New Applicant
BASICS:
Name: PennGwyn
Gender/Sex/Affiliation: Male/Bi/Poly
Age: 47
Location: Mountain View, California
INQUISITIONS:
What attracted you to this community? I started observing the community, and found some of the posts very thought-provoking.
What is the highest level of school completed? Bachelor (thesis-based).
What are some of your major interests/hobbies? Photography, audio-video production, philosophy, improv.
What about the human psyche most appeals to you, and why? Language and thought. Ontology often recapitulates philology.
Type of music most enjoyed: I prefer strange female voices, and/or funny/clever/intricate lyrics. The night my wife and I met, she sang me a Tom Lehrer song I didn't already know.
Books/authors: "The Shockwave Rider" by John Brunner; "Houston, Houston, Do You Read?" by James Tiptree Jr; "Always Coming Home" by Ursula LeGuin; "A Short History of Progress" by Ronald Wright; "1066 and All That" by Sellars and Yeatman.
Something special or beautiful about your brain: It's full of oddities, like that Tegucigalpa is the capital of Guatemala, or that a full CD-ROM takes almost exactly an hour to FTP over a T1 line, or that pinhole cameras work because a small aperture, while requiring a long exposure, has a huge depth of field. And I'm learning Esperanto.
Are you an artist or writer? If yes, please post some of your work. I'm a photographer, and dabble in writing.
What color was George Washington's white horse? All of them, since white contains every colour of the spectrum.
OPINIONS:
Organized religion: I'm deeply suspicious of religions that are too organized. I'm on the board of our local humanist group, where we're grappling with the question of whether to replace our execuive director when he retires. A lot of our members don't think clergy is the best thing to spend our money on, although we've identified needs that our community can't or won't meet with the current pool of volunteers.
Society: I'm a "Libertarian Socialist". I temper the Libertarian ideal of minimal government with the Socialist notion that there are things best owned/managed in common.
The occult/paranormal: I'm a rationalist who, based on personal experience, is skeptical when rational materialists seem a bit too *certain* that material reality is all there is.
The environment: It's all we've got; it's up to us how long it lasts.
The Arts: I'm glad I don't have to rely on arts funding to put food on the table. I wish more people appreciated the intellectual challenges great art can offer, and that there was less pretentious junk getting in the way.
The Sciences: Continue to amaze and astound me.
Drugs: Not something you can rationally go to war against. I recommend LSD as a therapy for Objectivists. Pot never did much for me, and health issues have required me to cut back alcohol use from "negligible" to "none". Never took up tobacco or anything harder.
Pornography: Another area where the funda-nazis have gone overboard. How can you have art without, at some point, sex?
WORD ASSOCIATIONS:
List the first word that comes to your mind after the following-
Nun: Viper
Blood: Pain
Cerebral: Wheels
Library: Temple
Words: Puzzle
Butter: Corn
Mirror: Angle
Lord: Forgiveness
Semen: Trace
Heart: Pericarditis
Manic: Panic
Revolver: Beatles
Cut: Ouch
IMAGES:
Post 3 or more random images that express who you are (None of yourself!!):
