About

About the site

Enigmatic Diversions is a weblog that is basically designed to allow me to get my rants, raves, and other thoughts “down on paper” as it were. I have always enjoyed writing, but I don’t really have the time to devote to professional writing per se (writing magazine articles, short stories, etc). I’ve also always wanted to keep a journal or a diary, but every time I try doing one in the more traditional sense (in a composition book, for instance), I always end up forgetting about it and giving up after a few weeks (at most). Blogging, however, is something that I find fun, and because I am always at my computer, and often waiting for some computation to take place, I have the time (and the desire) to do a little writing here and there.

The content of this site will be loosely tied together into a few general themes. My interests are broad, and therefore you will see blog entries on the following topics over time:

  • Gaming (playing games and game design theory)
  • The process of scientific investigation (how science “works” as a discipline)
  • Biology (including the environment)
  • Human and animal sociality
  • Photography
  • Movies, books, and other forms of entertainment
  • Computers and web design
  • Philosophy and Logic

And of course, you will probably see a few rants and raves about just life in general (such as complaints about Seattle traffic or the rainy weather of the Pacific Northwest).

Who can comment

I have this website set up to allow comments by anyone who wants to leave them. Feel free to leave comments about any topic you want, no matter how old or new (don’t be afraid to comment about a 2 year old post you find interesting — go ahead). Just make sure you leave your “name and number” after the beep, as it were. And no spam, of course. Spam will be removed and the offenders will have their sites blocked. My full rules of conduct are listed here.

About the Name

Where did I get “Enigmatic Diversions” from? Well I was thinking that this site is about the things that, fundamentally, entertain me and give me pleasure to think about, but it is not something important in the sense of a job. So it is a recreational activity, which is a “diversion.” And an enigma is a mysterious or puzzling statement, which I am sure many of my statements are. So there you have it.

About the Author

I am a 30-something biologist who is also a long-time gamer. You may wonder what qualifies me to comment about the items I do on my blog, other than just wanting to shoot my mouth off, so I’ll give a bit of background on them:

  • Science: I have a B.A., an M.S., and a Ph.D. in biology, and 7 years of post-doctoral research experience.
  • Teaching: I have taught hundreds of students in life science courses from non-major Environmental Science to Advanced Population Ecology.
  • Sociality: My Ph.D. thesis and first post-doctoral project (for 4 years) was the study of animal sociality. I also almost (but not quite) minored in Anthropology when I was in college.
  • Gaming: I have played roleplaying games (RPGs) for about 30 years, and designed my own online text-based game (a MUSH, which is similar to a MUD but has less, or no, combat). I have played computer RPGs for about 20 years, played MUSHes for 6 years (1997-2003), and then online graphical RPGs for about 5 years (2002-present). I also designed a few Neverwinter Nights modules a few years back that were very well received.
  • Computers and Web Design: These are hobbies. I have designed one website or another on or off for about 10 years now, and worked with computers for over 20, including lots of (amateur, untrained) coding and scripting.
  • Photography: Another hobby of mine, I confess that I don’t know a lot about photography yet, but I am slowly learning. I have a very good professional-grade film camera (a Nikon N-90 and 3 very good lenses for it) that has more features than I know how to use (yet), but that will change as I spend more time with it.

As you can see I have a lot of background in some of the things I will rant about, and somewhat less in others. But I do know what I am talking about in each case, at least a little bit. :)

Responses

A B.A., an M.S. and a Ph.D., while being a gamer to boot!

Man, that is just so cool.

I liked Neverwinter Nights too, but I haven’t had the chance to try out user modules because my internet connection is slow as heck. I’d love to see your homebrew modules if I ever have a chance.

Godspeed!

jelsan, from fractaldreams.wordpress.com

By: jelsan on Thursday, February 7, 2008
at 1:22 pm

:)

By: bibomedia.com on Saturday, March 8, 2008
at 8:34 pm

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