Nassim Nicholas Taleb (Arabic: نسيم نيقولا نجيب طالب‎, alternatively Nessim or Nissim, born 1960) is a Lebanese American essayist whose work focuses on problems of randomness and probability. His 2007 book The Black Swan was described in a review by Sunday Times as one of the twelve most influential books since World War II.

He is a bestselling author, and has been a professor at several universities, currently at Polytechnic Institute of New York University and Oxford University. He has also been a practitioner of mathematical finance,a hedge fund manager, a Wall Street trader, and is currently a scientific adviser at Universa Investments and the International Monetary Fund.

He criticized the risk management methods used by the finance industry and warned about financial crises, subsequently making a fortune out of the late-2000s financial crisis. He advocates what he calls a "black swan robust" society, meaning a society that can withstand difficult-to-predict events. He proposes "antifragility" in systems, that is, an ability to benefit and grow from random events, errors, and volatility as well as "stochastic tinkering" as a method of scientific discovery, by which he means experimentation and fact-collecting instead of top-down directed research.

Russell Dominic Peters (born September 29, 1970) is a Canadian comedian, actor and disc jockey. He began performing in Toronto in 1989 and has been nominated for four Gemini Awards.

Russell Peters was born in Brampton, Ontario, Canada to Eric and Maureen Peters. His family is of Anglo-Indian ancestry and is Catholic. His father was born in Bombay, Maharashtra, India, and worked as a federal meat inspector; he is regularly mentioned and featured in his comedy work. His mother was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, India. He has an older brother named Clayton who was born in Calcutta. Russell attended Chinguacousy Secondary School for grades 9–10, and North Peel Secondary School for grades 11–12 in Brampton.

Peters began performing in Toronto in 1989. Peters' popularity extends to several countries. He has since also performed in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Afghanistan, Sweden, South Africa, India, the Caribbean, Philippines, Vietnam, mainland China, Canada, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, France, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Norway, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Malaysia, and Trinidad among other places.