Writer's Block: Under the Same Sign

[Error: unknown template qotd]Since my birthday is June 8, I'll link the Wikipedia entry here and mention some of the people I've heard of:

• GIOVANNI DOMENICO CASSINI (1625-1712): prominent Italian astronomer, first to observe Jupiter's Great Red Spot, as well as some of Saturn's rings (the Cassini division) and four of its moons, and also was among the first to determine the true size of the solar system.  I've always been interested in astronomy in one form or another; when I was little I had a cheap red telescope in my room (which I hardly ever used), and a lot of books on astronomy (I think I still have most of them).  And now I'm in my college's astronomy club, which hasn't done anything this year because our club president is a busy senior waiting for a big telescope order -- it's finally come in, so hopefully we'll start having meetings this J-term.  I don't think I'll ever be as interested in astronomy as he was, but at least we shared common interests.
• ALESSANDRO CAGLIOSTRO (1743-1795): Italian adventurer.  It's a name like Casanova -- grown in stature over the years through myth and folklore, but he really didn't do much of anything.  Still, nothing in common with him, except the part about being Italian, I guess.
• ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856): from Germany, one of the most famous Romantic composers in the 19th century.  Did he compose anything relatively famous (i.e. used repetitively in pop culture somewhere)?  Because I recognize the name, but no "big" works are jumping out.  Classical music was never my interest, anyways.
• IDA SAXTON MCKINLEY (1847-1907): First Lady of the United States from 1897 to 1901.  "Possessed of a fragile, nervous temperament, Mrs. McKinley broke down under the loss of her mother and two infant daughters within a short span of time. She developed epilepsy and became totally dependent on her husband. Her seizures at times occurred in public; she had one at McKinley's inaugural ball as governor. Although an invalid the rest of her life, she kept busy with her hobby, crocheting slippers, making gifts of literally thousands of pairs to friends and acquaintances."  Oh, lovely.  DX
• FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT (1867-1959): American architect.  Now, I have a lot in common with this guy!  Like me, he was a creative individual with a perspective on the world that differed from the mainstream, he sometimes got his ideas and ideology in the way of creating buildings that people could actually use, he was a bit of a self-obsessed crank, he wanted his work to be innovative and inspirational (and he succeeded!), he never liked cities all that much and preferred natural landscapes, he was interested in Japanese things, and he sought to avoid Ayn Rand as much as possible.  XD  Despite his personal failings, he is a big inspiration for me -- I hope to do with my writing what he did with his architecture.
• FRANCIS CRICK (1916-2004): Won the Nobel Prize with James Watson for discovering the structure of DNA.  Totally awesome, though there's a lot of controversy over whether or not he and Watson came up with many of their conclusions themselves.  I sort of have an interest in neuroscience and neurotheology like he did, but even though I have a couple of books on the topic, I actually haven't read any of them yet.  Still, I like his views on religion, even though I'm not nearly as brash and abrasive about it as he was.
• BYRON WHITE (1917-2002): Football player turned Supreme Court justice.  I liked his support for civil rights in the 1960s and 1970s, and on his decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, but not so much his decisions on Miranda v. Arizona and Roe v. Wade.
• SUHARTO (1921-2008): President of Indonesia from 1967 to 1998.  I'm not sure how I feel about him; on the one hand, he did help modernize his country and improve the quality of life of its citizens, but on the other hand ... he was a dictator.  Who probably killed over half a million people, if not more.  Not cool at all.
• BARBARA BUSH (b. 1925): First Lady of the United States from 1989 to 1993.  Not sure how I feel about her.  She made some insensitive comments about Hurricane Katrina victims, but she may have also said, "Clinton lied. A man might forget where he parks or where he lives, but he never forgets oral sex, no matter how bad it is."  Which is lol-tactular, if you ask me.
• JERRY STILLER (b. 1927): American actor.  Sorry, I only know him from watching The King of Queens when I was younger and didn't know better.  :D
• JOAN RIVERS (b. 1933): American celebrity.  OH DEAR GOD NO DO NOT WANT DX
• NANCY SINATRA (b. 1940): American singer.  Heard of her (probably because of her father Frank), but haven't heard anything by her.
• COLIN BAKER (b. 1943): British actor.  For all you Doctor Who fans out there, he was Six.
• BOZ SCAGGS (b. 1944): American rock singer.  I think I might have heard one of his songs on the radio, repeated over and over again -- again, not the kind of stuff I like.
• EMANUEL AX (b. 1949): Grammy-winning classical pianist.
• BONNIE TYLER (b. 1951): British rock singer.  I think I've heard "Total Eclipse of the Heart" before -- not really my thing.
• TIM BERNERS-LEE (b. 1955): inventor of the World Wide Web.  Considering I use the Internet almost obsessively on a daily basis, I think this is totally awesome.  Then again, we can all technically blame him for 4chan, Goatse, and Transformers porn.  XD
• KEENEN IVORY WAYNANS (b. 1958): the guy who directed Scary Movie.  Ugh.
• LINDSAY DAVENPORT (b. 1976): American tennis player.  Totally awesome, but I don't like being physically active, and I'm not much of a sports fan.
• KANYE WEST (b. 1977): American rap/hip-hop singer.  Another egomaniac (one thing I hope I don't have in common with him), though I admit I do like his song "Love Lockdown."
• AI NONAKA (b. 1981): Japanese voice actress.  She did the voice of Kafuka in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, an anime I liked -- this is all I need to know.  =D
• MAMORU MIYANO (b. 1983): Japanese voice actor.  He did the voice of Light in Death Note -- this is all I need to know about him.  XD

So there were four Nobel Prize winners, two First Ladies, a decent number of scientists, musicians, politicians, and actors, a Nazi physician (major do not want), and the Goddess of Plastic Surgery born the same day I was.  Interesting ... I guess.  And I don't know enough about most of them to know whether or not I have anything in common with them, but this was still very interesting.