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:
Jacob lived in the land of Canaan, and this is his familyâs story. When Joseph was 17, he fed the flock with his brothers, and he brought Jacob an evil report about his brothers. Because Joseph was the son of Jacobâs old age, Jacob loved him more than his other children, and Jacob made him a coat of many colors, which caused Josephâs brothers to hate him. And Joseph made his brothers hate him more when he told them that he dreamed that they were binding sheaves in the field, and their sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. He told his brothers another dream, in which the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down to him, and when he told his father, Jacob rebuked him, asking whether he, Joseph's mother, and his brothers would bow down to Joseph.
When the brothers went to feed the flock in Shechem, Jacob sent Joseph to see whether all was well with them. A man found Joseph and asked him what he sought, and when he told the man that he sought his brothers, the man told him that they had departed for Dothan. When Josephâs brothers saw him coming, they conspired to kill him, cast him into a pit, say that a beast had devoured him, and see what would become of his dreams then. But Reuben persuaded them not to kill him but to cast him into a pit, hoping to restore him to Jacob later. So Joseph's brothers stripped him of his coat of many colors and cast him into an empty pit. They sat down to eat, and when they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites from Gilead bringing spices and balm to Egypt, Judah persuaded the brothers to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. Passing Midianite merchants drew Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they brought him to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the pit and Joseph was gone, he rent his clothes and asked his brothers where he could go now.
They took Josephâs coat of many colors, dipped it in goatâs blood, and sent it to Jacob to identify. Jacob concluded that a beast had devoured Joseph, and rent his garments, put on sackcloth, and mourned for his son. All his sons and daughters tried in vain to comfort him. And the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's captain of the guard.
Judah left his brothers to live near an Adullamite named Hirah. Judah married the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua and had three sons named Er, Onan, and Shelah. Judah arranged for Er to marry a woman named Tamar, but Er was wicked and God killed him. Judah directed Onan to perform a brotherâs duty and have children with Tamar in Erâs name. But Onan knew that the children would not be counted as his, so he spilled his seed, and God killed him as well. Then Judah told Tamar to remain a widow in his house until Shelah could grown up, thinking that if Tamar wed Shelah, he might also die.
Later, when Judahâs wife died, he went with his friend Hirah to his sheep-shearers at Timnah. When Tamar learned that Judah had gone to Timnah, she took off her widowâs garments and put on a veil and sat on the road to Timnah, for she saw that Shelah had grown up and Judah had not given her to be his wife. Judah took her for a harlot, offered her a young goat for her services, and gave her his signet and staff as a pledge for payment, and they cohabited and she conceived. Judah sent Hirah to deliver the young goat and collect his pledge, but he asked about and did not find her. When Hirah reported to Judah that the men of the place said that there had been no harlot there, Judah put the matter to rest so as not to be put to shame. About three months later, Judah heard that Tamar had played the harlot and become pregnant, and he ordered her to be brought forth and burned. When they seized her, she sent Judah the pledge to identify, saying that she was pregnant by the man whose things they were. Judah acknowledged them and said that she was more righteous than he, inasmuch as he had failed to give her to Shelah.
When Tamar delivered, one twin — whom she would name Zerah — put out a hand and the midwife bound it with a scarlet thread, but then he drew it back and his brother — whom she would name Perez — came out.
Meanwhile, Pharaohâs captain of the guard Potiphar bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites. When Potiphar saw that God was with Joseph and prospered all that he did, Potiphar appointed him overseer over his house and gave him charge of all that he had, and God blessed Pharaohâs house for Josephâs sake. Joseph was handsome, and Potipharâs wife repeatedly asked him to lie with her, but he declined, asking how he could sin so against Potiphar and God. One day, when the men of the house were away, she caught him by his garment and asked him to lie with her, but he fled, leaving his garment behind. When Potiphar came home, she accused Joseph of trying to force himself on her, and Potiphar put Joseph in the prison where the kingâs prisoners were held.
But God was with Joseph, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden, who committed all the prisoners to Josephâs charge. When the Pharaohâs butler and baker offended him, the Pharaoh put them into the prison as well. One night, the butler and the baker each dreamed a dream. Finding them sad, Joseph asked the cause, and they told him that it was because no one could interpret their dreams. Acknowledging that interpretations belong to God, Joseph asked them to tell him their dreams. The butler told Joseph that he dreamt that he saw a vine with three branches blossom and bring forth grapes, which he took and pressed into Pharaohâs cup, which he gave to Pharaoh. Joseph interpreted that within three days, Pharaoh would lift up the butlerâs head and restore him to his office, where he would give Pharaoh his cup just as he used to do. And Joseph asked the butler to remember him and mention him to Pharaoh, so that he might be brought out of the prison, for he had been stolen away from his land and had done nothing to warrant his imprisonment. When the baker saw that the interpretation of the butlerâs dream was good, he told Joseph his dream: He saw three baskets of white bread on his head, and the birds ate them out of the basket. Joseph interpreted that within three days Pharaoh would lift up the bakerâs head and hang him on a tree, and the birds would eat his flesh. And on the third day, which was Pharaohâs birthday, Pharaoh made a feast, restored the chief butler to his butlership, and hanged the baker, just as Joseph had predicted. But the butler forgot about Joseph.
Hebrew and English text
Hear the parshah chanted
Commentary from the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the American Jewish University (Conservative)
Commentary from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (Conservative)
Commentary by the Union for Reform Judaism (Reform)
Commentaries from Project Genesis (Orthodox)
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.