Background

I've been involved with computers from a very young age — my father bought an early home computer back in 1980, and they've been my primary interest ever since. From programming to gaming to general playful experimentation, I've found computers and technology to be an unfailing cure for boredom.

What gets you going in the morning?

Coffee and willpower. I'm not a morning person.

Your favourite geek out activity:

My favourite activity rotates pretty frequently. At the time of this writing, I'm 2/3rds of the way through The Selfish Gene, which details how certain aspects of biological systems appear incongruous with natural selection if the unit of survival is the individual organism, but completely consistent if the unit of survival is the individual gene. (Ants are *really* neat animals.) But I've got a pop physics book on deck, and probably a Gladwell book after that, and at the same time I'm playing Kerbal Space Program, which is basically about helping the Smurfs build space ships (it uses actual rocket science, which, I assure you, is as hard as everyone says it is.) Orbital mechanics are pretty neat, too, but not as neat as ants. So ... my favourite geek-out activity is ... all of them? I'm pretty sure it's almost all of them, and in rapid succession, too.

The three websites you can't go two days without reading:

1. Cracked.com
2. RockPaperShotgun.com
3. The Guardian's CIF page (http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree)

Your favourite trip:

I avoid travel whenever possible.

Words to live by:

Figure stuff out, have fun, and help others so inclined to do the same.