My Projects
I consider myself to be a "project-oriented" person. This page describes some of my most significant projects (besides this personal website and projects I have worked on for my employer, Element K). Some are current, some are from my past. This page was last updated in December 2005.
EpistemeLinks
EpistemeLinks (EL) is a philosophy resource directory website. It includes over 18,500 links to resources in philosophy, all categorized by over 450 philosopher areas and 50 topic areas. The types of resources included are links to general websites, e-texts, encyclopedia articles and other references, bibliographies, journals, organizations, university departments, professors and graduate students homepages, conferences, audio and video content, publishers, discussion lists, lecture notes, blogs, and more. EpistemeLinks also has some special features, such as a quotations database, birthday and date of death calendars, and more.
Easy to navigate, the site gets over 4,500 visitors per day. It is widely used by professors as well as graduate and undergraduate students as a tool for teaching, research, and study.
The site was launched in 1997 and is now in its ninth year online. I have spent several thousand hours working on the site: improving its architecture and useability, responding to queries and emails, adding new features, and generally improving the value of this resource. As the site's regularly updated "What's New" page indicates, it remains a constant, on-going project.
EpistemeLinks Online Store
In 2005, in conjunction with CafePress, I launched the EpistemeLinks Online Store. Here you will find hundreds of unique items, all with a philosophy theme. Some are serious, some are humorous. You can get T-shirts and a wide array of other apparel, coffee mugs, tote bags, baby bibs, and grill aprons. They have philosophical quotations, jokes, and portraits of famous philosophers. CafePress creates high-quality items. I have sold hundreds of items, and have not yet had a complaint about the quality of the merchandise. Browse around the store, you'll at least get a laugh at some of the items. And purchases help support my work on the EpistemeLinks website.
Baseball History/Statistics Book
I am currently writing a book on baseball. It focuses on the recurring question of determining the All-Time Team rosters for each major-league franchise. This is a fun question, one that fans have argued over for decades. My book will have 26 chapters (one for each of the long-standing franchises), plus an introduction, and perhaps a few wrap-up chapters or appendices. For the purposes of this book, a "franchise" includes the history of a team across moves from city to city (e.g., the Dodgers includes both the LA and Brooklyn teams).
For each team analysis, I will begin by presenting my own choices for each position: a starter and a backup, with 6 outfielders, 10 pitchers (mixed starters and relievers), a manager, a team captain, a starting batting order, and so on. For each player, brief highlights will be given, to indicate the essentials of my reasoning for choosing him over the other viable candidates (who are also briefly described). This should amount to the most detailed consideration of this topic thus far in print.
However, I will be going beyond my own choices by comparing them with the choices of other authors and surveys. Some of these will be recent (including a comparison with the "choices" dictated by Bill James' new Win Shares system), while some will be old fan surveys and other sources. I am doing a lot of research to find as many alternate All-Time Team selections as I can, so that I can compare them with my own selections.
This project started in late 2000. I currently have nine draft chapters, with preliminary research conducted for most of the rest. I plan to eventually self-publish it as a traditional print book, likely through a print-on-demand company. But for now I am posting draft chapters on this website.
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