Do you sing in a band?

@kensmile4u Not for many moons! If you search 'aftermathau' and 'anchorhead Darth metal' in YouTube, evidence still remains of my misspent youth.

@JeffMoffat I checked it out on you tube. It's a novel approach to death metal. The production and musicianship was really good. I have friends in a microtonal death metal band called Last Sacrament.

Come on now sticks. We are fellow Musicians. From your username I'm guessing your a drummer. Are you telling me you wouldn't enjoy teaching some young kid who you liked and thought had potential to play some rudiments?

@kensmile4u I learned on my own. I don't have a point of reference to work from.

@Sticks48 I respect that. Some of the best drummers I've played with built their own system of playing.Once we figured out how to communicate all was good....

Haha I have my moments of brilliance in that area too!

You do have a diverse skill set. Which is your favorite Art medium to work in?

kensile4u.. My favorite is oils, but sadly have to deal with using acrylics due to ventilation and clean up.

Thanks to the internet, the world is getting smaller by the day. Subsequently opportunities provided by social media and other interactive platforms helps us pierce the veil of the unknown and the mysterious. Utilizing that opportunity continuously over time allows us to explore the deepest regions of a cooperative mind.

@kensmile4u That is the key... cooperative mind. And a scam artist already made it its playground too... lurking at every site, at every corner. Trying to stay ahead of the game. Liars found in the internet a home too. But I am a lot more than words can say. That should be the Mantra of Every Man. I am an Open Book and the best of me... is the chapter that was edited out. That is reserved for the Special People. With respect to all here... my favorite site.

That is quite a diverse set of teaching qualifications. Which one is your favorite?

ecology without a doubt, I don't enjoy business or computer teaching at all, they came about as I have worked in those industries a lot.

@Rugglesby Ecology has a rising importance among the sciences due to global warming. Your experience will be needed to mentor the future problem solvers.

@kensmile4u I like to think so, I have worked on some interesting projects thus far, assisted migration has been interesting, looking at where we can move animals especially endangered species when their habitat changes faster than they can evolve without disturbing other animals and systems. I like it because I am constantly learning.

@Rugglesby It must be very rewarding to know you are helping innocents on a large scale.

Have you always worked as a consultant?

@kensmile4u I'm not a consultant. I do software engineering for a consulting firm. The consultants get the business (and the bucks) and the engineers design, build, and support the products. I'm coming up on 16 years there, and still love it. Prior to that, I put myself through school while working as an operator in an AS/400 shop. Computers have been good to me.

@MollyBell I'm glad you are doing well. Computers have been good to me too. My youngest son is already taking dual enrollment software development classes in high school. We are currently down selecting from five universities in Florida for his pursuit of an MS in software development.

@kensmile4u Congrats to you and your son. If he's passionate about coding, he'll do very well.

I was a dog breeder during my college years. It helped pay the bills. What breed do you like the most? I've studied some NLP. what you do with sabers? forms? collect?

@kensmile4u this is my teacher showing the saber form at slow pace

haha my middle son is an extraordinary gamer. He even has the word halo in his email name. What else do you like to do?

What type of carpenter are you? See the pic of the Boat Dock I designed and built in my spare time. I enjoyed doing this project in my back yard. It took about a year to complete. But I am not a trim or finish carpenter. That's beyond me where precision, knowledge, and talent combine to produce works of art.

Is table tennis popular in the UK? I recently played against my friends mother who was visiting from the UK. I think i'm a pretty good player but she schooled me on the table. I was properly humbled. I think I could use a little advise on item number two as well. Lol

@kensmile4u It is not that popular a sport over here, but someone has to play it. I play quite regularly and coach a bit as well.

I have much respect for your work in end of life care. I could not do that job. It takes a very special person. Thanks for being you!

@kensmile4u thanks. methinks life's lessons forge an end of life health worker. It's not a profession one chooses.

We have a great collection of teachers on this site!

I must admit i have never seen that on a ven diagram.

I look forward to it.

@kensmile4u I will send you an invite

Entomology?

@kensmile4u Yes, I am a self-taught entomologist specialising in parasite flies, but I work at the Natural History Museum doing loads of other stuff.

@ChrisR Sounds like a fun job! I participated in a field study where The University of Florida released a colony of flies along my lakeshore. The flies lay their eggs in the heads of fire ants. The purpose of the study was to develop a biological control for the spread of the dreaded fire ant. The results were great. Those flies eradicated all of the fire ants. But an unintended result was the proliferation of other indigenous ant species. It's fascinating how nature responds to intervention.

@ChrisR What other stuff do you do at the museum?

@kensmile4u Sounds like ant-decapitating phorids to me - probably a Brian Brown project Every time we mess with nature there are always unintended results ... I always cringe when people say they've found the next cure for a problem, and usually laugh out loud when they predict that they have an invasive species "under control" or they'll "eradicate" it. LOL

I work in the UK Biodiversity department in the NHM, London (the Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity) and I was initially employed to maintain and develop the giant database of all the names of all UK wildlife, which underpins biological recording/reporting systems here. It basically provides a standard naming and taxonomic concept model which allows names and the data associated with them to be interpreted correctly. Since then I have also been put in charge of the Identification & Advisory Service team and I am responsible for the facilities people use when they visit the department and I liaise with the curators to provide and look after the UK synoptic reference/handling collections. On top of that I get involved with training and mentoring amateur naturalists and doing events or fieldwork in the UK.

