Introductions

by Jacob Davies

Back on the Well (in the stone age of the Internet), there was a tradition of having an introductions thread when a new forum was opened. The hosts and the regular users would introduce themselves and invite any new members to do likewise. The nice thing about it was that even if you already knew someone in one context, you could still learn something about them in another.

Now, blogs are different, they have much less shared context, and group blogs don't get to have nice clean beginnings. And commenters may be pseudonymous or anonymous, and we have to keep in mind that anything on the open Internet lasts forever. But I think it's worth a try, and since I seem to be stinking up the place settling in nicely I thought this might be a good time.

The format is pretty simple: Say who you are and where you're coming from. Tell us why you're here. We'll do this again sometime, so don't worry about getting it all out at once - this isn't your life story.

This would also be a good time to break the ice if you're a reader who's never commented, either because you were too shy or because you didn't feel you had anything to say. Just say hello.

Comments

[hilzoy]

Hmm. You know me: faculty brat, philosophy major, then (to my surprise) philosophy grad student and professor, then (even more to my surprise) blogger. I came to ObWi sometime in 2004, and stayed for the conversation, and then I was asked to post here.

Blogging then was different than it is now. It was all still comparatively new, and positions had hardened a lot less then than they have now. It was still possible to think not just that commenters here might be convinced by arguments (which has always been true, in my experience, and which is one of the reasons I love this place), but also that -- the majority? a sizable minority? of bloggers who disagreed with me might be.

I don't think this is true any more. This makes me sad.

[Nate]

Hi, hilzoy! How's life after blogging?

[russell]

For hilzoy.

Apologies to 70's jazz haters, my meaning is in the title.

Best, hilz.

[Eric Martin]

I liked the stuff John Mc did with Santana FWIW russell.

[Lewis Carroll]

Hey Eric,

You're quite welcome.

And nothing like seeing what you and Hilzoy have done with your studies of philosophy to make me feel inadequate ;)

Hilzoy, we miss you!

[Hogan]

So is this one of those "if you say her name three times, she will appear" deals?

[Hartmut]

Born and grown up in West Berlin, Germany.
Studied chemistry and finished with Dr.-Ing.
Now at the Federal Environmental Agency, responsible for the Chlor-Alkali industry and currently doing a bit of sustainable chemistry on the side*.
Came here through Publius' blog. Got to Publius through some link, maybe from uggabugga but not sure about that.

*ok that should enable even a bloody amateur to locate me in a minute or two.

[Jesurgislac]

Hogan: So is this one of those "if you say her name three times, she will appear" deals?

Appear! Appear! Appear!

[Hogan]

The library I worked in as a student assistant was a UN depository, and one of my tasks was to file all those pesky documents by UNDoc number. Amid all the drafts and agendas and subcommittee reports, one title still stands out in my memory: "So You Want to Build a Chlor-Alkali Plant." So cheerful! Like a Troy McClure educational film. I almost did want to build one, and I don't know what the heck it is.

[Geoduck]

I'm a slacker who lives in the capitol of Washington state. Well, actually the next town over, but there are three cities that have smashed together in one big lump. Been coming to OW for several years now. Other sites I like are The Agonist, Balloon Juice, and The Exiled.

[Hogan]

jes: Ah! Nice. I need to see that movie again.

[Jesurgislac]

I watched it last night - an old friend brought the DVD with her as a guestgift. (We're both old fans of The Mikado, and went to see Topsy Turvy together when it came out.) It's odd how different it is to see movie through the second time when we're not both urging the narrative impatiently on to get to the Mikado bits...

I have also seen The Sorcerer on stage... and (even earlier) read Isaac Asimov's SFnal adaptation.

[Anarch]

Later to the party still but: born in the Midwest, moved around a fair bit culminating in secondary school in Asia. College on the East Coast, ended up in a different part of the Midwest for eight years of graduate school hell. Finally made it out with a PhD and my sanity -- both a minor miracle -- and started working for one of the largest healthcare IT firms around. Have since been "promoted" -- more work for the same pay, but a swank title! awesome! -- and got a serious gf which is why I don't really blog much any more.

As for how long I've been here... pretty much since the inception, really. I don't think I was in the very first wave when Moe spun it off Tacitus (though I'm fairly sure we talked about it in comments there), but I moved over shortly thereafter. Was a pretty hardcore commenter starting c. 2004 but, as noted above, work and love have sucked away my bloggy time the past few years. I do still lurk, however, and read almost all the comments... so if you ever thought you were being judged by invisible forces beyond your control, well, you're pretty much right about that :)

[DaveC]

An old Introduction to John Thullen by Jackmormon.

[Alan]

Another lurker. I've been reading ObiWi since about 2004 and like others it was the the calm and reasoned voice of Hilzoy and the quality of the comments that kept me coming back. Though I admit I don't read ObiWi as frequently as I used to and rarely dive into the commentary anymore.

I spent most of my youth in Florida with a brief time in Arizona and Texas. I now live outside of Boulder, Colorado with my wife and two boys (though I never had the pleasure to bump into Gary Farber or John Thullen - at least that I know of).

Politically, I always fashioned myself as libertarian-ish with a major emphasis on "ish", but lately have come to move slightly left of center on economic issues. Much more left of center on social issues - if such a simple economic/social construct can be said to exist.

Aside from reading intelligent blogs, I enjoy history, science, skepticism, ice hockey, skiing, mountain biking, learning to play guitar and hanging out with my kids. All of the above which have prematurely caused my career to totally stall, but I don't seem to care.

Alan

[pthompson]

Yet another lurker and belated commenter. Originally from northern New England, I have not lived in the US for a long time but instead in Europe, where I have recently moved from one country to another. Trained as an academic, I now enjoy the high life of genteel poverty. As a few others have also mentioned, it was of course the kitteh that first caught my eye. I was interested to note the appearance of two people from Haverford upthread; I don't so often run into such people and may in fact have overlapped there with one of you. In all the years I have been reading ObWi, I have previously commented exactly once (under a different name which I subsequently realized was already being used by a another person); now that my average is down to one comment for every few years of reading, perhaps I will lower it further and comment again in the near future.