CURRENT MISSION

Expand the frontiers of human knowledge, or have fun trying

ABOUT ME

US-born, New Zealand raised with an Italian name, living in Denmark. Yep, I'm confused too.

Theoretical computer scientist (it's about as interesting as it sounds), card-carrying gay (this is less interesting than it sounds), musician (this sounds like music, sometimes). Generally optimistic about human nature. Currently writing Couchsurfing profiles using clipped, incomplete sentences.

PHILOSOPHY

I think people are almost universally pretty nice, but societies don't always work to make it easy to be nice. I'm skeptical of anything that sets up greed as a virtue, though I'm not exactly anti-capitalist either. Some of my friends call me a "pinko-commie lefty", which is probably overstating it, but I'll just go ahead and wave my freak flag high.

Most of my personal philosophy is derived from the central tenant "don't be a dick to other people", which could be restated without the vulgarity as "do unto others etc etc".

Warum ich bei Couchsurfing bin

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm pretty new to all this, but CS appeals to my more optimistic side, so I'm getting involved slowly.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I started Couch surfing when I was suffering an accommodation shortfall after moving to Denmark. My gracious host allowed me to stay for much longer than could have ever been asked, and now owing to a vacant room in the house, we live together. Cool huh?

Interessen

I'm basically a giant nerd, in that I'm a researcher. My field of interest is computer science, but that's basically just how I pay my bills. I reserve the right to find out how things work in my spare time too. I like to know things and understand things, and apply rational inquiry to increase my understanding of the universe.

So that all sounds a bit dry, but I'm also a musician. I play guitar, sing and will attempt to play many other kinds of instruments. I played in a few bands for several years before leaving New Zealand. We were mildly unsuccessful and you won't have heard of us, but it does mean I'm always willing to play music with just about anybody.

• cats
• writing
• singing
• music
• guitar
• surfing
• computer science
• science

Musik, Filme und Bücher

Fairly eclectic taste in music, though generally along the "pop and rock" spectrum. I like Belle & Sebastian and the Divine Comedy as much as I like Fleetwood Mac and ABBA. Then I also like the Manic Street Preachers, which doesn't obviously fit with the previous artists. I tend to give anything a go musically.

I read a lot, although less than I would like to lately, owing to having to read lots of scientific articles for my day job. I've read a bunch of name-droppy literary greats (think Camus and Dostoevsky), and I've read a bunch of trash fiction picked up from a rummage sale for less than the cost of a box of matches. That said, faced with the choice of buying a box of matches or a Dan Brown novel, I would buy both, and apply the matches to disposing of said novel. I'm not so into burning books, but some things really can't be tolerated.

Eine tolle Erfahrung, die ich gemacht habe

I was born. That's pretty amazing. Consider the billions of years of evolution and the countless generations of biological activity that led directly to my birth. I've mostly taken advantage of this miracle of the universe to look at pictures of cats on the internet.

Lehren, lernen, teilen

I can make some kinds of fresh pasta. If you can teach me how to correctly fold tortellini, I'll be impressed.

I play a bunch of musical instruments, but I'm always interested in learning more about specific instruments or about music in general.

I'm a scientist by trade, so I think the free exchange of knowledge and ideas comes pretty naturally to me. Teaching and learning are pretty much the same thing if you're doing each of them right, I think.

Länder, die ich besucht habe

Australia, China, Ireland, Italy

Länder, in denen ich gelebt habe

Denmark, New Zealand, United Kingdom, United States