This is a Wikipediauser page. This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a
mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user whom this page is about may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia. The original page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Soarhead77.
The Boring Bit
Some people call me a bit of a pedant, so most of my changes to Wikipedia are what appears to me to be spelling mistakes and the like! This however is what qualifies me as a
Wikignome. This is the longest article you may ever see from me!
I've worked in radiation protection and in academic research - so you might see my name cropping up in all sorts of places like these. This also accounts for some of the userboxen I've found and put in here. This has nothing to do with any debate that may or may not have taken place around
Wikipedia My use of the term might give some geeks an idea of what kind of computer I've hacked in the past. I've also worked in medical devices, from the large, like
digital x-ray systems and
MRI systems, to the small like
blood glucose testing equipment for diabetics.
My particular interests obsessions are in
aviation,
software,
train spotting - the real type, nothing to do with drugs,
home beer making and the like. In the dim and distant past I used to be a
gliding instructor, and did a lot of
Motor Cycle touring since I used to own a Honda
VFR 750, so you may find odd bit of me cropping up around these parts as well. For a long time my personal study has been around the
Cold War, its politics and weapons - this probably comes from having grown up with it around me. I have a peculiar (and some would say morbid) interest in
nuclear weapons as well. I've also got what my wife describes as a very wide collection of stuff by
JRR Tolkien and also stuff
Christopher has edited -
The Silmarrilion,
HOME etc. and all the
DVDs by
Peter Jackson
Asperger's Syndrome
One thing about me is that I have been diagnosed as having
Asperger's syndrome - this is evident through my behaviour and when I first came to this conclusion my
step daughter said "Oh, that explains a lot!" - note she said this several years before
Shirley Schmidt did. I emphasise this since there are some people about who say that
self diagnosis of AS is a bad thing. Having said that the
National Autistic Society in the
United Kingdom say that this is the only option available to a lot of people, and that a formal diagnosis might only be necessary if you have severe issues related to your AS - which I have. However to an external observer I might almost be
NT (definitely not a
Microsoft reference) - indeed I've been through life for a long time pretending to be normal but knowing within myself that I was a bit different in some way. This however might be no surprise given the interests I cite. I definitely fall within the category of very late diagnosis however - see this paper for
Simon Baron-Cohen's opinion on this "
Very Late Diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome"
Asperger's syndrome I find is a wide spectrum disorder in itself, not just a niche at one end of the
Autistic spectrum. Picture me at one end of this - the main characteristic being that I'm the one you see being asocial at parties and not being invited again (complete lack of small talk ability). Another one is that I've never had to work to pass exams. On the other hand I made a success of being a gliding instructor and some people describe my abilities as a teacher are excellent, both of which require some form of social skill I assume. My old school reports all say I was "annoying" (the words "little shit" are assumed), but I never really understood why... I've also suffered lots of the discrimination that Asperger's people do, so I totally understand. I do make a point of being non violent, especially towards women. There are personal reasons for this which I won't outline here.
Beer Making and Beer Drinking
This I judged worth two user boxes so it deserves some expansion. I started this encouraged by my wife - this in itself is somewhat unusual. I have now brewed all sorts of beers, drawing the line only at full mash brews which I don't have the kit for, and which I am banned from making in the kitchen anyway. I can produce good tasty beer from relatively cheap ingredients, even though the reputation of home brewed beer varies from cheap falling over water to "I'm not drinking that stuff - it might be like pond water". Please believe it is neither of those! At any given time I've probably got around 120 pints in various stages of production.
Summary
So overall I'm a left handed aspie, who's last major trip was to see
Yes in concert - this hinges on my love of progressive music. Not for me the thought that this was overblown pretentious rubbish. That only applies to
Emerson Lake and Palmer on their own admission.