User:Geeman

I am not very interesting. There are much more interesting things to read about on this site than a biography of me. Go read something else.... For example, you could take a look at a few of the pages I've authored or made significant contributions to, such as:


 * Rodney Shelton Foss was a U.S. Navy Ensign killed in the first strafing run by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. Excepting those who served with allied military units, he is probably the first American killed in combat during WW II.


 * James "Pug" Southerland was a U.S. Navy pilot during WWII who, on his first combat mission, went toe to toe (wing to wing?) with Japanese ace Saburo Sakai.


 * William "Bill" A. Shomo was a U.S.A.A.F. fighter pilot during WWII who was awarded the Medal of Honor for shooting down seven planes in a single engagement, the most confirmed kills in one mission of any American fighter pilot of the war.


 * Denis Diderot was the scholar whose encyclopedic work makes him the "patron saint of wikipedia."


 * It was Toyotomi Hideyoshi who unified Japan, turning it into one nation after centuries of chaos and war. His legacy is still controversial, however, particularly as to how he might be characterized and who among those he fought are important to his biography.


 * I somehow have found myself contributing frequently (and vociferously) to the article on Albert Einstein. My interest is more literal and historical than academic and physical, but the talk page for that article has much of my ramblings on the nature of his character, legacy and how he is interpreted.  In many ways those ramblings describe what could be viewed as my philosophy towards wikipedia, knowledge in general and historical goals.


 * La Amistad was the ship that was taken over by slaves whose legal status sparked a court case that became a rallying point for the abolition movement. The Tecora is the ship that transported those same captives across the Atlantic.


 * Whittier College is my alma mater.