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/\ |\ | / ` | |__ |\ | | |
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/~~\ | \| \__, | |___ | \| | |
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__ ___ __ __ |
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|__| | /__` | / \ |__) \ / |
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So you're interested in learning more about me? I'm honoured. Not |
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much to learn really. But since you came, I might as well spin you a |
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short yarn. |
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______________________________________________________________________ |
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The BBS Years: |
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I used to be the sysop of a NY BBS called "Operation Shadowfire". |
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It ran on an IBM XT with a TXM/10-II 8088 Main Board @ 10 MH. |
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It was a waffle BBS running under IBM DOS 3.3. |
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During that time I befriended a gent in a nearby town who shared my |
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passion for BBSs (he ran the "Octothorpe BBS") and interactive |
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fiction. |
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He took this passion and became an archivist and film maker. His name |
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is |
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Jason Scott [Sadofsky] (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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Jason has gone on to create great things like: |
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textfiles.com (http://textfiles.com) |
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The BBS Documentary (SDF is in it!) (http://www.bbsdocumentary.com) |
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Get Lamp (A film about text adventures) (http://getlamp.com) |
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If you haven't seen his work before you should absolutely investigate |
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it. His films are amazing and evoke deep nostalgia in everyone. |
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An interesting aside is that we both used to frequent the original SDF |
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BBS. |
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______________________________________________________________________ |
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The BITNET Years: |
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When I was in college we didn't have access to ARPA's successor, |
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NSFNet (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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via |
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NYSERNet (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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simply because it wasn't around until just after I graduated. |
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Instead I had access to |
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BITNET (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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And on BITNET I was a class four sysop on the |
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RELAY Network (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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In fact, I was the publisher of "Class Four Relay Magazine". RELAY |
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predates IRC by a few years but with the demise of BITNET, RELAY is no |
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more. I also ran the Emergency Services List (EMERG-L) and the |
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Collegiate Emergency Services List (CEMS-L). These last two were |
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merged into misc.emerg-services circa 1991. Google remembers some of |
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my posts and I am embarrased reading them now. :-) |
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It was during this time that I wrote a BBS system entirely in |
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Fortran77 that ran on the MUSIC/SP system. |
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MUSIC/SP (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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Also during this time I was (as you might have already guessed) a |
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firefighter and EMT. I was active both in my home town as well as |
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re-founding the College's EMS. |
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______________________________________________________________________ |
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The 90s: |
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I spent most of the 90s working on mainframe systems using languages |
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such as APL, PL1, C, REXX, and 370 Assembler. It makes me sound like |
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an intelligent nerd I know but I really wasn't. I just did what had |
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to be done. At the beginning of the 90s I also became a ham radio |
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operator. Yes, I had to learn Morse Code. I'm still very involved |
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with the local Amateur Radio Emergency Services (ARES) team to this |
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day. |
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ARES (http://en.wikipedia.org) |
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Also during this time I did air and ground search and rescue. If |
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you've ever seen the movie Cliff Hanger, that will give you an rough |
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idea. |
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______________________________________________________________________ |
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2000 (or so) to present: |
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I became a Unix convert. I ended up working for Canonical, the |
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company that makes Ubuntu, for 10 years. |
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I probably would have been a full convert in the 80s had I only had |
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exposure to it. Instead I had what was available, IBM technology. |
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This era has been punctuated by Project Management, Python, |
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AppleScript, Mac OS X, Ubuntu, Launchpad, IRC, and SDF. I got paid to |
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work on FOSS and use Unix (Linux mostly). In my spare time I used to |
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help build autonomous air and ground robots. These days I spend my |
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time supporting a large mountain network of emergency repeaters and |
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computers linked via gigahertz radio from Cheyenne, WY to Sandia, NM |
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and into the Colorado mountains. For more information see: |
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RMHAM (http://www.rmham.org) |
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In 2019 I left Canonical and joined Platform.sh. You can find more |
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about my work history by visiting LinkedIn |
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LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com) |
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In February 2021 I moved off SDF.ORG over to Tilde.Team and I am very |
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happy with the setup. |
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In August 2022 I got my Ph.D. in Information Technology. |
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____________________________________________________________________________ |
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Gophered by Gophernicus/3.0.1 on Ubuntu/22.04 x86_64 |
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