Mike Huben
From Huben's Wiki
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My theme song is "Weird Al" Yankovic's [http://vimeo.com/752979 White & Nerdy]. | My theme song is "Weird Al" Yankovic's [http://vimeo.com/752979 White & Nerdy]. | ||
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== Biography == | == Biography == | ||
[[Image:OldMikePic.jpg|thumb|Age 18, working in the genetics lab at Cornell.]] | [[Image:OldMikePic.jpg|thumb|Age 18, working in the genetics lab at Cornell.]] | ||
I grew up in Plainview, NY (on Long Island.) I was thrilled to escape to Cornell University where I studied plant breeding, botany, entomology, and computer science. I had many part-time jobs there, working in a genetics lab (photo), the botanical greenhouses, the insect collection and the computer labs. I was a brother in Triangle Fraternity (see: Revenge Of the Nerds.) I worked 3 years for Control Data in NY City, then Minneapolis, and then took a year-long road trip around the US collecting insects and mites in 1981. I moved to Boston, worked six more years, then took a 7 month trip to Ecuador to collect more insects and mites in 1987. I returned to Boston and immediately married, bought a house in Arlington, and worked in software until I changed to teaching high school in 2005. | I grew up in Plainview, NY (on Long Island.) I was thrilled to escape to Cornell University where I studied plant breeding, botany, entomology, and computer science. I had many part-time jobs there, working in a genetics lab (photo), the botanical greenhouses, the insect collection and the computer labs. I was a brother in Triangle Fraternity (see: Revenge Of the Nerds.) I worked 3 years for Control Data in NY City, then Minneapolis, and then took a year-long road trip around the US collecting insects and mites in 1981. I moved to Boston, worked six more years, then took a 7 month trip to Ecuador to collect more insects and mites in 1987. I returned to Boston and immediately married, bought a house in Arlington, and worked in software until I changed to teaching high school in 2005. | ||
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== Family == | == Family == | ||
[[Image:Huben Family.jpg|thumb|Mike, Carol, Robert and Peggy.]]When I married in '88, my wife Peggy and I both changed our name to Huben (mine used to be Huybensz.) Our daughter Carol was born in '90, and our son Robert was born in '93. Peggy teaches Chemistry in Somerville. Carol is a senior at U. Mass. Amherst. Robert is a senior in Arlington High School. All three are terrific, and between them, my work, my crumbling house, and all my other activities, I scarcely have time to breathe. | [[Image:Huben Family.jpg|thumb|Mike, Carol, Robert and Peggy.]]When I married in '88, my wife Peggy and I both changed our name to Huben (mine used to be Huybensz.) Our daughter Carol was born in '90, and our son Robert was born in '93. Peggy teaches Chemistry in Somerville. Carol is a senior at U. Mass. Amherst. Robert is a senior in Arlington High School. All three are terrific, and between them, my work, my crumbling house, and all my other activities, I scarcely have time to breathe. | ||
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== Aikido and Iaido == | == Aikido and Iaido == | ||
[[Image:Tachi Tori.jpg|thumb|Tachi-tori, Aikido techniques for taking swords.]] | [[Image:Tachi Tori.jpg|thumb|Tachi-tori, Aikido techniques for taking swords.]] | ||
I've practiced [[Aikido]] and [[Iaido]] at [http://www.neaikikai.org/ New England Aikikai] with the late [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsunari_Kanai Mitsunari Kanai] for more than twenty years. I'm sandan (3nd degree black belt) in Honbu style (USAF) Aikido and sandan (3rd degree black belt) in Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido. I haven't been active in Iaido lately. I teach children's classes and practice at New England Aikikai, and I'm also becoming active at [http://aikidotjboston.org/ Aikido Tekkojuku Boston], a new school founded by numerous instructors from New England Aikikai. I also have taught at the [http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~aikido/01HOME/HOME.htm Harvard Aikido Club] and the Tufts Aikido Club. I met my wife at the Aikido dojo, and the whole family practices. | I've practiced [[Aikido]] and [[Iaido]] at [http://www.neaikikai.org/ New England Aikikai] with the late [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsunari_Kanai Mitsunari Kanai] for more than twenty years. I'm sandan (3nd degree black belt) in Honbu style (USAF) Aikido and sandan (3rd degree black belt) in Muso Shinden Ryu Iaido. I haven't been active in Iaido lately. I teach children's classes and practice at New England Aikikai, and I'm also becoming active at [http://aikidotjboston.org/ Aikido Tekkojuku Boston], a new school founded by numerous instructors from New England Aikikai. I also have taught at the [http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~aikido/01HOME/HOME.htm Harvard Aikido Club] and the Tufts Aikido Club. I met my wife at the Aikido dojo, and the whole family practices. | ||
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== Entertainment == | == Entertainment == | ||
[[Image:hogfather.jpg|thumb|Terry Pratchett's "Hogfather".]] | [[Image:hogfather.jpg|thumb|Terry Pratchett's "Hogfather".]] | ||
I read omnivorously in science, politics, and philosophy, but I've always read a LOT of SF and Fantasy. My favorite has long been comic fantasy, especially the [[Diskworld]] and [[Dresden Files]] series. My taste in films is much more varied. [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/tastes.html Here is a short list of my favorite books, films, etc.] I avoid almost all sports programs and events. I don't have a working TV: I tend to watch the rare interesting TV show on the internet. | I read omnivorously in science, politics, and philosophy, but I've always read a LOT of SF and Fantasy. My favorite has long been comic fantasy, especially the [[Diskworld]] and [[Dresden Files]] series. My taste in films is much more varied. [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/tastes.html Here is a short list of my favorite books, films, etc.] I avoid almost all sports programs and events. I don't have a working TV: I tend to watch the rare interesting TV show on the internet. | ||
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== Gardening == | == Gardening == | ||
