When you hear from your family: 'you are a f#cking Communist, just like your father!' because you happen to be [too?] liberal. Yes, I read about the feminist movement, pro-choice and atheism, but I am not a fully left-wing person.

Have not heard of this man, but wow; great to read about him

And especially reading this,

"His fasting led to a keen interest in nutrition. Working in the 1980s with a Swedish health food company, Mr. Gregory developed a weight-reduction powder called Slim-Safe Bahamian Diet. The partners had a falling-out, and the business swooned.

Still, Mr. Gregory remained a fervent health-food advocate. In late 1999, he learned he had lymphoma but rejected chemotherapy, relying instead on vitamins, herbs and exercise. The cancer went into remission."

I have heard quite a few reports of people going natural, Ayervedic (not sure of spelling but it is some India way of natural remedies), and avoiding pharmaceutical poison and cancer diagnosis disappears.

I heard recently about Randi thanks to the book by Tomasz Kwaśniewski 'W co wierzą Polacy? Śledztwo w sprawie wróżek, jasnowidzów, szeptuch...' ('What do the Polish people believe in? An investigation into fortunetellers, clairvoyants, folk healers...'). Definitely someone to read more about, even if I am still a New Age fan (taking prescribed pills when necessary). The life is more funny this way to me.

Cohen brothers really tied the movie together

I nominate Alan Watts for Great Dudes in history.

Alan Wilson Watts was a British writer and speaker known for interpreting and popularizing Buddhism, Taoism, and Hinduism for a Western audience. Born in Christchurch, England, he moved to the United States in 1938 and began Zen training in New York. He received a master's degree in theology from Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and became an Episcopal priest in 1945. He left the ministry in 1950 and moved to California, where he joined the faculty of the American Academy of Asian Studies.

In October 1973, Watts returned from a European lecture tour to his cabin in Druid Heights, California. (Look that commune up) Friends of Watts had been concerned about him for some time over his alcoholism. On 16 November 1973, at age 58, he died in his sleep.

This man has opened my eyes to spirituality and meditation. Alcoholic, author, academic square who evolved into a wonderfully intelligent enlightened hippy. Marriage an affair, divorced, defrocked etc, What more could we ask for?  Dude of the year man.