I have constructed a fragile illusion that the world is a system which, given enough time and effort, is completely knowable*. I live to understand things. I'm doing fairly well, except for people. They confuse me. You probably do too.

* credit is due.

By day (except weekends) I'm part of a grand experiment to see if thousands of monkeys pounding away on thousands of keyboards really can recreate Shakespeare, only with more algorithms and less prose. Other times I can be found constructing elaborate puzzles, pestering a housemate, asploding digital creatures, running off to strange places, just-in-time cooking, or hiding under a blanket. Occasionally I wander out into the big, scary Internet, where I am now. Hi.

Future-me has aspirations of learning to fly (two flights, zero crashes so far).

Pointing out the obvious.

Dividing by zero at inopportune times.

Repetitive and monotonous tasks that could be performed much more efficiently by a robot.

Falling.

I think people would be far better qualified to answer this than I am. And odds are you're a people, which brings me to this question:

What is/are the first thing(s) you noticed about me?

This is a take-home (or to a movie/park/whatever) exam. Once I have enough respondents to be statistically significant, I'll compile the results here.

Preliminary findings: I'm quiet. As in I don't talk much. Particularly when in large groups. One long-time friend noted: "...you talk plenty. Just maybe not so much around people that you don't have anything to say to." My hypothesis is I try to keep a high signal to noise ratio during conversation and assume most of what I would normally say is noise to people I don't know. Will devise an experiment and report back results...

I spend too much time reading online to read many books these days. But, when I take a break from the internet (read: get on an airplane) I typically reach for science fiction, most recently Asimov. Other times I've read zombie reference manuals, vampire love stories, or incredibly dense technical documentation.

My movie tastes are pretty much across the board, depending on my mood. Science fiction, action, comedy, eclectic documentaries, cheesy B-movies that deserve a good MST3k-style roast. A friend summed it up best after browsing my netflix history when she exclaimed "You actually watched that?"

I lack the vocabulary to describe my typical musical fare. I usually listen to some electronic sub-genre, but I couldn't tell you which. Underworld, Haujobb, Daft Punk, Tosca, to name a few artists. Even more, I like listening to others' selection of music, even far outside my norm, since that's almost always how I find new music.

My typical fare tends towards mexican/italian, but I also enjoy greek/chinese/japanese/vietnamese/americanese dishes.

Notably absent from the above list is seafood. Fish and I don't get along very well. We're working on it though.

GSM chatter. xkcd. Joe's Pasta and Pizza. A Katamari. Wikipedia.

Do I really need 6?

Cranes. I think I want to be a Liebherr LTM 1400-7.1 when I grow up.

Unless I stop thinking, at which point I wouldn't be.

I think.

I've already given out enough public information that I'm not sure I should share anything private.

It's like with RSA. You can give out your public key and keep your private key private, or you can give out your private key and keep your public key private. But the second you give out both, BAM, they're useless.

I'm not really sure how cryptography relates to my personal life, but it makes a good story.

I suppose I can give out one tidbit: I have an irrational fear of needles.

You're looking for adventure, big or small.