Printing office in trouble

Big crises on credit market is threating economy; which became so dependant from loans as are junkies addicted to heroine.
Not only cynics are the ones that claims that banks again and again are finding the way to lose money.
And for real, for last few weeks bad news after bad news. This sad season was opened by the biggest New York's Citigroup, biggest financial institution in the world, Swiss USB, Bank of America , German Deutsche Bank, American Wachovia, Italian Unicredito and so on. Whit looses from same root they got company on credit markets from giants of Wall Street: Merrill Lynch, the biggest global trader with securities, Bear Stearns and Morgan Stanley. What matters with that list is only one of the problems in great looses that almost sinked
mostly all contemporary states, because only Citigroup and Merrill Lynch
together lost more than 18 milliards of $. Actually we should say that for now they lost , because by opinion of analytics completely clear, that the looses because of different exotic securities will climb on also in future. Those securities papers no one wants to buy,and in same time everyone wants to sell them. The same size of problem is also that also the names as UBS, the biggest Swiss bank, which looses are around 3.5 milliard of dollar. It is a bank that was till now known as on of best valuer of risk on credit markets. And if because of bad value of risk also of bank with such reputation are drowning in loses it is hard to predict, what all will economy have to face and in continuing of crisis on credit markets securities of rich countries.
Problem is that three months after beginning of crises it is not possible to be exact on where all will be the crisis and who all will become victims "financial weapon for mass destruction" as those papers were called by second richest man in states. The fact is that big banks produced those papers, and namely so that they would lover the risk, that is escorting that kind of crediting. Whit sells of securities, they base on paying off of home loans and other loans, we tought that the risk will remove from back of banks, that will spread over market and will become buyer duty. Limited loses clearly shows that risk around fall of in matter of American family homes loans fall anyway on banks, from where in most of times they also come from. All hard work , to find out where are also hiding such and different risks, are now similar to shape of cube, that street minglers are offering you to find out under which is hiding the rock, marble or something else.
Big question, that is staying without answer for now is what consequences will have continue of this crisis for real economy.
State finance functionaries, mostly those that have in mind control over financial markets, are saying that they evacuated the crisis and that there is no danger to threat the real economy, but fact is that we have to understand those statements with loots of mental ratio. Evan if those statements are coming from mouth of most respectable places or respectable individuals. There must be something wrong, and we also check that, because also one of most reputable and legend Allan Greenspan, ex executive of Central Bank in similar predictions was right one of six times. And they are showing his successor Ben Bernanke as flower maker , because he is showing the critical situation in American homes market or on credit markets in pink colors, meanwhile the truth is completely different. All this and other functionaries are not being payed to awake additional fear, but to in any situation lower the panics. That is why we need to look for reliable values somewhere else.
And the data about parts if finance sectors in economy are predicting, that strikes , that those institutions are suffering from, wont be able to live none consequences on real economy. Banks and other financial institutions have almost one third in total profit, that is created by American corporations. And that is much more than in 1950 (8% only) and in 1990(20%). All consequences off course isn't possible to predict , but fact is that the economy newer in history was not so incurred debts (so depend on loans) and that in whole home sector newer been so occupied with incurred debts as now. Ruin of gain in finance sector can not just pass by, like nothing newer happened.
Optimists are warning on state statistics which showed, that appearing crisis , that started in August did not affect economy in whole. Statistics says that in American economy in third three month period in 2007 had fastened the moving and it got growth, that comes (calculated for whole year) 3.9%. It is rarely that this kind of information got such amount of anger and distrust, as it happened at this time.
For rel it would be extremely unusual if all critics would be wrong. Now it is no more doubt that all kind of basics are more expensive. Oil price is just little under historical record, that it got in times of Iranian revolution in year of 1979, that reached a price for barrel $45 transfered to now days value of dollar $101 for barrel. That is fact for almost all kind of goods as raw materials, food and metals. It seems like ex front man of BHP Billiton was right that moving of those prices are result of now days factors, which could easily compared to industrial revolution or economical renewal after second world war. Today factor are China, that has in this point of view and in this moment part like in those times had been played by two mentioned events. Also on this field exists something that shows as rule: ex head leader of that company had analyzed moving since 1812 till now days and found out- as in his times Russian economist Nicolay Kondratiev- that the prices of basic products will start to grow and continue growing for next 25 years.
From all this we can conclude with what kind of problems are now days leaders of important money printing offices confronting, especially Americans. Big crises on credit market is threating economy; which became so dependent from loans as are junkies addicted to heroine.
That is why we would like to make it easier for patient with additional softening of monetary politics. Going higher with oil prices and other important goods is threating that in case of softening financial politics will make mad the inflation.
Problems become additionaly complicated with fall of price of special metal. This new appearance dissident is in this case copper. Dissident is very dangerous , and there are reasons for that, for that it must be reason that this metal on stock market is called Economy Doctor. Copper got this title because of its ability to predict future of economy. And if copper is predicting overturn of economy down, oil and other good predict higher inflation, that makes double trouble that in last seventies got glamorous name stagflation.

