It was my intention to start contributing to Wikipedia when I first signed up, but time has been against me doing so since then.
I was born in
California, but lived there less than six months when my parents moved to
Alaska where I spent the majority of my younger years as a child and teenager. Alaska is truly where my heart resides, and despite the fact that I am now currently living and working in
Mississippi, one day I'll get back home to Alaska and live out the remainder of my life there.
I enjoy research and facts, and despite unfortunately not attending college for a science related field, am intensely interested in
Science related subjects - specifically
Astronomy,
Astrophysics,
Quantum Physics,
Planetary_science,
Exoplanetology, and
Theoretical_planetology, and the study of our own
Solar System. I have a healthy interest as a result also in certain
Pseudoscience topics, such as
UFO related information. In that regard I regard myself as a
Skeptic in the true sense of the word - I believe that such claims of the
Paranormal are possible, but until empirical
Evidence is presented by utilizing
Quantitative_research that supports the theories, I cannot regard such claims as fact.
Carl Sagan said it best when he stated : "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." Furthermore, those who claim extraordinary events and experiences have it upon them, not the skeptics, to supply the
Burden of proof. As an
Agnostic I also apply these same principles to
Religion in general, and belief in the existence of a
Supreme_being or
God. To this end I also advocate
Freethought and strive to practice this philosophy throughout my daily life.
I am also an
Aviation buff, and enjoy flight in all it's forms. Due to my love of aviation I do tend to play a lot of
Flight simulators, most of which were combat simulation related earlier in my life but since has toned down more to civilian flight simulation. This has led me to pursue
Flight_Training and the possibility of obtaining a
Private_Pilot_License sometime in the near future.
Unfortunately as well some of my initial desire to contribute has waned slightly due to what I've perceived to be bias and opinion related edits to some very important human rights articles by some of the more active editors and administration level users - specifically the
Soweto Uprising and some related articles on
South_Africa_under_apartheid. If I am in error with the nature of these edits then that is my own perception of them gone awry - however, if I am correct, that puts a rather dark blot on Wikipedia being a source of competent, unbiased information to the public.
I am a firm believer in online information retention sites such as Wikipedia reporting and displaying completely un-biased, objective and non-point-of-view articles based on quantifiable facts and source material.
Lastly - I have to admit that, yes - I am a user who thinks that Userboxes are interesting and provide a unique insight to the users and editors who use them -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Userboxes.