In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I've been turning over in my mind ever since.

“Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven't had the advantages that you've had.”

He didn't say any more but we've always been unusually communicative in a reserved way, and I understood that he meant a great deal more than that. In consequence I'm inclined to reserve all judgements, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores. The abnormal mind is quick to detect and attach itself to this quality when it appears in a normal person, and so it came about that in college I was unjustly accused of being a politician, because I was privy to the secret griefs of wild, unknown men. Most of the confidences were unsought–frequently I have feigned sleep, preoccupation, or…… wait, let me just check something… Okay. So that's actually not the introduction to my opus but is, in fact, the first page of a classic American novel. I do apologize, here is the real introduction.

My name is Mikhail Potapenko. I enjoy computer programming/computer science tremendously but unfortunately I have only pursued that interest intermittently and on fairly rare occasion. I hope Unix/Linux fundamentals will force, allow, and encourage me to continue learning about how computers work and how to use them effectively.

I enjoy reading (mostly fiction), watching amusing television shows, participating in various forms of sport, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I also like discussing strange or normal things with strange people that have unusual points of view.