They are killing dollar, aren't they?

Also milliards are frequently falling of famous list of 400 most rich Americans, which is every year prepared by leading economy magazine Forbes. If you wanted to be on that list in year 2007 you have to be heavy at least 1.3 milliard dollars, which is 300 millions dollars more than last year 2006.
Some people see on this list, and they are almost right, one of the marks, that in our era exists , as it was possible to claim for last decades in 19 century, very comfortable ground to grow numbers of extremely rich individuals. As it is mark in meaning that is opposite with production in economy, the meaning of dealing with finance is much more important now, we have 45 newcomers which are now on list, and they all come from tops of finance founds.
the valuers have off course the total right to look and overcome to that kind and similar conclusions, but what is interesting, that till now nobody asked, what is going on with dollar in which all that wealth is presented.
Evan if that question is not of such importance for that subject, as list of Forbes magazine , it is even more interesting that many of those important questions are discussed , as the dollar would be money, which has constantly equal value. In September of 2007, for example, the economy magazine Barrons published prediction of one of most prestigious strategist in business with oil, who claims that the price of "black gold" will from $80 for barrel fall to half the price, to around $45. Mike Rothman, former oil strategist of Merrill Lynch bank, who is now owner of investigation company, he is famous on Wall Street not only because of such opposite views , but also on facts that most of the times he was right, when his predictions were in opposite of public opinion. Now he claims that the position with oil pretty much the same as back in seventies. From 1999 the price of oil grow on same steps , which were walked through in mentioned decade, so the price from record $45 in first years of eighties dropped, so in middle of eighties the price was less than half of the mentioned record price.
The prediction is for most of us pretty common and welcome, but in prediction is missing the second important part of the story: What was in those times going on with money that is product of oil? After, beginning of seventies, the last connection between gold and dollar failed
the dollar in full power went to sail, which most of us considered more like sinking or diving. Obviously oil masters didn't became greedy in moment, as sometimes their behavior was explained and subscribed. What happened, it simply wasn't productive to give oil in same amount of money of which value was sliding down. So what happened, there was an offensive of plantar resources against collapse of money.
That is how suddenly became clear, how the trend of falling dollar and nominal more expensive oil ended. It was the big move in American monetary politics in passage from seventies to eighties, it was blackmailed with what seemed as final brake down of American money, when the price of gold in year 1979 raised on price of $850 per ounce. Which was also the mark of end of that moving. But not immediately, because the gain on dollar investments were kicking heads of in their positive turn (the state of us was paying 16% of interest to creditors
), so the global capital started to turn in dollar financial possession and was moving from material and other kind of owning. Dollar in those times became much stronger in relation to other kind of money (in spring of 1985 it was possible with one dollar to buy 3.5 german mark), consequence was that price of goods in dollar was falling and also price of oil. Not very rich countries, which were also so called socialist countries, payed enormous price for that turnabout. As Dutch economist Angus Maddison claims, was that price much bigger than rich countries were paying in big depression of thirties.
To discus about close history it makes sense only if there are any chances for such optimistic predictions, as it is point of earlier mentioned of oil fortuneteller, meaning that the price of that fuel will son fall on half.
It is hard to imagine bigger differences, as were in times of turnabout in dollar politics started sos action of american money, which was also the combat with rising price of oil, and now our time, present we took care with turnaround of monetary politics to grow of Stock exchange and killing of dollar.Probably nobody doubts that dollar had to pay for newest conclusion of american central bank, that they will lower rates for another half pro cent, so that will make investments in american dollar even more unattractive. In opposition with past times today there is no marks, that anyone would wish to value dollar would get stronger with with more income on financial owning in this currency. Also american press is writing a lot about it, that dollar had to pay the price of that step, even it would be much more honest and clear to say that that price was payed by out america creditors. Meanwhile there was no hearing from Washington with their famous words, which were repeated in any actions with american money, stong dollar is american national pride and interest.
Dollar looks like in free fall right now no one on globe cane not take as easy thing to make decision what to do now.
probably interesting reading, but i haven't tried yet black gold

