David's Preferences

beer

I like cream stouts and porters; the darker and smoother, the better. The best beer I think I've ever had was a porter at the Cambridge Brewing Company in Cambridge, Mass.

automobiles

Despite the fact that automobiles are evil, I'm still forced to own and operate cars, just like nearly every other American. I've owned two pre-1986 Subarus, and they were both great, durable little cars. I also like first-generation (pre-1984) RX-7's. I do my own maintainence and repair work, because mechanics are tools of Satan. I like driving fast on mountain roads.

books

I like religious texts. My favorite book of the Judeo-Christian tradition is Genesis, although I also like Job, The Song of Soloman, and The Revelation of John. (The entire King James translation of the Bible, along with many other texts, is available in plain text from Project Gutenberg.) My favorite text, overall, is the Bhagavahd-Gita. The strangest text I've ever seen was the Rig Veda.

Some of my other favorite books are Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid by Douglas Hofstadter, The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Sun Tzu's Art of War, and The Sayings of Confucius. Here are some ancient Chinese gems of wisdom:

Advance like flowing water, avoiding your enemy's strength and striking into his emptiness. Advance like the wind and retreat like lightning. - Sun Tzu

There are some roads which should not be marched upon, some cities which should not be taken, and some orders of the sovereign which should not be obeyed. - (Guess who!)

When in administration you are as consistant as the north star, all others will likewise revolve about you. - Confucius

The actions of a great king at not always known to his people, but all of his plans are accomplished and in the end, the people will say, "We did this of our own free will." - Confucius (I think he was talking about Prof. Foley.)

hobbies

I enjoy backpacking, travel, and hunting. I like taking road trips and living out of VW buses and tents for days at a time. I like boating and snorkelling when I get a chance. I also collect stamps and currency printed by governments that no longer exist. One of my favorite items is a 20,000,000,000 Mark first-class postage stamp, printed in Germany during the period of hyperinflation that preceeded World War II.

cuisine

I like spicy food. I like Northern Indian, Nothern Italian, Cajun (only if it's authentic), and Korean. I like cooking with wild game, especially small game. I like shellfish. My favorite places to eat in Atlanta are Pung Mie (on Buford Highway), Rocky's Brick Oven Pizzeria (on Peachtree), and Fat Matt's Rib Shack (on Piedmont). I do not know of any good, affordable seafood places in Alanta, however, Taste of New Orleans and the French Quarter Food Shop (both in Midtown) do offer legitimate Louisiana cooking.

music

I like jazz, blues, and baroque. I like complex music that rewards careful listening. My favorite rock is old (pre-90125) Yes. My favorite bluesman is John Lee Hooker. I've made attmpts at playing the saxaphone and electric bass, but was never very good at either one, despite much practice. I'd put samples of some of my favorite stuff here, but 44.1kHz PCM takes too much disk space, mosaic doesn't support 32kHz 12-bit companding, and it's a voliation of my priciples to store music as 8kHz mu-law. It'd be a copyright violation, anyway.

firearms

I have a Springfield U.S. Army bolt-action .30-06 (fitted with a scope), a pre-WWII Belgian-made Browning 12-ga automatic, a S&W 20-ga pump, and a couple of old British bolt-action .303's. The Browning is my favorite; it's seen a lot of duck hunting action and has been fished out of muddy lakes on four different occasions. I don't like handguns.

I believe in strict firearms training and licensing, but do not think any sort of weapon should be totally banned. I believe the purpose of the second amendment was to give people a means of protecting themselves from the governement. I believe you should be issued an assault rifle when you register to vote. I believe that if we are not capable of responsable gun ownership, then we are not capable of democracy, and we'll get what we deserve.

crypto

I believe in powerful public domain cryptographic tools as a second amendment right. The Clipper proposal offends me.

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