Saturday, December 02, 2006

50 Gems about Myself - not in any order

1. I prefer to think outward than inward. I love big ideas and underlying concepts.
2. I am a generalist rather than a specialist.
3. I would rather watch English Football than any other sport on television.
4. The greatest moment of my life was the birth of my son.
5. I will be the first to admit that I daydream and am absent-minded.
6. I have had OCD and Asthma for most of my life.
7. If not stimulated intellectually I become bored quickly.
8. I believe in God but struggle with the rituals of formal religion.
9. I am a sucker for anything to do with the French Revolution and Napoleon.
10. Physics is a passion of mine. I see it as the most philosophical of the sciences.
11. My Myers Briggs profile is: INFJ.
12. I am deeply interested in the science of psychological testing - especially with respect to intelligence.
13. I pride myself of my strong general knowledge. I competed nationally in my high school days and cannot resist tackling a trivia quiz book that comes my way.
14. I am strong in History, Science and Geography but need to work on American Pop Culture if I am ever to compete on Jeopardy.
15. I believe that Freedom of Speech is a critical value for a democratic society that must be upheld at all times. For this reason I oppose all censorship and Hate Speech Laws.
16. I have always been a strong anglophile but the moral relativism and atheism that seems to dominate British society today has cured me somewhat of this feeling.
17. I prefer the DC Comic World to that of Marvel. Batman being my favourite character.
18. I have a nostalgic attraction for the Brit Comics of yesteryear - Tiger, Roy of the Rovers, Battle, Eagle. Judge Dredd in my opinion is the greatest comic character ever created.
19. I enjoy visting Art Galleries and have tastes for a myriad of differing styles. I believe that one can enjoy Raphael, Cezanne and Pollock.
20. I have a soft spot for the power of Ludwig van Beethoven's music.
21. I truly love my wife Dina - and wonder at times how she puts up with me.
22. I used to be a dog person but have become increasingly fond of cats - we have two.
23. I still say that Sean Connery was the Greatest Bond Ever.
24. I am a bit of a political junkie - especially if the politics concerns the Middle East and Africa. Europe is so boring these days.
25. I find Roman History fascinating and thoroughly enjoyed teaching that unit in Ancient History.
26. I am consistently making an effort to understand the history of science.
27. I am a moral absolutist when it comes to identifying evil.
28. I have become somewhat of a Roger Federer fan. I predict that he will suprass Pete Sampras in the number of Grand Slams won.
29. I am driven to understand the history of the Jews as well as the history of my birth country South Africa.
30. My favourite Historian is Paul Johnson followed closely by Martin Gilbert.
31. I consider myself a Classic Liberal and believe that the ideals of Western Democracy are well worth defending.
32. The best career decision I ever made was to become a teacher.
33. I have a chemical engineering degree and have worked as an engineer but I don't have the same passion for the profession as I do for teaching.
34. I often feel stifled by bureaucracy.
35. I love speculative fiction and took this to a personel height when I wrote my book: A History of the Future.
36. I wish I loved in a part of the world where I could truly see the Night Sky. I have a bit of an Astronomy bug.
37. Winston Churchill and Menachem Begin are two men whom I admire.
38. Even if I say so myself I have yet to find a better History Quiz Book than the one I wrote myself - Take the History Challenge.
39. Luzzatto's The Way of God is one of the best books on Jewish Philosophy that I have ever read.
40. I liked U2 up to and including the Joshua Tree Album.
41. I am very much motivated by the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam - Healing the World.
42. If I could I would be a poster boy for New Scientist Magazine.
43. My favourite show on TV these days is House.
44. I find evolutionary theory fascinating. I have my own ideas in this field largely with respect to how systems become complicated.
45. I love looking at 'What if' Scenarios in history.
46. Brainstorming motivates me.
47. I went through a stage where I wrote a lot of poetry but it is not my literary medium of choice nowdays.
48. I believe that for Peace to be achieved both sides must want it. Unfortunately this is rarely the case.
49. I abhor Dogma.
50. For an engineer I have terrible Visual-Spatial skills nevertheless I did score at the 99.5th percentile on the WAIS-III test.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Gavin, I just stumbled upon your blog and you are such an interesting person! You must have very stimulating conversations with your wife! Lucky man! Excellent blog!