two need to read books if wish to deal like bull

Wall Street is where poker and modern finance and the theory behind these "games" clash head on. In both worlds, real risk means real money is made or lost in a heart beat, and neither camp is always rational with the risk it takes. As a result, business and financial professionals who want to use poker insights to improve their job performance will find this entertaining book a "must read." So will poker players searching for an edge in applying the insights of risk-takers on Wall Street.
After the fact, I realized another common denominator to most of those books. The author had spent a long career in finance, in other cases, a lifetime in poker. Many financial books are written by people with no professional experience in the field, others by people who worked at entry-level jobs for a few years. You don't have to love finance to be qualified to write about it, but it's important that some finance lovers communicate their ideas, for balance if not for expertise. Similarly, many poker books are written by people with only casual interest in the game (the ones above are notable exceptions). Some of these authors are card players or gamblers, some are mathematicians, some are good writers, some have no qualifications at all. Most of the serious players who do write books are full-time professional tournament players, and for the most part I think they do a poor job of communicating the nature of the game. They may teach you how to play, but seldom why.
Another book you have to read:
Take an interactive journey that will introduce you to some of the world's most talented and successful investors. Bulls, Bears and Brains: Investing with the Best and Brightest of the Financial Internet interviews twenty successful investors-an assortment of fund managers, economists, professors, executives, statisticians, strategists, traders and technicians who put their money and prowess on the line in the pages of this text. These top financial minds have made themselves available to the investing public via the Internet, and are willing to share their strategies, successes, failures, and philosophies in open online forums. This unique book will help you connect and make money with them, giving you twenty powerful allies in the complicated game of investing.

The book includes candid interviews with company founders and expert advisors, such as:

• Don Luskin: The Luskin Report. Ex-CEO of Barclays Global Mutual Funds
• Ed Yardeni: Yardeni.com. Chief Investment Strategist at Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown
• Kris Skrinak: ClearStation. Co-founder of E*TRADE's community investment site
• Jeremy Siegel: JeremySiegel.com. Wharton professor of finance and bestselling author
• Brandon Goyette: ActiveTrader. Hedge fund manager and ex-Wall Street analyst
• Aaron Brown: eRaider. Yeshiva University professor of finance and prominent shareholder activist
• David Gardner: Fool.com. Bestselling investment author and co-founder of The Motley Fool
• Bill Ginsberg: Shortboy.com. Columbia Business School dropout and "the baddest short-seller on the planet"

This book will help you interpret these individuals' theories in light of your personal investment needs and develop your own investment strategy with a top-notch team that never leaves your side. Don't rely on market pundits and analysts to shape your investing strategies. Instead, make use of the global research team that the Internet places at your fingertips to identify profitable opportunities long before the rest of the world takes notice. Bulls, Bears and Brains will guide you to the virtual doorstep of the most valuable information available on the Internet and provide you with the background and theories to interpret this information in the correct context once you arrive.

Wall Street Fashion

Ralph Lauren spent his life creating a luxury brand. But Wall Street seems determined to lump his company in with the fickle apparel business.

For three decades Ralph Lauren ran his own show, parlaying a $50,000 loan and a knack for neckties into a multibillion-dollar fashion empire. As he expanded into duds for men, women and kids and moved into perfume, luxury housewares and other items in 60 lines spanning thousands of products, the Bronx-bred designer answered to no one.His genius was to sell image, not products, and the image was redolent of English landed gentry. That gave him and his Polo brand a certain consistency in an American market that was usually a slave to trendiness and the flavor of the moment.

Then Lauren took on a not-so-silent partner:Wall Street. He pocketed almost half a billion dollars in an initial public offering, plus a further ...

Stock market fluctuations may cause jitters, but what really has Wall Streeters floundering is the latest decree from the powers-that-be at a growing number of firms. Places such as J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs have recently declared a 24/7 DD policy (that’s dress-down in layman’s terms, and we’re not just talking Fridays), and it’s rumored that Credit Suisse/First Boston and Morgan Stanley Dean Witter are to follow suit. “It’s a total crisis,” says Lincoln Ellis of Morgan Stanley. “Everybody’s freaking out. You should see Fridays as is. They’re a total fashion disaster.”

Fashion Crisis on Wall Street

Whatever is a boy to do? We asked Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys New York for counsel. “Don’t be fashion-y if you don’t feel it. Think of the American film heroes of the 40’s and 50’s: Robert Mitchum, William Holden. Otherwise you’ll to end up looking like one of the guys from The Sopranos.” “Which,” he added, “is a valid look, but not right for finance.”

Other wisdom from Doonan: “Top-Siders are a real drag,” and “Avoid sock exposure.”

(To send this e-mail to that special someone you think could use some fashion help, click on the “send to a friend” icon below.)

