Biography

Are you really interested? Oh, OK! Here goes then...

I'm a Brit, real name Mark, and I am now in my mid 50s (so more dead than alive!) but I try to keep active and certainly try to stay young-at-heart. My wife Sheila and our two young kids help here.

Having been born and brought up in Sussex, we moved to the East Midlands a few years ago, for Sheila's work.

Sheila is a University Researcher, and is the main family breadwinner, so I am not working at the moment and stay at home to look after the children (I'm a Househusband!), but in past lives I've been a Pharmaceutical Technician, Shop Manager, Stage lighting/sound mixer guy, builders' mate and odd-job man, kitchen designer, mobile mechanic and Driving Instructor.
In other words I've never really known what to do, but in practise can do pretty much anything I turn my hand to. Jack of all trades but master of none? Not really, as I think I was actually pretty good at some of these.

I love my food. I'm a veggie and try to eat well, although I do have a soft spot for chocolate. "You are what you eat", they say, so I must be mostly salad (and chocolate of course!).
I love "Curries", or to be more precise, Indian food of the authentic variety. I cook too, quite well I like to think.

I am a bit of a sci-fi nut - everything from Dr Who to Battlestar Galactica. I have always loved Sci-Fi but first got into it seriously at college where I was introduced to Asimov's 'Foundation Trilogy'.
Best ever T.V sci-fi? Got to be "Babylon 5" hasn't it, a complete cycle over five seasons...what a classic.
My nominee for "Best Film" would probably be...actually this is a tricky one....Bladerunner stands out, but having watched Fifth Element and The Chronicles of Riddick many times through choice, I guess I like these too. And of course the 'Alien' films are pretty awesome, but are they Sci-fi or Horror? Also 2001-A space odyssey must get a mention, as it is a truly iconic movie.
And who can love sci-fi and not appreciate the various incarnations of Star Trek.
As for novels, my tip would probably be Larry Niven's Ringworld. What a concept! How come it's never been made into a movie?
And for sheer fun value, Harry Harrison is unbeatable. His 'Stainless Steel Rat' series is brilliant.

I suppose my liking of sci-fi naturally leads to a liking of space, and you can find a selection of images on my space pictures pages. These are images I've collected from the internet over the year, simply because I liked them.

I've always loved music. It's in my blood as both my parents were musical. My Dad ran a dance band for many years and my Mum used to sing. Both sadly are now doing the Big Gig in the sky.
I like Jazz, Rock, Funk... all the usual things a old geezer who grew up in the late sixties and early seventies should like. I used to play Drums a bit, but haven't for a while now. I'm not a big fan of Opera or Country and Western.

I'm a bit of a Nerd and I spend a lot of time on my computer which runs Ubuntu (Linux).

I use Opera as my default browser (not the same Opera I disliked earlier). In my opinion, this browser is by far the best as it is quick, secure, and packed with useful features, including really good email and irc clients. I have re-skinned it with 'Shadowguard' to give a more 'industrial' feel to the look.
I do a bit of HTML/CSS more as a hobby than anything, as you can see from this website.

When I'm not doing anything productive, I spend a little bit (a lot!) of time playing my favourite computer game, Oolite, which is a modern re-imagining of the classic Elite.
Oolite is open-source and expandable, and I have created several OXPs (Oolite eXpansion Packs) to enhance the game. These are very popular, and making and maintaining them takes a lot of my spare time. You can find these on my Oolite pages.

I am an occassional contributor to Slashdot , a slightly off-beat tech news site whose motto, "News for nerds, stuff that matters" sums it up very nicely. Well worth a visit.

People who know me say I have a good (bad!) sense of humour and I like to think I'm quite a funny person.
If you fancy a chuckle, go to my jokes page.

I like cars a lot and have a modified '82 Ford Capri 2.8i called "The Beast", which I've enjoyed for over 26 years now. My family car is a Mondeo ST220 Estate, which is an excellent car - big and spacious and very comfortable, and despite outwardly being a 'big family estate car' is stupidly fast with sports-car handling. You can read more about them here.

We have two cats, Bilbo and Missy. Bilbo's about eight now, and a bit mad but really cute. The picture opposite is Bilbo as a kitten. Ahhhh! Missy, who co-incidentally has almost identical markings is about three.
We have two aquaria, and we've taken in a Pigeon who arrived on our doorstep minus most of his feathers and his tail, and with a broken wing. He has now recovered but as he will never fly properly again, he has become one of the family and enjoys being pampered in a rather posh Parrot cage.

I'm impressively inactive, but enjoy sport a lot, paticularly Cricket and Football (sorry yanks, soccer) where I support Everton F C.

I also enjoy Malt whisky, particularly those from the island of Islay . Ardbeg and Laphroaig are probably amongst the best. Peaty, smokey, gorgeous!
The best, though, is Port Ellen, which sadly is no longer operating as a distillary, although the maltings are still used and supply most of the other Islay distillaries. If you get the opportunity to sample a Port Ellen whisky, you will experience true perfection.