"A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider to be God-fearing and pious."
-Aristotle (343 B.C.)

We each go through life gathering meaning from experience, observed through the filter of our unique perspectives. Defined by genetics, shaped by environment, driven by our innate curiosity, we are compelled to move forward in our endeavors.

I believe it's our duty as beings of rational thought, the only known consciousness in the Universe, to do everything in our power to survive, to learn, and to teach. We must grant the gift of scholarship to those who follow us. Knowledge is power, and our only hope.

Losing the great Library of Alexandria is a heavy price for precious insight. The modern world that surrounds us is a testament to the wonders of Science. No longer can it sit in an ivory tower of abstract theories and mathematical proofs. Popularizing Science is the best way to heed Carl Sagan's warning that we 'never let it happen again'.

I am Apt, Inquisitive, and Logical

Learning what I can about the habits of bipedal apes...

Donating my O+ blood type whenever the opportunity presents itself. I lose nothing but someone else gets what they are in critical need of.

...planning to re-play Dragon Age: Origins on PC while looking for someone to play Magic: The Gathering with...

Keeping up with my podcasts:

Astronomy Cast
Center Stage (Center for Inquiry)
Co-Opticast (co-op videogames)
Common Sense with Dan Carlin (non-partisan political talk)
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History (not a show about the history of porn)
Dilbert Animated Cartoons
Freethought Radio
IGN Podcast Beyond (gaming)
The Jorge Rodriguez Show (former south florida radio talk host)
Midwest Wasteland (part of Videogame News Radio)
NPR Car Talk
NPR Wait Wait, Dont Tell Me
Old Time Radio Detectives:
(Dragnet, Boston Blackie, Philip Marlowe, Nick Carter, Nero Wolfe, ect)
PC Gamer
Point of Inquiry (Center for Inquiry)
Real Time with Bill Maher
Robert Ingersoll Podcast
Science Update Podcast- Weekly Edition:
(American Association for the Advancement of Science)
Skeptic's Guide 5x5
The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe
Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
X-Play's Daily Video Podcast

approaching problems logically, objectively. Keeping a long-term perspective when confronted with the day-to-day.

I tune into the BBC World Service for my daily news fix, or perhaps that my iPod is cluttered with documentaries and lectures rather than actual music.
Well other than some Chopin...

Books:

Affirmations: Joyful and Creative Exuberance
by Paul Kurtz

The Complete Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The God Delusion
by Richard Dawkins

Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
by Carl Sagan

God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
by Christopher Hitchens

Storm of Steel
by Ernst Junger

Skeptoid: Critical Analysis of Pop Phenomena
by Brian Dunning

Odd Thomas
by Dean Koontz

The Colors of Magic Anthology
Edited by Jess Lebow

Thinner
by Stephen King

Hand of Fire - Shandril's Saga Book 3
by Ed Greenwood

Elminster in Hell
by Ed Greenwood

The Magician's Guild - Black Magician Trilogy Book One
by Trudi Canavan

The Novice - Black Magician Trilogy Book Two
by Trudi Canavan

On A Pale Horse
by Piers Anthony

The Hobbit

Lord of the Rings Trilogy

TV:

Science Channel

History Channel

Carl Sagan's Cosmos

House

Firefly

MST3K

Rurouni Kenshin

Cowboy Bebop

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Escaflowne

Movies:

LotR

Serenity

Back to the Future

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The Godfather I and II

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

The Great Mouse Detective

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm

Batman Beyond: Return of the Joker

Batman Begins

The Dark Knight

Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers - To The Rescue

Saw and Hostel

Music:

Classical

40s and 50s Swing

Bob Crosby

Folk and Acoustic

Food:

Polish, Irish, and Italian dishes. Sushi would be my most exotic culinary experiment.

