[Interview] Know Pyrotex More!

[theblackalchemist]

Pyrotex

 

Pyrotex is your resident witty texan, rocket scientist, charming Renaissance Man, and an all-around wizard on any topic you see in these forums. He is also considered an "expert" on Nothing! He recently took the effort to answer a few questions:

 

 

>SO HOW MANY YEARS HAVE PASSED SINCE YOU WERE INTRODUCED TO HYPOGRAPHY?

 

I think a bit more than four-five years. It's hard for me to remember just how long.

 

>WHAT DO YOU DO AT HYPOGRAPHY?

 

I sniff around any thread that catches my fancy, read the odd post here and there, punish the wicked, castigate the stupid, enlighten the honorable, save maidens in distress, you know, the usual. I love to learn new facts and new ways of looking at old facts. But what I have taken on as a "duty" here at Hypography is detecting Trolls. Any visitor attempting to palm off their particular brand of snake oil here at Hypography will have to get by me first. Did I mention that I'm fond of banning?

 

>HOW WERE YOU INTRODUCED TO THIS OASIS?

 

I don't remember exactly. It seems to me it was random chance that I happened here. There was this shipwreck (I think) then all went black, and I woke up on the shores of a thread about evolution. I remember a Turtle. The rest is hazy.

 

>NOW, AS HYPOGRAPHY ENTERS INTO ITS 11th YEAR, HOW HAS YOUR LIFE BEEN AFFECTED BY IT? IN OTHER WORDS HOW HAS HYPOGRAPHY HELPED YOU?

 

"Affected" and "helped" are not necessarily congruent concepts. It has helped me to be far more patient with people who are stupid or brainwashed -- to be more open-minded in listening to them, and eventually to be far more decisive and explanatory when I decide to crush them. Hypography has affected me by providing a safe world full of good friends and thoughtful people that I truly respect and admire and enjoy hanging out with. I have learned a great deal from my fellow Hypographers. This website also provides me the opportunity to discuss science with visitors who are authentically trying to understand this confusing World we live in. Trying to weed out the real from mere wishful thinking is hard work -- discerning reason from nonsense takes years of practice and study. It is my privilege to aid, coach and support these struggling new scientists.

 

>EACH DAY AT HYPOGRAPHY IS SIGNIFICANTLY DIFFERENT FROM THE OTHER DAYS. DO YOU AGREE TO THIS STATEMENT OR NOT? IF SO WHY?

 

Yes. Some are Mondays, and many others are not. There are the really good days when Kriminal99 is screaming invectives at me, and the depressing days when a week has gone by and I haven't banned anyone. I'm particularly fond of banning, you know.

 

>HAS HYPOGRAPHY BECOME AN INTEGRAL PART OF YOUR DAILY SCHEDULE?

 

Yes, I guess it has. Not a day goes by that I don't drop in for at least half an hour. I have contributed a lot of my original artwork and writing here -- it exists online nowhere else -- so I have invested a lot of me here, as many other "regulars" have done.

 

>ANY PARTICULAR REASONS FOR THE ABOVE?

 

My work is incredibly boring, with all those rockets and missions to the Moon and all.

 

>WHAT SUBJECT FIELDS (AS A SCIENCE) YOU PREFER TO STUDY THE MOST?

 

Biological evolution, astronomy, paleantology, and that other one, whats-its-name. Mathematics. Yeah, that one.

 

>HOBBIES WHICH YOU LIKE?

 

I'm trying to give up hobbies. They take up too much time and I prefer whining about having nothing to do. Actually, I have had many hobbies over the years: building model sailing ships, collecting stamps (19th Century Europe & Colonies), ham radio (WA4BTE, but somebody else has it now), building reflecting telescopes, backyard astronomy, macrame, painting (water colors), designing large spacecraft (really big drawings, when I could find the paper), photography, extreme wheelchair sports, sailboating, parachute jumping, digital abstract art and playing computer games (Civilization, Alpha Centauri, Fate). Currently, my only "hobbies" are writing science fiction short stories (a few can be found here at Hypography), cooking, wine-tasting and keeping my wife happy. -- By the way, anybody want to buy a stamp collection? :hihi:

 

>HOW WOULD YOU LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW YOU?

 

By meeting me face to face and giving me large sums of money. Seriously folks, when I'm holding a cigar, every question sounds like a straight line. [/standup] Hard question. I would wish that people would see me as an example of someone who has overcome obstacles to become a competent human being who has made a difference in this world, and who has led an enviable life, and who has finally earned the greatest accolade that I can imagine: a wife who thinks that I am a Good Man.

 

RapidFire

Favourite:

 

Artist ( music)

--- Eric Clapton, Jethro Tull, The Eagles

 

Colour

--- Teal blue, edging towards cerrulean

 

Phrase/Quote

--- "Specialization is for insects."

 

Game

--- Backgammon, Bridge

 

Movie

--- Blade Runner, Avatar

 

Book

--- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, The Mote in God's Eye

 

My Dream

--- Win the Nobel Prize in Physics, become a millionaire, and take an Italian super-model as a mistress (with my wife's permission, of course). If I don't get all of those, it would be enough to take a month long vacation with my wife across northern Europe and Italy, and maybe wave to an Italian super-model from a distance.

 

 

Ladies and Science freaks, if you want to prod deeper into Pyrotex's personality, use this forum as a yard stick!

 

Regards,

TBA

for the Hypography Editorial Team