User:Boneheadmx
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Boneheadmx is currently a student at University of California, Berkeley and I joined Wikipedia in the spring of 2005, because I am very interested in the sociological aspects of an internet community such as this one in which members participate by sharing useful information in a cross-referenced database. I am also a member of various other web communities such as Discogs.com, Photo.net, and Beer Advocate.com.
I enjoy learning very much, and I like to browse this site very often, looking up many new articles. I really enjoy learning random pieces of trivia, and enjoying the fine writing of various users exhibited by many of the articles.
Check out my Wikibooks profile.
Frequently Visited
- [[WP:|Wikipedia Tools]]
- Stubs
- Categories
- Counter Vandalism Unit
- Most Vandalized Pages
- Templates
- Infoboxes
- Signatures
- Test Templates
Articles And Contributions
My contributions:
Wikipedia
- Flipside Records - 1 August 2005
- Camilla Power - 24 August 2005
- Little Boy Blue (novel) - 30 September 2005
- Archie Dickens - 30 September 2005
- La Coscienza di Zeno - 7 October 2005
- Narodna Odbrana - 6 November 2005
- Zeno Cosini - 22 November 2005
- HK 33 - 11 December 2005
- Grain coffee - 2 February 2006
- Grand Prix Circuit - 11 July 2006
- Chicken Oyster - 9 December 2006
Wikibooks
- Wikibooks:Social Deviance - 17 December 2005
- Wikibooks:Political Economy - 21 December 2005
- Wikibooks:Cookbook:Steamed Pork With Mustard Greens - 1 January 2006
Significant Contributions
- Bowles Hall
- Boxing Technique
- Deviant behavior
- Edwin Sutherland
- Eszopiclone
- Ghost in the Shell (film)
- Ghost in the Shell (manga)
- Motoko Kusanagi
My 500th edit. 03:45, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
Interests
I have many interests, and they are varied, to say the least.
Music
Ever since I was a child, I liked listening to the car radio as my dad drove me to school. I got my first little radio as a gift when I was about 6 years old. I would listen to it very much, and I remember many radio hits of the early 90s. My dad bought me an AM radio kit from Price Club when I was 7, and we built it. When I was in 5th grade or so, I started to listen to more and more different types of music, namely disco and rock. Today, my favorite genres of music are house (and offshoot of disco and funk) and grunge. I do not pigeonhole myself into particular genres, however. I am an avid music fan, and I enjoy many genres spanning from the Gregorian Chant of the Middle Ages to the newest releases of the modern world. In addition to listening to music, I also play a few instruments; I am classically trained on the piano (though I'm not very good), and I can play the guitar as well as the drums. I own a TAMA Rockstar drumset which I am very proud of. I also did a little bit of music production in the trance and house music genres when I was in high school. Unfortunately, my Windows Me system died of course because it ran on Windows Me, and I lost all my music production software. Oh well! I had a band in high school called Dingbat Charlie, with Marcos Moreno on guitar, Jon Perlman on bass, and me on drums. We played various genres of music, but we used our metal, punk, funk, and classic rock roots to improvise different jams. We only played together in approximately 5 practice sessions, but we were able to record roughly 10 tracks through very good improvisation. We were originally going to play in our high school show called bandfest, but the school was never able to put it in order. However, we did make a student film called Dingbat Charlie (roughly 45 minutes long), a comedy that satirized the band as well as the school. As of now, Dingbat Charlie has not been active for about a year and a half since we all go to different schools now, and our schedules do not fit well. However, I'm confident that we will be able to play again soon. For the moment, however, I play drums for an unnamed hardcore punk rock band with Paul Young and Alberto Alvarenga (AKA Cheeze). I have also promised to play drums with various people who want to form bands (though they are quite flaky about actually finding times to play). My drumming style is very funk influenced because of my exposure to disco music. I like, thick fat basslines working along with a smooth disco or breakbeat. To give you an example of how I play, listen to some Primus. I strive to play like that. Or, listen to some James Brown. I base my drums on that kind of beat, to give you an idea. I usually don't like to play punk music because it does not focus very much on feeling, but rather, speed. Speed in drumming is not necessarily skill, though I am fairly fast. My percussion exercises usually do not encompass quickness drills, but I like doing paradiddles and drills in 6/8, 5/2, 7/2, 10/2, and 11/2 times. As a result I can easily play various combos of triplets, and I can play many odd numbered time measures such as 13/2 time. At the moment, I am working on single-hand rolls to make my music more funkalicious!
