Free Software
+ Backtalk
+ auth_external
+ authz_unixgroup
+ pwauth
+ pbnsolve
+ Orville Write
+ Gate
+ Party
+ Cursive

Tech Publications
+ Authentication
+ Unix Notes
+ Javascript
+ Grex Notes

Other Publications
+ Pro-Both
+ Great Green Room

Games
+ Paint-by-Number

Conference Links
+ Grex
+ Arbornet
+ River
+ EMinds
+ Spring
+ Utne Cafe
+ HVCN
+ Starting Grid
+ TCFN

Et Cetera
+ Arlo
+ Kendra
+ Rx Burns
+ World Tour
+ Campus Towers
+ SUV Rant
+ Zealot Quote
+ Black
+ White
+ Yellow
+ Violet

E-Mail Me
+ Join White-List
+ Send Mail

Contract Programming

I work as a freelance software developer. Mostly I do Unix systems programming, complex integrated web systems, and communications systems. Look me up if you need some high-quality Unix software development done. My partner at UnixMama.com does similar work.

Open Source Software

Backtalk is a sophisticated open-source web-based computer conferencing system developed by Steve Weiss and I. Backtalk is used on several systems. It's spinoffs include Booktalk, a conferencing system for schools and libraries, and Fronttalk, a command-line interface cloning Picospan.

Mod_auth_external is an Apache module for using external programs to do authentication. I am the current maintainer of this, and the author of the related pwauth program for doing web authentication out of Unix shadow password files, as well as mod_authz_unixgroup, a module for doing access control based on unix group membership.

Pbnsolve is a program for solving paint-by-number puzzles.

Orville Write is a much enhanced freeware version of the Unix write as used on Grex and M-Net.

Party is the fine old Unix chat program used on Grex and M-Net.

Gate is a text-gatherer, sort of a light-weight text editor typically used with Picospan, Yapp or Fronttalk conferencing systems.

Cursive is a program I wrote in 1987 to generate ASCII text banners in a rough cursive font.

Technical Publications

A Guide to Web Authentication Alternatives is a detailed technical discussion of different schemes for authenticating users at web sites.

My Unix Incompatibility Notes are the start of some documentation of some portability issues on some Unix packages, written as I need the information. A little similar information on Javascript also exists.

The Grex Staff Notes describe several aspects of the Grex public-access computer system, including a tour of the hardware, discussions of security goals and privacy policies, and technical descriptions on the kernel blocks and password database.

Non-Technical Publications

I have a kind of a blog / essay site called the Great Green Room where I publish articles on any topic that captures my interest.

The Pro-Both site promotes an approach to the abortion issue that is both pro-choice and pro-life.

About the Author

Valerie and I have a three children, Arlo (9), Kendra (6), and Corbin (0).

Once upon a time I was a professor of Computer Science at Texas A&M University, doing research in Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Computer-Aided Design and Computational Geometry.

I've been an active participant in a number of virtual communities since 1981, and have an ungoing interest in social and technical facets of on-line conferencing systems. I have participated at various times with varying degrees of regularity in conferences on Grex, M-Net, Twin Cities Freenet, The River, Utne Cafe. and Electric Minds. I'm especially interested in member-operated systems and public access systems. I'm on the technical staff at both Grex and HVCN and have done bits of volunteer work for several other systems. I've occasionally served as a board member on Grex.

I volunteer regularly for the Ann Arbor Parks & Recreation Department's Natural Area Preservation group doing mostly prescribed burns and invasive species removal.

Seconds of Fame

I've given testimony against Michigan's Internet censorship law in Federal Court. (A written draft of the testimony is available.)

I have an Erdös number of 3 (Erdös, [Alon | Aronov | Chung | Moran | Odlyzko | Pach | Pollack | Szemeredi | Yao], [Bern | Guibas | Hershberger | Suri], Wolter).

I've been quoted on Car Talk (though I didn't actually say the "yada yada yada" part). I'm also quoted in several on-line collections of "famous" quotations.

The first President Bush once signed a document honoring me for my cleverness.

Silly Stuff

Web Paint-by-Number is a just-for-fun web site where you can create and solve graphical logic puzzles. It's also an exercise in over-the-top Javascripting.

One of my first experiments with web technology was a sequence of pictures from my World Tour, which addressed the age old question ``Does travel really broaden you, or just narrow the world?''

In an (extended) moment of dementia and boredom, I compiled Grover's Guide to Campus Phallic Symbols. I promise never to do anything like this again.

Grover's Guide to Auto Buying lays down the law for SUVs, minivans and pickup trucks.

For those of us who tire of looking at web pages full of moving images, busy backgrounds, and rambling text, I have developed a boldly new and totally innovative web technology: blank web pages. I can now offer blank web pages in black or white for those absolutists amongst us, and in eye-soothing shades of yellow and violet.

E-Mail

Sadly, the quantity of spam that I receive has risen to a level where E-mail had ceased to be an effective communication medium for me. I found I had to tell clients to phone me when they had sent me an important E-mail, so I would know to search through my spam for it. Stock spam filters weren't catching enough for me, and I didn't care to spend my time trying to build better ones. So, regretfully, I've switch to a white-listing approach, where only messages from E-mail addresses on my white-list appear in my primary mailbox.

This does not, however, mean I don't want to read mail from new people. I've provided a web form from which you can add yourself to my white-list. If you'd like to talk to me, please white-list yourself and send me E-mail. I'd be happy to hear from you.