History Determinator / RealLife

* Guitarist Jason Becker deserves a mention. Regarded by many as one of the best players to play the instrument, in 1989, after recording two albums in the band Cacophony and building a cult following, playing on friend and bandmate [[MegaDeth Marty Friedman's]] first solo album, releasing his own solo album, and gaining arguably the biggest, highest-paying guitar spot at the time as [[SteveVai Steve Vai's]] replacement in [[VanHalen David Lee Roth's]] solo band - Worth mentioning he did all of this before his twenty-first birthday - a visit to a doctor for an odd limp in his left leg ended with him being diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease, which wouldn't just kill him in three to five years, it'd also cripple his muscular ability, robbing his music as it killed him. So what did he do? He started using lighter, easier instruments, finished the 1991 Roth record(Though he couldn't join the tour), jumped right by that "three to five years" mark with a grin on, releasing two more albums in the 1990's, an enormous feat with his condition, stabilized in 1997, and nearly twenty years after he was told he'd lose his ability to make music, then die, communicating and still writing through a computer even now that he's fully-paralyzed, save for his eyes, in 2008, he released a new album, with the music he wrote played by [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming nearly thirty friends from his early career and fans who'd grown up since his debut in 1980, including his boss at the time he was diagnosed, and an immensely busy man in the midst of a gigantic reunion tour, David Lee Roth.]] Screw you, ALS.

*** Spartacus wasn't born a prince, he simply was a Thracian auxiliary who ''deserted'', was caught and then condemned to die in the arena. Gladiators were rarely ever known by their real, given names, only by the most stereotypical names of the region they came from. The name Spactacus is a royal name so its not hard to see them calling him by that name. Think about how during slavery in the united states, slaves were renamed. Now think about if the slaves had been given names like Nelson Mandela (anachronistic I know) etc. Also, the romans were ruthless sometimes, but they never sold foreign royalty into slavery. They preferred to kill them.

* The 2010 Green Bay Packers. Full stop.

* Sir Ernest Shackleton and the other members of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition. They planned to cross the antarctic continent when on the way there their ship got stuck in early ice, was crushed and eventually sank. They survived more than a year on the floating ice cut off from the resupply posts established for them inland. But they weren't rescued then, oh no. That was just when the ice melted and started to break apart. So they got into their lifeboats and paddled past drifting icebergs to the nearest island that was just 100 miles away. After almost 500 days they were finally on solid land again but so far off any shipping lines that they would never be found. So after this whole ordeal and despite having only some rudimentary tools left they retrofitted one of their lifeboats for an open sea journey. Six men split off and sailed 800 miles across one of the most dangerous seas through a hurricane (that sunk a 500 ton steamer in the same area) having only three opportunities to determine their position. When they finally got to South Georgia they had to land on the uninhabited side of the island. So after a year on the ice and almost a month on the boat they got up and crossed the unexplored island with little more than a couple hundred meters of rope in 36 hour non-stop trek. Nature pretty much threw everything she had at them but they not only refused to die but also dug them self out of this mess.

** [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TN85StJ2mTU This video]] shows the war's progress. Note the counter in the lower right corner that keeps track of the casualties. Even when the map isn't changing, the body count keeps climbing.

* In the world of American gridiron: Jim Plunkett. Born to two blind, poor parents, with an Irish surname (even though he is ninety percent Hispanic) in 1947. Had to have a thyroid operation and was switched to defensive end upon starting at Stanford, even while throwing five-hundred to one-thousand balls per day to maintain his arm, eventually being allowed to start as quarterback as a junior. Although his father died the year before, his class graduated without him, and he had to work construction jobs to make ends meet and support his mother on scholarship, he won the Heisman in 1970. Drafted in 1971 by the New England Patriots, he won Rookie of the Year- before hitting rock bottom. (He threw for eight TD passes and '''twenty-five''' interceptions in his '''second''' year of pro football.) Traded to the 49ers in 1975, he was released after only two years, and signed to Oakland Raiders in 1979 where he was backup for a year before starting in 1980. Plunkett blew his big chance in Week 5, throwing '''five''' interceptions in one game after an injury to the starter, Pastorini. However, he continued to lead the Raiders to a Super Bowl win that year, second round of the playoffs in 1982, and a second Super Bowl win in 1983. He has still not been elected to the Hall of Fame twenty-five years after winning two Lombardis, more than ninety-five percent of quarterbacks ever win.

*** Spartacus wasn't born a prince, he simply was a Thracian auxiliary who "deserted", was caught and then condemned to die in the arena. Gladiators were rarely ever known by their real, given names, only by the most stereotypical names of the region they came from. The name Spactacus is a royal name so its not hard to see them calling him by that name. Think about how during slavery in the united states, slaves were renamed. Now think about if the slaves had been given names like Nelson Mandela (anachronistic I know) etc. Also, the romans were ruthless sometimes, but they never sold foreign royalty into slavery. They preferred to kill them.

