I teach math and English at a private school in New York City. I believe in being bold, a habit I learned to cherish at Wikipedia. But I also believe in correcting my mistakes.
"one of the greatest and most influential Conservapedia sysops" - Anonymous
I am first and foremost a believer in science, and yet I believe that God is the First Scientist. I believe Romans 1:20 provides a clue to the fact of God's Creation.
I have made over 20,000 edits to Conservapedia, although a lot of these are merely quoted /factoids.
- Years at Conservapedia: 17
- Years at Wikipedia: 22
- I started over 1,100 articles there.
- Years opposed to atheism: 47
- I maintain accounts at a few other wiki projects.
Some people regard me as a "poor, undereducated and easily led" religious man.
Favorite movies
In no particular order:
- Old Yeller - 67 years old
Quotes to add to articles
Lack of freedom under Communist rule
Maltz’s experience with a “thought control committee” of the Hollywood Party [1]
Global warming theory
“OVER the past 15 years air temperatures at the Earth’s surface have been flat while greenhouse-gas emissions have continued to soar. The world added roughly 100 billion tonnes of carbon to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2010. That is about a quarter of all the CO2 put there by humanity since 1750. And yet, as James Hansen, the head of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, observes, ‘the five-year mean global temperature has been flat for a decade. . . .’” [2]
Reputation of the United States, Arab media, Soviet propaganda, Western imperialism
- The US fares poorly in Arab media, partly because it was the target of Soviet propaganda for a half century and inherited all the criticism of Western imperialism. Choice - review of (Un)Civil War of Words: Media and Politics in the Arab World by Mamoun Fandy
drive-in or drive-in restaurant
- The drive-in restaurant was a phenomenon that sprang up in the early thirties, and it was becoming very popular. Rather than being invited into a dining room to eat, customers would drive into a parking lot around a small restaurant, place their orders with carhops, and receive their food on trays right in their cars. The food was served on china plates complete with glassware and metal utensils. It was a timely idea in a society that was becoming faster paced and increasingly mobile. [3]
Ideas about leadership
- "You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want." - Zig Ziglar
- "Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are the children of your soul, the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." - Napoleon Hill
- "The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear." - Brian Tracy
- "Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." - Dale Carnegie
- "Obstacles are necessary for success because in selling, as in all careers of importance, victory comes only after many struggles and countless defeats." - Og Mandino
- "A real decision is measured by the fact that you've taken a new action. If there's no action, you haven't truly decided." - Tony Robbins
- "If you can't control your anger, you are as helpless as a city without walls waiting to be attacked." - The Book of Proverbs
- A mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves." - Harvey Mackay
- "Freedom, privileges, options, must constantly be exercised, even at the risk of inconvenience." - Jack Vance
- "Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live." - Jim Rohn
- "The number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep on trying." - Tom Hopkins
- "You have everything you need to build something far bigger than yourself." - Seth Godin
To Do List
- CPUSA
- The Party tried very hard to present Communist or Socialist ideas as an advance in America’s development that was in fact rooted in American tradition. Well, they failed in this. The American people couldn’t buy it. The association with the Soviet Union was too powerful. I remember one slogan, “Defend the Soviet Union.” It was not “Defend the Socialist Idea” or “Defend a Fairer System.” It was “Defend the Soviet Union.” It was a tough slogan to sell; impossible.
- the so-called anti-fascism of the CPUSA:
- Moreover, the radical shifts and reversals in the policy of the CPUSA did not reflect developments on the American socio-economic scene itself, and were not reactions to them. On the contrary, they had their source in a foreign country and its interests, in the specific responses of the government of the USSR to events in Europe. One classic case is of course the American Party’s faithful support of the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939-1941. The alliance was a startling reversal after years of proclaimed Party dedication to ferocious “anti-Fascism.” Instead, the line switched from “anti-Fascism” to “peace,” i.e. a ferocious dedication to keeping the US from aiding the nations fighting Hitler (“The Yanks are NOT coming! We’ll be for peace until the cows come home!” to quote Herbert Biberman). Yet just as the Party’s staunch “anti-Fascism” ended the moment that Stalin became Hitler’s friend, so the Party’s staunch belief in “the peace movement” ended the moment the Soviet Union was attacked by the Nazis on 22 June 1941. Then the war against Hitler finally became justified.20
- intellectual control
- the Party in Hollywood not only attempted to control the minds of its members, but that it was a secret organization.
