Opening Gambit

I’m a Geek.

For one explanation of what that means, take a gander at this article by Rands which neatly outlines some of the behaviour characteristic of a geek and which has served me well when attempting to explain myself to friends, lovers and family.

For almost a decade I’ve been lucky enough to explore, work within and become fascinated by geek and hacker¹ culture. Along the way I’ve worked with and been mentored by some truly intelligent people, many of whom, I’m sure, have little or no idea of the degree to which their willingness to share their skill and expertise continues to influence me today.

This won’t be yet-another-tech-blog. There are plenty of those to choose from and most are horrible studies in lowest-common-denominator thinking. I have no intention of babbling mindlessly about the latest price of LinkedIn stock or whether or not Michael Arrington is the worst internet troll ever.

I’m also unimpressed by the large number of cracker blogs which spew tripe about “doxing” crew members or who the latest “infosec” champions happen to be.

My interest in technology is not that of a marketer or serial-silicon-valley-tech-startup-angel-vc-guru-wannabe. It’s not that of a cracker, or script-kiddie.

My interest in technology is more akin to that of a child – absorbed by a simple and burning curiosity. How does it work, why does it work, what makes it work, what’s it for, who made it etc.

As Trinity once said “It’s the question that drives us, Neo. It’s the question that brought you here.”

I’ve absorbed ideas and perspectives and world-views from a wide range of people. One of the joys of having access to a global network and a commonly spoken language is that I have access to a vast number of minds. Surprisingly, a great many of those minds have been conscious.

Most of them were more than generous with their time and attention and this blog is my way of paying that forward.

¹ _{I use the term Hacker as defined by the Jargon File and not in the criminal sense popularised by main stream news media.}