[[Image:Garden.jpg|thumb|A corner of my garden in peak season.]] | [[Image:Garden.jpg|thumb|A corner of my garden in peak season.]] | ||
I've always had a strong interest in botany and gardening. I used to work for Cornell's Bailey Hortorium, caring for their live botanical collection of several thousand species. [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/garden.html My home garden has a bit over 300 varieties of perennials and shrubs.] | I've always had a strong interest in botany and gardening. I used to work for Cornell's Bailey Hortorium, caring for their live botanical collection of several thousand species. [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/garden.html My home garden has a bit over 300 varieties of perennials and shrubs.] | ||
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== Daylily Breeding == | == Daylily Breeding == | ||
[[Image:Vanilla Stella.jpg|thumb|Vanilla Stella, one of my daylily introductions.]] | [[Image:Vanilla Stella.jpg|thumb|Vanilla Stella, one of my daylily introductions.]] | ||
[http://hubendaylilies.blogspot.com Daylilies are my major garden interest.] While I refuse to be so smitten that I myopically class other perennials as "companion plants", I've built a medium size assortment (400) for garden pleasure and hybridizing. I've always wanted to hybridize again, and daylilies are such a no-care and simple group to work with that I could not resist. I currently have about 3000 seedlings, 1000 from each of the past 3 years. I am a modestly successful hybridizer with about 20 introduced varieties that sell widely in North America and Europe. | [http://hubendaylilies.blogspot.com Daylilies are my major garden interest.] While I refuse to be so smitten that I myopically class other perennials as "companion plants", I've built a medium size assortment (400) for garden pleasure and hybridizing. I've always wanted to hybridize again, and daylilies are such a no-care and simple group to work with that I could not resist. I currently have about 3000 seedlings, 1000 from each of the past 3 years. I am a modestly successful hybridizer with about 20 introduced varieties that sell widely in North America and Europe. | ||
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== Philosophy and Countering Libertarianism == | == Philosophy and Countering Libertarianism == | ||
[[Image:Consorting_w_the_Enemy.jpg|thumb|David Friedman visiting me. He called this picture "consorting with the enemy".]] | [[Image:Consorting_w_the_Enemy.jpg|thumb|David Friedman visiting me. He called this picture "consorting with the enemy".]] | ||
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I was briefly a contributing editor writing a monthly column on [http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/645 Skepticism] for [http://www.suite101.com/ Suite101]. That ended when I did not meet deadlines, but copies are present at [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/skept/index.html Mike's Skepticism]. | I was briefly a contributing editor writing a monthly column on [http://www.suite101.com/topics/page.cfm/645 Skepticism] for [http://www.suite101.com/ Suite101]. That ended when I did not meet deadlines, but copies are present at [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/skept/index.html Mike's Skepticism]. | ||
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== Atheism == | == Atheism == | ||
[[Image:Flying spaghetti monster manifests..jpg|thumb|Vortices from jet engines resembling the Flying Sphagetti Monster.]] | [[Image:Flying spaghetti monster manifests..jpg|thumb|Vortices from jet engines resembling the Flying Sphagetti Monster.]] | ||
I am a zealous, evangelistic, crusading [http://www.infidels.org/ agnostic and skeptic], in religion, politics, pseudoscience, and quack medical practice. I've been posting for about 35 years (first on the old PLATO system and later on USENET) to political and religious newsgroups. Here's an [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/humbio autobiographical posting] from an old secular humanist mailing list. I'm a huge fan of Richard Dawkins and PZ Meyers. | I am a zealous, evangelistic, crusading [http://www.infidels.org/ agnostic and skeptic], in religion, politics, pseudoscience, and quack medical practice. I've been posting for about 35 years (first on the old PLATO system and later on USENET) to political and religious newsgroups. Here's an [http://world.std.com/~mhuben/humbio autobiographical posting] from an old secular humanist mailing list. I'm a huge fan of Richard Dawkins and PZ Meyers. | ||
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== Entomology and Evaniidae == | == Entomology and Evaniidae == | ||
[[Image:MouseMites.jpg|thumb|Mouse skin mites using Jamin-Lebedeff interference microscopy.]] | [[Image:MouseMites.jpg|thumb|Mouse skin mites using Jamin-Lebedeff interference microscopy.]] | ||
One of my true loves has always been [[Entomology]]. I used to specialize in [[Acarology]] (the study of mites), and built a collection of a thousand slide-mounted specimens (and who knows how many more in alcohol that I've never mounted.) I've got a substantial number of colorful mite photographs that I've always wanted to publish, photographed by my friends in the New York Microscopical Society and me. After my last sabbatical collecting insects in Ecuador (1988), I finally settled on my current specialization, the [[Evaniidae]] (a family of wasps that parasitize cockroach egg cases.) I study these at the [http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/ Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology] on an unofficial basis. I'm also a member of the [http://entclub.org/ Cambridge Entomological Club]. | One of my true loves has always been [[Entomology]]. I used to specialize in [[Acarology]] (the study of mites), and built a collection of a thousand slide-mounted specimens (and who knows how many more in alcohol that I've never mounted.) I've got a substantial number of colorful mite photographs that I've always wanted to publish, photographed by my friends in the New York Microscopical Society and me. After my last sabbatical collecting insects in Ecuador (1988), I finally settled on my current specialization, the [[Evaniidae]] (a family of wasps that parasitize cockroach egg cases.) I study these at the [http://www.mcz.harvard.edu/ Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology] on an unofficial basis. I'm also a member of the [http://entclub.org/ Cambridge Entomological Club]. | ||
