My name is Francis,

Apart from academic pursuits, my interest/hobbies lie in:
horticulture, conservation, bush-walking, computer and Nintendo DS games, stamp collecting, reading; my latest read is -'Richard Dawkins: The Greatest Show on Earth', watching either documentaries or comedy movies.

Politically I am neutral; I agree with some aspects or tenets from both left and right-wing schools of thought, refusing to subscribe to a set of beliefs due to a few negligible agreements.

Whilst I am involved in conservation, I think there is a fine-line between green religion and common sense; green religion has seemingly produced what I refer to as "TV scientists" or "Today-tonightologists," everyone has an extreme environmental opinion with little-to-no logic and/or reason involved in reaching their inference.

I love birds - including poultry and waterfowl. I have three ducks and a chicken as pets, and by pets I mean extended family members. I enjoy taking note of the birds that appear in my backyard and in Victoria generally - for quite some time now I have had two ring-necked doves that have made my backyard home and are extremely tame!

I consider myself to be a comical person, most people don't note this at first because I am relatively quiet! I find loud, outgoing and extremely politically opinionated people annoying and do my best to avoid them. I rarely drink but when I do my poison of choice is port and/or red wine.

I'm currently finishing a diploma of science and looking to progress into a bachelor of applied science, with a major in geology - it sucks being a mature age but I really want to be an exploration geologist and wouldn't consider a career outside the realm of earth science.

I often volunteer with Conservation Volunteers Australia - my last project was mammal monitoring in the Grampians National Park.

My height - 6'3ft and my apparent coyness.

Books:

I've read and enjoyed all of Dan Brown's novels, currently reading: 'The Greatest Show On Earth' - Richard Dawkins, Maestro, The curious incident of the dog in the night-time, Jurassic Park, other science books whether part of a curriculum or for self interest.

Music:

Baroque, Quartet music, Gypsy music (Polish and other slavic), Folk (Polish), Electronic and house, definitely the oldies (50's and 60's) I'm very selective about rock - much preferring softer rock and I can't tolerate rap or R&B!

Movies:

Religulous, The God Who Wasn't There, Up, Bolt, Short Circuit, The Flight of the Navigator, Superbad, Pan's Labyrinth, Robocop, Déjà vu, The 13th Floor, Tron, Wall-e, Richard Dawking - The Enemies of Reason, A Rough History of Disbelief, David Attenborough - The Life of Birds, Underworld - 1,2 & 3, Mall Cop,

Food:

I tend to live-off healthy choice meals at the moment, although I love eating cereal at night time or buying sliced peaches and adding them to yoghurt. My favourite food is pierogi - a Polish/Ukrainian/Russian dumpling with a mince meat and pork filling accompanied by pieces of bacon and sauerkraut and covered in fried onion and sour cream - I know...but I never said it was healthy! I generally eat most food types and don't narrow my eating down to categories: Italian, Mexican, French...ect. I do love goji berries but not when they are too dry and become crispy.

Oh yeah...pistachio and coffee gelati - a personal favourite!

I know, I know....I'm supposed to say Oxygen! If we were to breathe in Oxygen in its elemental form we would die people! Air is an aggregation of gasses - largely Nitrogen based (for now).

1. Family - including the ducks and chicken.

2. Science and knowledge - epistemologically, knowledge is imperfect and truth is some-what unobtainable, rather, science assigns a probability of truth to what we consider knowledge.

3. Civil liberties and technology.

5. Geology hammer and hand lens.

6. Good coffee/tea! Especially chai latte.

1. Science, logic and philosophy.

2. Linguistics and geography: especially the distribution and evolution of slavic languages, and the German, Danish and Latin influence in English.

3. Atheism and anti-theism.

4. The future of course: where am I going to live? what places will geology take me?

Doing nothing different from any of the four other weeknights! I don't like clubbing - too many strange people, and I don't dance as rhythm and I have had a disagreement.

Michael Jackson really didn't change my life, and no...I am not infatuated with Barack Obama or aspects of American culture.

I don't believe in fairies or magic - sorry pagans.

I wear an akubra when I go on field trips/volunteer projects.

I don't appreciate being on the receiving end of angry single parents with pram-rage when shopping.

If your really that bored and I appear to be a good last resort! Hahah or if you want to talk about science, the world as it is/was - this excludes Australian Idol and/or Home and Away.