80 lines
4.7 KiB
HTML
80 lines
4.7 KiB
HTML
---
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layout: default
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tabtitle: Home
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---
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<article>
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<h1>Welcome</h1>
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<p>Welcome to The Internet Vagabond, a small slice of Internet
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real-estate for Bill Niblock. Nothing I say is visionary or
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profound, and sometimes it makes sense. You can find a list of
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any posts and projects I've made available in the menu on the right.
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Just click the menu button in the upper-right to view it.</p>
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<h2>About the Site</h2>
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<p>The Internet Vagabond is a simple website I use for the rare
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blog posts I make, information about me and the projects I work
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on, and a digital plot of e-land. It is programmed as much in
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HTML and CSS as possible, and designed with a small footprint.
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The site is hosted on GitHub, and utilizes Jekyll for further
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organization and optimization. If you're interested in more
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technical details, check out the GitHub Project page for this
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repository. You can easily get to it via the menu on the right.</p>
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<h2>About the Vagabond</h2>
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<p>My name is Bill Niblock, and I consider myself a citizen of the
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Internet. I'm a computer scientist by education, a technologist by
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trade, a gamer by hobby, a philosopher by choice, and the list goes
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on.</p>
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<p>I earned my degree in Computer Science from SUNY Geneseo in the
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state of New York. There I developed a great appreciation for clean and
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efficient code and systems. I learned how to develop on bare-bones
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systems, surviving purely on a Terminal in Linux for a few years of my
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studies. I discovered the magic of Lisp, tail-recursion, and intricate
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code. It was there I also wet my appetite for Git, and it's incredible
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power. From school I moved on to work for a small local college as a
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Sys-Admin/Tech Support/Hardware Specialist/Software Developer/Network Guy.
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After several years of learning all about everything there, I snagged
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a sweet job working for Yahoo in the Operations Center, where I help
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monitor and support all the circuits and servers that keep Yahoo up
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and running. Thus far, I've expanded my Linux knowledge incredibly, and
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have developed a stronger understanding of coding with a group, utilizing
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Git and GitHub for stronger development, and a fascination with Ruby. I
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look forward to all that Yahoo has to offer, in the bottomless source of
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knowledge and experience that the awesome co-workers I have there have to
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offer.</p>
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<p>Ever since the early 90s I've loved gaming. Whether table-top,
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role-playing, or computer gaming, I adore it. I began my journey as a
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young lad who's mother installed Commander Keen and Doom 2 on our family
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computer. From there, I worked my way through Starcraft, Baldur's Gate,
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Neverwinter Nights, and so many more before getting my first laptop in
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high school. Then Steam happened, and now I play more games than I can
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remember. With the advent of Steam for Linux, I've been able to suppliment
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my love and fascination of Linux with my passion for gaming. I've
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settled on a few specific games of note: Guild Wars 2 is my MMO of choice,
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and both it and it's predecessor have offered me many hours of exploration
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and wonder. Dota 2 has stolen a lot of my free time, as have Counter
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Strike and Team Fortress 2. Then there's the myriad of independent games
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which round-out my gaming library, and help to eat all my free time.</p>
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<p>Technology and gaming join philosophy to create my tri-force. I consider
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an understanding of our environments, our actions and the consequences of
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actions to be key to a fruitful life. My first experience with philosophy
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came about through church, and more specifically through a youth group which
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met Sundays during mass. There we discussed topics, albeit with a religious
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undertone, but with an emphasis on understanding and openness. It was an
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expereience which helped lead me down a path of further exploration.
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During high school we touched on the "big names" or philosophy, but it
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was in college where I discovered the philosophy which best fits my
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understanding of the universe: Stoicism. To be brief, the ancient Stoics
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put emphasis on rationality and logic, seeking an understanding of their
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actions, consequences and environments through observation. For simplicity,
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think of the Vulcans from Star Trek. Stoicism is much more than just Spock,
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but for now, I'll leave it at that.</p>
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<p>I have many hobbies, and am fascinated by the universe we find ourselves
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in. I hope to explore many of these through this site, and look forward
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to understanding and exploring topics both new and old.</p>
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</article>
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