Dave Palmer: Assorted Sordid Personal Details

• Born: Yes, or so I've been told. April 26, 1956 at MacDill AFB, Florida.
• Family: Parents living in the SF Bay area. An older bother, two sisters (one older, one younger).
• Marital status: Single, never married. Quelle suprise, non?
  • Why? A level of normal social skills approaching NULL. I once met the Perfect Woman, but it turned out she was looking for the Perfect Man. Bummer.
• Education: AA in photography (minor in journalism), BS, MS in computer science.
• Who I am: I tend to define myself by my career. For 15 years, I was a photojournalist, now I'm a hacker
  • You mean, like you break into computers? No, I mean "hacker" in the old sense of the word. Look it up in The Jargon File
• What I do: Like I said, I hack. I write computer software, OK?
• Past employment: Since 1994, I've worked at a string of software companies writing programs you've never heard of, unless you're in some tiny, specialized engineering niche market. Before that, it was six gruesome months in the aerospace gulag doing absolutely nothing at great taxpayer expense, almost a full year writing QuickBASIC code for traffic signal controllers, eight years fixing electronics out in the oil fields for a bitty little division of ARCO, and fifteen years or so (yes, I did start that young) in photography, mostly photojournalism and assorted freelance work.
• Interests: You name it. Big on science and technology, tend to think of myself as a scientist. Like most hackers, I'm a neophile.
• Non-interests: Absolutely ZERO paternal instincts. Never been much into sports. Most modern "art" leaves me cold. I'm skeptical to the point of rejection of the paranormal, the New Age, astrology, UFO's, and assorted nonsense. Show me some real evidence, and I'll rethink my position. I was fairly religious when I was a kid, but I grew out of it. I tend to tolerate religion, except when it's forced down my throat.
• Illegal drugs: No interest. Did the obligatory one or two joints way back in journalism school. Dang. Now I'll never be a Supreme Court justice.
• Legal drugs: Coffee. Jolt Cola. White zinfandel, the occasional cocktail. A little brown pill each morning so my arteries don't explode.
• What I do in my copious free time: Yeah, right.
  • No, really: OK, I sleep sometimes. And hack on my home computer.
    • No, really: Well, now that you mention it, I occasionally find time to read, go to films and the theater, cook, dig for fossils, do amateur astronomy, chase eclipses, write the occasional technical or skeptical article, do some photography, perform close-up magic, and whatever hobby-of-the-week I find myself spending money on. I used to be in community theater (acting, directing, tech, special effects), but I gave it up when I went back to school . Might get back into it some day. See the rest of my Web pages, you'll get the idea.
• What I'm attracted to in the appropriate gender: Intelligence, the higher the better (a scientist or engineer would be ideal). I think intelligence is the sexiest aspect of a person. Self-confidence and independence. A sense of humor. An adventurous, playful spirit. NO desire now or ever for children (not an option for me anyway, I've been...ahem...fixed. But this is probably more information than you were looking for). Age differences are trivial at best, skin color or ethnic origin utterly irrelevant.
  
  • So who rings your bell? Dr. Juliette Burber. Yes. My love life is that pathetic. You gotta problem with that?
    
    • But doesn't she have a kid? She's a cartoon character. It's kinda moot, wouldn't you say?
      
    
    

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