Hello and welcome to my user page.

The name "Pinochet" is just my preferred web pseudonym; the name doesn't really come with a meaning or a story, other than the fact that I have gotten used to it over several years.

In real life I am a college student at the University of Illinois. I have an AS in Chemistry and I am currently (2010) studying Environmental Science. I am a native speaker of U.S. English. I am a frequent reader of wikipedia and I am very enthusiastic about the future of free, unlimited information on the internet. I often read history and science articles for enjoyment and for the purpose of developing a wide (if somewhat shallow) knowledge base.

With respect to editing, I aim to use this account to correct and clarify problems that I notice in my normal use of wikipedia. I do not really plan to build articles of my own from scratch at this time, but I hope to contribute an article in the future. Currently I am unfamiliar with most wikipedia editing guidelines/policies, and consequently I'm likely to make some misguided edits that make sense to me. It would be helpful to me if anyone who is reading this because of such an edit would point me to the policy pages that deal with the mistake I have made, or just describe the correct procedure on my talk page if that is easier.