User:Aladdin Sane

"I came for some information; I stayed to do a few edits." &mdash;me, 2015-02-28

About
I've been using personal computers since 1977. I've been online since the BBS days in the 80s.

I served in the US Army Signal Corps as a radio mechanic with the 504th Parachute Infantry, 82d Airborne Division from 1986 to 1989, and Co G (Long Range Surveillance) 143d Infantry, TXARNG from 1989 to 1992.

My job is to get the message through.

I use the GNU/Linux operating system. I have been doing so since 1998. I work professionally in electronics areas ranging from SATCOM to Network Architecture to general ICT.

I currently (2015) live in the Chihuahuan Desert.

A test
I realized that some have looked at the above and reached inappropriate conclusions. I can only wish I lived in your fantasies of life, as it is, and not as it should be.

Having lived a large part of my life in Austin, Texas, we believe the following tells much about you. And so there some have asked my five favorite movies, and I find this a challenge, as I may change my mind on this, as the daytime does its length each day. Here are my five favorite movies:


 * 1) Educating Rita (1983)
 * 2) A Man for All Seasons (1966)
 * 3) The Harder They Come (1972)
 * 4) Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)
 * 5) Eraserhead (1977)

Yes, each movie has a point to make and may challenge you... about the underdog... or just... the dog... hopeless... will you get your head chopped off to make this point? Some have... some, indeed, have...

Current
WikiSloth (B. wikitridactylus) —10:42, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

History
I'm re-watching all the B5 episodes and movies on DVD. I hope I can make the B5 stuff a bit nicer and more relevant and informative. —20:23, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Reference update to the Vizcaino edits, 2015-02-25. The law firm that has publicly recorded the settlement in Vizcaino (Bendich, Stobaugh and Strong P.C.) has changed the address yet again. It can now be found at http://www.bs-s.com/cases/c-microsoft-vizcaino.html or if you use their web site to find the page, you will be sent to http://204.200.167.203/cases/c-microsoft-vizcaino.html (now there's a law firm who knows how to hire some competent web designers). —10:42, 26 February 2015 (UTC)

Stuff I'm always forgetting and can't find again when I want/need it

 * I can't believe
 * they pulled these links from the edit page


 * American and British English differences
 * American and British English spelling differences
 * Briticism (words)
 * Americism (words)
 * Vague authors are allowed in cites
 * "For webpages, the author is often unknown; you can either omit the author altogether, or substitute something vague like 'Open Source Initiative Contributor'."


 * Vague numbers and quantities exist, including those that don't


 * Intra-wiki namespaces
 * Inter-wiki sister links
 * Inter-wiki language links

External tools

 * WikiChecker —Scary charts about my last 1000 edits
 * X! Edit Counter —Analysis of user contributions at Tool Labs


 * Checklinks —Dead link checker at dispenser.homenet.org

Ramble
[Last update: 00:27, 27 April 2015 (UTC)] Some things I don't need Userboxes for:
 * This user uses ISO dates (ISO 8601) unless informed otherwise.
 * This user understands the difference between to, too, and two, but may fall off a DGAF cliff.
 * This user understands the difference between cite, site, and sight, but sometimes has a brain melt.
 * This user has failed to come down on either side of the serial comma issue since at least 1989.
 * This user thinks the terminating double quote goes outside the period. Except when it doesn't.
 * This user thinks MOS:LQ (logical quotation style) is correct, but was taught wrong in school. This has resulted in severe bain dramage.
 * This user understands the difference between a hyphen, en dash, and em dash, but couldn't find the latter two on the keyboard.
 * This user might understand the difference between affect and effect but might mess up somewhere when you weren't looking.
 * Pedant or Purist? Hmm.
 * Bleah. This editor is a Yeoman Editor, and is entitled to display this Service Badge but won't because this editor thinks that any argument that starts by asserting or assuming quantity over quality is an inherently flawed argument.

Too funny to pass up:
 * From the BSD fortune program on my system this evening:
 * "Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon."
 * —Alan J. Perlis, "Epigrams on Programming", ACM, SIGPLAN, SIGPLAN Notices, 1982-09

Sandbox

 * Sandbox
 * B5 Project notes to self
 * Note to self: Per WP:SANDBOX and WP:USERSUBPAGE.