Milton Barber: Home

The Human Intellect

Some people feel that humans are distinguished by being the "rational" animal, while others feel that humans are most distinctive as the "rationalizing" animal.

Both of these viewpoints are wildly optimistic.

Actually, the distinguishing characteristics of the human intellect are that it is:

gullible,
chauvinistic, and
domineering,

in approximately that order.

In addition, the above sterling qualities are mixed with self-delusion -- i.e. people usually believe that their conclusions have been reached rationally.

About the only potentially redeeming feature of the human intellect is its ability, through careful study, to recognize its own deficiencies.

Introduction

Hello. My name is Milton Barber. Welcome to my personal web site and thanks for visiting. I am a retired software engineer with a diverse (but perhaps somewhat odd) set of interests.

During my professional life, I specialized in compilers and programming languages, with an emphasis on highly optimizing compilers during the latter part of my career. This career spanned 45 years, during which time I wrote or worked on about two dozen commercial compilers, worked on computers ranging from early vacuum tube models to modern supercomputers, and used multiple programming languages and operating systems (resumé).

In retirement, I have acquired an expanded list of interests and hobbies, as follows:

Digital Photography. This is my most time-consuming current interest. I sell prints of my photographs through the "Milton Barber Photography" business. Click on this logo to go to my commercial website:

(The "Photos" menu item above is for personal/family photos only.)
Home Theater. I built a PC-based home theater with a projector, a large screen, a 7.1 THX sound system, and a large DVD collection. The PC runs Windows Media Center. I am currently dabbling around with digital files representing high-resolution high-fidelity surround sound music.
Wine Grape Growing. My family owns and operates a small commercial wine-grape vineyard under the name "Redwood Hill Vineyards". See the "Vineyard" menu item above for more details.
Construction. I built our house, and nowadays I always seem to be in the middle of building something.
Early Human Cultures.
High-altitude Hiking/Treking.
Genealogy.
Web programming.

My personal email address is: insertMyLastNameHere dot family at verizon dot net (stated this way to try to fool spambots).

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