Used to be a libertarian, but wised up and voted Republican starting with my first presidential election in 1980. So-called smart ideas as offered by libertarians can mean dumb policy choices and, besides, you need to get the votes to get in power anyway to be able to effect change.

Nowadays, I am a remarkably conservative, traditional republican in the city of Cambridge, once noted for its radicalness, and now becoming as a yuppie haven (still remarkably left-leaning, of course). However, the combination of live music, good food and wine, and great bookstores make it an ideal environs for me -- even if it does make spouse-hunting more difficult.

I am a native of Seattle, and attended many fine institutions of higher learning such as the United States Military and various different Harvard Schools and Departments. If I had a college age kid these days, I would definitely encourage public universities and/or the military since I don't see much value added in the Ivy degree -- though it makes for interesting chatter at reunions. How else would I find people interested in such ideas as Edible Art or producing movies such as "The Fluffer" ? : - )

I have kept my voting registration at my Seattle residence all these years because I just can't stand the thought of voting in a state where they continually re-elect such felons as Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank.

My screen name came from my interest in Fractals and Financial Markets, but has never led to any great riches. By day, I am a consultant in software architectures and web services development, but I love to travel and am enamored of vacations involving either sea kayaking or visiting distilleries, breweries and wineries. Go figure.

You will find me posting most often to the Business/Economy section, with side comments on many other political and cultural themes. If I am lucky, I try to get a few good breaking and front page articles posted, and I will often post articles about the computer industry in the business section. Check out my favorite links for more info. I am still waiting for Jim Robinson to fix the way the forums work to make it possible to post to business and technical at the same time and have them show up on the sidebar at the same time.

I also maintain collections of addresses for those interested in the Stock Market/Economy and Wine Lovers.

I heartily encourage all freepers to collect addresses of members with different special interests -- I store mine as a text file in Notepad -- to give a friendly nudge to those who you view as specially interested in the subject matter.

I enjoy Freep Mail from all interested parties, and am currently involved the seemlingly unending process of trying to find a spousal unit to add to my household.