@ChrisR It looks like you have a really interesting and fun job. I wish you continued success.

Your answer made me instantly hungry. What is your favorite dish to cook?

@kensmile4u ..depends on my mood and what I'm craving..but if it's edible I'll cook it!

@kensmile4u
One of my favorite winter dishes is a boneless cheese stuffed leg of lamb with roasted root veggies..

@Charlene That sounds beyond delicious! Do you take shipped orders? Lol

@kensmile4u. It'd be cheaper to come here and have me cook it..lol

What is your specialty in medicine?

@kensmile4u I did residencies in Family Practice and Psychiatry

@btroje Which do you like better?

@kensmile4u I like all of it

Thanks for the compliment on the Strat. She is a vintage reissue of the 59 model. I searched a long time to find it. A real joy to play and great tone! That guitar has helped me collect a lot of coin!

Your personal philosophy sounds a little like Jungian individuation. I've read some of his books but i find his works to be a little wordy and impenetrable. You might find it resonates well with you.

Lastly I agree with you... SCIENCE RULES!

@kensmile4u I majored in Psychology but like you hated Carl Jung. Way too long and not specific in theory, I follow and read all on theoretical physics and that is where my spiritual side comes from, The human mind is a terrible thing to waste without more food for thought.

Is there a specific type of art that you teach?

mostly 3-D, ceramics and sculpture.@kensmile4u

@farmboy2017 cool!

@farmboy2017 That sounds like a fun job!

@kensmile4u I wish I got to make more art! But as they say" Any job in art is a good job".

@farmboy2017 True! another good saying is "If you love what your doing it never feels like work".

Which of the 6 topics is your favorite to teach?

Thats tough but probably a tie between history and mythology

Thats great for you to spend such quality time time with your grandson. Hopefully he willI continue through college with it while you mentor him. I enjoy doing consulting work as well.

One of my favorite subjects! Did you find the economics background helpful in personal investment strategies?

@kensmile4u! I did find it very useful. I never taught anything that I didn't believe to be true for myself. Consequently, I am quite comfortably retired.

@Dwight It helped me too! Glad you are doing well.

I have a friend who is a geologist. He has a great job where they send him to far flung locations all over the planet. It makes the gypsy in me jealous. Do you get to travel in your work?

Geology was my original major, it became my second minor. Lol, I do travel for work, sort of. Anywhere from Dallas to Galveston, San Antonio to Beaumont, but mostly Houston and the northern suburbs. Every day I drive somewhere. Some projects take months like the school district we’re currently working. Johnson Space Center job took years. But other jobs take an hour. I guess I travel the region extremely well. @kensmile4u

I really like your profound and elegant profile intro. I think I can best you in chess but you will have your revenge on the backgammon board. I've owned many motorbikes. I prefer riding off road trails. What's your best fish story?

@kensmile4u best fish story would be ... watching frying pan sized Salmon, who were returning to their place of birth to spawn and then die. They were leaping up a waterfall in a place called Shin Falls, Bonar Bridge in Scotland. Magnificent sight to behold and willing or cheering them to make it to the top. Loved it

@IzziBell That's a great story. I've been to Scotland. My ancestry is from Aberdeen and the borders. It's a beautiful country! I have plans to return one day and really do a lengthy tour.

@IzziBell Thanks for the recommendations. I will look these locations up and add them to my itinerary. I wish you a good life and I look forward to our future interactions.

@ScienceBiker i work at a primary school as a part time teaching assistant and a visually impaired girl attended on a temporary placement. The Head teacher asked me to be a 'guide' for this young girl, whom i nicknamed 'Myrtle'.
'Myrtle' could Braille and had Perkins Brailler, she brought with her to school. She taught me the alphabet and then i enrolled on an on-line course called UEB (Unified English Braille), so i could learn and help her more. I've just qualified @ grade1 and half way through grade2. Once i have this i can look for employment within special needs or certain mainstream schools, or law courts ( Braille is quicker to write than full words, because certain dot combinations make single words, short-forms and contractions).
'Myrtle', has now moved onto secondary school and moved to a different part of the UK, we chat on facebook via the inbox message system and I Braille her letters; which she gives me honest feed back on. I asked her if there's any book she would like me to transcribe for her; JK Rowling's, Harry Potter and 'The Chamber of Secrets'... ! we giggled when i asked her for an easier one.... So, that's my challenge and i will do it for her.
I find it fascinating that 6 tiny dots can transcribe in an entire language.
tc and stay safe.

p.s i want all your crash helmets please and to cuddle your little dog (hugs)

The writer Henry James learnt braille so he could read in bed without hurting his eyes.
PS. I am very good backgammon player too.