Colin's Page

About Me

I'm British, in my mid 50's, married with two daughters and work as a freelance contractor writing real time, embedded and device driver computer software, designing web sites, databases and fixing computer problems.

I have a BSc (Hons) degree in Computer Science. I've been a Chartered Engineer and a Corporate (full) member of the British Computer Society.

Hobbies:

Reading
I've always been a book worm! I will read pretty much anything, but books about flying and science fiction are among my favourites. My favourite author is Anne McCaffrey, especially her "Dragon riders of Pern series".
SF
I've been a science fiction fan for a long time. I prefer the 'hard science' variety rather than the fantasy and am a book reader rather than a film/TV watcher. I got involved in Fandom through various online services and go to conventions when time and money permit.
Flying
I had a private pilots licence for several years and enjoyed flying light aircraft for fun. I took my family and friends flying and have been across the channel to France a few times. It was an enjoyable way to visit somewhere new and have lunch.
Filking
Filk started as a mis-print for Folk many years ago but has now become established as a term among SF fans for the music that relates to the science fiction culture. I'm a listener and techie rather than a performer and was chair of the 10th British Filk convention 'Decadence' held Feb 1998 in Eastbourne.
Computers
I've been working and playing with computers since I was 16, in those days there was no such thing as a PC or the World Wide Web. I've lost count of how many types of computer I've used and how many programming languages I've had to work in.

Download my PGP public key
If I revoke this key, the only circumstance in which I will not be prepared to explain my reasons for doing so will be when government authorities have stipulated that providing such an explanation would be unlawful. See the RIP act.

Use the form below to see how your key relates to mine:

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I recently did a presentation about Digital Signatures and Encryption to some local computer and IT interest groups, the slides can be found here.
Genealogy
I've been interested in Genealogy since my eldest daughter Ruth came home from school several years ago with a homework assignment to draw her family tree. Since then our interest has grown and we have researched our roots back to the early 1800s. We now have over 150 people in our Family Tree and it's growing. I have compiled an extract of all the "Tuckley" entries from the birth , marriage and death index entries at the Family Record Centre in London. I've also helped with the FreeBMD Project (see link below) which is working towards putting all the Birth, Marriage and Death Index entries for England and Wales onto the Web in a searchable database.
Geocaching
I enjoy geocaching. It's a cross between treasure hunting and orienteering. The idea is to find treasure "caches" using a GPS and some clues. For more information follow the link below.