infamous.net
the numerous and diverse worlds of Tom "the infamous tms" Swiss
home (with links aplenty) bizarre acts of poetry songs of love and other dangers speaker to machines unreasonable.org (my blog sort of thing) Earthtouch Shiatsu (acupressure and massage) Catonsville Seido Karate Zelda's Inferno (a poetry workshop) Why Buddha Touched the Earth (a Zen Pagan book) Warrior Poet Consulting

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    Tom at the MD Renaissance Festival, August 2010
    from a photo by Ken Morrill, August 2010

    Tom Swiss's home on the web. Slowly and constantly being renovated.

    He's just this guy, you know? A Zen Pagan Taoist Atheist Discordian Transcendentalist hacker (in this sense), karateka, poet, musician, and shiatsu ("acupressure massage") therapist...a dilettante, loudmouth, and jackanapes (look it up!)...proud to bear the title HMSH.

    Opinions? Full of 'em. There's my blog sort of thing at unreasonable.org, or you can read my recent ramblings over at Slashdot. (For archival rants, back in the the days of USENET, I was the infamous tms found at cs.umd.edu, at tis.com, at mail.bcpl.net -- and, way way back, as fantom at wam.umd.edu.)

    Wander here looking for enlightenment? Well, I sure don't have any, but I'll share my confusion in Why Buddha Touched the Earth, a book in progress on "Zen Paganism".

    Looking for info about the Free Spirit Alliance? Our home page is here, and my candidate's statement for the FSA presidency is available here.

    Looking for a Unix/C/C++ geek? A PHP website guy? A Linux consultant? General "speaker to machines"? See my resume. (Not actively looking for a new job, but am willing to be tempted. Certainly open to some side consulting.)

    Got aches and pains? Health problems? Just need help with stress? Maybe some shiatsu can help.

    Interested in the martial arts? Live in the Baltimore area? Check out the Catonsville Seido Karate program.

    You might also read some of my poetry (almost all old stuff; since most venues won't publish previously published works, and they include web publishing in that restriction, new stuff will be added only once I've given up hope of publication - or managed to get it published somewhere...).

    However, some writing exercises from Zelda's Inferno and works in progress can be found in my blog. Or check out my music. (A CD coming soon eventually!).

    Spinning fire poi at Wicker Man, 2009
    Spinning fire poi at Wicker Man, May 2009.

    Note: since my name is unusual enough that a casual Googler may assume that all Tom Swisses are the same, it may also be useful to mention that I am not:

    • Tom Swiss the lawyer from Baltimore (though he is a cousin)
    • Tom Swiss of the University of Iowa (though he and I are both poets)
    • the anti-science Tom Swiss of the oil and tobacco industry sock puppet called the "Heartland Institute", and of the Cook County Republican party (as anyone familiar with my political leanings will attest)
    • the purported "Tom Swiss" behind the "Adblock Pro" shareware (which some allege is a rip-off of another piece of shareware)
    and that there are many, or at least some, other Tom Swisses who are not me and are not each other. (I am also not related to magician Jamy Ian Swiss, though he did once "read my mind".)

    Stuff I'm actively involved with:
    Tom reading poetry, May 2005
    Sowebo festival 2005. Photo by Doreen Peri.

    Some groups I'm a member of:

    Politics, etc:

    Philosophy and Intriguing ideas:

    The Drooling Fanboy section: (local, underground, and off-beat acts you've probably never heard of, but should!)

    • Kiva, the "pagan supergroup", "a percussive, acoustic, worldbeat ensemble that celebrates the magic of nature and ancient bardic traditions with music that opens the heart and heals the spirit."
    • Big Blow and the Bushwackers, an indescribable folk/jazz/world music thing involving didgeridoo, tuba, mandolin, musical saw...and a whole lot of fun.
    • Chris Chandler, playing in the border where poetry meets folk music meets genius, along with folk musician Anne Feeney, the "Union Maid".
    • Telesma, "neo-classical post-industrial psychedelic primordial space fusion." Oh, yeah. Regulars at the defDumbAndBass fREAKoUT, which is quite a thing (I've done a poetry/spoken word thing there a few times).
    • Bob Pyle, songwriter and banjo player who's one of the most off the wall and creative people it is my pleasure to know. Used to run a Tuesday night open mic at Side Streets in Ellicott City, at which I would often perform. (After this and this, we'll be saying a big hello to everyone in domestic surveillance...)
    • The Pain - When Will it End? is a comic appearing in the Baltimore City Paper (and a few other scattered alternative weeklies) that I didn't care for at all the first few years of it's run. Now it's often a highlight of my Wednesdays. Tim Kreider's artist statements on the website are often brilliant.
    • And on the topic of comics, see also Lulu Eightball by Emily Flake. (Is it sad to develop a crush on a woman you have never met, or even seen a photo of, based on a comic she draws?)

    Links to Family and Friends:

    I do actually have more friends than this. Most just don't have web sites...
    • My Dad, Mark Swiss, Realtor and baseball umpire (an upstanding citizen who should not be judged by the weirdness of his eldest son)
    • I've been friends with artist, designer, and didgeridoo player Mike Gurklis since we were in kindergarten in 1975.
    • The lovely and talented Hillary Banachowski is always doing something creative and interesting.
    • Robin Gunkel, founder of Zelda's Inferno, poet and living poem, inspiration of songs, my hostess for two trips to Japan, and target of one of my hopeless crushes...
    • My friends Dorian (yet another software guy) and Amethyst (massage therapist and high priestess of the Den of Iniquity...)
    • I met Eric C. Anderson when we worked together at IBM Annapolis for a while: software engineer, rainforest explorer, ecotourism entrepreneur, installer of the first Internet servers in the Brazilian Amazon, and generally interesting fellow.
    • Piccolo and Chewbacca, the Wondermutts!
    • And more friends and acquaintances via the inevitable MySpace page (this one's mine too) and Facebook profile.

    Thanks for visiting. Be excellent to each other.