page updated 2023-08-18
Terry Liittschwager
Résumé ... sort of ... kind of ... condensed ... approximate ... whatever ....
— first —
22 years doing software development using Fortran, MAP, PL-I, Cobol, Pascal, C, and a number of Assembler languages.
B.S. in Computer Science, U. of Oregon, 1974.
— then —
18 years of flying — typed CE-500, SA-227, B-727, B-747 — last 10 years primarily international on the 747.
— now —
24 years retired from airline flying, but I'm involved in a few non-commercial web development projects.
— trivia —
Favorite Quote #1: Death is a common affliction.
Favorite Quote #2: There's nothing wrong with being dead.
Favorite Quote #3: If something has no effect, it doesn't exist.
Favorite Quote #4: There is no imperative for the human race to persist.
Favorite Quote #5: Just because something's bad doesn't mean it should be illegal.
Favorite Quote #6: Put the people in prison that you're afraid of, not those you're just mad at.
Favorite Pastime: Being outside in the sun in my bare skin—bare all over—preferably on a tropical beach.
Age: 83, and getting more iconoclastic with each passing day. Aging has a lot of drawbacks, but it's also liberating.
Pet Peeve: Having to wear shoes when I don't need them, which is why I like New Zealand, you can go anywhere barefoot.
Most Controversial Opinions: Legal euthanasia, legal prostitution, legal recreational drugs, minimal censorship.
Most Perplexing Question: How to extend tolerance to those unwilling to be tolerant of me.
Race: Caucasion, the ones with the weak skin that sunburns easily and gets age marks.
Political Party: Republican for 35 years, now a reluctant Democrat (lesser of evils).
Greatest Regret: The time and energy wasted on religion when I was young.
Religion: none, secular humanist, atheist
— lastly & most important —
My wife, Jean, is the best thing that ever happened to me. This second time around is the greatest — 46 years and counting.
I never knew what real love, support, and companionship were until we met.
I got the following message from a reader:
Out of curiosity, I was reading your webpage and observed "Favorite Quote #4: There is no imperative for the human race to persist." Are you voluntarily childless? Antinatalist?
To the first question: no, I have three children.
To the second question: no, at least not in the philosophical sense of that word as I understand it (which is limited to Internet searching). I do believe that the human race needs to reduce our population until such time as we have the technology and the political will to stop our present polluting and resource-exhausting ways.
What I was trying to convey in the quote—which by the way is my wording, my quote as best I recall—is that we're on our own. There is no guiding hand, no omnipotent power that has decreed we must continue to exist or will help us to do so.