Origami
I learned how to fold paper into objects when I was about 2, a skill I learned from my grandmother. This skill of course, is origami. Since then, I have folded many boats, many balls, and many peace cranes. I almost got hit by a car on my way from school to home because I was not looking before I crossed the street; instead, I had my attention on the piece of paper in front of my hands. I find origami to be a very good way to pass one's time, and I do it when I'm bored. Even today, I fold a flawless peace crane, and I recently folded the smallest one I have ever done, coming in at a length of about 1 cm. Unfortunately, I have no proof of this marvelous feat, because I gave it to some kid who wanted it. Well, I hope she's happy.
Photography
I also enjoy photography, and I take pictures from time to time. I own a Minolta X-370 SLR as well as a Seagull medium format (which I have not used yet). I have a portfolio online. My first adventure into photography was when I was about 11 years old when i took a summer camp seminar class on the subject. There, I learned how to take pictures with a pinhole camera, develop black and white prints from film negatives, and use a camera with effective photographic techniques. My father noticed that I was very interested in the subject, and handed me down the X370 that he bought right after I was born. I have been using it ever since. In high school, I furthered my photographic skills by taking a course in it, and I learned some many more skills such as developing film negatives and basic studio photography techniques. In college, I took a basic photography seminar where I experimented with slide film and various compositional techniques. I intend to keep working on my photographic skills so that in time, I can create compositions that will amaze, arouse, comfort, confuse, shock, and scare people. At the moment, I'm trying to make the Dirkon, a pinhole camera made out of paper. It is very time consuming and it is very frustrating to make, but I'm sure it will make for a very interesting conversation piece.
Rubik's Cube
My grandmother gave me a Rubik's Cube to play with when I was a young child of maybe 2-3 years of age. I never forgot the toy. My father bought me a new one when I was in high school, to replace my first one because I had lost it. He gave it to me in the year 2000, but I was not able to solve it, so in 2002 he finally gave me the instructions that he had hid. I could finally solve the cube, but only with the algorithms in front of me. I kept cubing, and in 2003, was able to solve it from any position within 2:30 minutes with the algorithms in front of me. I the summer of 2004, I finally memorized the algorithm and quickened my time to around 1:30-2:00. I kept perfecting my technique so that I could turn the surfaces even faster, and I learned a few new moves which further increased my speed. My current times average around 1:15, and my fastest times center around 60 seconds. Under pressure, however, I usually center in around 1:15. Speedcubing is definitely something that interests me, and I want to keep pursuing it. I'm considering getting two cubes tattooed on the back of my left arm. (I currently have "REX" tattooed on my right arm. Rex is a nickname I acquired while living in Bowles Hall)
Beverages & Other
I do enjoy beer quite a bit, with Fat Tire, Newcastle, Bass, Guinness, Red Tail Ale, etc being some of my favorite beers. I generally like ales more than Pilsners, because I am a beer snob. Give me the dark beer! I also like tea very much. I have been drinking the stuff ever since I was a little guy, so I prefer it to coffee.
On Friday, 27 January 2006, a good friend of mine and I decided that we had nothing to do on that day and so we decided to homebrew our first batch of beer.
I used to roll my own cigarettes and smoke tobacco from a meerschaum pipe, although I was a very light smoker. I was very particular about the type and quality of tobacco I smoked. I despise manufactured cigarettes. I do not smoke marijuana or take any other controlled substances. I made the decision to quit tobacco in October 2005, and I have been tobacco-free since then.
In 2006, I decided to make my own beer and wine. I helped a friend to make a 3 gallon batch of ale, and I myself made roughly 5 gallons of mead in different batches of different styles. I really enjoy making my own alcohol, and the experience is really rewarding.
Reading
Reading has been an interest of mine ever since I was a little child, maybe 7 or so. Some of my favorite books include:
(Not very happy books, as you can tell, but good books nonetheless.)
Sports
I also like participating in sports, with swimming and boxing being my favorites. I do not like watching sports on TV. To tell you the truth, I kind of hate TV. It bores me. I started swimming competitively when I was 11, and I stopped in the middle of high school. Unfortunately, I was not very good. My parents discouraged me from serious competitions after I lost my first one when I was 12, but I swam a few informal swim meets. I have not swum competitively for a number of years, and I would like to train so I can swim better, gain better times, and eventually compete at the collegiate level. Boxing is a much newer endeavor. I started to train seriously for boxing this summer, and I want to compete in fall 2006. Wish me luck!