Brief overlook of what is Wall Street

The center of our Nation's economy does not rest at Fort Knox, Kentucky, with its millions of dollars worth of gold, or even the Treasury that prints the money that you use. At the center of the United States economy is Wall Street. Almost every larg e company in the US and around the world is traded on a Stock Exchange; from McDonalds to Lockheed Martin.

To learn more about how the stock market can earn money, and even keep the economy healthy, we have to look at how it works. With this tutorial, you will learn how the stock market was created and about the inner workings of the Stock Exchang e, brokerage firms, buying and selling, mutual funds, and much more.

Some of you might be wondering why should you care about the stock market. Maybe you are too young to be investing, or can't see how the market relates to your every day life. The fact is, even if you have no money in the stock market, or ar e in school, the stock market does affect you. It affects everything you do, from going to the mall, to buying that new outfit you have always wanted. After all, Calvin Klein has to get money to make those outfits!

This tutorial is designed to let you decide what you want to learn about. It is recommended that you read the topics sequentially, but it is not required. If you already know about a topic you may want to skip over it. After all, learning s hould be fun. So jump right in and select a topic.
Right now, the New York Stock Exchange has billions of dollars changing hands every day, with thousands of companies being traded, and millions of people being affected. If we trace the roots of the New York Stock Exchange to its beginning, we would find that it started out as dirt path in front of Trinity Church in East Manhattan 200 years ago. At that time, there was no paper money changing hands, or even the idea of stocks. Rather, they traded silver for papers saying they owned shares in cargo, that was coming in on ships every day. The trade flourished.

During the American Revolution, the Colonial Government needed money to fund its wartime operations. One way they did this was by selling bonds. Bonds are pieces of paper a person buys for a set price, knowing that after a certain period of time, they can exchange their bonds for a profit. Along with bonds, the first of the nation's banks started to sell parts or shares of their own companies to people in order to raise money. In essence they sold off part of the company to whomever wanted to buy it, which is the essence of the modern day stock market.

NYSEWall Street was becoming a major center of these transactions, and in 1792 twenty-four men signed an agreement that started the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). They agreed to sell shares or parts of companies between themselves and charge people commissions, or fees, to buy and sell for them. They found a home at 40 Wall Street in New York City. As they grew they later moved into what is currently the New York Stock Exchange Building.

ASEThe 1900s brought the Industrial Revolution, and along with it, a boom in Wall Street. Everybody wanted a piece of the action, and Wall Street grew. The New York Stock Exchange was not the only way to buy stocks at that time. Many stocks that were deemed not good enough for the NYSE, were traded outside on the curbs. This so called "curb trading," has now become the American Stock Exchange (AMEX).

Today, the New York and the American Stock Exchanges, have been joined by the NASDAQ, and hundreds of local and international Stock Exchanges, that all play a part in the national and global economy.
ned by the NASDAQ, and hundreds of local and international Stock Exchanges, that all play a part in the national and global economy.

The Birth of Wall Street

Early Manhattan Right now, the New York Stock Exchange has billions of dollars changing hands every day, with thousands of companies being traded, and millions of people being affected. If we trace the roots of the New York Stock Exchange to its beginning, we would find that it started out as dirt path in front of Trinity Church in East Manhattan 200 years ago. At that time, there was no paper money changing hands, or even the idea of stocks. Rather, they traded silver for papers saying they owned shares in cargo, that was coming in on ships every day. The trade flourished.

During the American Revolution, the Colonial Government needed money to fund its wartime operations. One way they did this was by selling bonds. Bonds are pieces of paper a person buys for a set price, knowing that after a certain period of time, they can exchange their bonds for a profit. Along with bonds, the first of the nation's banks started to sell parts or shares of their own companies to people in order to raise money. In essence they sold off part of the company to whomever wanted to buy it, which is the essence of the modern day stock market.

NYSEWall Street was becoming a major center of these transactions, and in 1792 twenty-four men signed an agreement that started the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). They agreed to sell shares or parts of companies between themselves and charge people commissions, or fees, to buy and sell for them. They found a home at 40 Wall Street in New York City. As they grew they later moved into what is currently the New York Stock Exchange Building.

ASEThe 1900s brought the Industrial Revolution, and along with it, a boom in Wall Street. Everybody wanted a piece of the action, and Wall Street grew. The New York Stock Exchange was not the only way to buy stocks at that time. Many stocks that were deemed not good enough for the NYSE, were traded outside on the curbs. This so called "curb trading," has now become the American Stock Exchange (AMEX).

