User:Olaf Stephanos

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[edit] Welcome to my user page

I am a Finnish university student of cultural history, comparative religion, and development studies -- Bachelor of Arts, pursuing a Master of Arts degree.

In addition, I've played the piano since I was six years old. I study jazz, but lately I've been more interested in Renaissance and Baroque style classical music, especially J.S. Bach's motets, inventions, and the prodigious preludes and fugues of Das wohltemperierte Klavier. I also sing basso in two choirs.

Jusqu'à l'été prochain, je demeure dans la charmante ville de Strasbourg pour étudier l'histoire à l'Université Marc Bloch.

Olaf Stephanos is my pseudonym in Wikipedia. It is not my real name, but it's derived from my first and second names.

While I enjoy reading all kinds of Wikipedia articles, my chief interests and contributions are related to the horrendous persecution of Falun Gong, other human rights issues, history, and religions in general. I've been a frequent visitor and contributor since April 2005.

[edit] Minutiae

• Johann Sebastian Bach is unquestionably my favourite composer, soaring high above all others with his consummate mastery of the counterpoint. If you catch me listening to contemporary music, it's probably Leonard Cohen's old recordings, infrequently Pink Floyd. Conductor-wise, I prefer Philippe Herreweghe.

• I used to listen to black metal as a young teenager. Slowly I became something like a world-weary psychonaut nonconformist hippie, a sordid dharma bum. On the top of my putrid dunghill, I saw the skulls and roses. Game over? Was that where it's at?

• In 2002, I came upon what is truly good. [1]

• My old upright piano, dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, is rumoured to have been bought by Jean Sibelius as a gift to his niece. Its machinery has been renovated. I'm also a happy owner of a Roland RD-700 SX keyboard.

• I've never had a phobia for snakes, but I used to be intimidated by giant hogweeds, garden angelicas, and burdocks.

• Everybody in my family, including all of my grandparents, have been enthusiastic scouts. After being pressured to attend summer camps and scout meetings as a little misfit boy, I developed an intense repugnance to nationalism and the army style. Nowadays I've gotten closer to a reflective equilibrium.

• I think that a lot of the reductionism in contemporary science is just an attempt to sweep the anomalies under the carpet. No conspiracies here, though. On a lighter note, see Crabtree's Bludgeon.

• I've owned a modem since 1993, and I operated a BBS in the mid-1990's. The olden days of yore...

• My parents have a golden retriever, and I frequently take care of her.

• I play badminton 2 or 3 times a week.

[edit] ... And Justice for All

• OLAF in the European Union is an acronym for Office européen de Lutte Anti-Fraude, the European Anti-Fraud Office.
• An Independent Investigation into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China, by Hon. David Kilgour and Mr. David Matas.
• Coalition to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong in China.

Wikipedia:Babel
fi Tämä käyttäjä puhuu suomea äidinkielenään. en-4 This user speaks English at a near-native level. fr-3 Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau avancé de français. This user knows advanced music theory. sv-2 Denna användare har kunskaper på mellannivå i svenska. es-1 Este usuario puede contribuir con un nivel básico de español. pt-1 Este usuário pode contribuir com um nível básico de português. This user believes that "all the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players". This user enjoys going to the sauna.
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