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Some people call me a bit of a pedant, so most of my changes to Wikipedia are what appears to me to be spelling mistakes and the like! This however is what qualifies me as a Wikignome. This is the longest article you may ever see from me!
I've worked in radiation protection and in academic research - so you might see my name cropping up in all sorts of places like these. This also accounts for some of the userboxen I've found and put in here. This has nothing to do with any debate that may or may not have taken place around Wikipedia My use of the term might give some geeks an idea of what kind of computer I've hacked in the past. I've also worked in medical devices, from the large, like digital x-ray systems and MRI systems, to the small like blood glucose testing equipment for diabetics.
My particular interests obsessions are in aviation, software, train spotting - the real type, nothing to do with drugs, home beer making and the like. In the dim and distant past I used to be a gliding instructor, and did a lot of Motor Cycle touring since I used to own a Honda VFR 750, so you may find odd bit of me cropping up around these parts as well. For a long time my personal study has been around the Cold War, its politics and weapons - this probably comes from having grown up with it around me. I have a peculiar (and some would say morbid) interest in nuclear weapons as well. I've also got what my wife describes as a very wide collection of stuff by JRR Tolkien and also stuff Christopher has edited - The Silmarrilion, HOME etc. and all the DVDs by Peter Jackson
One thing about me is that I have been diagnosed as having Asperger's syndrome - this is evident through my behaviour and when I first came to this conclusion my step daughter said "Oh, that explains a lot!" - note she said this several years before Shirley Schmidt did. I emphasise this since there are some people about who say that self diagnosis of AS is a bad thing. Having said that the National Autistic Society in the United Kingdom say that this is the only option available to a lot of people, and that a formal diagnosis might only be necessary if you have severe issues related to your AS - which I have. However to an external observer I might almost be NT (definitely not a Microsoft reference) - indeed I've been through life for a long time pretending to be normal but knowing within myself that I was a bit different in some way. This however might be no surprise given the interests I cite. I definitely fall within the category of very late diagnosis however - see this paper for Simon Baron-Cohen's opinion on this "Very Late Diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome"
Asperger's syndrome I find is a wide spectrum disorder in itself, not just a niche at one end of the Autistic spectrum. Picture me at one end of this - the main characteristic being that I'm the one you see being asocial at parties and not being invited again (complete lack of small talk ability). Another one is that I've never had to work to pass exams. On the other hand I made a success of being a gliding instructor and some people describe my abilities as a teacher are excellent, both of which require some form of social skill I assume. My old school reports all say I was "annoying" (the words "little shit" are assumed), but I never really understood why... I've also suffered lots of the discrimination that Asperger's people do, so I totally understand. I do make a point of being non violent, especially towards women. There are personal reasons for this which I won't outline here.
This I judged worth two user boxes so it deserves some expansion. I started this encouraged by my wife - this in itself is somewhat unusual. I have now brewed all sorts of beers, drawing the line only at full mash brews which I don't have the kit for, and which I am banned from making in the kitchen anyway. I can produce good tasty beer from relatively cheap ingredients, even though the reputation of home brewed beer varies from cheap falling over water to "I'm not drinking that stuff - it might be like pond water". Please believe it is neither of those! At any given time I've probably got around 120 pints in various stages of production.
So overall I'm a left handed aspie, who's last major trip was to see Yes in concert - this hinges on my love of progressive music. Not for me the thought that this was overblown pretentious rubbish. That only applies to Emerson Lake and Palmer on their own admission.
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