Silas' profile

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Relationship

Married

Hometown

Sewickley, PA

Places I've been

Pittsburgh, PA Dallas, TX

Places I've Visited

Los Angeles, CA Phoenix, AZ Dayton, OH Charlotte, NC Myrtle Beach, SC Orlando, FL Ft. Lauderdale, FL Philadelphia, PA Niagara Falls, NY St. Paul, MN

Occupation(s):

My first career, (13 years) I worked as a Component Test Engineer. My second career, (14 years and counting) I've focused on software development.

More about me

Life is good. I'm married to a wonderful woman, and I have two grown children who are healthy, and happy. My wife and I share our Craftsman style cottage with two dogs and a cat. We are currently renovating, and hope to finish sometime before the end of the 21st century.

I'm a Programmer / Analyst by profession, but a Generalist by disposition. I've been a voracious reader since childhood, but that has never prevented me from going out and experiencing life.

My interests include computers, photography, performance cars, and science fiction. I'm also something of an audiophile, as I spent time as a DJ in my college years. I recently began trying to learn to play the guitar, a rewarding experience, even though the outcome is still in doubt.

I am currently an active member of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County.

I'm currently the Manager of:

Current Events & Politics Group

The 912 Project Group

PC Gaming Group

plus two Private Groups, here on Eons.

I am also a moderator of

Computer Gamers

Favorite Movies

Comedy

• It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
• Animal House
• Modern Problems
• Galaxy Quest

Drama

• The Sixth Sense
• Patton
• Top Gun
• Dr. Strangelove
• Barry Lyndon
• Full Metal Jacket
• Sophie's Choice
• Saving Private Ryan
• Monster (2003)
• The Unbearable Lightness Of Being

Science Fiction and Fantasy

• Blade Runner
• Alien
• Aliens
• Contact
• Independence Day
• Forbidden Planet
• War of the Worlds
• The Lord of the Rings
• The Matrix

Favorite TV Shows

First Run

• 24
• Cops
• Dallas SWAT
• Lost
• Battlestar Galactica (the new version)
• The Dog Whisperer
  

Syndication / DVD


• Babylon 5
• Star Trek (All Versions)
• The Equalizer
• Airwolf



Anime'


• Neon Genesis: Evangelion
• Fullmetal Alchemist
• Trinity Blood
• Gantz
• Ghost in the Shell
• Rah Xephon

Activities

I am currently an active member of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County.

Favorite Music

The '70s

• Pink Floyd
• Alice Cooper
• Bachmann-Turner Overdrive
• Elton John
• David Bowie
• Jethro Tull
• Santana
• Genesis
• ZZ Top
• Tonio K.
• Devo

The '80s

• Pink Floyd
• Def Leppard
• Genesis
• Duran Duran
• U2
• Billy Joel
• AC/DC
• Stevie Ray Vaughan

The '90s

• Pink Floyd
• Dream Theater
• Collective Soul
• W.A.S.P.
• Nine Inch Nails
• Yes
• Chris Rea

Today

• Dream Theater
• Chris Rea
• Kid Rock
• Staind
• Filter
• Nickelback
• Theory of a Deadman
• Big and Rich
• Coldplay

Most Prog Rock and Electric Blues

Favorite Books

Non-Fiction

• Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt
• The Society Of Mind - Marvin Minsky
• Underworld - Graham Hancock

General Fiction

• Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand
• Rising Sun - Michael Crichton
• The Color Purple - Alice Walker
• The World According to Garp - John Irving

Science Fiction

• A Call To Arms - Alan Dean Foster
• A Matter For Men - David Gerrold
• A Fire Upon The Deep - Vernor Vinge
• Ender's Game - Orson Scott Card
• Rendezvous with Rama - Arthur C. Clarke
• Passage At Arms - Glen Cook
• Cosm - Gregory Benford
• Neuromancer - William Gibson
• Anvil Of Stars - Greg Bear
• Pandora's Star - Peter F. Hamilton

Favorite Quotes

"What is the State? The State is people - people who believe they have a right to rule others. These people are the thieving

, murdering brutes responsible for war, conscription, taxation, massacres, slave camps, gas chambers, killing fields, nuclear missles, and endless death stretching back ten thousand years. Luckily for all, the State is only people. And, generally, the least competent of people. They are the ones who cannot innovate, only steal. They cannot reason, only kill. They are brutes who see the greatest efforts of mankind as loot to seize and control. Yet when they seize the creations of greater minds, the works crumble in their hands, for they cannot control what they are incapable of understanding."
-- Victor Koman, "Kings of the High Frontier"

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