User:Kerry parslow

I have wide-ranging interests and grew up reading hard copy encyclopedias and reference books almost obsessively, both in the local library and in our own well-stocked family bookshelve, maintained by my college professor and bibliophile father, an American linguist and polymath who also earned Library Science degrees from Oxford and Cambridge during his extended sabbaticals in England. Before his untimely death in 1981, Dad was fascinated with the potential that the nascent computer and then theoretical internet would eventually have for the universal sharing of information. Had his life not been tragically cut short before that promise materialized he would have beent thrilled with Wikipedia and would have no doubt been a major contributor and fact checker for it. So, in his memory, I hope to do what I can to add to this invaluable global pot of knowledge.

My formal education is in the physical and social sciences (primarily Geology, Anthropology and Archaeology, with minor in Graphic Arts). Professionally, I have had a long career in infrastructure construction and engineering. I am open-minded with a streak of rational skepticism, informed by a strong background in the natural sciences. I try to derive my information and synthesize my opinions from a broad spectrum of sources and like to think I am not easily persuaded by well-crafted hogwash (of which there is plenty about in these times.)