I served 23 years in the U.S. Navy and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). I commenced my service as an enlisted nuclear Submarine Sonar Technician, was selected for the Navy Enlisted Scientific Education Program, and graduated from University of Washington in Marine Physics and Meteorology in 1969. I returned to nuclear submarines as the Navy's first Poseidon Weapons Officer. Subsequently, I served as Navigator, and as Diving & Salvage and Saturation Diving Officer on both catamaran mother vessels for the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle, and then as Officer in Charge of the Navy Saturation Diving School, and of the Test Operations Group out of San Diego and Mare Island, conducting deep-ocean surveillance and data acquisition.

In NOAA I directed diving operations throughout the Pacific and Atlantic. In 1981 I earned a Masters and in 1983 a Doctorate from California Coast University. NOAA published my Doctoral dissertation, "A Method for Protecting Scuba Divers from the Hazards of Contaminated Water," and distributed it around the world to interested ports and diving activities. I am a certified diving instructor for the National Association of Underwater Instructors (NAUI), and have taught over 3,000 individuals both basic and advanced SCUBA diving. I authored three diving books, developed the first NAUI drysuit course, developed advanced curricula for mixed gas and other specialized diving modes, and developed and taught a NAUI course on the Math and Physics of Advanced Diving. I also served three shipboard years in the high Arctic conducting baseline studies, and thirteen months at the geographic South Pole in charge of National Science Foundation atmospheric projects.

After retiring in 1986, I served as CEO of the largest editorial service in the United States, and founded a small publishing company. I sold the publishing firm to serve as Chief Staff Officer for a consortium of five marine industry related firms in San Diego. In 1994 I moved to Philadelphia, and focused on writing, real estate, and the stock market. In 1997, I joined Morgan Stanley as a Series 7 stockbroker.

Since 1999 I have been independent. I have written extensively on terrorism and related subjects. I am the author of the recently published popular book on current events: "The Chicken Little Agenda - Debunking Experts' Lies," and a new children's book series, "Starman Jones," in collaboration with Dr. Frank Drake, world famous director of the Carl Sagan Institute for the Study of Life in the Universe and the SETI Institute. In this series of delightful stories about Starman Jones, Space Pup, and Billy, I create in children an intuitive understanding of many of the esoteric scientific concepts of Relativity, Quantum Mechanics, and other sciences. The first book in this series, "Starman Jones: A Relativity Birthday Present," is available online (see link at right), and at book stores everywhere by special order.

My passion is ...

Living life to its fullest. Robert Heinlein once had a character say: "Take big bites. Live life to its fullest. Moderation is for monks." Part of "living life to its fullest" is adventure - genuine adventure, not some canned, predigested pabulum, but genuinely going off the beaten path, taking a step beyond the edge.

I know too much about ...

Nothing at all. I try to learn more about everything I touch.

My parents always told me ...

To trust in God. Eventually, I learned to trust in myself.

My childhood ambition ...

Was to be a fireman, initially, because that was the most adventurous thing I could imagine. Eventually, I wanted to be an astronaut, but when that didn't work out, I became a submariner, deep sea diver, and polar explorer.

My favorite memory ...

The first time I boarded a nuclear submarine at night...no, maybe when I first stepped out of a Herc (C-130 Hercules aircraft) at the South Pole...no, the first time I soloed in an aircraft...no, the first time I made love...no, the first time I exited an underwater saturation habitat...no....

Why I write ...

Just because...

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Books...hard science fiction, science, adventure, history; watching...video adaptations of "Books;" listening...anything that isn't hard/acid rock or the other so-called modern "music" styles; love the classics (the real ones) and good jazz; talk radio.

My first job ...

The first job that mattered was as a nuclear submarine Sonar Technician.

My best moment ...

Probably hasn't happened yet.

My inspiration ...

Ayn Rand, Robert Heinlein, James P. Hogan, Phillip Wylie, Ronald Reagan, Edward Teller, Dixy Lee Ray, Paul McCready, Ernest Shackleton...(I can go on listing hundreds).

Religion & Spirituality > Thoughts on God What is your understanding of God?

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I came out of a Christian Pentecostal background. As a young man I genuinely believed the doctrinal precepts with which I was raised, and planned to enter the ministry. Nevertheless, my minister parents encouraged me to explore my world. I was bright and read widely, consuming seven or eight books a week from the age of eight onward. Early on, I discovered Science Fiction, and found that I gravitated toward "hard science" books and stories. These led to real science, and I was hooked.

I was becoming saturated with everything scientific, and was beginning to modify how I believed, to accomm...

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