Slashdot Asks: The Beanies Return; Who Deserves Recognition for 2014?

It's been a long time since Slashdot has awarded the Beanies -- nearly 15 years, in fact. But there's no time like the present, especially since tomorrow edges on the new year, and in early 2015 we'd like to offer a Beanie once again, to recognize and honor your favorite person, people (or project; keep reading) of the past year. Rather than a fine-grained list of categories like in 2000, though, this time around we're keeping it simple: we can always complicate things later, if warranted. So, please nominate below whoever you think most deserves kudos for the last twelve months. Is it ...

• Edward Snowden, for the impact his leaks (though they began in 2013) have continued to make? (Or William Binney, for similar reasons?)
• Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzay, who fought a difficult battle for children's right to an education?
• Telescope popularizer John Dobson, who died earlier this year at the age of 98, after bringing space a little more down to earth for many thousands of people?
• May-Britt Moser, her husband Edvard Moser, and John O'Keefe for their discoveries about how the brain navigates through the world?
• Eben Upton, whose little educational hardware project has bloomed into millions and millions of cheap, hackable Linux computers?
• How about Maryam Mirazkhani, the first woman to become a Fields medalist?
• Theo de Raadt, who stepped in with replacement project LibreSSL soon after cracks appeared in OpenSSL, and who's been helming the OpenBSD project since 1995?
• The ESA team that landed a probe on a comet, or the ISRO engineers who managed to send a probe to Mars on a shoestring budget?
• Anita Sarkeesian, for helping draw attention to undue harassment faced by women in the video game world?
• Someone relatively quiet or obscure who's nonetheless made the world better through some kind of interesting innovation or contribution?

Read on below to see how you can take part, and then nominate your favorite in the comments below.

A few guidelines to make this work:

• Please use the title of your post well; in the form "Name: Description of why they're deserving." (Example: "Harold Ramis: Goodbye, and thanks for all the laughs.") That way, your title can help organize the discussion, and will be easy to scan for. (That's how we'll look to credit the first one to suggest a candidate, as well.)
• Speaking of which: please scan the other suggestions first; if you find there one you'd like to argue for or against, better to do it there, rather than start a new thread.
• Please name an actual person, or a specific group of people, so we can send your choice -- or a representative, as appropriate -- some kind of token (to wit, a beanie). But be as creative as you want: the names listed above are just starting points.
• Explain why your choice deserves to be lauded, with links and words; underrated heroes are welcome. If there's a relevant Slashdot story to link to, so much the better, but it's no requirement. Make it clear why your favorite deserves recognition for 2014, even if it's for contributions that started longer ago. Feel free to nominate yourself, but the same guidelines apply.
• Accentuate the positive. We figure beanies sent to Keith Alexander, John Brennan, or Kim Jong Un won't get worn very often. Maybe there can be some anti-Beanies down the road, but for now, name the good guys, of whatever variety.
• You need not be logged in to take part -- anonymous entries are welcome. However, because of comment thresholds, among other reasons, logged in comments may carry more weight.

We'll winnow down the suggestions below into a short list for further consideration -- and perhaps toss in a few more options to boot -- and aim to come up with a deserving new Beanie recipient (possibly more than one) before the first new moon of 2015.

Submit away.

Comments

Edward Snowden

[Anonymous Coward]

I recommend Edward Snowden, for being the first to demonstrate that Theo de Raadt isn't too paranoid.

(I say this with great respect for Theo's amazing work over the years)

Malala Yousafzay

[LWATCDR]

Nobel Peace prize winner that actually tries to do some good.
Was shot in the head, recovered, and is now fighting for what is right at the risk of her life.

I see no debate on this one.

Re:Snowden is a traitor and a coward

[mwvdlee]

Whether he was a traitor or a patriot depends on whether you consider the US government a god-like entity that can do no wrong or one somewhat more human and flawed that requires checks and bounds.

A coward, however, he is most assuredly not, for it takes some huge pair of balls to go up against a government which you have just discovered through objective evidence will stop at nothing, neither legal nor illegal, moral nor immoral, just nor unjust, to wreak vengeance.

Re:Snowden is a traitor and a coward

[HBI]

Well, we made him into a fugitive, so what did you expect? Now he has to earn his keep somehow. I'm waiting now for someone to tell me that they'd like to count trees or kill themselves rather than eke out a living by giving minimal assistance to your 'hosts'? That's a BS argument on its face.

This is a problem of US government creation, not Snowden's. We forced him into a very bad solution set. Give up his integrity or hang the extent of the surveillance out for public view. Just shows you how weak-willed the rest are...or entirely lacking in integrity.

Snowden. For his effort in security

[Anonymous Coward]

and making the world really understand what goes on in Washington