View source for User:Harry491

{{Boxboxtop|Dave in 100 pixel JPG form}}
{{user en-us-n}}
{{user en-B-0}}
{{user en-L-1}}
{{User Macintosh}}
{{User:Disavian/Userboxes/evolution}}
{{User wikipedia/Anti-Administrator}}
<div style="float:left;border:solid #ffb3b3 1px;margin:1px">
{| cellspacing="0" style="width:238px;background:#ffe0e8"
| style="width:45px;height:45px;background:#ffb3b3;text-align:center;font-size:10pt" | [[image:George-W-Bush.jpeg|44px|George W. Bush]]
| style="font-size:8pt;padding:4pt;line-height:1.25em" | This user believes that [[George W. Bush]]'s [http://www.corante.com/importance/archives/The%20Constitution%20According%20to%20Bush.pdf edits to the constitution] need to be [[Movement to impeach George W. Bush|reverted]].
|}</div>

{{User:Ashley Y/Userbox/Hellbound}}
{{User:Xaosflux/UBX/User flying spaghetti monster}}
{{User:UBX/notnarrow}}

{{User:Rockthing/Userboxes/Recently Discovered Userboxes}}
{{Boxboxbottom}}
==About me==
I'm a college student in the U.S. that did a fair amount of writing for this project for several months.  Now I mostly spend my spare time writing for my blog, [http://disenchantedidealist.blogspot.com The Disenchanted Idealist].  I debated in high school, coach a debate team now, and am majoring in biology.  My interests are mostly science and politics related, and I'll most likely end up in one of the following fields:[[biology]] (probably [[ecology]] or [[evolutionary biology]], but possibly elsewhere), [[philosophy]] (probably either [[political philosophy]] or [[philosophy of science]]), [[law]], or something political (probably [[political science]]).

I'm interested in [[evolution]], especially [[coevolution]], and that means learning a lot about [[parasites]], which are really cool.  ''[[Myxobolus cerebralis]]'' is my first parasite-related featured article.

===Political views===
'''I am not a [[libertarian]],''' even though I write articles on the subject.  My instincts are usually libertarian socially and economically and hawkish geopolitically, but I've been drifting leftward rapidly in recent months, mostly thanks to [[George W. Bush]].

I am sympathetic to certain arguments from the radical left when it comes to [[foreign policy]], [[epistemology]], [[gender]], and increasingly, [[economic structure]].  Geopolitically, I think the U.S. can do a lot of good, even through the use of force, but don't trust our leaders to do it, which puts me in an odd position every time the [[War on Terrorism]] comes up.  I'm in a similar situation with regard to economics: I've never been convinced that a non-capitalist system can work, especially on a large scale, but I'm increasingly skeptical about the economic power it provides.

I try not to let my politics interfere with NPOV: balance is important, and while edits like [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=George_W._Bush&diff=33087963&oldid=33067736 this one] may not be '''perfectly''' neutral, I think they're pretty good.  They also illustrate my belief in citing sources, discussed below.

====Reading====
I read [[The Volokh Conspiracy]], [[Andrew Sullivan]]'s Daily Dish, [[Balkinization]], [[The New Republic]], and [[The Onion]] regularly, and I recommend them all.  As of the beginning of January 2006, I just finished [[Richard Rorty]]'s ''[[Philosophy and Social Hope]]'', which I thought was okay, but a bit disappointing, and am trying to get started on Sir [[Karl Popper]]'s ''[[The Open Society and its Enemies]],'' which I hope will be better.

Good books that I think people should read include [[George Orwell]]'s ''[[1984]]'', [[Jared Diamond]]'s ''Guns, Germs, and Steel'', and [[Steven Pinker]]'s ''How the Mind Works''.  The latter two aren't political ''per se'', but have important implications for history and human nature, and are just really really cool.

I sometimes get ideas stuff like ''[[Colleen Nestler|this article]]'' and [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Po_River&diff=20595593&oldid=19795195 this edit] from [http://enews.ebaumsworld.com/ here]; it's is usually worth skimming.

