User:Jfhaugh

[edit] Introduction

I'm a geek.

I've been involved the open software, and now open everything else, movement since the mid 1980's.

When I'm not editing Wikipedia pages or otherwise messing with computers, I'm applying my creative talents to such diverse fields as clothing design, photography and classic automobile restoration. I've been awarded two United States patents and have worked on more than a dozen others. I also knit, crochet, paint by numbers (heh), cook Cajun food, brew beer and make my own wine. Although it's not a creative pursuit, I also host a colony of purple martins in my back yard and have a small peach orchard.

[edit] Politics

I grew up in the Deep South between the late 1960's and the early 1980's and formed many of my political beliefs in response to post desegregation backlash and lingering racist attitudes, as well as being a religious minority within an overwhelmingly Catholic city. Although I am generally non-violent, it has been my observation (and that of other critics of non-violence) that non-violence assumes ones oppressors have a sense of compassion, otherwise non-violence just makes one an easier target. I recently edited the page on Bill Jefferson, a Louisiana politician I volunteered for when he first ran for office in 1979. Since then I've worked a number of campaigns, and even been to various state and local political party conventions. I ran for party office once and concluded that the office was such a boring position that people flipped a coin. The vote was 49.9% for me, and 50.1% for my opponent, if even that much.

My political influences include such diverse characters as Abigail Adams, Elizabeth Dole, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Patrick Henry and Ronald Reagan. I'm a first generation American (more or less), the child of an immigrant on one side, and another parent whose parents hadn't been here much longer. As such, my politics are heavily influenced by immigration issues. I'm a fiscal conservative and a social liberal, which makes for some rather interesting beliefs.

[edit] Career

In my real life I am a software engineer for a major computer company, currently working on software test automation methodologies. I was previously involved in software security and was the base operating system security architect for a major Unix product for several years. By way of professional credentials, I am a National Security Agency certifified vendor security analyst and I have a degree in computer science from the University of New Orleans. My original involvement in Unix security occured when I wrote the Shadow Password Suite, a collection of tools which later became a part of the Linux operating system.

Prior to my current employer, my areas of software focus were Marine engineering and relational databases.