This is me with an adult Black Rat Snake (Elaphe obsoleta obsoleta) from my collection.
Since a few people have e-mailed to ask about myself, let me give a quick introduction and some personal information. I'm 36 years old, single, and just moved to Florida from Allentown, Pennsylvania. I spend most of my time raising and lecturing about reptiles and amphibians. I also enjoy backpacking and hiking, wildlife photography, and computer games. I'm interested in many areas of science, including astronomy and cosmology, evolutionary mechanism theories, and quantum mechanics. I love sci-fi movies (really liked Mars Attacks--"Ack, ack, ack-ack"!), Italian and Chinese food, and Guinness Stout.
I am a writer by profession, specializing in herpetology and the care of captive reptiles and amphibians. I have five books out right now on the biology, natural history, evolution and care of reptiles, amphibians and tarantulas, and am working on two more. My interest in evolutionary theory came about from my interest in fossil snakes and turtles (the recently-described Pachyrachis fossil is absolutely fascinating). I did two years of college (majored in English), hated it and dropped out to devote more time to writing. I don't have any academic credentials in biology or science. But there is a popular saying among freelance writers--"I don't need to know everything; I only need to know where I can find out." Over the years, I have done enough research in biology and evolutionary mechanisms that I can hold my own with most people in the field. And I am certainly able to point out all of the flaws in the creationists' "science".
This creation "science" web page began life as a book manuscript. I was unable to find any publisher who thought they could sell enough copies to earn back the printing costs, so I decided to put the whole thing up as a web page to reach as many people as possible. After all, information is a weapon, and I want everyone who may face creationists to be well-armed.
My own involvement with the creationists began back in 1982, when a local group attempted to force an "equal time" policy in a school district in Pennsylvania. I've been fighting creation "scientists" (and helping others fight them) ever since. I've been invited several times to debate local creationists---invitations which I always turn down, since I see no reason at all to help them publicize their pseudo-scientific nonsense. I am a regular contributor to the FidoNet EVOLUTION echo, and I pop into the TALK.ORIGINS newsgroup occasionally.
Since creationism is a political matter and not a scientific one, my credentials in grassroots organizing are perhaps far more important in fighting them than any scientific credentials. I have done an enormous amount of volunteer work as a union organizer, a political campaigner, and an environmental activist (I helped found the Lehigh Valley Coalition for a Safe Environment). Back in February 1988 I spent some time in Nicaragua as a human rights worker for Witness for Peace. I've been an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World (the "Wobblies") for about eight years now and have served two terms on the General Executive Board. I've been arrested for civil disobedience about a dozen times, including rallies and demonstrations at the White House, the Capitol, Wall Street, the South African Embassy, the Pentagon, and various assorted picket lines. I have over a decade of experience in forming grassroots organizations, raising money, dealing with the press, and all the other things that are necessary to fight and beat creationists at the local level. And, since my father is a fundamentalist minister (and a creationist), I know a few things about the mind-set of the hyper-Christians and am very familiar with how they operate.
Check out my Herp Page
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