Enough of the bombast!
Who IS this guy anyway?

At least that's over with.... Whew!

If you thought the picture of me on the last page looked weird, you should see this one. It'll frighten your children.

I'm merely your standard "computer geek" with a little bit of collector thrown in for good measure. I fix hardware so I can keep using it, and I collect the old stuff because I like it. I'm also an unrepentant DECsystem-10 and UNIX bigot and long to get my grubby little mitts on a KI-10 that I can "collect" (though my wife tells me that I need to build the addition onto the house first). Since I can't run TOPS-10 at home, I run Linux instead.

My personal interests (besides computers) are widely varied, and range from railroads (in the 1:1 scale), to aeroplanes (again 1:1), to beer (in whatever size I can get).

I've travelled extensively around the US via Amtrak and recommend it highly. Air travel has become so unpleasant of late, that I avoid flying at all costs, even given my love of aircraft.

My dear wife Diana (with whom I squabble constantly over space) breeds Birman cats and keeps me out of trouble.

This page is bound to evolve as I do, so I don't think it'll ever be done. Wait a minute.... That's the way life is supposed to be, isn't it???

The following is my PGP public key:

And this is my geek code:

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.1

GCS/O a+ s++:- d++ C++$ ULVUHIAS*++++$ V-@+++ L+++ P+ E--- !w---
PGP++ DI++ W++>+ N++ o? K- O M- PS+ PE(-) Y+ t 5? X? R tv(--) b+
D++ UF++ G+ e h-@--- r+++ y+

------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Links to Elsewhere

In keeping with the notion that one can tell a lot from the books (or record albums, for that matter) someone keeps on his shelves, I offer the following Web sites as ones that I frequent broken up into computers, transportation, miscellaneous, and Comics categories: If you happen to find a broken link that I've missed (or one that's gone "off the air"), please Email me with details!

Computers:

The Virtual Museum of Computing (At the University of Reading)
Obsolete Computer Museum (Tom Carlson)
Computer Collection Main Page (Paul Pierce)
Jay Jaeger's Collection (This is a good one!)
CHAC History Pages (Check out the SDS 960!)
Boston's Computer Museum (Online museum soon??)
Retrocomputing Society of Rhode Island
Comprehensive Computer Catalogue (Very comprehensive searchable list)
Yahoo's Computer and Internet History Page (It changes from time to time)
Computer History Page (Good Stuff)

Transportation:

The World Wide Web Virtual Library: Transportation Page
Amtrak's Home Page (I travel by train whenever possible.)
New England Transit Site (Don't let the AOL address fool you; this is great!)
Pierce Haviland's NJ,NY & CT Railroad Page (Thanks, Pierce!)
Cyberspace World Railroad Home Page (A fantastic resource)
Railroads, Ships and Aircraft Homepage (Andrew Toppan @ Worcester Poly)
Ahead of the Torch Journal (It's not too late, if we move quickly.)
Steam Locomotive Information (Nice Job Wes!)
Steam Engine "Joseph Stalin" and Metasubway (Truly remarkable resources.)
NASA/Kennedy Space Center Home Page (Up, up, and away!)

Miscellany:

Time Service Dept., USNO (I liked "Directorate of Time" so much better.)
U.S. Census Bureau Mapping Service (A truly useful resource!)
Tom Berry in Seattle (get a soundcard...)
Voyager Homepage (The spacecraft...)
Worcester Weather and map (From the NWS Boston.)
Unisys Weather (Nee "Purdue Weather Processor" -- VERY useful!)
Where was it? Historic maps of New England from the Dimond Library at UNH.
The World Wide Web Virtual Library Museum Pages (At Oxford)

Comics:

The Dilbert Zone (No site is complete without...)
User Friendly, The comic strip. (Great laughs!)

[an error occurred while processing this directive] people have roamed these halls since 30 March, 1996. I wonder why.....

Comments to: carl.friend@rcsri.org (at least 'til I get a mailbox of my very own)