User:Yugure
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Hello! My name is Karl Benson. I was born on 3 July, 1987. Currently, I live in Natick, Massachusetts.
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[edit] Internet
I've been working with websites since I was 12, when I was interested in Pokémon and wanted to express my love for it like everyone else was at the time. My first experience with HTML was when my website was failing to show its title to visitors. I asked my host's customer support for help, but they could not figure out why it was not working. They then invited me to use the advanced editor and to edit the HTML directly. I looked at the code and was thoroughly confused, but I did locate a little titbit of HTML: <TITLE>. I changed its contents to what I wanted my title to be. It failed to work, but that started years of work ahead of me.
Since that fateful day, I have learned much. I'm now a web standards advocate, so I work heavily in XHTML, CSS, XML, and other XML-based vocabularies. I know more about this stuff than most people will ever. If I desired, I could become a professional in the field, but I have chosen other paths for my future.
I work on several websites, not all of which are currently live.
- Dallarel Consulting is my web design business and education entity. It is not updated much these days, as I do not have as much interest in web design as I did once. It remains very accurate, however, and has been used by many to educate themselves in proper design habits. It was originally my main domain, but that is slowly becoming less true.
- Werold will be dedicated to educating people in the ways of Fyrnsidu, containing information on the gods, goddesses, wights, elves, and many other beings. It will have the largest collection of correct information available on the Web, organised in an easy-to-read fashion. It will contain no information on the current, misspelled names of the various beings, relying solely on the best that is available.
- Mecha Abunai was a personal site. It contained much information about myself, but it is now largely abandoned. Its information is out of date; it remains there solely for historical purposes. It may be revived in the future, but probably under a different address.
- Þæt Níwe Enȝlisceȝereord (Old English: "The New English Language") will be dedicated to the revival of Old English as a modern language. I'm currently in the process of making a complete dictionary of the language as it was a thousand years ago. Upon completion, I will begin using native words to create new concepts that are required for a modern language. A translated "computer" will be in the language, for example. This project will take years to complete.
- Various, unorganised projects that don't always have addresses yet.
[edit] Religion and Ethnicity
I'm a Fyrnsiduwer (Old English: /'fʏrnˌsıdʊ.wɛr/), meaning that I'm a male of the old custom. I use "old custom" as a more general term for what is usually called Ásatrú or Heathenry. Although I know a great deal of what was done in Scandinavia and use a great deal of the information available from there, I am properly considered to be part of Þéodisc Ȝeléafa.
I reject all Universalist policies in the religion, where anyone is allowed to join, regardless of race or ethnicity. I feel that everyone should go to his or her native religion or be atheists. Since Fyrnsidu is a religion of ancestor worship and bloodlines, why join something where you have no ancestry or connections? It goes against the very core of the religion, but people are usually too busy being politically correct to notice that. As such, I am also considered Folkish. In addition to this, I have Tribalist leanings, although no tribe to call my own.
I'm fifty per cent German (my maternal family being from Köln, Erzhausen, and surrounding cities) and fifty per cent English. Although I feel a great pull to Germany, I do most of my religious (and language) work in English.
[edit] Languages
My first language is English, but I know quite a bit of German, too. I'm also in the process of learning Old High German, Old English, Old Norse, Icelandic, and other Germanic languages. Currently, my greatest progress is in Old English, while everything else is being pushed to the side for now. When I'm older and have had more time to study, I hope to be reasonably proficient in all previously mentioned languages, as well as all modern Germanic languages.
I am one of those people who hates all things Latin when it comes to that language's influence on other languages. While it's a perfectly respectable language on its own, the fact that it has helped to destroy the vocabulary and writing systems of countless cultures cannot be ignored. A language without Latin or Greek or French or anything else not of native origin is a good language, indeed.
[edit] Personal Life and Education
I'm currently engaged to Jake Nichols, although we probably won't have a chance to marry for a while. Why yes, I am gay. :)
During my time at Natick High School, I was a member of the gay-straight alliance, known as Crossings. In sophomore year, I was a mere member. In junior year, I was vice president. In senior year, I was president. On average, we had about ten people there every week, but we did vary according to other school activities and season. Nowadays, I don't belong to any GSA. I do continue to help my high school's GSA whenever possible. My current school, UMass Boston, does have a GSA, but I don't work with it.
At UMass Boston, I'm a student in linguistic anthropology with a focus in historical linguistics and ethnolinguistics. My main interest is in Germanic culture and language, as so few work in that area in English-speaking countries. I hope to become an expert regarding all things Germanic.
In September 2007, I may be attending UMass Amherst, where I would major in linguistics with focus in historical linguistics. I have yet to send an application to there and wait to finish another term at UMass Boston first in order to improve grades. If I am accepted into the school, I will be living in Amherst, Massachusetts, for large portions of the year.
[edit] Politics
It's hard to describe me with a few political terms. I don't go by party lines, nor do I wish to accept what a leader of any single party would say. I'm a mix of many things, just as anyone should be.
I can be described as being a mixture of paleoconservatism, green politics, socialism, and liberalism. I oppose open immigration and affirmative action (paleoconservatism). I want to save the planet, make it liveable for all, and end the wastefulness of modern society (green politics). I want a government for the people, ruled by the people, not by the rich and the powerful (socialism, democratic socialism, and social democracy). I support freedom of expression, limitations of power for government and religion, and the rule of law (liberalism). I prefer a parliamentary system for government over a congressional system, as I feel that a parliament would hold political leaders in check if they had the constant threat of being replaced in snap elections.
In the United States of America, I dislike the only two parties. The Republicans are rich, business-owning, religious fanatics now, with no love for the country or its people. They want nothing but to destroy any country that they touch. The Democrats are weak, pathetic creatures who want to let in anything that comes knocking. Both pursue policies that don't help the people and support allowing any illegal alien to become a citizen without any work at all, while anyone from an industrialised nation has to work long and hard to get here at all.
I support direct election, something that the United States needs desperately.
