IN: Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, and dancer. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he was one of the most popular entertainers in the world, and was the best-selling music artist during the year of his death. Jackson's contributions to music, dance, and fashion along with his publicized personal life made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The eighth child of the Jackson family, Michael made his professional debut in 1964 with his elder brothers Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon as a member of the Jackson 5.

Jackson was influenced by musicians including Little Richard, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Diana Ross, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Kelly, David Ruffin, the Isley Brothers, and the Bee Gees. While Little Richard had a substantial influence on Jackson, James Brown was his greatest inspiration; he said: "Ever since I was a small child, no more than like six years old, my mother would wake me no matter what time it was, if I was sleeping, no matter what I was doing, to watch the television to see the master at work. And when I saw him move, I was mesmerized. I had never seen a performer perform like James Brown, and right then and there I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James Brown."  Jackson owed his vocal technique in large part to Diana Ross, especially his use of the oooh interjection, which he used from a young age; Ross had used this effect on many of the songs recorded with the Supremes. Not only a mother figure to him, she was often observed in rehearsal as an accomplished performer. He said: "I got to know her well. She taught me so much. I used to just sit in the corner and watch the way she moved. She was art in motion. I studied the way she moved, the way she sang - just the way she was." He told her: "I want to be just like you, Diana." She said: "You just be yourself."  According to choreographer David Winters, who met and befriended Jackson while choreographing the 1971 Diana Ross TV special Diana!, Jackson watched the musical West Side Story almost every week, and it was his favorite film; he paid tribute to it in "Beat It" and the "Bad" video.

did he watch anything else?

OUT: watch the television


IN: Umar was born in Mecca to the Banu Adi clan, which was responsible for arbitration among the tribes. His father was Khattab ibn Nufayl and his mother was Hantama bint Hisham, from the tribe of Banu Makhzum. In his youth he used to tend to his father's camels in the plains near Mecca. His merchant father was famed for his intelligence among his tribe.

Umar attended the event of Ghadir Khumm, which took place a few months before Muhammad passed away. According to both Shia and Sunni sources, he was among the many who pledged allegiance to Ali at the event.  In Medina, after the Farewell Pilgrimage and the event of Ghadir Khumm, Muhammad ordered an army under the command of Usama bin Zayd. He commanded all the companions, except for his family, to go with Usama to Syria to avenge the Muslims' defeat at the Battle of Mu'tah. Muhammad gave Usama the banner of Islam on the 18th day of the Islamic month of Safar in the year 11 A.H. Abu Bakr and Umar were among those that Muhammad commanded to join Usama's army.  However, Abu Bakr and Umar resisted going under the command of Usama because they thought that he, who was 18 or 20 at the time, was too young to lead an army, despite Muhammad's teachings that age and standing in society did not necessarily correspond to being a good general.  In response to these worries, the Prophet said: "O Arabs! You are miserable because I have appointed Usama as your general, and you are raising questions if he is qualified to lead you in war. I know you are the same people who had raised the same question about his father. By God, Usama is qualified to be your general just as his father was qualified to be a general. Now obey his orders and go." Whenever Muhammad felt any relief from his fatal sickness, he would inquire as to whether Usama's army had left for Syria yet, and would continue urging his companions to leave for Syria. Muhammad even said, "Usama's army must leave at once. May Allah curse those men who do not go with him." However, while a few companions were ready to join Usama's army, many other companions, including Abu Bakr and Umar, disobeyed Muhammad's orders. It is also noted that this was the only battle expedition where Muhammad urged his companions to go the battle no matter what; for other battles, if someone was unable to go to the fight, Muhammad would let them stay at home.

What was he too young to do?

OUT: to lead an army,


IN: Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 - July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style--which he termed the Iceberg Theory--had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his adventurous lifestyle and his public image brought him admiration from later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short-story collections, and two non-fiction works.

Early in 1918, Hemingway responded to a Red Cross recruitment effort in Kansas City and signed on to become an ambulance driver in Italy. He left New York in May and arrived in Paris as the city was under bombardment from German artillery. By June, he was at the Italian Front. It was probably around this time that he first met John Dos Passos, with whom he had a rocky relationship for decades. On his first day in Milan, he was sent to the scene of a munitions factory explosion, where rescuers retrieved the shredded remains of female workers. He described the incident in his non-fiction book Death in the Afternoon: "I remember that after we searched quite thoroughly for the complete dead we collected fragments". A few days later, he was stationed at Fossalta di Piave.  On July 8, he was seriously wounded by mortar fire, having just returned from the canteen bringing chocolate and cigarettes for the men at the front line. Despite his wounds, Hemingway assisted Italian soldiers to safety, for which he received the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery. Still only 18, Hemingway said of the incident: "When you go to war as a boy you have a great illusion of immortality. Other people get killed; not you ... Then when you are badly wounded the first time you lose that illusion and you know it can happen to you." He sustained severe shrapnel wounds to both legs, underwent an immediate operation at a distribution center, and spent five days at a field hospital before he was transferred for recuperation to the Red Cross hospital in Milan. He spent six months at the hospital, where he met and formed a strong friendship with "Chink" Dorman-Smith that lasted for decades and shared a room with future American foreign service officer, ambassador, and author Henry Serrano Villard.  While recuperating, he fell in love, for the first time, with Agnes von Kurowsky, a Red Cross nurse seven years his senior. By the time of his release and return to the United States in January 1919, Agnes and Hemingway had decided to marry within a few months in America. However, in March, she wrote that she had become engaged to an Italian officer. Biographer Jeffrey Meyers states in his book Hemingway: A Biography that Hemingway was devastated by Agnes's rejection, and in future relationships, he followed a pattern of abandoning a wife before she abandoned him.

how did he react?

OUT:
Hemingway was devastated by Agnes's rejection, and in future relationships, he followed a pattern of abandoning