* In the world of American gridiron: Jim Plunkett. Born to two blind, poor parents, with an Irish surname (even though he is ninety percent Hispanic) in 1947. Had to have a thyroid operation and was switched to defensive end upon starting at Stanford, even while throwing five-hundred to one-thousand balls per day to maintain his arm, eventually being allowed to start as quarterback as a junior. Although his father died the year before, his class graduated without him, and he had to work construction jobs to make ends meet and support his mother on scholarship, he won the Heisman in 1970. Drafted in 1971 by the New England Patriots, he won Rookie of the Year- before hitting rock bottom. (He threw for eight TD passes and '''twenty-five''' interceptions in his '''second''' year of pro football.) Traded to the 49ers in 1975, he was released after only two years, and signed to Oakland Raiders in 1979 where he was backup for a year before starting in 1980. Plunkett blew his big chance in Week 5, throwing '''five''' interceptions in one game after an injury to the starter, Pastorini. However, he continued to lead the Raiders to a Super Bowl win that year, second round of the playoffs in 1982, and a second Super Bowl win in 1983. He has still not been elected to the Hall of Fame twenty-five years after winning two Lombardis, more than ninety-five percent of QBs ever win.

* Molly Craig isn't on here? A young girl who escapes from an internment camp and walks 1500 miles across the Australian Outback TWICE, the second time with an infant in tow definitely qualifies.

** Chickamauga, Antietam and Gettysburg aren't, in truth, history's bloodiest battles, though they are America's. For example the battle for Berlin (lasting 17 days from 16 April to 2 May 1945) took the lives of roughly one-and-a-quarter million people (working out to about 73 thousand per day, to Antietam's 22 thousand and Gettysburg's 17)

* The original determinator: Sparticus. Born a slave, trained to die in public, led a successful revolt in the heart of a slave-owning aristocracy, built a 70,000 man army with his persona, destroyed two of Rome's own legions, bribed pirates for his army's passage overseas but was betrayed. Somewhat averted with his death in a final battle against eight legions.

* Any soldier who joins a Special Operating Force. Full Stop

* For the Americans, winning the women's gymnastics team gold in 1996 required an entire team of Determinators, but a few stand out. Amanda Borden made the national team in 1990. Soon afterward, she broke her arm. Then she tore her hamstring. Then she tore the other one. She made the 1992 Olympic team but was bumped for more experienced gymnasts. She would go on to be the team captain of the Magnificent 7. Perhaps the most famous of all from that team is Kerri Strug. She tore her abdominal muscle, healed from that, came back and fractured her spine. During the Olympics, she was the last gymnast up on vault of the final rotation of the competition. It was up to her to clinch the gold. She vaulted, fell and tore two ligaments in her ankle. Ordinarily, that renders a person unable to walk. She calmly limped back to the start, sprinted full speed down the runway, launched herself over the vault, and stuck the landing. On one foot.

* The Germans deserve their moment too, possibly even more so, for taking on the British, French ''and'' Russians and holding them all to a scoreless draw (until the advent of the US made the war {{unwinnable}} for them). But few people today remember what the British army actually achieved. The Kaiser called the British Army of 1914 "That Contemptible little army". They stopped him dead in 1914 and died almost to a man in doing so. The survivors formed the core of the expanded British army which held the line alongside the French for the next 3 years (with help from the dominions, don't forget the {{ANZAC}}s and Indians).

* In English there is a saying "Do it or die trying". In Russia we say "Die, but do it". That's right, even death is not an excuse.

** Agreed.

* Hiroo Onoda. He fought WW2 until 1974, holding out on his own (the rest of his squad died or defected) and dismissing things like newspapers and pamphlets as tricks designed to demoralize him. It took a Japanese student on a world trip to get him to surrender and only because the student visited him, took a picture, then talked to the Japanese government who in turn got Hiroo's commanding officer (now a librarian) to find him and specifically order him to put down his weapons and surrender. At the time of his surrender, his weapon was still functional after 30 years and he still had 500 rounds of ammo left among other supplies (some of which he got by raiding local cities).

* Almost any actor who has to go on a press tour needs steel resolve to finish them. For one example, there's a good chance that ''DoctorWho'' star MattSmith doesn't have to sleep. Simply filming the shows seem like no easy task on its own. Aside from that, he's hosted the Doctor Who prom, filmed two episodes of ''TheSarahJaneAdventures'', done voice recording for the ''Doctor Who'' Online Game, films behind-the-scenes segments for ''Doctor Who Confidential'', and has gone on a press tour that would leave most people curled in the fetal position.

* Manchester United in 1999 Champions League Final. Bayern led 1-0 first with Basler's goal in 6th minute. When did United reverse 2-1? In 90+1 and 90+3 minute.