his bed. The idea of his âexperimentâ was to see if he became âarousedâ by the presence of the girls. From all Iâve read, he didnât, but I could be wrong.
Hmm, so onto my list.
Gandhi.
The Dalai Lama (when I met him, his first words to me were âGâdayâ. A typical Australian hello. Except that I met him in India. In one of the Thai temples in Bodhgaya - there are 2, Bodhgaya is the holiest place in Buddhism. and all Buddhist countries have temples there. And he didnât know thereâd be an Australian inside the temple, as it was closed off to all but monks and a few Thai people. And me.)
Xanana Gusmao
My mother.
Helen Caldicott (MD and author).
Lance Armstrong.
Paramahansa Yogananda.
The Buddha.
Desmond Tutu.
Nelson Mandela.
Padhmashambava.
Buddhadasa Bhikku.
Thich Nhat Hanh.
Galen Rowell.
Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Nick Ut.
Wow! Respeck! Id like to drift through my seventies testing my mettle in such a manner. I mean, if I failed, that would just mean I had to test myself again. Excellent idea. Iâm opting for mysticism.
HG
True, he slept with them - he didnât have sex with them. In his later years, Gandhi took a vow of celibacy. In order to test himself, he had younger girls in his bed. The idea of his âexperimentâ was to see if he became âarousedâ by the presence of the girls. From all Iâve read, he didnât, but I could be wrong.[/quote]
Viagra didnât come out until 2000 or so.