Religious Views
I am religious, and more specifically, a Christian. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior and His appearance on earth saves us. The belief in the Old Testament God is there, but due to a Gnostic friend, I do not necessarily believe that the Old Testament God is the is the whole story. I believe that living like Jesus will help us. Thus, I am sort of a Gnostic Christian. Basically, all other points are moot, and Jesus is all we need to focus on. I am not a big fan of the Evangelical Christian (indoctrinated Protestant) culture that is prevalent in American Christians today, because I do not like to be pressured into doing various activities. (I like to spend my time worshipping alone, even though many of my friends are Protestants. I'm not attacking the people or the faith, just the way that people sometimes treat it.) Therefore, I do not like contemporary Christian music because I don't like the way people approach it and to be honest, I don't like most modern alternative rock because I think it's overused, uninspired, and uninspiring. I like Gregorian Chant much more because it feels more religious to me, and it helps me connect with my inner self better. I like Hildegard Von Bingen and a chant she wrote about Maximilian. Since my name is Max, I have a natural fondness for the tune.
Columba Aspexit
Columba aspexit
per cancellos fenestræ
ubi ante faciem eius
sudando sudavit balsamum
de lucido Maximino.
Calor solis exarsit
et in tenebras resplenduit
unde gemma surrexit
in ædificatione templi
purissimi cordis benivoli.
Iste turris excelsa,
de ligno Libani et cipresso facta,
iacincto et sardio ornata est,
urbs precellens artes
aliorum artificum.
Ipse velox cervus cucurrit
ad fontem purissime aquæ
fluentis de fortissimo lapide
qui dulcia aromata irrigavit.
O pigmentari
qui estis in suavissima viriditate
hortorum regis,
ascendentes in altum
quando sanctum sacrificium
in arietibus perfecistis.
Inter vos fulget hic artifex,
paries templi,
qui desideravit alas aquilæ
osculando nutricem Sapientiam
in gloriosa fecunditate Ecclesiæ.
O Maximine,
mons et vallis es,
et in utroque alta ædificatio appares,
ubi capricornus cum elephante exivit,
et Sapientia in deliciis fuit.
Tu es fortis
et suavis in ceremoniis
et in choruscatione altaris,
ascendens ut fumus aromatum
ad columpnam laudis.
Ubi intercedis pro populo
qui tendit ad speculum lucis,
cui laus est in altis.
English Translation
The dove peered in through the lattices of the windows where, before its face, a balm exuded from incandescent Maximilian.
The heat of the sun burned dazzling into the gloom: whence a jewel sprang forth in the building of the temple of the purest loving heart.
He, the high tower, constructed of Lebanon wood and cypress, has been adorned with jacinth and diamonds, a city excelling the crafts of other builders.
This swift hart sped to the fountain of clearest water flowing from the most powerful stone which courses with delightful spices.
O Perfume-Makers, you who are in the sweetest greenness of the gardens of the King, ascending on high when you have completed the holy sacrifice with the rams.
This builder shines among you, the wall of the temple, who longed for the wings of an eagle, kissing his nurse Wisdom in the glorious fecundity of the Church.
O Maximilian, you are the mount and the valley and in both you seem a high building, where the goat went with the elephant and Wisdom was in rapture.
You are strong and beautiful in rites and in the shining of the altar, mounting like the smoke of perfumes to the column of praise.
Where you intercede for the people who stretch towards the mirror of light to whom there is praise on high.
Conclusion
Isn't that awesome? This is a great tune. (Oh yeah, did I mention I have a huge ego? Just kidding.)
Studies
Currently, I'm studying various social sciences in UC Berkeley, and I think I will apply to the Sociology major very soon, with Political Economy being my minor. I really enjoy the philosophical debate about the role of individuals within the confines of a society, and more specifically, a state. Thus, I like reading classical political economic works such as Wealth Of Nations or Das Kapital. I am a libertarian as many of my thoughts follow along classical liberal views, but my political stance shifts depending on the situation and the environment; I believe the way the state and the individuals react to each other should vary to best fit the situation. Therefore, I see a static view of political relationships as detrimental to civil society.
I like logical debate and philosophy because this makes clear the process of acquiring knowledge. In high school, I was very good in physics and math because both my parents are engineers. My father taught me how to think in a logical way, which has helped me very much in my studies of political economy.
Other Sites Similar To Wikipedia
Other Random Links
Here are some links containing some of my work. I'm a big show-off.