About Tom Stone
Some of the info on this page will eventually be on separate pages (e.g., music interests). But for now, here is some quick info about me:
Basic Facts
Full name: Thomas Ryan Stone
Born: 1973, in Rochester, New York
Family: My parents are Paul and Cathy Stone of Scottsville, New York. I have one younger brother, David, who lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I have extended family in many states, but most are centered in the Twin-Cities in Minnesota and Bristol, Tennessee.
Marital Status: Married (1998), to Susan Dawn Wake. Susan is an adjunct philosophy professor at Monroe Community College. She is also an excellent cook, amongst many other interests.
Formal Education: I attended Caledonia Mumford Central School from K-12, and graduated in 1991. I have a BA in philosophy from the University of Rochester (1995). I did one year of graduate work in philosophy at Ohio State University.
Employment: See my resume.
Personality Type: In late summer 2004, I had occassion to take the Miers-Briggs Type Indicator test. I was skeptical that it could tell me anything interesting about myself, or that it might even be at all accurate. I was amazed by the results. In terms of the 16 types, I am an ENTJ: Extravert (moderate), Intution (slight), Thinking (clear), Judging (very clear). The detailed "facets" report was amazingly accurate and enlightening at the same time.
 "Claim to Fame": By a wide margin, my most signifant project has been the EpistemeLinks.com philosophy resource directory. For background, see the brief description at my projects page, then visit the site itself at EpistemeLinks.com.
Favorites, etc.
Favorite Movies: I plan to have a lot of info about my favorite movies added to this site someday. For now... some of my favorites are the original Star Wars trilogy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Princess Bride, Terminator 1 and 2, and Aliens (the second one). For older classics, some of my favorites include The Americanization Emily, The Graduate, Duck Soup, Animal Crackers, and The Great Escape.
Favorite Television: The only shows I regularly watch at present are Monk, Lost, Smallville, and The Simpsons. Past sitcom favorites include Seinfeld, Cheers, and Taxi. I watched all five Star Trek series, and in the 1980s two of my favorite shows were The Incredible Hulk and MacGyver. My two all-time favorite shows are the short-lived British comedy "Fawlty Towers" (12 episodes in the 1970s) and the Comedy Central hit "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" (remember? that show with the sillhouetted characters that made fun of bad movies!)
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Favorite music: Someday I'll post a lot more about the music I like, but for now:
- Top artists:
Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Enya.
- 1990s - current: I like many songs from Smashing Pumpkins and The
Cranberries. Also, some songs from Pearl Jam, STP, Nirvana, Alice
in Chains, and Soundgarden.
- 1960s-1970s:
Besides PF and JT, Led Zeppelin is my clear next favorite. After
that, it is hit and miss, as I really just have a long list of
particular songs I like from a variety of artists.
- 1980s: I
don't like much from the 1980s at all. A few songs from Van Halen,
Rush, or others... but for me, this is mostly a wasteland of junk.
It is largely what I grew up on, but by the time I was in my late
teens, I knew I preferred the earlier stuff to the 80s.
- Hard rock: I
like some songs from Metallica, Black Sabbath/Ozzy, and a few
others.
- Classical: I
don't listen to much classical, but I do like Wagner, Bartok,
Tchaikovsky, and selected pieces from others. What I really like
in this genre are various movie soundtracks (John Williams
especially), and some versions of rock favorites performed by
philharmonic orchestras (e.g., Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Led
Zeppelin).
- Misc/Other:
Susan has introduced me to more Celtic (beyond Enya and
Cranberries), and I like a lot of it. I don't listen to Jazz,
Country, Reggae, Hip Hop, or other genres.
- Favorite Songs: The first song I ever remember considering to be my
favorite was "Cat's in the Cradle" by Harry Chapin -- when I was
maybe five years old. Then another I considered my favorite would
have been "Down Under" by Men at Work in the mid-80s. At present,
it is really tough to pick a favorite song, even a favorite five
or ten songs. I guess it is still hard to top "Stairway to Heaven"
by Led Zeppelin. Someday I'll post lists of my favorite songs by
various artists, and perhaps an overall top-ten as well.
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 Favorite Art: I am not a big art afficionado. I like some impressionism, and selected works by various artists. But the only art that I thoroughly like and that I identify as my "favorite" is the work of Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966). While I find his commercial and children's books illustrations interesting, what I really enjoy are his famous landscapes and paintings with models. As for architecture, I like Frank Lloyd Wright and would likely enjoy anything similar to his style and approach.