==Wikipedia stuff==
[[Image:Chad_Brassil_Bunny.jpg|thumb|left|[[Chubby Bunny|Some]] [[Nix v. Hedden|of]] [[Logan Clements|the]] [[Toy Biz v. United States|topics]] [[Guided rat|I]] [[Neptune's Navy|work]] [[Colleen Nestler|on]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ted_Stevens&diff=32281155&oldid=32209730 may] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kansas&diff=33091086&oldid=33084772 flirt] [[Apples_and_oranges|with]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Intelligent_designerer&redirect=no the] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Po_River&diff=20595593&oldid=19795195 limits] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Burning_Love&diff=34901227&oldid=29229259 of] notability.  The proportion of such articles increases when I'm especially bored or too overworked to write "real" articles.]]

===Stability, editing, and style===
I like Wikipedia because it is (in theory) so open to improvement.  I think that most of the articles here need quite a bit of improvement, and I like that they're easy to fix.  One of my favorite ways of improving articles is by making them shorter, as illustrated in [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Libertarianism&diff=17935475&oldid=17933234 this edit].  Much of Wikipedia is filled with what [[User:David Gerard|David Gerard]] called "crappy prose," and that can often be fixed by ripping off unneeded sentences, phrases, and words.  I'm a bit concerned that the push for "[[WP:STABLE|stable versions]]" will make that harder; people are already too attached to ''their own version'' of articles.  Edits like [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Libertarianism&diff=32179609&oldid=32130368 these] might be fought off simply because it could be "destabilizing."  I also think stabililty will give people a false sense of security about what is, really, a crapshoot in terms of accuracy.

On the other hand, I do find [[User:Mihnea Tudoreanu|Mihnea Tudoreanu]]'s [[Wikipedia_talk:Stable_versions#Average_End_Quality_Hypothesis|Average_End_Quality_Hypothesis]] fairly compelling, at least at first glance.  Not all edits are good.  Articles do deteriorate unless watched.  I don't know what the answer is.

===Other issues===
I'm a big believer in [[WP:CITE|citing sources]], if for no other reason than that it solves conflicts.  The best way to cite sources is probably footnotes, which can be a pain, but are necessary if we're going to avoid constant edit wars and creeping inaccuracy in our articles.  I don't like {inote} because it's invisible to the reader (which is why its supporters like it).

Because [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not paper|Wikipedia is not paper]], I sometimes put in factoids others may not find encyclopedia-worthy.  If the consensus is against it, I'll remove it  (see, for example, [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Deep_Impact_%28space_mission%29&diff=18188329&oldid=18187948 this] conspiracy theory about comets being made of antimatter). I'll be more likely to remove it faster if you ask nicely.

I'm a bit concerned about [[wikipedia:bias|systemic bias]] on Wikipedia, and know that I'm contributing to the problem (or at least not helping).  Unfortunately, I don't consider myself qualified to write on most of the neglected topics (and the ones I am somewhat qualified to write about are POV minefields that I don't want to touch). At some point, I may get off my ass and read enough on [[Benin]] or something to write decent articles on a neglected subject.  Until then, I may just keep writing articles about [[apples and oranges]].

===People I've pleased===


'''Anyone can leave comments in this section, in addition to on the talk page'''

*[[User:Kbdank71]] credits me with lowering his/her wikistress level to green [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Kbdank71&diff=18327358&oldid=18278426 here]
*[[User:malathion]] was very happy with my "informed and well-argued comment" on [[User talk:Ta bu shi da yu]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk%3ATa_bu_shi_da_yu&diff=18533188&oldid=18526698] about [[Libertarianism]].
*[[User:Petaholmes]] thinks I deserve adminship and offered to write a "flattering intro" for me.  I turned her down, for now, but I'm pleassed with the offer.[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Harry491&diff=20024829&oldid=19767387]
*[[User:Singkong2005]] likes my user page and plans to visit it again.