- Paul Jarrico in a 1983 interview noted without much comment that it was a Party rule that no one who was in analysis could be a member of the Party: “It was a security rule.” This comes right after he asserts that the claims of Party thought-control over its membership are greatly exaggerated. See Jarrico in McGilligan and Buhle, 344-345.
- the Party in Hollywood not only attempted to control the minds of its members, but that it was a secret organization.
- American Communists
- the lionization of the Unfriendly Ten
- Bartley Crum was wary of
- the American Communists, because they were not in fact independent individuals but were men under stern Party intellectual discipline. He found them continually deceptive as to their intentions and motives. Crum was repelled by the Communists’ “rude, plodding dogmatism, their habit of secrecy,” and that included the behavior of the Party lawyers assigned to work with him on the case. [4]
- inequality in America [5]
- gun control laws
- right-to-carry laws
- gun ownership and crime
- Castle Doctrine - you don't have to retreat as far as possible before defending yourself
- federal assault weapons ban 1994-2004
- gun rights cases decided by the Supreme Court
- DC handgun ban - struck down in 2008
- Chicago handgun ban
- impact of gun bans on crime and suicide rates
- gun ownership and gov't regulation of it
- multiple victim public shootings
- gun show regulations
- Brady law
General
More about me, myself and I
Contribs • Blocks • Protects • Deletions
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Admin stuff
I am a SYSOP on this site, elected unanimously by the student board on my 6th day here.
True wikis have simple, clear rules. Otherwise it is a mobocracy.
I learned the basics of PHP in May 2007 and created an online database for my church's missionary outreach effort in Harlem, NY. Plans to expand the database application to the regional or national level went nowhere, but I did get hired as webmaster of UpTV.org and did some consulting on a major overhaul on the http://www.upf.org website.
Q: Is this your personal blog, or what?!
A: No, but it just so happens that nearly every word I type, link I create, article or template I start - gains instant and widespread acceptance.
Q: Isn't that a bit arrogant?
A: Okay, I guess you're right. Perhaps I should be more humble.
Wikipedia and Conservapedia
There was a time when Wikipedia was a meritocracy, and I rose rapidly through the ranks then. I got Jimbo to create the Mediation and Arbitration committees, so he wouldn't have to be the sheriff all the time. I became the first elected bureaucrat, and pioneered the system whereby admins could enforce rules without having to take everything before a committee.
But I didn't see the anti-elitism creeping up and choking the life out of the place. Larry Sanger was right.
My only worry about Conservapedia is that it might make the equal and opposite mistake; it has certainly been accused of it, hundreds of times. But senior staff have been amazingly tolerant of opposing ideas here so far and I reason to hope they will continue to do so.
Etc.
My interests include history, religion, and science.
I've also taught SAT math prep, so if your article has any errors in arithmetic or statistics, prepare for a shock. I might just delete your entire contribution.
I'm also pretty good at science, logic, history, etc.
If you have any trouble on the site, a question about my edits/blocks/redirects/protects etc. please post on my talk page or email me and I will address them ASAP. I am open to working with everyone who demonstrates a genuine will to improve this site through their work.
My user talk page has been vandalized countless times; I guess liberals are in denial and hate having to face their problems as much as any (other) addict.
Subpages
NPOV
Here are the most commonly violated principles of neutral editing at Wikipedia:
- It is inappropriate to remove blocks of well-referenced information which is germane to the subject from articles on the grounds that the information advances a point of view. Wikipedia's NPOV policy contemplates inclusion of all significant points of view.
- Wikipedia's neutral point-of-view (NPOV) policy contemplates inclusion of all significant points of view regarding any subject on which there is division of opinion.
- Wikipedia articles should contain information regarding the subject of the article; they are not a platform for advocacy regarding one or another point of view regarding the topic. Sweeping generalizations which label the subject of an article as one thing or another are inappropriate and not a substitute for adequate research regarding details of actual positions and actions which can speak for themselves.
- Injection of personal viewpoints regarding the subject of an article is inappropriate and not to be resolved by debate among the editors of an article, but referenced from reputable outside resources. See Wikipedia:No original research and Wikipedia:Neutral point of view.
- Wikipedia is not a soapbox or a vehicle for propaganda advocacy or advertising.
- A strong point of view expressed elsewhere on a subject does not necessarily mean POV-pushing editing on Wikipedia; that can only be determined by the edits to Wikipedia.
- Unexplained deletions of portions of controversial articles are unacceptable.
I am on probation at Wikipedia for trying to point out some of these problems and just might get my account blocked! :-)
Use Google to search for Ed Poor probation [6]