Clyde William Tombaugh (February 4, 1906 – January 17, 1997) was an American astronomer. Although he is best known for discovering the dwarf planet Pluto in 1930, the first object to be discovered in what would later be identified as the Kuiper Belt, Tombaugh also discovered many asteroids; he also called for serious scientific research of unidentified flying objects.

Tombaugh was born in Streator, Illinois. After his family moved to Burdett, Kansas, Tombaugh's plans for attending college were frustrated when a hailstorm ruined their crops. Starting in 1926, he built several telescopes with lenses and mirrors he ground himself. He sent drawings of Jupiter and Mars, as well as his telescopes to the Lowell Observatory. These resulted in a job offer. Tombaugh was employed at the Lowell Observatory from 1929 to 1945.

Following his discovery of Pluto, Tombaugh earned bachelor's and master's degrees in astronomy from the University of Kansas in 1936 and 1938. During World War II he taught naval personnel navigation at Northern Arizona University. He worked at White Sands Missile Range in the early 1950s, and taught astronomy at New Mexico State University from 1955 until his retirement in 1973. He died in Las Cruces, New Mexico in 1997, aged 90. He was survived by his widow, Patricia and their children: daughter Annette and son Alden. Tombaugh was the great-uncle of Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw. Tombaugh was an active Unitarian-Universalist.

"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.

The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.

The earliest recorded use^{[citation needed]} of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." ^{[dubious – discuss]} In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.

Sufjan Stevens ( /ˈsuːfjɑːn/ SOOF-yahn; born July 1, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter and musician born in Detroit, Michigan. Stevens first began releasing his music on Asthmatic Kitty, a label co-founded with his stepfather, beginning with the 1999 release, A Sun Came. He is best known for his 2005 album, Illinois, which hit number one in the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart, and for the song "Chicago".

Stevens has released albums of varying styles, from the electronica of Enjoy Your Rabbit and the lo-fi folk of Seven Swans to the symphonic instrumentation of Illinois and Christmas-themed Songs for Christmas. Stevens makes use of a variety of instruments, often playing many of them himself on the same recording, and writes music in various time signatures. Though he has repeatedly stated an intent to separate his beliefs from his music, Stevens also freely draws from the Bible and other spiritual traditions, incorporating mystical elements into his music often.

Stevens was born in Detroit and lived there until the age of nine, when his family moved to Petoskey, Michigan. In Petoskey he attended the Petoskey High School, the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy and graduated from Harbor Light Christian School. He went on to attend Hope College in Holland, Michigan and earned a Master of Fine Arts from The New School in New York City.

Richard Blackwood (born Richard Clifford Blackwood, 15 May 1972, Clapham, London, England), is an English comedian, media personality, occasional actor and MC. He co-presents a show on the London radio station Choice FM and guests as a disc jockey at various nightclubs.

Blackwood presented the UK version of Singled Out on Channel 5 and, in 1999, presented his own show called The Richard Blackwood Show, which was commercially and critically unsuccessful.

Blackwood scored a UK #3 hit single in 2000, with the song 'Mama Who Da Man', based on Mama Used to Say by his uncle Junior. The 200,000+ selling hit single was written and produced by Lucas Secon (Pussycat Dolls, Jordin Sparks, Sugababes) and Mickey P.

Blackwood appeared on Brass Eye in 2001, during which he was tricked into saying that Internet paedophiles can make computer keyboards emit noxious fumes in order to subdue children. Blackwood even sniffed a keyboard and claimed it made him feel "suggestible". Blackwood also warned watching parents that exposure to the fumes would make their children "smell like hammers". He had acting appearances in Holby City in 2003 and played the title character in the 2002 television series Ed Stone Is Dead. During May 2003, Blackwood appeared in Channel 5's Celebrity Detox Camp, a highlight of which was his self-administered coffee enema, which involved him being filmed "pumping 18 litres of coffee solution through his anus into [his] stomach" In March 2007, he acted in the critically unsuccessful Bollywood film Don't Stop Dreaming. In 2005, Blackwood appeared in the critically maligned Princes of Comedii DVD release, his involvement being described as "desperate" by DVD Times reviewer Eamonn McCusker.

John Clayton Mayer ( /ˈmeɪ.ər/ MAY-ər; (born October 16, 1977) is an American pop and blues rock musician, singer-songwriter, recording artist, and music producer. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and raised in Fairfield, Connecticut, he attended Berklee College of Music in Boston. He moved to Atlanta in 1997, where he refined his skills and gained a following, and he now lives in New York City. His first two studio albums, Room for Squares and Heavier Things, did well commercially, achieving multi-platinum status. In 2003, he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland."

Mayer began his career performing mainly acoustic rock, but gradually began a transition towards the blues genre in 2005 by collaborating with renowned blues artists such as B. B. King, Buddy Guy, and Eric Clapton, and by forming the John Mayer Trio. The blues influence can be heard throughout his 2005 live album Try! with the John Mayer Trio and his third studio album Continuum, released in September 2006. At the 49th Annual Grammy Awards in 2007 Mayer won Best Pop Vocal Album for Continuum and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Waiting on the World to Change". He released his fourth studio album, Battle Studies, in November 2009. His fifth album, Born and Raised, was released on May 22, 2012. He has sold over 10 million albums in the U.S. and 20 million albums worldwide.