I learned today of the passing of Steve Cisler. Steve, once working with Apple Computers as a senior scientist, was one of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever met. His credentials were as diverse as his interests, and his generosity and genuine nature really made him stand out amongst his peers.

Steve was the one who invited me down to speak at the ZeroOne conference in San Jose, and housed me for the period I was there. During my stay, he also introduced me to the novelties of Silicon Valley, as well as exposed me to truly enlightening perspectives. He was one of a kind, and I will miss him.

I just finished my last class of university. My exams are already done. I have a field camp in August, reports in October, and that will be it for me – my undergrad complete. No more classes. No more exams.

FUCK YEAH!

A while ago, I used to moderate an online forum. It went by the name of Binary Revolution, and as the name would suggest, it catered to tech enthusiasts. While I no longer moderate these forums, I still attend it on a regular basis. Daily, in fact. It’s a great place.

Anywho, it was my duty to keep the place running smoothly. This mainly meant getting rid of the endless fake accounts generated by spammers, dealing with problem members, etc. I wasn’t alone, I worked with a team of highly dedicated individuals.

There was one day where I issued a warn (a demerit point) to a member that had insulted another on the sole basis of their nationality. This problem member was an American with politically extremist viewpoints, and he had a big problem with Norway. And Canada. And all of Europe, esp. the traitorous “Frenchies.” Yeah, the guy had a few screws loose.

Anyways, he took the demerit point pretty hard. He responded by creating a web page dedicated to hating me (my first hate page.) Though at the time, he didn’t use my real name, but rather the pseudonym I used for the forums. Wonderful, I thought. Months went on, and I thought that was the end of it.

Buuuut nope. As it turns out, he recently updated the page to now include my real name and death threats. I haven’t even interacted with the guy for what must be a year now. Heck, I’m not even staffing the forums anymore. Among certain quotes:

“Julien McArdle … This guy is an idiot and should be murdered.“

..and:

“Clubbing Seals: The Murder Julien McArdle“

Seal being my pseudonym. So there I have it – my first death threat. All because some months ago, I sent someone on a website a message requesting that he stop issuing personal threats to another member. Scary. I celebrated this newfound idiocy by drinking a nice, smooth, beer.

Well, here’s the culmination of a year’s worth of work: my undergrad thesis. I’m releasing it to the public. If you’re to use this within an academic context, you must attribute any usage of this document as per your academic guidelines. If you have commercial interests, feel free to contact me here.

Visualizing Geospatial Metadata (3.65MB PDF)

I typically cannot stand poetry. So funny I’d write one myself about a certain subsect of computer enthusiasts.

We are the knights of the night,
Submerged in the ether of light.

This is our plight,
The unknown our respite.

For we are cursed by the byte,
We few of endless fright.