Today, the New York and the American Stock Exchanges, have been joined by the NASDAQ, and hundreds of local and international Stock Exchanges, that all play a part in the national and global economy.
April 4th, 1644: Wall St. was born. Manhattan had a couple thousand Dutch settlers (notice the stepped roofs) living below Wall Street. Unlike the British colonies in Virginia, Rhode Island and Massachusetts, New Amsterdam (renamed New York in 1664) was exclusively a trading colony, set up to extract valuable resources from surrounding area. Beaver pelts, in particular, were in high demand in Europe.

The Dutch did not even need to trap them themselves, but could trade with the local indians who were much more adept at it. The Dutch provided the indians with wampum (sea shells collected off the banks of Long Island), liquor, guns and ammunition, in return for beaver pelts and anything else they needed. This was a double-edged sword, however, because these mercenary colonists tended to make quick enemies of the indians, and once they were armed with European weapons, they became a serious threat - hence, the wall.

celebrating 20 century, top 100 cartoon list

Impossible, of course. But everyone's doing it. Making up lists of one hundred of all manner of things. It's a game of the season. . There are other ways.

In fact, my method is simplicity itself. The criteria? Just works of genius, that's all. Works of one kind of genius or another. Some are pace-setting (Terry, The Far Side, Peanuts), showing others the way. Some are simply unique exploitations of the medium by masters (Betsy and Me, Popeye, Gordo, Alley Oop). Others are works of a cartoonist whose influence was wider than is represented by a specific work; so these works (Scrooge McDuck, Dark Knight Returns, The Spirit) are merely touchstones representing that cartoonist's pervasive impact upon the profession and the craft.

And often I mixed up both these criteria and myself. In citing long-running works like the comic strips Terry or Peanuts, I often give the dates of the period when the work was most influential or at its peak.

Here we go:

100. Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers by Gilbert Shelton;

flagship creation of the underground by one of the medium's founders.

99. Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud;

a vivid demonstration of the medium's capacity for serious, non-narrative discourse.

98. Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai;

a superior example of non-superhero comics storytelling in both picture and words.

97. Zippy by Bill Griffith;

an underground creation that crossed-over successfully to syndication, proving that unconventional cartooning can survive in the mainstream.

96. Betsy and Me by Jack Cole;

an innovative comic strip in both graphic style and narrative technique, the third of Cole's masterful achievements in the medium.

95. Greeting cards by Sandra Boyton;

a blend of words and pictures in a wholly novel (and highly comical) manner.

94. Suburban Heights (et al) by Gluyas Williams;

a sustained example of Williams' pristine black-and-white style.

93. David Levine's caricatures in New York Review of Books,

revived the art of pure caricature in this country.

92. Katzenjammer Kids by Rudolph Dirks;

set the pace for the medium in the closing years of the 19th century by deploying both words (in balloons) and pictures to tell its stories.

91. Mort Drucker's caricatures in Mad parodies;

a stunningly accurate "portrait" painter.

90. Mutt and Jeff by Bud Fisher (1907-1930);

the first daily "strip" established the form by running across the page instead of in a box somewhere on the page.

89. Felix the Cat by Otto Messmer;

a visually inventive creation, Felix was the first super star of animation.

88. Bootsie by Ollie Harrington;

a social protest series of panel cartoons by a passionate master.

87. Brenda Starr by Dale Messick;

a role model in the funnies by a role model at the drawingboard, the first nationally recognized syndicated female cartoonist (although not "the first syndicated female cartoonist").

86. The Lonely Ones by William Steig;

shows how cartooning can step beyond laughter into philosophical satire.

85. Gasoline Alley by Frank King (1918-1946);

the characters aged, year by year, and also set the pace for homespun narrative in small town American when small town America was vanishing apace.

84. Barney Google (July 17, 1922 until DeBeck's death in 1942);

one of the first comic strips to extend itself beyond the funnies pages into popular culture at large, inspiring a popular song ("Barney Google with his goo-goo googly eyes") and coining a host of expressions ("sweet mama," "balls afire," "time's a-wastin'," etc.--mostly from the hillbillies).

83. Little Annie Fanny by Harvey Kurtzman & Will Elder;

the most luxurious full-color comic strip in print for the first 10-15 years of its run in Playboy.

82. Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller;

revitalized superheroicism in comic books by treating the superhero "realistically" as a flawed human being rather than an icon.

81. Maus by Art Spiegelman;

the first serious narrative in the medium to earn public recognition via a Pulitzer Prize.

80. For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston;

a comic strip with heart and humanity, setting an example for the medium.

79. Rose Is Rose by Pat Brady;

one of the few imaginative visualizations yoking word and picture in newspaper comics.

78. Dennis the Menace by Hank Ketcham;

a stylistic triumph in black-and-white.

77. Caspar Milquetoast by H. T. Webster;

one of the first comic strip celebrities to have his name seep into popular culture.