Video games:

(NES)

Double Dragon

Legend of Zelda I, II

Mega Man 2-6

Kirby's Adventure

Super Mario 1-3

Crystalis

Dragon Quest

Tiny Toons 1, 2

Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers 1, 2

Duck Tales 1, 2

Darkwing Duck

Who Framed Roger Rabbit

(Playstation 3)

Castlevania: SotN

GTA

Legacy of Kain

Soul Reaver

Final Fantasy Chronicles

Metal Gear Solid

Uncharted

Assassin's Creed

(PC)

Half Life 2

Portal

Mass Effect 1, 2

Dragon Age Origins

Sherlock Holmes

Fallout 3

Bioshock

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Star Wars: KotoR

Literacy

Critical Thinking

The Scientific Method

Appreciation for History

The 'Internets'

...video games :)

The ultimate fate of conscious in the Universe.

How we'll overcome the 'impossibility' of faster than light travel before the Sun dies out.

The ramifications of a poor education system, particularly regarding the public understanding of Science.

How many science / videogame podcasts I don't yet subscribe to.

Where have all the Statesmen gone?

What it'll take for Americans who value Science and Reason in public affairs to stand up and say enough is enough.

Being an ISTJ according to the Myers-Briggs Personality Type Indicator.

Watching some documentary or updating my Podcasts... I recommend Dan Carlin's Hardcore History :)

Also looking up interesting quotes:

When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.
-Sherlock Holmes

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.
-Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC)

And do you think that unto such as you;
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew:
God gave the secret, and denied it me?--
Well, well, what matters it! Believe that, too.
-Omar Khayyám (1048–1131), Persian mathematician and astronomer

Not being able to govern events, I govern myself.
-Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592), French Statesman and Author

The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being as his father, in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.
- Thomas Jefferson, third US President (1743 – 1826)

Science is nothing but trained and organized common sense. Differing from the latter only as a veteran may differ from a raw recruit. And its methods differ from those of common sense only as far as the guardsman's cut and thrust differ from the manner in which a savage wields his club.
-Thomas Huxley, Biologist (1825-1895)

Every intelligent American is satisfied that the religions of India, of Egypt, of Greece and Rome, of the Aztecs, were and are false, and that all the miracles on which they rest are mistakes. Our religion alone is excepted. Every intelligent Hindoo discards all religions and all miracles except his own. The question is: When will people see the defects in their own theology as clearly as they perceive the same defects in every other?
-Col. Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899), 'Why Am I Agnostic'

The truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.
-Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it?
-Douglas Adams (1952-2001)

We are going to die, and that makes us the lucky ones. Most people are never going to die because they are never going to be born. The potential people who could have been here in my place but who will in fact never see the light of day outnumber the sand grains of Sahara. Certainly those unborn ghosts include greater poets than Keats, scientists greater than Newton. We know this because the set of possible people allowed by our DNA so massively outnumbers the set of actual people. In the teeth of these stupefying odds it is you and I, in our ordinariness, that are here.
-Richard Dawkins, Ethologist (1941)

I will no longer be afraid to ask questions and speak my mind. I will demand evidence that is measurable, verifiable, and falsifiable, for the claims of those who seek to persuade me.

you're interested in how I formed my opinions.

I'm shy in person, but feel free to message me and I'll answer your inquiry:)

'Call me infidel, call me atheist, call me what you will, I intend so to treat my children, that they can come to my grave and truthfully say: "He who sleeps here never gave us a moment of pain. From his lips, now dust, never came to us an unkind word."'
The Liberty Of All (1877), Robert Green Ingersoll

Some species have lifespans that don't last a month. We have a mere 80 years if we're lucky. As far as a planet, let alone a star is concerned, ours is the briefest spark. The slimmest of chances to inquire, to comprehend, and to impart.

Without the promise of an afterlife we must do all we can to make good of this one. The fact that we're alive is a most remarkable genetic improbability.

The natural world is here to explore and I believe it holds the answers to the problems before us. We need only observe and deduce.

Despite our post Enlightenment advances, the old questions of Epicurus (341-270 BC) remain unanswered:

Is God willing to prevent evil but not able?
Then He is not omnipotent.

Is He able but not willing?
Then He is malevolent.

Is God both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?

Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call Him God?

Lastly, if any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from Magic, does that make any sufficiently advanced species indistinguishable from a Goddess?