I am a carbon-based life-form on the North American landmass. I do not argue with dragons, for I know that I am crunchy and taste good with ketchup. :)
Seriously, though, I live in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, and work both as a freelance writer for the local paper every so often (the Palos Verdes Peninsula News) as well as as a computer tech at a dot-com firm in Los Angeles. In my off hours, I like nothing better than to curl up with a good book. I usually have at least three going at once, and juggle between them. (I try not to go too high in number though, or the different books get jumbled -- once, for three days, I was convinced that Athos, Porthos and Aramis had fought Hitler! :P )
As the boxes say below, I have an interest in Old Englishhistory, but in general, I'm interested in most historical areas. It's just the times of Caesar and Alfred the Great that I've gravitated to more than any other.
I've been hit by a vandal recently. This is all I have to say about it: "Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense." -- Winston Churchill
and
"You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life." --attributed to Winston Churchill.
John Rocque's maps of London were published in 1746. A French-born British surveyor and cartographer, John Rocque produced two maps of London and the surrounding area. The better known of these, depicted here, is a 24-sheet map of the City of London and the surrounding area, surveyed by Rocque and engraved by John Pine and titled A Plan of the Cities of London and Westminster, and Borough of Southwark. Rocque combined two surveying techniques: he made a ground-level survey with a compass and a physical metal chain – the unit of length also being the chain. Compass bearings were taken of the lines measured. He also created a triangulation network over the entire area to be covered by taking readings from church towers and similar high places using a theodolite made by Jonathan Sisson (the inventor of the telescopic-sighted theodolite) to measure the observed angle between two other prominent locations. The process was repeated from point to point. This image depicts all 24 sheets of Rocque's map.Map credit: John Rocque and John Pine
This user believes it is every citizen's duty to assess every candidate and abstain from voting if none is found fit for office, unless he or she wants to vote anyway.
This user does not wish to speak or hear dumbass, but is resigned to the necessity of at least understanding it in an environment of massive collaboration.