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It is currently 00:30 (UTC) on Sunday, 15 December 2024 in Wikiland, although where I live it is 10:00 (UTC + 9.5).
 | This user has been a major contributor to 28 articles featured on Did You Know. |
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This Wikipedian is proud to have served on two United Nations-led peacekeeping missions.
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This Wikipedian is proud to have served in IFOR — the NATO-led international peace implementation force in the former Yugoslavia.
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| 13 | This user joined Wikipedia 13 years, 0 months, and 20 days ago as of December 15, 2024. |
 | This user has made over
over 90,000 edits to Wikipedia. |
| Were this admin to act in a foolish, trollish, or dickish way, he is open to being slapped with a large trout. |
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There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's own safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane, he had to fly them. If he flew them, he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to, he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out a respectful whistle.
"That's some catch, that Catch-22," he observed.
"It's the best there is," Doc Daneeka agreed.
Intro
I'm always interested in a serious discussion (based on the Wikipedia Architectural Quintet, of course) on any article I have edited. I have a particularly good library on Yugoslavia in the Second World War, and also on Australia in the First World War, and I will not disappoint with emotional or POV nonsense. I will bring the sources or I will shut up and get back in my box. If you want to chat, meet me in the Bar. For a collection of trinkets I've collected, enter the Pool Room. Some of the sources I own are listed in the Library. Stuff I use a fair bit is in the Toolshed, and stuff I've done is gathering dust in Contributions. For things I'd like to do, but haven't yet got around to, see Work in Progress. I have one rarely-used alternative account, Peacemaker67 (public) which I use on public or shared computers. I joined WikiProject Military History when I started editing Wikipedia in November 2011 and was a project coordinator from September 2013 to September 2016, and again from September 2017 to September 2018, followed by four years as lead coordinator until September 2022. It was a great privilege to assist in the running of the project across those years. I am now concentrating on content creation, but was recently elected a coordinator emeritus of the project, which I consider a great honour given I have the deepest respect for the commitment and dedication of all those who have been previously elected to the position. So I'll dip my toes back into some coord work occasionally as needed.
I've lived, worked in and visited a lot of places, have been to every continent except Antarctica, and lived in Germany for eighteen months, in Croatia and Bosnia for six months, and in Cyprus for six months. My favourite countries outside of Australia are Morocco and Brazil.
A bit about the former Yugoslavia
I am not from, have any connection to, nor have any proclivity to support, any faction/racial/cultural/political/religious group from the former Yugoslavia or its successor states, and like all true Wikipedians, am only interested in reliable, published sources and a neutral point of view. I spent some time there myself in 1990s (mostly in Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina), and was appalled by most of what I saw and experienced, and have spent the last twenty or so years trying to understand what happened there in the 90's in the context of the past (concentrating mostly on WWII). I struggle to understand it, but one thing I do know is that all wars of the 20th Century had laws and that many of the wars that occurred in the Balkans in that time were sadly short of combatants that respected them. There were many victims there in that last 120 years, but in my view, not many good guys.
Over time, I have realised that the root cause of Yugoslavia’s demise wasn’t centuries-old ethnic hatreds, but the fact that no government in the area that became Yugoslavia ever achieved legitimacy, because they all served one group and were intolerant of others, and as a result, created serious sectarian grievances. When the opportunity arose and power shifted, at the local or national level, there were always those that were willing to exploit it for their own profit, to take revenge or eliminate the potential opposition—usually targeting the powerless and defenceless.
Australian military history
I am also keen on Australian military history, particularly WW1, and especially the Machine Gun companies and battalions. I've managed to put together more than a dozen Featured biographies of South Australian soldiers, and one on a WWI battle (First Battle of Dernancourt), and two on events in the Australian frontier wars, but I wish I could drag myself away from Balkans articles for long enough to make a real contribution.
For more on why I edit where I do, see my 2015 interview in the Wikipedia Signpost. Not much has changed.
For those not acquainted with military medals and how ex-soldiers can get a bit tense about the wrong ones being worn etc, the above ribbon bars are a bit of a nod to the barnstar idea. When I began on WP, I really cared about what others thought about my contributions, and also greatly appreciated the recognition that I was doing ok. I know I don't do enough to use barnstars to recognise newer contributors, who might also appreciate them early on. These days, I still get a brief warm glow when I receive one, but I don't care too much about them, and I maintain the ribbon bar as a bit of a nod to the past and a reminder to use them to reward others. My real ribbon bar from my Australian Army and Australian Federal Police service is less like that of a North Korean general...
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