76. Magazine cartoons by Tom Henderson (1950s);

visual-verbal blending of the first order.

75. Joe Palooka by Ham Fisher (c. 1935-1950);

one of the most popular comic strips in the medium's history, the strip's hero was a role model for young Americans.

74. Professor Lucifer G. Butt's Inventions by Rube Goldberg;

another cartoonist who infiltrated popular culture, giving his name in the dictionary to any mechanical device that seems more complicated in operation than the task it is intended to perform.

73. The Far Side by Gary Larson;

set the pace for bizarre humor inthe last decades of the century.

72. Harem girl cartoons E. Sims Campbell;

a place-holder for the cartoonist who designed Esky, the goggle-eyed mascot for Esquire magazine, and who devised the comedy for most of the magazine's cartoons in the early years.

71. Political cartoons by Rollin Kirby;

the first winner of a Pulitzer for editorial cartooning, Kirby invented the notorious Mr. Dry, a funereal symbol of Prohibition in the twenties.

70. The Gumps by Sidney Smith;

established the continuing story mode for daily comic strips, making suspense a vital ingredient on the comics pages.

69. Bringing Up Father by George McManus;

by the 1940s, Jiggs and Maggie were probably the most famous comic strip characters in the world--and they were elegantly rendered, too, by a master.

68. New Yorker cartoons by Charles Addams;

established the macabre in cartoon humor.

67. Male Call by Milton Caniff;

the most widely circulated comic strip in history (about 4,000 base and unit newspapers during World War II), it featured the curvaceous Miss Lace, a daringly risque departure in comic strippery but justified considering the exclusive audience--soldiers and sailors in wartime, who, Caniff said, needed to be reminded of what they were fighting for.

66. He Done Her Wrong by Milt Gross;

a graphic novel without words, a tour de force.

65. Betty, Veronica, and My Friend Irma by Dan DeCarlo (1950s);

established a style for rendering cute but sexy women.

64. Gordo by Gus Arriola (c. 1955 on);

a beautifully designed strip that also deliberately acquainted its readers with the customs, language, and folkart of Mexico.

63. Polly and Her Pals by Cliff Sterrett (c.1925-1950);

another triumph in graphic design.

62. Little Lulu comic books by John Stanley;

captured the aura of childhood like no one else except, maybe--

61. Capp Stubbs and Tippie by Edwina Dumm;

the first lady of cartooning (who was doing editorial cartoons for a daily newspaper before women could vote), Edwina defied logic again by producing the epitome of a boy strip for over 40 years.

60. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson;

captures the child within us all but with an adult perspective.

59. Editorial cartoons by Jeff MacNelly (c. 1970-1990);

the pace-setter in editorial cartooning for the last quarter of the century.

58. Boys' Ranch comic books by Jack Kirby (mostly) and Joe Simon;

the apogee of the team's achievement in visuals and thematic narrative.

57. Skippy by Percy Crosby;

the classic roughneck boy down the block, Skippy was, by turns, philosophical and petulant, but he was always a graphic delight, Crosby's sketchy renderings capturing youthful energy like no one else (not even Edwina).

56. Sad Sack by George Baker (1942-1946);

everyone's low man on the totem, the Sad Sack was the quintessential put-upon dogface soldier of World War II.

55. Gasoline Alley by Dick Moores (c. 1960-1986);

in revitalizing Frank King's classic, Moores proved that a successor can improve upon a creator's achievement.

54. Li'l Abner by Al Capp (1934-1960);

the second strip in the "modern era" (since 1930) to have a political stance, Abner paved the way for all political satire in the last half of the century.

53. New Yorker cartoons by George Price;

unique renderings, Price's drawings represented the dottiest of our population in the most loving manner.

52. Masses cartoons by Art Young;

exemplar of an idealistically driven cartoonist, Young never drew a cartoon whose message he didn't believe in passionately once he'd converted to Socialism in the early years of the century.

51. Fox and Crow comic books by Jim Davis;

the con man and his perpetual victim were never so thoroughly explored (and exploited) as in this title.

50. Editorial cartoons by J.N. Darling ("Ding") (c.1910-1945);

perhaps the first nationally-recognized editorial cartoonist, Ding set the graphic fashion for his generation of the breed.

49. Bravo for Adventure by Alex Toth;

a beautifully executed expression of a cartoonist's belief in his art and in the moral function of heroism.

48. Playboy cartoons by Jack Cole;

divorcing himself from the linear medium of comic books, Cole set the pace for all Playboy cartoonists with his watercolor masterpieces of the mid- to late-fifties.

47. Editorial cartoons by Paul Conrad;

particularly during the Nixon administration and ensuing Watergate era, Conrad exemplified hard-hitting, merciless metaphorical cartooning.

