Application: Pemdas.h

[Pemdas]

Name: Justin
Age: 27
Location: Da Burgh, PA

How I found out about Lang:
One day I was daydreaming, and had a vision. It was a coyote, at the top of a massive pyramid. At first, it told me "Find your soulmate, Homer", but then it said "Find the Langs, Justin". Or maybe that was a Simpsons episode, I really don't remember.

Actually, I found lang because I ping'ed well to Needlefeast and generally enjoyed playing there. The .lang folks seemed to be a pretty cool bunch, good at playing but not arrogant about it, and that made for some fun games.

Likes
Debate, discourse, most things computers. NADAC dog agility trials with Nikki, my border collie. {Indian|Thai|Greek|Middle Eastern|Italian} food. Lazy weeks in a boat on a lake with nothing to do but swimming and reading. Mindless movies, and movies that make you think. SARCASM! Tom Stoppard, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, Bruce Sterling, J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis. Ultima IV (the best computer game ever). Linux, OS X. Kevin Smith. All 3 LOTR movies. Sentence fragments. Playing wind instruments (though I haven't much of late). Gay marriage.

Dislikes
Boredom, the religious right. Many Republicans, especially in the current administration (sorry, Kentho! ). Most dogma. Almost all TV. Whiners. Fear, and those who spread it. Power centralization. Pedantism. Obsessiveness about things which are not important (including ET)

Bio in under 100 words
Born in Montana, young childhood in Marquette MI, rest on the north coast of California, about 300 miles north of San Francisco. Did the whole college thing for a few years, eventually got a CS B.S., and went to work for some semiconductor companies, including Digital Equipment Corp, Compaq, Sibyte, and Broadcom. Got married to my high school sweetheart, and am currently pursuing a PhD in Robotics at CMU in Pittsburgh, which is probably going to take me another 3 years, possibly more if I keep playing too much ET. I hope to teach at the college level eventually.

I've hesitated to apply because I was really unhappy with Leafy's experience as a member, but have decided to go for it anyways. I can debate with the best of 'em.

[PacketLoss]

Likes
Debate, discourse, most things computers.
...
Dislikes
Many Republicans, especially in the current administration (sorry, Kentho! ).
...
I can debate with the best of 'em.

*applause*

You've been around a while Pemdas, glad to see your application.

[LeafyGreens]

Yaahoo another graduate student!!

I couldn't help thinking about "Best in Show" when I was reading your "Likes" -- The uber made-up chubby woman describing what she and her soon-to-die rich old husband like to do: 'We like talking, and not talking'

Leafy

[silentpartner]

...and am currently pursuing a PhD in Robotics at CMU in Pittsburgh...

You're hardcore 8) You doing work with CMU's Robocup team?

[Cyber]

wow... I'm really happy to see your app...enjoy talking in irc, playing on NF, and reading your posts....good luck man!!!!!

plus killer av4t4r

[JShadow]

Glad to see you applied Pemdas.
Hope you can join the family soon
Good luck!

[Kentho Birne]

Debate, discourse
...
Mindless movies, and movies that make you think.
...
Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, J.R.R. Tolkein, C.S. Lewis.
...
All 3 LOTR movies.
...
Playing wind instruments

1) You're damned good at it; keep it up
2) Adams is hilarious (have the hitchhiker anthology in one volume, though I'm not done with it yet); at the advice of my friends, I've just borrowed Pratchett's first Discworld novel; LotR is to fantasy what the Bible is to literature in general; The Chronicles of Narnia was the first multi-book series I finished, and I loved just about every word of it...In short, I like your taste in authors.
3) Awesome. 'Nuff said.
4) I'm a violinist myself, but playing in a pit orchestra for four years has taught me to appreciate the other instruments as well which do you play?

Dislikes
Boredom, the religious right.
...
Many Republicans, especially in the current administration (sorry, Kentho! ).
...
Almost all TV. Whiners.

1) Agreed
2) Don't sweat it; I may hate many Democrats, especially those like Kerry and Daschle, but I hardly call myself a Republican. Problem is that the only really polarizing issue brought up in our news boards is the war...and that, as has been discussed before, I support completely. In fact, I just got the form from my school to register to vote. I'm strongly considering registering with neither party, as the level of name-calling has gotten ridiculous from both sides since the 2000 campaign.
3) Further agreed.

Glad you decided to apply; you'll make a great addition to .Lang Best of luck mate!

EDIT: Bah I forgot again...don't think I've ever mentioned it, but...GREATEST HANDLE EVAR

[Ain Soph Aur]

Kentho Birne.Lang Wrote:

I'm strongly considering registering with neither party, as the level of name-calling has gotten ridiculous from both sides since the 2000 campaign.

Good. Join me in my voting for the insignificant third party candidate, just to screw everything up.

[Nowhere]

Did you eat the super hot chili pepper?

NEways...best of luck with the app, seen you on a longtime and you've got skills.

[Linus.Lang]

Good Luck with the appl

[Pemdas]

You're hardcore 8) You doing work with CMU's Robocup team?

No. I thought about joining that group when I first signed on, but ended up not going in that direction. I think it's a good thing, since I tend to clash with the Prof who's really into such things whenever we meet. The RoboCup team is off in New Orleans at the moment, for the North American Open. I heard we won the Aibo league this year, but haven't looked into how we did in the other leagues.

I work on navlab. If you're really curious, you can find out more here, but that site doesn't have much general information, mostly links to papers and theses that have come out of the lab.

4) I'm a violinist myself, but playing in a pit orchestra for four years has taught me to appreciate the other instruments as well which do you play?

I've played almost everything that doesn't require a reed at some point. Predominantly french horn, flute, and trombone, but I haven't really touched any of them in a couple of years. I've never actually played in an orchestra, only wind ensembles and small groups. My undergrad school has a pretty good music program, and I came 0 units from having a music minor while there.

[silentpartner]

I work on navlab. If you're really curious, you can find out more here, but that site doesn't have much general information, mostly links to papers and theses that have come out of the lab.

Wow, no kidding. We talked a bit about that project in the AI course I took last semester, and I actually looked up one of the papers you co-authored. Small world!

[$deadbeef]

Hey, Pemdas.

Good luck with your application.

You're a fine player with a great sense of humour, and I think it's a bit of a shame that some of these worthless tools (:D!!) have collected four pages of comments and you've only got one. 

(Never mind the fact that your bio makes me feel like a worthless pile of shit, because a pile of shit has 1,000 eyes.  And I'm sure that's good for something.  )

[MEATWAD.Lang]

Good luck dude...........you've got my vote

[Plastic Jesus]

*Huggles Pem*