Captain Zimmerman has a Terran home page available as well.

Personal Information

Full Name: Jacob ben-David Zimmerman
Date of Birth: June 23, 1969
Geek Code: GSS/IT d-(?) s+:++ a>? C++++$ UL++++$ P++ L++>++++$ E(E---) W+++ N+ o? K w--- O M++ V-- PS++(+++) PE-(++) Y+ PGP+ t+++>+ 5+++>++++ X+ R++ tv+ b++++ DI+++ D++(---) G e+++$ h r--- y--(+)

"Pokhmelye, the Russian hangover, is not an unpleasant after-effect of drinking, but an accepted and important part of the drinking process - a half or third-way stage, a significant marker. On reaching pokhmelye, the dedicated drinker does not stop drinking; he merely pauses. Allowing the alcohol to settle in his bloodstream. Steadying that part of his being which is still known in this country as the soul. Then he presses on. The verb pokhmelitsa ('to have a hangover') does not mean to resort to the alkaseltzer. It means - and we should be quite clear about this - to reach for another drink."
-from 'The Other St. Petersburg, a more practical city guide to that noble place. I hope to one day achieve this state.

I'm a native New Yorker, born and raised in Manhattan. I attended the Fieldston School in Riverdale, NY, graduating in 1987 by the skin of my teeth. College? Um, I think I went to Princeton University; all I really remember was being trapped in New Jersey for four years. I actually graduated from Campus Club and Princeton somewhat simultaneously, in 1991. After a brief scrape with the Real World (working in NYC for, shudder, an advertising agency...but as their computer guy, really!) which lasted a couple of years, I applied to graduate school. Getting in was a long and involved and painful process, but lucky me, I made it and ended up here at the Tech, where I currently feel like an incumbent President (Four More Years! Four More Years!) in anticipation/horror at the thought of completing my degree program.

I like: ferrets, cats, computers, science fiction, strategic studies, british cars, the United States of America, beer (brewing and drinking) and other stuff too numerous to mention. For more information on me and my life, check out the next section, which discusses what I do.

Occupation

I am currently a graduate student at M.I.T. in the Political Science Department. I am pursuing a Ph.D. in that field, and despite recently passing general exams I now quiver at the very thought of the actual dissertation. Actually, to be fair, within the department I concentrate in DACS, the Defense and Arms Control Studies program which is itself a part of CIS, the Center for International Studies. My primary interest is in Strategic Studies; the Arms Control part of it is not, generally, for me (...and I vote Democrat, too. Go figure.)

At present, I am reserving most of my resources for completing my requirements so I may begin my dissertation, as well as working enough to be able to afford school. The story of so many American grad students. In any case, I am currently working on projects related to:

• New artillery technologies
• Submarines
• Energy and Security in Asia
• Japan's Foreign Policy in the Near Future
• Armor (technology and tactics)
• Ballistic Missile delivery systems

Family

My family is a pretty diverse group, so it's only natural that my friends would be as well. I'm the product of a pair of New York-based intellectuals of 'differing genotypes,' a half-humorous way of saying that I am a mixture of several racial groups. This is something which has provided me with endless amusement, some pain, and lots of joy. I wouldn't have it any other way even if I could. Let's see, I guess I'm part:

• Eastern-European Jewish (Dad's folk.)
• Welsh. Somewhere back in Mom's ancestry.
• Black. I hate the term African-American. The fact that I'm an American and the fact that I have a certain skin color are, to me, entirely unrelated other than because that's what America was designed for. I realize that this will piss off a lot of people, but that's their problem. Anyhow, these too are Mom's genomes.
• Native American, or American Indian, or whatever. There's not a lot of this, but what there is, is, I believe, Cherokee. Also Mom's genes.

If you're curious, here's a picture of myself with two friends. Guess which one I am? No, just kidding. From right to left, me, my oldest friend Brian Hoffman (we're at his med school graduation ceremony) and our friend Amy Kaufman. The book Brian and I are holding up is Tolkien's The Fellowship of the Ring, and we're pointing to a blurb on the back which, although you can't read it in the scanned image, says 'Quest Perilous.' There is another photo of me which shows me enjoying my newest vice.

I'm not the only one with this mix. Ha! There's more! My brother shares the same parentage, although his genotype is different from mine. It has to be, since our phenotype is verifiably different. He's younger than I, and is studying law at Georgetown University in Washington DC, where he has a wonderful wife, a sensible car, two cats and a mortgage. I, on the other hand, have no credit, am single, have two nonsensical cars, and rent. I do have two ferrets, though. And I am in grad school. So I'm not too far behind him.

Friends

For more info, see Repulse's Personnel workspace.

My friends are a diverse bunch, but for some reason very few of them actually live on the Web at this point, although Brian finally got off his tuckus and produced a web page which easily surpasses mine in cleanliness of design. I will proudly announce that this page is a DebNet Site(tm) and as such, I am a proud member of Club Deb, an organization to which several of my friends belong. It is run by Repulse's own Lt. Cdr. Deborah Menikoff, on whose home page Club Deb is explained. See her link for more details. You could also bother my friend David Burbach who tosses a mean grenade when we play Bungie Software's Marathon. My roommate, landlord and friend from forever Ben Lubetsky works for a company which makes way cool networked VR simulation stuff; check them out at MaK Technologies.