User:Ikluft/intro

Introduction

This is the user page of Ian Kluft

Some of my online presence:

personal web site: http://ian.kluft.com/
@ikluft on X (Aviation/Space)
@KO6YQ on X (Tech/Communications/Silicon Valley)

These are organizations which I am currently involved in.

South Bay Community Network
Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team
Silicon Valley Wireless Users & eXperimenters (SVWUX)
the annual Linux Picnic (kernel release anniversary celebration)

I also maintain the free Amateur Radio online exam practice web site at radioexam.org

I maintain a web site about Nevada's Black Rock Desert.

I'm a commercial pilot and certified flight instructor. Since June 2010, I'm a member of the San Jose International Airport Commission, appointed by the San Jose City Council. However, this is just a volunteer advisory position, part of the public input process - I am not employed by the airport or the city, and am not obligated to tow any party line.

I'm a Perl programmer. My CPAN ID is ikluft, just like on Wikipedia.

I first got started editing at Wikipedia sort of by accident. SEWilco started a Wikinews story about a web page that I posted in Feb 2007. His news article was started on Mar 8 and published Mar 9, "Rocketeers find possible impact crater in Nevada". His approach was to start the article and then tell our discussion mail list about it and invite updates. To me, that was something out of the this-never-happens department, being invited to look over and edit a news story before it goes out. So I participated in the story as invited. It was a thinly-veiled but apparently effective attempt to recruit more Wikipedia volunteers. :-) I was actively involved until early 2010, when I took a break for a year and a half. Though I have resumed some editing, my participation remains minimal.

The research into the suspected impact crater at Black Rock has kept going. I have a web page about the the research project. This project was listed in the December 2008 issue of Discover Magazine in an article about amateur scientists' research in 2008. In January 2009, I finally found the heavily-eroded outline on the map - the current estimate is 54 miles (87 km) in diameter. At some point after we collect enough evidence there should be a paper about it.