About Me (Rants and Opinions)

Continued from the boring bit...

So what is it with you and computers?

Beyond this web site? Hey, I've been using computers since before I can remember, and learned to program on a rubber-keyed 16k ZX Spectrum - but before then, I'd apparently been tampering with programs my Dad wrote on his ZX81. I don't ever remember learning to program, I was quite young at the time. I've also played quite a few computer games in my time, and wasted far too much of my life on the internet. Oh, and I've found some bits of my PhD that have needed some programming. Computers are nice and friendly, they're much easier to understand and deal with than chemicals or people...

Programming?

Yes, I've used various BASICs as I've been growing up, have a 20,000-line plus C project that I work on from time to time, and have discovered Python in 2001. It's a nice language, it does what I want it to really well. Recently, I've been taking to using Java (mainly because most of the stuff in our research group is written in it), and I've also been known to perpetrate some JavaScript in the course of my work.

Are you some kind of Linux/Free Software zealot?

No. I support Free Software, I write it from time to time, get paid to write it. and I run Linux (Debian, obviously, as that seems to be the standard in my part of Cambridge). On the other hand I use Windows quite a bit too. I'm happy to see that Free/Open Source Software (I tend to use the latter term, as the former suffers from English's conflation of restrictionless and zero-cost) has a growing place in the world. On the other hand, I'm not dogmatically opposed to proprietary software, and I think that it has an important place in the world.

Are you some kind of communist?

No. Capitalism is the worst form of economics, apart from all of the others. Democracy, on the other hand, actually has some merit. I don't believe that economic freedom is particularly important, and I don't believe in the American Dream (any hope that can only be realised by a tiny fraction of the population is not worth having, IMO). On the other hand, I do belive that other modes of production have problems too, and so the best thing is to have a healthy mixture of production of goods and services by the tax-funded state, by volunteer effort, by self-sufficiency, and yes, by for-profit enterprise, all washed down with a healthy level of regulation and a decent Welfare State. Furthermore, I think being a small businessman, running your affairs on a human scale, providing goods and services that you actually care about, is a good and soulful way of living that should be encouraged.

Are you a vegetarian?

Strictly speaking: no. In practise, yes. Basically I decided that the best thing to do is not to be obnoxious about things. If someone mistakenly serves me up a plateful of meat I'll gratefully eat it, and not refuse their hospitality. I'll join in with the family Christmas Dinner, too, and I won't fuss over little things like rennet, gelatine, finings and contamination from nearby meat on the barbecue. If this seems a little strange, then consider this: I'm not sentimental about corpses, I just don't want to support the meat industry. And being obnoxious is hardly a good way to spread your views, now is it? UPDATE: these days I'm getting pickier about rennet and gelatine and the like. It's not absolute, but I'll often not buy something because of it.

Why?

On the general principle that killing things without a good reason is wrong. Now I'll concede that the reasons for killing non-human animals don't need to be as good as those for killing humans, but still, where I live, finding food that's tasty and nutritious and affordable and meat-free isn't too hard, and so the arguament for eating meat is a bit weak. Now, if you're a subsistence farmer in a part of the world where the soil's only good for growing grass, or if you've got medical problems that mean you need meat in your diet, then eating meat would be OK, but I don't, so I don't.

What's this about being a Vogon?

Way back in the way back when, there was a magazine with computer games reviews in, and there was a screenshot from a quiz game, where the question was "What do you call someone who does not eat meat?", and the answers were "vegetarian", "vegan" and "vogon", and the sign of the answerer being marked wrong. The caption went along the lines of, "What, but I've been a strict Vogon all of my life!".

Do you drive?

No, and I don't ever intend to. I'm too afraid of killing someone (and lack the money and the effort to get around to learning - Ed.). I do support the views of the pro-cycling, anti-car lobby, but I'm less keen on the agressiveness with which they spread their views.

Are you a geek?

I suppose I'd have to say yes to that one. But I don't like the term. Yes, it's one of those adopted insults, like nigger, but I don't like the ghettoism that it implies. And I don't like it when people use the word in a derogatory sense. It turns innocent criticisms of people into insults, and I don't like that.

Are you another thing-beginning-with-a-g?

No, whatever gave you that idea? Besides, all of the black hair dye has washed out long ago, and I haven't worn my frilly black shirt or gone to the Calling in ages. UPDATE: the shirt came off its hanger for a party recently, and I'm wondering about going Callinging again, so watch this space (if you're very bored and have nothing better to do, that is).

Beer?

Yes please, mine's a pint of Landlord. Better still, a nice Lambic if you've got one.

Lots of beer?

No thanks, I don't like getting wasted. Or drinking on my own.

What's this Saruman nick about then?

It's a Cambridge Tolkien Society in-joke. Basically, they banned non-relevant computer conversations a while back, and so the euphemism "Works of Isengard" came up. So my computer ended up getting named isengard, with the consequence that there was bound to be a Saruman around sooner or later.

And what about Midwinter?

About a quarter of the time, the winter solstice is on my birthday. And I needed a nice handle that was less likely to be taken everywhere than Saruman. Snowdrift - the 'away nick' counterpart to Midwinter - is a reference to Driven Like The Snow by the Sisters.

Well, I could carry on for ages with that. If anything's missing, just ask...