User:Jdavidb
Secession is the right of all sentient beings. — me.
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| JDB | This user is J. David Blackstone first and a Wikipedian second. He helps Wikipedia out of the goodness of his heart. It's his hobby, not his job. He thinks his individuality should not have to be left at the door to do that, and he happens to think he does a bang-up job writing NPOV and policing people of his own POV who do not know how to do that. He thinks the chance to have a little bit of individual space is something even his heartless corporation allows in his soulless cubicle. He thinks userboxes are overall pretty silly, including the Babel project, but recognizes that user categorization has been around for a long time, since before categories were invented, even categorizing such stupid things as user's pets and D&D alignments, and he knows that it gives users a good feeling to identify common interests, and he realizes that some people hate religion so much they can't imagine that it would be good for people to identify it as a common interest. He thinks that anyone who agrees with Tony Sidaway's deletion summary on {{user Christian}} that "proselytizing" was occurring is probably not capable of exercising NPOV. |
To see what I'm thinking or learning lately about Wikipedia, check out my wiki blog.
I am married to User:Carradee. We have one little boy, pictured, and not long ago we discovered that Carradee is expecting another baby! :) Carradee was a twelve-year homeschooled autodidact, and our children will be homeschooled as well.
I'm religious, a member of the Church of Christ. I enjoy the way Wikipedia's collaborative editing results in unbiased presentation of information. I enjoy editing articles, particularly about religious topics, to remove bias, either on the part of those who agree with me or on the part of those who do not. (As a member of the Church of Christ I'm in the unique position of often disagreeing with most of Christendom as well as other religions and atheists.)
I'm also quite political, being a conservative, laissez-faire anarcho-capitalist (I accept the label "anarchist"), pro-life, libertarian. I agree with the secession plank of the American Libertarian Party; indeed, I consider it the foundation of freedom. (However, I am not an LP member and will not display its logo because it is a goddess.) Incidentally you might be interested to read the arguments from libertarians for life which explain why I believe EVERYONE should believe in legal protections for the unborn without reference to religious belief.
At the intersection of my homeschooling beliefs and my political beliefs is the belief that government should not be involved in coercive education at all. Providing free education to all comers (or as many comers as possible) is a worthy goal, provided it is pursued with donated, rather than stolen (taxed) money. But compulsory schooling violates the liberty of students and their parents, and may often not be the best thing for them. If you disagree, perhaps you should give your edits to the compulsory education system instead of Wikipedia?
I started the Well of souls article.
My favorite new article I've created so far (and probably my favorite ever) is singing school. Being the son of a singing school teacher, I love singing schools and hope to teach them myself some day.
I keep track of new things I learn and do at Wikipedia in my wiki blog. Here I'll make note of new things I've learned how to do, thoughts about how things should be done, etc.
Current projects
[edit]- Right now I view myself as more of a Wikipedia user rather than a Wikipedia editor. I'm usually on Wikipedia at least once a day looking around, looking up something I want to know, etc. Sometimes I'll make minor changes. Sometimes I'll go after a vandal. Sometimes something will interest me enough to get me involved in editing again for a short while.
- Removing links to fanlistings. Since fanlistings are lists of non-notable people, they don't belong here. How does it help you understand more about a topic to have a list of all the Joe Blows of the world who like it?
Milestones
[edit]I have a relatively low edit count for someone of my position. I'm commonly mistaken for a newbie. Be warned; it is entirely possible I have been around Wikipedia longer than you. I've been here since 2004-02-20 [1] (counting from my earliest registered edit, which was not my first edit).
My user page was first vandalized at 2005-09-28 13:40 (CDT) and has been vandalized a total of four times: [2] [3] [4] [5].
An additional more subtle vandalism attempt occurred when somebody mad at me vandalized the picture of my baby (see history on that page for details).
On 2005-09-29 I passed a request for adminiship for which I nominated myself. I expect to use my administrator status and powers to further my efforts against link spam and vandalism.
On 2005-10-06 I added myself to my sixteenth Wikipedian user category. At some point, this has got to stop! :)
Link spam brigade
[edit]I would like to invite other Wikipedians to join me in an effort to police Wikipedia for link spam. I'll be outlining some plans and goals at /Linkspam and possibly eventually starting a new Wikipedia:WikiProject.
Multilicensing
[edit]I agree to multi-license all my contributions to Wikipedia, without exception, according to the following:
| Dual licensed with the Creative Commons ShareAlike 1.0 License | 
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| I agree to license, my contributions for which I hold the copyright, under the Creative Commons ShareAlike 1.0 license. Please be aware that other contributors might not do the same, so if you want to use my contributions under the Creative Commons terms, please check the CC dual-license and Multi-licensing guides. | |
| Multi-licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License versions 1.0 and 2.0 | ||
| I agree to multi-license my text contributions, unless otherwise stated, under Wikipedia's copyright terms and the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license version 1.0 and version 2.0. Please be aware that other contributors might not do the same, so if you want to use my contributions under the Creative Commons terms, please check the CC dual-license and Multi-licensing guides. | ||
Weekly Torah portion
[edit]Awhile back I became interested in Judaism's parsha Bible-reading (specifically Torah-reading) schedule. Now I've discovered this really cool related template:
On the eighth day of the ceremony to ordain the priests and consecrate the Tabernacle, Moses instructed Aaron to assemble calves, rams, a goat, a lamb, an ox, and a meal offering as sacrifices (called korbanot in Hebrew) to God, saying: “Today the Lord will appear to you." They brought the korbanot to the front of the Tent of Meeting, and the Israelites assembled there. Aaron offered the korbanot as Moses had commanded. Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them. Moses and Aaron then went inside the Tent of Meeting, and when they came out, they blessed the people again. Then the Presence of the Lord appeared to all the people and fire came forth and consumed the korbanot on the altar. And the people shouted and fell on their faces. Acting on their own, Aaron’s sons Nadab and Abihu each took his fire pan, laid incense on it, and offered alien fire, which God had not commanded. And God sent fire to consume them, and they died. Moses told Aaron, "This is what the Lord meant when He said: ‘Through those near to Me I show Myself holy, and gain glory before all the people,’" and Aaron remained silent. Moses called Aaron’s cousins Mishael and Elzaphan to carry away Nadab’s and Abihu’s bodies to a place outside the camp. Moses instructed Aaron and his sons Eleazar and Ithamar not to mourn Nadab and Abihu and not to go outside the Tent of Meeting. And God told Aaron that he and his sons must not drink wine or other intoxicants when they entered the Tent of Meeting, so as to distinguish between the sacred and the profane. Moses directed Aaron, Eleazar, and Ithamar to eat the remaining meal offering beside the altar, designating it most holy and the priests’ due. And Moses told them that their families could eat the breast of the elevation offering and the thigh of the gift offering in any clean place. Then Moses inquired about the goat of sin offering, and was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar when he learned that it had already been burned and not eaten in the sacred area. Aaron answered Moses: "See, this day they brought their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, and such things have befallen me! Had I eaten sin offering today, would the Lord have approved?" And when Moses heard this, he approved. God then instructed Moses and Aaron in the dietary laws of kashrut, saying: “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Hebrew and English Text
Hear the parshah chanted
Commentary from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University (Conservative)
Commentary from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative)
Commentary by the Union for Reform Judaism (Reform)
Commentaries from Project Genesis (Orthodox)
Commentaries from Chabad.org (Orthodox)
Commentaries from Aish HaTorah (Orthodox)
Commentaries from the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation (Reconstructionist)
Commentaries from My Jewish Learning (trans-denominational)
Commentaries from Aleph Beta Academy
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[edit]I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.