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Welcome

Welcome to The Internet Vagabond, a small slice of Internet real-estate for Bill Niblock. Nothing I say is visionary or profound, and sometimes it makes sense. You can find a list of any posts and projects I've made available in the menu on the right. Just click the menu button in the upper-right to view it.

About the Site

The Internet Vagabond is a simple website I use for the rare blog posts I make, information about me and the projects I work on, and a digital plot of e-land. It is programmed as much in HTML and CSS as possible, and designed with a small footprint. The site is hosted on GitHub, and utilizes Jekyll for further organization and optimization. If you're interested in more technical details, check out the GitHub Project page for this repository. You can easily get to it via the menu on the right.

About the Vagabond

My name is Bill Niblock, and I consider myself a citizen of the Internet. I'm a computer scientist by education, a technologist by trade, a gamer by hobby, a philosopher by choice, and the list goes on.

I earned my degree in Computer Science from SUNY Geneseo in the state of New York. There I developed a great appreciation for clean and efficient code and systems. I learned how to develop on bare-bones systems, surviving purely on a Terminal in Linux for a few years of my studies. I discovered the magic of Lisp, tail-recursion, and intricate code. It was there I also wet my appetite for Git, and it's incredible power. From school I moved on to work for a small local college as a Sys-Admin/Tech Support/Hardware Specialist/Software Developer/Network Guy. After several years of learning all about everything there, I snagged a sweet job working for Yahoo in the Operations Center, where I help monitor and support all the circuits and servers that keep Yahoo up and running. Thus far, I've expanded my Linux knowledge incredibly, and have developed a stronger understanding of coding with a group, utilizing Git and GitHub for stronger development, and a fascination with Ruby. I look forward to all that Yahoo has to offer, in the bottomless source of knowledge and experience that the awesome co-workers I have there have to offer.

Ever since the early 90s I've loved gaming. Whether table-top, role-playing, or computer gaming, I adore it. I began my journey as a young lad who's mother installed Commander Keen and Doom 2 on our family computer. From there, I worked my way through Starcraft, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, and so many more before getting my first laptop in high school. Then Steam happened, and now I play more games than I can remember. With the advent of Steam for Linux, I've been able to suppliment my love and fascination of Linux with my passion for gaming. I've settled on a few specific games of note: Guild Wars 2 is my MMO of choice, and both it and it's predecessor have offered me many hours of exploration and wonder. Dota 2 has stolen a lot of my free time, as have Counter Strike and Team Fortress 2. Then there's the myriad of independent games which round-out my gaming library, and help to eat all my free time.

Technology and gaming join philosophy to create my tri-force. I consider an understanding of our environments, our actions and the consequences of actions to be key to a fruitful life. My first experience with philosophy came about through church, and more specifically through a youth group which met Sundays during mass. There we discussed topics, albeit with a religious undertone, but with an emphasis on understanding and openness. It was an expereience which helped lead me down a path of further exploration. During high school we touched on the "big names" or philosophy, but it was in college where I discovered the philosophy which best fits my understanding of the universe: Stoicism. To be brief, the ancient Stoics put emphasis on rationality and logic, seeking an understanding of their actions, consequences and environments through observation. For simplicity, think of the Vulcans from Star Trek. Stoicism is much more than just Spock, but for now, I'll leave it at that.

I have many hobbies, and am fascinated by the universe we find ourselves in. I hope to explore many of these through this site, and look forward to understanding and exploring topics both new and old.