46. Fantastic Four comic books by Jack Kirby (mostly) and Stan Lee;

a watershed creation that sparked a revival of superhero comic books.

45. Blondie by Chic Young (until c. 1960);

the ultimate in domestic comedy for its time, Blondie was among the top five comic strips in worldwide circulation.

44. Crimebuster stories in Boy Comics by Charles Biro and Norman Maurer;

a benchmark here for the documentary style of narration that characterized the Lev Gleason books of the 1940s and 1950s, setting a model for Kurtzman and others, who, later, tried for serious storytelling in the medium.

43. Mickey Mouse (comic strip) by Floyd Gottfriedson

(c.1930-c.1950); established the character of The Mouse better than the films.

42. Dick Tracy by Chester Gould (c. 1930-1953);

set the pace for authenticity as well as violence in cops and robbers strips.

41. Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray (c. 1930-1949);

exemplified self-reliance for a Depression-racked country and was perhaps the first nationally distributed strip to overtly assume a "political" stance.

40. Daredevil by Frank Miller;

demonstrated how a creative intelligence can revive a faltering character in a marketplace medium.

39. Spider-Man by Steve Ditko and Stan Lee;

shifted the age group to which superhero comic books appealed from early to late teens,attracting a college audience.

38. EC horror comics by Al Feldstein, Jack Davis and Graham Ingels;

created a new kind of comic story with twist endings and vivid grisly graphics.

37. EC science fiction comics by Al Feldstein and Wally Wood;

another standard established, particularly in visuals.

36. Mad parodies as drawn by Wally Wood;

for cute silliness and sexy cartoon women, unequaled.

35. Mad marginals by Sergio Aragones;

masterful pantomime comic art of seemingly endless inventiveness.

34. Batman by Bob Kane and Bill Finger;

added costumed vigilantism to the comic book canon with the second of the genre's icons.

33. Beetle Bailey by Mort Walker;

helped change the direction of newspaper comic strips by introducing magazine-style drawing.

32. Scrooge McDuck by Carl Barks;

a complex and whole personality infused into a duck and coupled to moral lessons in perfect tune with his society.

31. Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau;

turned name-dropping into political satire, a major step for syndicated comic strips.

30. Editorial cartoons by Herblock;

a hard-hitting pace-setter in the 1950s who coined the term McCarthyism.

29. Superman by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster;

a creation that was soon so popular that it spawned an entire industry.

28. EC War Stories by Harvey Kurtzman;

took the glamour out of war and established a new style of comic book storytelling, too.

27. Stories in Zap Nos. 1-4 and Snatch Nos. 1-3 by Robert Crumb;

the success of these titles took underground cartoonists out of newspapers and into comic book formats, virtually creating underground comix.

26. Mad parodies as drawn by Will Elder (Nos. 1-23);

manic visual invention set Mad's style.

25. Sick Sick Sick by Jules Feiffer;

a new approach to social commentary in which characters reveal their flaws in endless monologues.

24. Little Nemo in Slumberland by Winsor McCay;

a work of graphic genius so far ahead of its time that it was never successfully imitated.

23. Alley Oop by V. T. Hamlin (1939-1960);

an absorbing combination of legend, history, science fantasy, and, even, comedy, all held together by the commanding presence of a taciturn cave man.

22. Willie and Joe WWII cartoons by Bill Mauldin;

caught the essence of the dogface (soldier in the trenches) for a generation.

21. Krazy Kat by George Herriman;

a lyric poem to the triumph of love.

20. Barnaby by Crockett Johnson;

more lyricism, but this time of the high comedy kind that champions the power of imagination over reality.

19. The Pie-face Prince of Old Pretzleburg by George Carlson;

an inimitable work of visual puns and linguistic legerdemain, wedded in antic comedy.

18. Captain Marvel by C. C. Beck and Otto Binder;

a superhero of science fantasy that mocked the conventions of the genre, creating comedy as well as suspense and adventure.

17. Peanuts by Charles Schulz;

in visual style, comedic approach, and sheer merchandising, the strip that so changed the face of newspaper comics as to justify our dubbing the last forty years of the comics' first century The Age of Schulz.

16. Tarzan by Harold Foster;

in the Sunday pages particularly, established realistic illustration as a visual standard for serious adventure comics.

15. Cartoons in True magazine by Virgil Partch (VIP) (c. 1940-1955);

re-vitalized the single-panel magazine gag cartoon by making the sense of the picture dependent upon understanding the caption beneath and vice versa.

14. Cartoons in assorted 1920s publications by John Held, Jr.;

pictures that set the fashion for the Jazz Age.

