About me

From Alexander Krivács Schrøder.NET

Contents 1 General Information 1.1 Name 1.2 Age 1.3 Whereabouts 1.4 Looks 1.5 Aliases 1.6 Languages Spoken 2 Labels 2.1 Secular humanist 2.2 Agnostic 2.3 Spiritual 2.4 Misanthrope 2.5 Liberalist 2.6 Socialist

General Information

Name

My name is Alexander Krivács Schrøder. The name Alexander is originally Greek and derives from Alexandros, meaning “defending men”.

The first of my two last names I got from my mother, who in turn got it from her father. He is Hungarian, and so is the name. It resembles the more known name Kovács, which means “forger” or “smith”, but I cannot say if they are actually related, since I do not speak or even comprehend Hungarian, nor do I know anybody would could help me figure this out.

The name Schrøder is a Norwegian variant of the German name “Schröder”. This name has two meanings, and I do not know which one originally applies to mine. If you are interested, follow that link and see for yourself.

Age

I was born on a Sunday evening, at April 6, 1986 at 19:17, Norwegian time (1986-04-06T19:17:00+02:00), which means that I am currently 22 years old. I was born at Aker Hospital in Oslo, the capital of Norway.

Whereabouts

Currently, I am in the same city in which I was born. I am in Oslo, the capital of Norway. I live in the east end of the city.

Looks

I have brown hair, brown eyes and my skin is geeky-white. I am averagely built, by which I mean that I am neither skinny nor large and bulky. I am approximately 175 cm tall (5'9").

As for what I like to wear the most, if I am given a choice, I'll wear jeans and a t-shirt. You will hardly ever see me without jeans on. During summer, though, I like to wear shorts. Even though Norwegian summer doesn't compare to summers farther south, wearing jeans during summer is just uncomfortable.

I normally (read: through spring, summer and fall) only wear t-shirts on my upper body, although I might put a shirt and/or blazer on as well. If it is a bit chilly, I might wear a sweater or a thin jacket. I prefer branded t-shirts, i.e. they should have some sort of logo or slogan on the front.

I wear glasses, something which seems to be a common trait among my fellow geeks. I can see without them, but I would rather like to see perfectly, so I wear them.

Aliases

I usually go by Alex. Not such a big surprise, yeah? On the Internet, I try to go by the nickname of Phoenix. Due to the overwhelming usage of this alias, you will also find me using other variants, such as DN-Phoenix (which I use when I chat on IRC networks), DarkPhoenix (which I commonly use on forums), FirePhoenix and IcePhoenix. On other kinds of services, like VoIP, e-mail and IM networks, I usually go by alexschrod, which is also what I fall back on in other cases if I find no nice Phoenix-combination to use.

Languages Spoken

See Languages

To be brief, you can talk to me in Norwegian and English. I comprehend German to an extent, but I am not confident enough to answer back.

Labels

These labels will attempt to give you more insight into who I really am. (That is why you are reading this page in the first place, right?) Using labels alone to describe someone is typically not a good idea, since it tends to stereotype a person. However, I am not only going to label myself in this section, I will also give a thorough explanation of why I use the labels, in order to remove any potential misinterpretations concerning them. After all, different people are likely to have different associations with the labels used.

Secular humanist

I believe that what matters the most are human beings. Secular as opposed to religious means that I feel that way in simply being a human. I believe in critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism. I have concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general. I believe in the search for objective truths, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of them. I believe that this is my only life, I do not put any trust in “life after death”, and I will make a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding myself, the history which I am a part of, humankind's intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from me. Finally, I believe that with reason, an open marketplace of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.

“Secular humanists do not rely upon gods or other supernatural forces to solve their problems or provide guidance for their conduct. They rely instead upon the application of reason, the lessons of history, and personal experience to form an ethical/moral foundation and to create meaning in life. Secular humanists look to the methodology of science as the most reliable source of information about what is factual or true about the universe we all share, acknowledging that new discoveries will always alter and expand our understanding of it and perhaps change our approach to ethical issues as well.”

—Council for Secular Humanism

Agnostic

I am agnostic: One who believes it is not possible to know whether or not there is a God, and neither approves of God nor rejects God. In other words, I doubt, and I am happy doubting. This point of view goes hand in hand with my secular humanism, because I say that I deny nothing, but will not approve of anything I cannot empirically observe.

Spiritual

Even though I am agnostic, I feel a spiritual connection to life. It's hard to describe, and this connection is not comparable to any physical phenomenon, but on more than one occasion have I felt the presence of something more than just the mundane. This presence is very weak, and I hardly make any attempts to strengthen it, but I will not dismiss it, and I believe that the likeliness of there being something "out there" is higher than the likeliness of there not being anything out there.

Misanthrope

This point of view might seem to clash with my humanism, but I believe it does not. Humanism says how to behave towards others, while misanthropy says how one feels about others. A misanthrope (in my sense of the word) is one who distrusts humans and humankind in general. Looking at the world situation today, with its poverty, famine, conflict, war, and the more local issues like murder, robbery and random violence, I lose faith in humankind. I do not judge individuals based on this view. Anyone out there might be a future friend of mine, or my future murderer. I do not make conclusions about anyone before I have met them and gotten to know them.

Liberalist

When I say that I am a liberalist, I mean that I feel that people should be allowed to do whatever they want to, as long as it does not harm them or anyone else. As an example, I do not mind homosexuals adopting. As long as it will not harm anyone, do whatever you want. Laws which go against this simple principle should be abolished. For instance any laws that go against same-sex marriages or laws that allow men to do something, while disallowing women, or vice versa, are bad in my book.

This is closely related to the ideology known as liberalism. To quote Wikipedia on the matter:

“Broadly speaking, liberalism emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity. [...] [L]iberalism [...] support[s] a number of principles, including extensive freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market or mixed economy, and a transparent system of government.”

—Liberalism, Wikipedia

Socialist

I am not necessarily what you would normally consider when you hear the word socialist. I am not agreeing with the part where the state interferes with every aspect of the economy. If somebody wants to get rich, I do not feel they should be stopped, given that they get there legally. However, I do not approve of poverty, which is commonplace in a purely capitalistic, market-driven world. Thus, I believe it is every nation's responsibility to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves, as well as take care of and provide services that should be free for everyone, including health care, public transportation, police and fire protection, care for the disabled, such as the blind, deaf, dumb, mentally retarded, etc., and money should never ever be an issue! I am bothered enormously whenever I hear about mental patients getting neglected because the health sector was given too little money, or when old people was found dead in their apartments months after their actual death, only discovered because of neighbors complaining about the smell. It's disturbing to hear such stories in a welfare nation.