Q: Who are you?
A: Hi! My name is Andrew Turnbull (he/him/his). This is my corner of the web.
![[Andrew Turnbull]](picofme.jpg)
Q: Tell me more about yourself.
A: I am a secular humanist, a gay man, and an atheist. I have many interests, but some of the strongest are photography, music, local history, design, cycling, social justice, and the act of organizing geeky information. I'm a West Virginia native, but consider myself a citizen of the world.
Since escaping small-town life in 2003, I've moved to a succession of cities that were bigger than what came before. I immigrated to Canada in 2017, pursuing a Master's Degree in Library and Information Science.
Q: How come you no longer live in West Virginia?
A: This is why. And so is this. And this.
Don't get me wrong: I'll never forget my roots, and I'm still a West Virginian through and through. There are many qualities about the state that I miss, and I'm proud of its radical origins. I'll happily move back as soon as I can live there without attracting the ire of angry white gun owners, they're teaching actual science in science classes, and the state's carbon footprint is at zero. Unfortunately...I don't expect to live that long.
Q: How can I contact you electronically?
A: You can e-mail feedback and other correspondence here. I can't guarantee a reply...but it's often great to hear from people, so thanks! I may be found on Flickr and Twitter, but don't expect to see much activity there.
Q: Are you on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Vimeo, Snapchat, YouTube, TikTok, GitHub, Grindr...?
A: For some of these, the answer is "no." For some of these, the answer is "yes"...but I'm not happy about it. I don't like social media. I don't like creepy, feed-driven, advertiser-supported stalker sites that broadcast detailed minutia about your life to your grandparents. But nigh every special-interest community that was hosted on a blog or phpBB forum 20 years ago has morphed into a Facebook page...so what can you do?
Q: Do you own a smartphone?
A: No. I already have a dedicated cell phone, and a computer: I don't want a horrible, locked-down bastardization of the two. Unfortunately the way things are going, I may get coerced under duress into buying one anyway.
Q: How did you create this site?
A: I code all HTML and CSS by hand using a text editor. For those looking for a tool to do the same, I recommend Notespad for Windows XP and earlier and Notepad++ 6.6.6 for Windows 2000 and later.
Apart from a tiny bit of PHP, this is an entirely static site. It's self-contained, archivable, and completely JavaScript-free. Technologically, it's as safe as milk as they come. All content hosted here should be fully accessible in any standards-compliant non-Chrome browser of the last umpteen years, including those capable of running on Windows 95 and Mac OS 9. I'd be unhappy if this wasn't the case.
Q: How long has your site been online?
A: More than two decades. The Andrew Turnbull Network first went live on 23 December 2002...on GeoCities!
Q: How can I link to a specific entry on your journal?
A: Highlight the date, and choose "View Selection Source" from the context menu (or whatever your browser's equivalent feature is). Then you'll see the anchor tags I've hidden.
Q: I'm completely disoriented. Do you have a site map available?
A: Yes! Here it is.
Q: Why haven't you updated [page] since [long-ago year]?
A: Probably because the topic no longer interests me, sad to say. Please don't hound me about it.
Q: I'd like to reproduce one of your photographs [on a website/in a book/in a documentary]. May I do so?
A: I'm glad you asked! Here are my general guidelines...
This applies only to original photographs, of course. If the image is historical, I can neither grant nor deny permission.
Q: Would you be interested in adding an advertisement or affiliate (i.e., spam) link to the resources on your web page?
A: No! Please don't ask; I won't reply.
Q: What was the most fundamental thing that turned you off to Christianity?
A: To me, it was the way the religion routinely punished people with eternal torture in a furnace of fire for objectively-trivial offences, like "not praising Jesus."
The notion of hell is the most repugnant, sadistic, and morally-abhorrent concept in the entire universe. As well as an obvious recipe for fostering right-wing authoritarianism ("Gee, I'd better vote for Bush/Trump like my pastor told me to since I don't want to go to hell!"), and devaluing life on earth.
Q: What is a practical goal that society should work to achieve?
A: The abolition of immigration controls. Your country of citizenship should not be dictated by the luck of where you were born.
Q: What is some sage advice you wish you could have given to your younger self?
Q: What does it feel like to get tattooed?
A: Imagine needles being massaged into your skin. It's kind of like that.
Q: What's your favourite band these days?
A: Walk the Moon. What's not to like? They're guys my age who like the same New Wave influences I do!
Q: Won't you tell me anything else? There's so much I want to know.A: I used to have extremely sarcastic answers in this space to actual facepalm-worthy questions I had received over the years, but I cut them since they painted a portrait of myself as a mean-spirited person who kicks people when they're down. Fair enough: There's enough negativity in this world without dredging e-mails for more.
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