13. Plastic Man by Jack Cole;

apart from the novelty of an elastic superhero, these comic books were hilarious demonstrations of the power of sight gags to infuse a creation with a distinctive ambiance--in short, a cartoonist's power.

12. Captain America by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon;

demonstrated how to render action sequences with such persuasive graphic power as to make superheroes believable.

11. Mad comic book (Nos. 1-23) by Harvey Kurtzman;

satire that stripped pretense and posturing away from social institutions, setting the style for the magazine for a generation and ripping the rose-tinted glasses from the eyes of American Youth raised on Disney visions of homespun rural contentment.

10. Thimble Theatre (Popeye) by E. C. Segar (1929 until Segar's death in 1938);

a work of endless comedic invention and visual genius (Popeye's bulging forearms alone convinced us of his fistic prowess).

9. New Yorker cartoons by Peter Arno (1927-1950);

embodying the spirit of the magazine as no other New Yorker cartoonist, Arno made his words completely dependent upon the pictures for comedic sense (and vice versa) thereby establishing the single-speaker caption for gag cartoons.

8. The Spirit by Will Eisner;

after developing the grammar of the comic book form in the late 1930s, Eisner went on to demonstrate how a masked crime-fighter could provide a framework for human interest stories with genuinely literary qualities.

7. Flash Gordon by Alex Raymond;

the most vivid demonstration of the power of stunning visuals for creating a world.

6. Wash Tubbs (and Captain Easy) by Roy Crane (c. 1928-1943);

the adventure strip that inspired and led all the others.

5. Sports cartoons by Willard Mullin;

set the style for the entire genre.

4. Theatrical caricatures by Al Hirschfeld;

another who, like Mullin, embodies an entire cartooning genre.

3. Editorial cartoons by Pat Oliphant;

revolutionized the appearance of editorial cartooning and its method by making comedy a weapon.

2. Terry and the Pirates by Milton Caniff (1934-1946);

redefined the adventure strip genre by practicing a chiaroscuro manner for realistic rendering and by making character integral to his plots.

1. Pogo by Walt Kelly;

at its best, this strip scaled the heights to which the visual-verbal medium of cartooning can aspire by combiningvaudevillian comedy and caricature with satirical allegory, creating meaning on two levels at once, each serving the purposes of the other.

Captain America has undertaken his last mission — at least for now. The venerable superhero is killed in the issue of his namesake comic that hit stands Wednesday, the Daily News reported.

On the new edition's pages, a sniper shoots down the shield-wielding hero as he leaves a courthouse, according to the newspaper.

It ends a long run for the stars-and-stripes-wearing character, created in 1941 to incarnate patriotic feeling during World War II. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books, published by New York-based Marvel Entertainment Inc., have been sold in a total of 75 countries.

But resurrections are not unknown in the world of comics, and Marvel Entertainment editor in chief Joe Quesada said a Captain America comeback wasn't impossible.

Still, the character's death came as a blow to co-creator Joe Simon.

"We really need him now," said Simon, 93, who worked with artist Jack Kirby to devise Captain America as a foe for Adolf Hitler.

According to the comic, the superhero was spawned when a scrawny arts student named Steve Rogers, ineligible for the army because of his poor health but eager to serve his country, agreed to a "Super Soldier Serum" injection. The substance made him a paragon of physical perfection, armed only with his shield, his strength, his smarts and a command of martial arts.

In the comic-book universe, death is not always final. But even if Captain America turns out to have met his end in print, he may not disappear entirely: Marvel has said it is developing a Captain America movie.

heroes and icons

first read about german expressionism

Muhammad Ali
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.princeton.edu/~bsu/New%2520Pictures/Muhammad%2520Ali.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.princeton.edu/~bsu/didyouknow.htm&h=452&w=320&sz=20&tbnid=ogtlc-97EkcJ:&tbnh=124&tbnw=87&hl=en&start=47&prev=/images%3Fq%3DMuhammad%2BAli%26start%3D40%26svnum%3D50%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26newwindow%3D1%26rls%3DGGLD,GGLD:2003-40,GGLD:en%26sa%3DN
The American G.I.
Diana, Princess of Wales
Anne Frank
Billy Graham (pope of protestant america)
Che Guevara
E. Hillary & T. Norgay (reached mont everest)
Helen Keller
The Kennedys
Bruce Lee
Charles Lindbergh
Harvey MIlk the first openly gay man elected to any substantial political office in the history of the planet
Marilyn Monroe
Mother Teresa
Emmeline Pankhurst
Rosa Parks
Pelé
Andrei Sakharov
Jackie Robinson
Bill Wilson
Century's Bloodiest Villains...And Greatest Heroes