User:Art LaPella

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I'm Art LaPella. Born in 1951. I live near Seattle, USA. When I was a kid I did well in most any class that didn't require an essay, but essays made me feel almost suicidal, because I didn't feel I had anything worth saying until I was about 30. Now it's a lot easier, although I haven't written any Wikipedia articles. I did write http://www.quantumonline.com/InvestmentRisks.cfm elsewhere. But mostly, I get a kick out of just skimming thru for typos, spelling etc., and many of the articles are fun to read anyway. When everyone else misses simple errors like these on what is currently Wikipedia's most heavily edited page, I almost feel as if I'm creating Wikipedia by myself. But I should really be getting back to my real job. That's playing the stock market, controlled by a program I wrote and keep maintaining.

I occasionally notice something scientific that should be added or corrected, or some bad statistics. Every once in a while I come to a place where there's a Point Of View I've always wanted to express -within the rules of course. Here's one right now: I don't mean "POV". I hate most acronyms, because the time saved among those who understand them is often cancelled by the time lost by those who don't, and most acronyms are more driven by vanity than efficiency.

Here are my Points Of View on the screamier subjects no one ever agrees on: I lost my faith, but I still believe in traditional ethics, most anyone's traditional ethics, justified as kinship altruism rather than spirituality. So what you think is hostility could be what I think is justice. It would be nice if ethics could be taught rationally, but often one gets a better understanding of human interactions from the religious extremists than from the political correctness cult that has taken over the "social sciences". I often agree with Ayn Rand, but I don't call myself Objectivist, mainly for fear of being mistaken for a dogmatic true believer.

Also see the end of a page from my wife's genealogy website, http://lapella.net/wordstorylapellaartkathy.doc .

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		For tirelessly working to keep the grammar and spelling straight even in the midst of gigantic edit wars, I award Art LaPella this Barnstar of Diligence. ScienceApologist 08:36, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

		The Original Barnstar
		For your commitment to proofreading and reverting vandalism, I award you this barnstar as a token of gratitude. Please keep up the excellent work. --Antorjal 01:15, 5 October 2006 (UTC)