Venkatesh H R wrote:
I've been around on this list for about five years. First heard about
it on this piece
<https://factordaily.com/silk-indias-oldest-mailing-list-history-geek-culture/>
by Shrabonti Bagchi.
I took the opportunity to read this article, and ... oh my, I'm
mentioned therein! In most complimentary terms, no less. Thank you,
Kiran, for your kind words.
One small point of clarification should probably be made: I should not
describe myself as a "professional (railroad) engineer".
My career began as an electronic engineer and technician (spanning the
era from vacuum tubes to integrated circuits). I then moved into
technical writing and editing, and eventually into librarianship. All
the while, keeping up a second job as a part-time Adjunct Instructor at
community colleges. While I did volunteer at several railroad museums
during this time, rising to the rank of passenger conductor and dining
car steward at one, it wasn't a paying job.
Only after I retired at 46 and realized I wasn't ready for the rocking
chair did I hire out as a railroad conductor -- at Walt Disney World.
Six years on the trains were followed by stints with Imagineering and a
decade as a lobby concierge and front desk trainer at a hotel.
Now retired from that as well, I am currently the (unpaid) executive
director of a non-profit, membership-based society of scholars in the
fields of chivalry, genealogy, heraldry, ancient & medieval history, and
royalty & nobility, with international scope. I am also the director of
the library, which keeps me busy trying to catalog the 30,000-odd books
in our collection.
As for Kiran's charge that I'm a philosopher, I'll plead guilty as charged.
As a US citizen in 2020, I am also perforce a political critic and
semi-pro public health advocate. I'm working (though not very hard) on
writing a script for "Trump: The Musical". When it was just a story
about stupidity and corruption, it was easy. Now that it's also about
mass deaths from same, I'm losing faith that musical comedy is the right
genre. Then again, "Sweeney Todd".
Cheers,
/ Bruce /
