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My Life (in brief)
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I was born in a ratty shoebox by the side of the interstate and our father used to thrash us to sleep. Uh, no, that's not it...apologies to Monty Python.
I was born and in a major East Coast city in the 60's and grew up in the 70's (same city) and early 80's. My Dad was a conservative Republican and my Mom a moderate with some liberal leanings. So, since the left was unoccupied, I became a progressive liberal (OK, it wasn't quite that simple).
Anyway, I was raised in a home where questioning everything was encouraged, had a traditional Lutheran religious education (although as I started questioning the inconsistencies in the religion from the time I was six, my association with the church ended when I was 13), spent a number of years in the Boy Scouts, and as I'd started reading when I was 3, had more books than some small libraries.
I'm married to a wonderful woman, have 6 kids (two are out on their own), and love my family more than anything.
Professionally, I'm an IT manager for a large government agency. The job can be rather difficult and stressful, but it is also rather fulfilling as I have one of the best staffs in the world working for me, and my fellow IT managers form a great team. (I also edit a significant number of reports, analyze proposals and translate correspondence from various parts of the world).
Interests
- Linguistics
- Political Science
- Theoretical Physics
- Mathematics
- Poetry
- Music
- Philosophy
....
Politics
My "survey" scores:
-5.63 -6.72 Yep, that makes me pretty liberal and damned proud of it.
Philosophy (mostly my own)
Please note that unless otherwise specified, what I write here is my own opinion, based on observation, some experimentation, and a complete analysis of the topic I am addressing. Yes, at least one well-known philosopher will likely have said some of the things I write, but generally speaking, whether a well-known philosopher agrees or disagree with me is not something I care all that much about. But then, that's really the beauty of philosophy: as long as one does not get caught in logical fallacies, all is well.
- I do not think that anything, not one thing, is inherently or intrinsically good or evil. I think that those qualities are merely imposed upon a concept or behaviour both societally and personally, in part as a way of ensuring the survival of our species, and in part because they create both a sense of purpose and of security.
- The meaning of life is that we give life meaning.
 | This user supports freedom of speech. |
Template:User evol-4 Template:User lennonist Template:User freedom
Books (just read and favorites)
Currently Reading
- The Future of an Illusion, Sigmund Freud
- Selected Essays, T.S. Eliot
Recently Read
- Innumeracy, John Allen Paulos; Parallel Worlds, Michio Kaku; :Time Must Have a Stop, Aldous Huxley; Ape and Essence, Aldous Huxley; The Elegant Universe, Brian Greene
Favorites
- James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses
- Oscar Wilde: The Picture of Dorian Grey
- Aldous Huxley: Point-Counterpont, After Many a Summer Dies the Swan and A Brave New World.
- John Steinbeck: The Grapes of Wrath and The Winter of Our Discontent
- Robert Penn Warren: All the King's Men
- William Faulkner: As I Lay Dying and The Sound And The Fury
- Robert Graves: I, Claudius and King Jesus
- Isabel Allende: La Casa De Los Espiritus (In Spanish)
- Virgil: The Eclogues (in Latin)
- Dante: La (divina) commedia -- both the original and Ciardi's translation
- Arthur Koestler: Darkness At Noon
- Ernest Hemingway: The Sun Also Rises
- Ralph Ellison: Invisible Man
- Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita, Pale Fire and Pnin
- D.H. Lawrence: Sons And Lovers
- Malcolm Lowry: Under The Volcano
...more to come
Music (favorites)
Favorite Artists and Composers
- Beatles
- Beethoven
- Bob Dylan
- Van Halen
- Mozart
- Rolling Stones
- Pink Floyd
- Byrds
- Buffalo Springfield
Favorite Albums and Compositions
- Beatles: Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul, White Album
- Rolling Stones: Exile on Main Street, Beggars' Banquet and Let it Bleed
- Aerosmith: Rocks and Toys in the Attic
Still in progress
 | This user plays the bass guitar. |
 | This user plays the guitar. |
Links to Other Stuff I'm working on
- /translation1
- /translation2
- /flood_story
- /flood_story_narrative_form
- /London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
- /JG_rewrites_history
Interests and other crap
| A, B and C | This user prefers not to use the serial comma. |
he or she | This user considers the singular they to be substandard English usage. |
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Your comments
I was going to let your comments stay on my talk page for awhile until you began attacking me. If you do it again, you'll be reported and I've dealt with people like you before and they will ban you for 24 hours. --Jason Gastrich 21:13, 21 January 2006 (UTC)
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