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:
Abraham was old, and instructed his senior servant to put his hand under Abraham's thigh and swear by God that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites, but would go to the land of Abraham's birth to get Isaac a wife. The servant asked if the woman did not consent to follow him to Canaan, should he take Isaac back to the land from which Abraham came? Abraham told him on no account to take Isaac back there, for God — who took Abraham from there and promised Abraham the land of Canaan for his offspring — would send an angel before the servant and allow him successfully to get a wife for Isaac from there, and if the woman did not consent to follow him, he would then be clear of his oath. So the servant put his hand under Abraham's thigh and swore to him as Abraham had asked.
The servant took Abraham's bounty and ten of Abraham's camels and traveled to Aram-Naharaim, the city of Nahor. He made the camels kneel by the well outside the city at evening, when women come out to draw water. The servant asked God to grant that the maiden whom he would ask to draw water for him and who replied by offering also to water his camels might be the one whom God had decreed for Isaac. He had scarcely finished speaking when Rebekah, the beautiful virgin daughter of Abraham's nephew Bethuel, came out with her jar on her shoulder, went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up. The servant ran toward her and asked to sip a little water from her jar, and she quickly let him drink and when he had drunk his fill, she offered to draw water for his camels until they finish drinking. When the camels had finished drinking, the servant took a gold nose-ring and two gold bands for her arms, and asked her whose daughter she was and whether there was room in her father's house for him to spend the night. She identified herself and told him that there was plenty of straw and feed and room at her home for him to spend the night. The servant bowed low to God and blessed God for steadfast faithfulness to Abraham.
Rebekah ran and told everything to her mother's household. Rebekah's brother Laban ran out to the servant at the spring, and when he saw the nose-ring and the bands on Rebekah's arms, and when he heard his sister tell the story, Laban invited the servant to their house, had the camels unloaded and fed, and had water brought to bathe the feet of the servant and his party. But the servant would not eat before he had told his tale. The servant told how God had greatly blessed Abraham with sheep and cattle, silver and gold, male and female slaves, camels and asses, and a son and sole heir. The servant told how Abraham made him swear to go to Abraham's kindred to get Isaac a wife, and that God would send an angel to make his errand successful. And the servant told how he met Rebekah at the well. The servant then asked whether or not they meant to treat Abraham with true kindness, and Laban and Bethuel answered that the matter had been decreed by God and Rebekah could go and be Isaac's wife. The servant bowed low to God and brought out silver, gold, and garments for Rebekah and presents for her brother and her mother. Then the servant and his party ate, drank, and spent the night. The next morning, the servant asked leave to return to Abraham, but Laban and her mother asked that Rebekah remain some 10 days. The servant persisted, so they called Rebekah to ask for her reply, and she agreed to go. So they blessed Rebekah — wishing that her children be thousands of myriads and seize the gates of their foes — and they sent off Rebekah and her nurse with the servant.
Isaac had just come back from the vicinity of Beer-lahai-roi to his home in the Negeb and was out walking in the field toward evening when he looked up and saw camels approaching. Raising her eyes, Rebekah saw Isaac, alighted from the camel, and asked the servant who the man was. The servant said that Isaac was his master, so she covered herself with her veil. The servant told Isaac everything that had happened, and Isaac brought her into Sarah's tent and took her as his wife. Isaac loved Rebekah, and found comfort after his mother's death.
Abraham took another wife, named Keturah, who bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. Abraham willed all that he owned to Isaac, but to his sons by concubines he gave gifts while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac to the land of the East.
Abraham lived 175 years and died old and contented. Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah with Sarah. After Abraham's death, God blessed Isaac and he settled near Beer-lahai-roi.
Ishmael had 12 sons, who became chieftains of 12 tribes. Ishmael lived 137 years and then died. Ishmael's progeny dwelt in lands all the way from Havilah, near Egypt, to Asshur.
Hebrew and English Text
Hear the parshah chanted
Commentary from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative)
Commentary by the Union for Reform Judaism (Reform)
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.