I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit... it's the only way to be sure.

Trousers and pants I'm a student of Computer Science with German at the University of Wales Swansea. When not living on campus, I live in Cowplain, more like a hamlet than a town these days. It's almost entirely dependent on Waterlooville and Portsmouth. The area has rather poor and expensive public transport.

I am in the 99.6th percentile for verbal IQ, the price of which is to be an insufferable pedant. I try not to be so insufferable these days.

I am a self-confessed Nerd. I'd like to be called a hacker, but that's pretty unrealistic at the moment. You could also describe me as a geek, but I think that term refers more to people who are proud to be deficient in social skills, whereas I'd rather have them than not.

Here is my Geek Code:

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1
GMU/L/CS>CS$ d-? s: a19 C++(+++) UL++>++++ P>+ L++>++++ 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-(--)
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
I am a player of NetHack. I don't play it often as there are lots of other games which occupy my time (especially Day of Defeat and Eve Online). Here's my NetHack Code:
--BEGIN NETHACK CODE BLOCK--
Version: 1.1
NH 3.4.2L D pwb-Val-Dwa-Fem-Law HP:100 AC:-6
[(+) )+ P+ S+ D++ p+ $++ t+(--) s+ W E- PS-- PP+ G?
C- I++ !@W N b? B? !Y X- So+ Sp++ !sb !wb
---END NETHACK CODE BLOCK--
On h2g2, I am the Keeper of Disambiguating Semicolons.1 I usually tend just to pick other people's articles to pieces. Here's my h2g2 Code:
----BEGIN H2G2 CODE BLOCK----
Version: 1.1
RGB Y+ N+ SG+ A+ P+:- L M+(--) s+() V->++ E->+
PR(++) p? a- B++(+++) TV- r D T- nh? C+ m- t
-----END H2G2 CODE BLOCK-----

The SETI@home Project at h2g2(I'm obsessed with geek codes. So slap me. smiley - tongueout) I'm a contributor to The SETI@home Project, being a member of the h2g2 group.

Oh, and I love Classic Goo! It's by far the best of the four skins. Of course, I believe in freedom of choice, so click here to choose GOO!

I am a member of the
Classic Goo Fan Club

(Ouch, what happened to the nice border? smiley - weird)

And finally, here's my 42ism:

(1 + 5) * (1 + 6) * (5 - 4) = 42

Stuff I Like

  • Music:
  • Coffee. I drink Real Coffee if it's available - "instant coffee", especially the stuff you get out of vending machines, is actually a liquid that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee. (Especially the sludge they serve at the refectory at UWS - I only drink tea there now.) I drink fairly traded coffee if I can get it. I take sugar, but only from vending machines (to mask the taste of the "non-dairy whitener" substitute for milk that is utterly disgusting, but I will drink it if the vending machine doesn't provide sweetened black coffee).
  • Free Software and Open Source software, including Linux (see A458228)
  • Windows XP... compared to Win9x anyway smiley - yuk
  • Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat (unedited article here for present and future convenience - 22/6/2003)
  • My computer case... I'd provide a link to a picture but it will probably get squacked3 for being too commercial smiley - sadface It's a lovely blue, black and silver number with eight dual-purpose 5 1/4"-cum-3 1/2" bays and one 3 1/2" bay, all with pretty covers. The optical drives (CD-RW and DVD-ROM) have flaps over them so they don't spoil the case's look, and the floppy has something similar.
  • SmoothWall, which (at home) lets me access the Internet from my computer via an NTL cable TV box smiley - online2long

Stuff I Hate

  • A man deliberating over 'it's' and 'its''.Microsoft's policies, and in fact most of their software. DirectX and WinXP are good enough, but they lock you into a support cycle with Microsoft, among other problems. In particular, WinXP's EULA4 assumes you're guilty until proven innocent, and attempts to revoke your right to control the information on your own computer. Here is just one example of their practices. On the other hand, Microsoft hardware is often pretty good. I'm thinking of mice and joysticks in particular5. Though the XBox controller is beyond a joke - the few times I've tried to use it, it has been near impossible.
  • Stupid grammar, like "it's" and "you're" used as posessive adjectives, and the "American" standard of punctuating quotations6
  • The European Copyright Directive (EUCD), and the European Patent Office's (EPO) views on software patents. These are serious threats to civil liberties and economic freedom. Fortunately the EUCD hasn't been fully ratified yet, and might be thrown out. The only countries to have ratified it are (IIRC) Greece and Sweden; Sweden isn't a member of the EU, only the EEC, and a test case has already questioned the validity of their implementation of the directive.
  • Any music that concentrates more on image than the actual music. Much (though by no means all) rap music is like this - if you watch Top of the Pops, you'll notice that the rappers don't dance (they just "strut their stuff"), carry no instruments, and don't play any tunes with appreciable melodies. Also, the rap lyrics are pretty much content-free and/or offensive.
  • Software licenses which restrict use of the software in any way. Licenses that restrict distribution are OK (at least for now7). I'm still thinking about those that restrict modification -- perhaps Windoze would be better in the bazaar mode.
  • Come to think of it, software licenses in general. If software is licensed, not purchased... then why is it still presented as if it were a purchase?
1See this forum for why.2That picture on the right looks a bit like the Supergrass logo.3Moderated, i.e. replaced with a comment in square brackets like [URL removed by moderator]. Hence, "squack".4End User License Agreement. The last word is a misnomer; they force it on you.5Whether support for their hardware is satisfactory on non-MS OSes is another question entirely.6E.g., from Operating Systems: Design and Implementation by Andrew S. Tanenbaum: "In our example, argv[0] would point to the string 'cp.'" Tanenbaum complains about this himself, saying that it shouldn't contain the full stop; a far more sensible punctuation would be 'cp'.7Microsoft, n. A bunch of mindless jerks who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes.

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Pete, never to have a time-specific nick again (Keeper of Disambiguating Semicolons) - Born in the Year of the Lab Rat

Researcher U151654

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