User:Hawstom
|
|
Tom Haws
When you have a moment, please consider the Wikipedia reputation with me. I also recommend an insightful and better-developed proposal by David Gerard at User:David Gerard/1.0. David has the vision, friends. See also Category:Wikipedia 1.0 for other ideas to compare with.
Leave me a message (http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=User_talk:Hawstom&action=edit§ion=new) or click Discussion tab to see my talk page, and have a nice day.
| Contents |
Wikipedia Work
I have been a registered Wikipedian since September 3, 2003 (and a system administrator since October 18, 2004). I am pretty casual about it, but I believe strongly in the Wikipedia. Wiki participation has changed me for the better, and I expect it will continue to do so.
Team NPOV efforts
These are examples of team efforts that have changed me for the better as the articles have changed for the better. These were hard work! Let me know if I should have added your name.
- Mormonism and Christianity 2003/2004: User:Mkmcconn, User:Visorstuff, User:Wesley, User:COGDEN, User:Sterlingbates
- Human 2004: User:Dbachmann, User:UtherSRG, User:Kim Bruning, User:Rednblu, User:Duncharris, User:JHCC, and many others (sorry if I missed anybody who struggled mightily with us). Revisited in 2005 with User:FeloniousMonk, User:SlimVirgin, User:Goethean, User:Mel Etitis. Currently on Wikiholiday from Human due to a discussion impasse; adding content to User:Hawstom/Chalkboard.
Other contributions
- Imposed a hierarchy on Afterlife/Underworld articles
Current projects and interests
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement
- Wikipedia reputation (Wikipedia 1.0). See User:Hawstom/Wikipedia reputation and User:David Gerard/1.0. See also Category:Wikipedia 1.0 for other ideas to compare with.
- Human
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Energy development 1 kw-hr=3412 BTU, 1 barrel crude oil=5,800,000 BTU, 1 gallon gasoline=124,000 BTU. Internal combustion engine efficiency = 20% to 30%. Electric motor efficiency=80% to 90%. Automobile use equivalent 1 barrel of oil = 400 kw-hr, 1 gallon of gasoline = 6 kw-hr.
- Wikipedia:WikiProject Jehovah's Witnesses
- Near death experience
- Welcoming new users ({{LDSWelcome|article|Hawstom}})
Personal Point of View Disclosure
Learn more about me at my Personal Site (http://home.sprintmail.com/~hawstom) or my Business (http://www.hawsedc.com) Sites (http://www.constructionnotesmanager.com).
Greater things
I am a believer. I believe in Heaven and in God, who is Love--the greatest of all. I govern my life by the belief that I was sent into the world by a loving God to learn to know Him/Love amid distraction and pain. I believe and strive to maintain focus on the idea that I will at the last day rejoice in every exercise of Love and denial of self, and I will weep and wail over every exercise of enmity and indulgence of self. I believe that Jesus Christ is God the Son, and that His work extends mercies unfathomable to me. I believe that by angels, visions, dreams, and diverse dispensations of mercy, God ministers to children of faith in all ages and nations.
My primary rationale for my belief in the above is that certain thoughts, experiences, and concepts pluck undeniable strings of recognition deep within me. These flickers and flows of recognition are more real than the physical world around me, and yet transcendent of it. Thus in complete frankness I may say I have factual knowledge of certain transcendent concepts of which the above paragraph is a culture-specific expression. In endorsement of the reality of this perception, I find that an honest, scientific inquiry into concepts of eternity and spirituality yields a highly consistent view across human cultures and religions.
I like the way Kevin Williams (http://www.near-death.com/experiences/visions08.html) explained how this reality, esoteric but common, is experienced:
- Imagine the universe - your reality - as though there is nothing else. God and heaven are fantasies of weak minds. For the sake of the analogy, label this kind of reality as a bubble which you had lived all your life - in a bubble - the universe - the only reality. You are certain there is nothing outside of this bubble. Period. Anyone who said differently was either lying, on drugs, or crazy. Then, something inspires you to read a well-known fairy-tale book just out of curiosity. As you read it, the fantasy tale starts to make sense to you. It begins to reveal secrets to you which you know are true that have never been expressed before. You begin to think this information comes from a reality you never experienced before. It is speaking to your very soul and makes complete sense to your heart and mind. You no longer believe it is a fantasy book, but the very words of God. You can't put it down until you read the whole thing. While this is going on, something is happening to your bubble but you keep reading. When you finish it, you realize that you just read the secrets of the universe but the whole world thinks it is a fairy tale book. When you are done and look up from the book, you realize that the bubble is gone. It popped. And now you are living in an entirely different world - even though it just looks the same. But more importantly, a different person is now in your body. The one who was in it before is gone. Now, you want to put on your white robe and sandals and climb the mountaintop to shout the Gospel and wait for Jesus to come.
And even after you return to your senses, you never view reality the same way again.
Political views
Politics? I am decreasingly political. I don't know anymore whether I am conservative or liberal; you tell me.
- War is terrible even when it is justified. I am thankful I repented of pre-war hawkishness before U.S. invaded Iraq.
- Welfare by taxation is a curse. Forgetting the poor is a curse. Free-will sacrifices for the needy are holy. I deplore Social Security, Medicare and any other United States national health care program.
- I am a federalist with respect to U.S. government. I believe the government with the army and the border patrol should be small, but I am not against big local governments. I favor meaningful distinctions and competition for migration among local cities and States (provinces).
- Abortion is wrong. It should be illegal and disreputable. But penalties should not be stiff. I believe in love and mercy for all.
- Marriage is the relationship that naturally and normally produces dependent children who might become burdensome wards of the state if marriage were not licensed, regulated, and incentivized. Other relationships, partnerships, and corporations don't require the same type of licensing, regulation, and incentives. Behaviors not normally and naturally procreative should not be of secular interest to marital law.
- The earth is a solemn stewardship. Global warming appears real. Oil appears irredeemable on an upward price trend. The energy and greenhouse gas future is exciting as nuclear and wind energy become more obviously competitive, solar photovoltaics continue to bait our utopian dreams, and fossil fuels are replaced. Government subsidies of dinosaur industries is deplorable. Partisan rancor inhibits free market solutions to thinning the forests of my beloved Southwest; loggers don't dare pay for logging privileges that may evaporate under a lawsuit tomorrow, and my taxes end up paying somebody to take all that valuable and dangerous timber.
- Immigration is a blessing to America. I support open immigration laws and proactive identification, prosecution, and deportation of illegal immigrants. I support humanitarian compassion toward all criminals, including illegal immigrants.
Educational background
- Bachelor of Science, Brigham Young University, Civil Engineering, 1991
Career path
I am a father and a civil engineer. For two years, I was a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When I grow up I want to be a grandfather and a charitable and humanitarian worker.
Personal life
I was born in the 60's and was raised an eighth-generation (Jeremiah Hatch) Mormon in Mesa, Arizona, USA (See my Wiki GEDCOM family tree, well, sort of (http://www.hawsedc.com/phpGedView/)).
Quotes that currently impress me
| Template:User en |
| Template:User es-3 |
| Template:User pt-1 |
(These are quoted off the cuff, so don't skin me if I misplace a comma.)
"Our Heavenly Father is more liberal in his views and boundless in his mercies than we are willing to believe or receive." Joseph Smith
"And Peter said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but of every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted of him." (The Book of Acts)
"And charity suffereth long and is kind, and envieth not and is not puffed up."
"All things must fail. But charity is the pure love of Christ, and it endureth forever" (emphasis added)
"He that is not against us is in favor of us." (Jesus Christ, Mark 9:40)