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About me
I generally try to keep my user page as an emdash-free zone. In the old days of typewriters, "--" was sufficient.
In real life, my name is not Henry. Further, I am not a colonel. The username is a reference to someone historical.
I tend to prefer anonymity. Only a handful of people here know who I am in real life. If people knew I was here (and so easily contacted), I'd never get any contributing done.
Apparently, some editors have thought me to be notable enough to have an article on Wikipedia and a few mentions in other articles--an occasion I regard with competing feelings of elation and dread. Though tempted, I've let it go unmolested. If it were up to me, I would have had the good sense to drown that kitten in the river long ago.
Work on Wikipedia
I tend to think that Wikipedia is very much like Lord of the Flies, although often I wonder whether Wikipedia is actually the Island of Misfit Toys.
I have an Augustinian worldview in that I prefer to pursue truth and to do so without ceasing. Truth is the higher faculty of faith and reason, and the pursuit of truth illuminates our lives and opens us to the beauty we encounter in this life. Knowledge and the dissemination of knowledge is a higher beauty. We may make mistakes from time to time--after all "to err is human"--but despite a few wrong turns we eventually fumble our way to truth.
I like to be helpful, but I don't suffer fools well. I am definitely not perfect, just as my Creator intended, and (every once in a while) quite liable to make mistakes. Impatience with others, especially fools, is one of my shortcomings in this life. I love a good debate. I am thick-skinned--it is difficult to offend or insult me, and I can take a heated argument. I believe consensus is best derived from the competition of engaged intellects not some in a namby-pamby Kumbaya therapy group. In that spirit of not letting the bastards get me down, I believe in the advice of Virgil: Durate, et vosmet rebus servate secundis. (Aeneid, 1:207).
That being said...I'm not held in high regard by the handful of sanctimonious bellyaching twits that participate at Wikipediocracy's forum. They can go fuck themselves. None of them really contribute content anyway...so again, they can go fuck themselves.
I tend to write in areas that don't cause much conflict as the angst-ridden youngsters are too busy fighting about video games, tv shows, and pop-culture celebutards. Topics that interest me: poets and poetry, classical music, alcohol, religion, botany, birds, stars, food (British, German, Austrian), New Jersey, New York, Boston and New England, London, Rutgers, Princeton, history off the beaten path. Even as a kid, I aspired to be a renaissance man. My interests are vast, eclectic and cosmopolitan--my curiosity even moreso. I am often surprised by the places I am taken in following my curiosity and interests. I rarely contribute to anything that remotely relates to my degree work or day job--only to my avocational pastimes--and if I contribute to an article, it is only because I know something about it and curiosity for some reason brought me there.
I like working on articles with the intention of improving them to featured article status and good article status and have a long list of articles I'd like to get there.
FYI
- There are eight words in English that contain all five vowels a-e-i-o-u in alphabetical order.[1] If you used the adverbial form of facetious—facetiously—you get that pesky on-again/off-again vowel y in order.
- Almost is the longest word in English that is spelled in alphabetical order.
Requests
- For translations... If asked, I will be glad to translate something. While I am comfortable in German, Latin, Koine Greek, and Farsi. I love language and learning new ways to communicate. I am currently learning Old English and Frisian, and have an on-going attempt at Spanish. Several years ago, I almost committed to an effort to learn Western Armenian (which is heavily influenced by Farsi and Ancient Greek) for a girl I knew at university--that didn't work out. I have a sufficient knowledge of philology and linguistics to make an attempt at texts in other languages and if I am not able do it well, I will gladly help in finding someone qualified to do it.
Work that speaks for itself
Awards, barnstars, and cats
I am honoured to have had my efforts recognised by my fellow Wikipedians, you can see some of their accolades HERE.
Material that I have written for Did you know hooks and featured content that appeared on the main page can be found HERE.
Work recognized
KEY: 
= Four award — 
= Featured Article (FA) or Featured List (FL) — 
= Good Articles (GA) — 
= Did You Know hooks (DYK) — 
= Articles I started
Nominations pending review
- Featured article candidates
- Good article nominees
- Peer review
Projects
2
I miss the "Orange Bar of Death" notifying me when I had a new talk page message.
SHA-512 Commitment
= Four award — 
= Featured Article (FA) or Featured List (FL) — 
= Good Articles (GA) — 
= Did You Know hooks (DYK) — 
= Articles I started 
Daniel S. Schanck Observatory - Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Daniel S. Schanck Observatory/archive1 (nom. 12APR14)