Favorite Reading: I mostly read non-fiction. I read Wired magazine, along with a few other business or news magazines, plus several local newspapers. I read several blogs, along with some email newsletters. The books I read tend to be in philosophy, politics, or economics. I don't read much fiction these days, and my favorite novels remain Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand and The Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
Favorite Foods: American, Chinese, Indian, and Mexican food. The only style of food I mostly don't like is Italian. All other styles are hit and miss.
Sports Interests: I am a big baseball fan. I have always loved the history, the statistics, the past and the present of the game. Growing up I collected baseball cards -- I think I maxed out at around 200,000 cards. I poured over statistics, loved to compare players across the decades, and played many different computer baseball simulations. A good baseball discussion is still my favorite, even more so than philosophy, politics, or astrophysics. I am also working on a baseball book writing project (on hold as of 2005).
I also played baseball. I played little league, and then junior varsity and varsity in high school. I was always one of the two primary starting pitchers on any team I played on. The high school team I played for was very bad: lots of inexperienced players, some with bad attitudes, and lots of relatively untalented players (including me). If the team had been stronger, I likely would have only been a relief pitcher -- which would have been better for me, given my unorthodox style. I threw sidearm, and often dropped down further to throw submarine, a la Dan Quisenberry (star closer for the Royals in the 1980s). I didn't throw very hard, but I was often effective for the first few innings -- until the opposing team adjusted to my delivery.
I am also a fan of both basketball and football. I started to play basketball pick-up games as an adult, and I continue to do so every week at a local gym.
I participate in fantasy/rotisserie baseball and football leagues, usually two of each per year. I've been playing fantasy in both sports since high school.
I am a fan of the Lakers in basketball, and to a lesser extent, the Pirates in baseball, and the Steelers in football. These are all because during 1979-1980, when I was about 6 years old, I decided it was time to pick favorites in each sport, and those were the best teams at the time, so I hopped on their bandwagons.
 Things I am quite good at:
- Ping Pong: We
had a ping-pong table in the basement when I was a kid. My brother
and I (and sometimes our friends too) played countless games,
improving our skills over time. I'm not world-class by any stretch
of the imagination, but I am pretty good.
- Tetris I
started playing Tetris when it first came out... late 1980s I
think it was. I have played it on many platforms (I think this
includes Atari, PC, Playstation, XBox, Gameboy). My current
preference is for Gameboy. I don't play often, just when on
vacation and away from home (on airplanes, etc.).
 My high scores
at each starting level on that platform are:
- Level 0: 384,327
- Level 1: 648,029
- Level 2: 581,570
- Level 3: 336,696
- Level 4: 622,523
- Level 5: 472,289
- Level 6: 461,939
- Level 7: 384,704
- Level 8: 577,083
- Level 9: 625,747
Things I am working to become quite good at:
- Texas Hold'em Poker: I'm gaining a lot of experience online, and studying several books to really learn this game well. It is a lot of fun, and quite a challenge.
Miscellaneous Facts
Star Wars Freak: Although I'm sure my "skills" in this area have faded over time, for a while during my early 20s I was able to recite from memory the entire dialog to all three original Stars Wars movies.
On a smaller scale, like many people I have seen most Seinfeld episodes often enough to be able to quote key scenes from them fairly accurately.
Computer Role Playing Games: I haven't played any computer games in several years (other than Poker and Tetris). I used to spend a lot of time playing Role Playing Games. As a teenager, on Atari and then PC, I played such classics as Bard's Tale I, Ultima V and Ultima VI, Might and Magic 2, 3, and 4, and several in the Wizardry series. Then later I played Heroes of Might and Magic 1-4, which was a strategy game that used fantasy army types (meaning anything ranging from Dragons and Knights to Skeletons and Vampires to Unicorns and Wizards).
 Collections: Collecting things runs in my family, my dad's side of the family. My grandfather had large collections of postcards, coins, matchbooks, baseball caps, frisbees, books, elephant figurines, and more. One of my uncles collected baseball memorabilia, another uncle collects everything, and my dad collected stamps in his youth. As a child, I collected many things: baseball cards, comic books, soda pop cans, bottle caps, erasers, magnets, and even restaurant sugar packets that had designs on them. Although I still have a lot of baseball memorabilia, I no longer actively collect it. The other collections are all long gone... except the one collection that I am still expanding (mostly via eBay) which is my soda pop can collection. This is now over 1,000 different cans: a mix of steel and aluminum cans, most from the 1970s and 1980s, with some being newer. I will add any interesting contemporary ones I come across, but I am mostly interested in obtaining interesting steel cans from the 1970s or earlier. (Click image of my collection at the right to see a larger photo.)
Tinnitus: I've had tinnitus since birth. This is a constant, high-pitched ringing in both ears. My paternal grandmother also had this, so I suspect I inherited it.
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