Anonymous said...

...stop daydreaming and be an absent-minded self, come back to reality, at least just for immediate second...,if you are just a dog person,not even a judge at the Westminster, and don't suffer from any eye/vision dissorder, you can see the differenses and outcome of a"tet-a-tet" competition,if such will occure(I HOPE!), between a Great Dane and an oversized pit bull terrier...,if you are not that familiar with a breeds, please use Britanica.com(that may be more known to you ?) and see a description, that will help you to make dessision, enstead of daydreaming of being a "somewhat" of Nostradamus with a "Speculative Fiction" book/bug(the Astronomy one!). I really respect your Visual-Spatual skills and see you, one day, writing a "BETTER COOK-BOOK", instead of teaching an Ancient Future. May be Rodger_F will suprass/surprise/supress PETER_S, but he will NOT surpass HIS GREATNESS,his pedegree*, HIS CLASS!
No metter what kind of engineering degree or _philia you have, you can not to dissolute my Chemical Romanse nor Passion for PETE THE GREATEST.
When the Night Sky is gloomy and the rain hosts the streets of Seattle, only my GOD helps me to find my drive, my pride, my believe, plus watching Pete Sampras videos and images makes me feel on fire and alive. Thank You God. Thank You Pete. I have a soft spot for your game. I hope one day I can see your performance alive, since I heard that you back and involved in WTT and doing some charities. Thanks from thouse unfortunate and homeless, it's always the deeds that count.
-----------------------------------
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-sentered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
The good you do today, people may often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world your best and it may never be enough;
Give the world your best anyway.
You see in the final analysis,it is between You and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
-----------------------------------
Mother Theresa
*-see the definition at the Britannica.com

PS One Dog is always better than two cats! Trust me ,I had two cats, now I have my cats plus a little pup, it's incrediable, it's undescriable...Great Dane(by the way!) can deal with boars, when pit bull with rodent or similar kind of dog breeds...Talking about the music...it is hard to fined the right one ...but I defenetly have a soft spot for classical and love U2, with all of my best 44+ list from the Q-ROCK_106.7(we will rock You!).
Sleeplees in Seattle.

Anonymous said...

...so what happen to that "Freedom of Speech-believe"(#15 in original post)?!...
...where is that "democratic society that must be upheld at all times"?!...
...when I can see that strong opposotion to "all censorship and Hate Speech Laws"?!...
Ye,... this way I'll never be abale to see my opinion be published so what's new?... Nothing. The same old burocracy..., censorship..., and moderation... Just feel sorry, to myself, that i spend so much time, effort, and emotions for no reason... That show called "Reality Show". My favorites are all shows about home decoration, and renovation, but this is not about your show or anything to do with you, since you can not assepte another opinion, unless it's unisoned with yours...
Good Luck of staing lonely. Poor Dina, how she can put ap with all that "i..., i..., i..."?
Even thought, we have many similarities, as i see them on paper, especialy sharing same uncsestors, believes, and profession; at the same time I realise you don't deserve any of the "Gems"-titels you are tried to put on your shoulders..,since you do not follow them.
In general i am a very peacefull person, but when i see so much of a lie...i have to declare a war(at least edeological one. Now, you have to prove that you are a real Classic Liberal, with strong believe in the Western Democracy(#31), which i am trying to save from you my brother and colleagues. Shalome.

Sleepless in Seattle.

PS ...there is a very good artical on teachers, leaders, providers and etc." Extraverted iNtuitive Feeling Judging." by joe Butt. You can find it at En la vida reisdoshay q tomar...-http://aless12.spaces.live com/ "mi personalidad". May be it's going to teach you When, Where, and How...?! I hope it's going to teach me... .
There is new movie is coming out "In The Pursute of Happiness" on Dec. 12. The main caracter proclaimes..."Don't ever let somebody tell you You can't do something... You got a dream, you gotta protect it... if you want something, go get it. Period."-Chris Gardner.

Anonymous said...

Hi Gavin! Great list! I was wondering where I could purchase "A History of The Future". My husband is quite interested. Perhaps if you, D and E should visit us on the Island, you and Hubby can discuss further :)