My full name is Michael Csandor Widerkrantz, formerly Cardell. I'm perhaps better known as just "MC".
I live in Malmö in the south of Sweden with my wife Petra and two sons from my marriage with Helena.
I was born and grew up in the vicinity of Hudiksvall, a small town in the north of Sweden. From 1991 to early 1995 I attended Linköping University and studied Linguistics, History, Literature, Philosophy and many other subjects, but never practiced those disciplines. After leaving university I went immediately into computing, first as a Unix system administrator, later mostly as a programmer.
I have spent almost all my professional career as a computer programmer, but I began programming as a hobby in 1985. Most of my programming activities concerns Unix and computer networks. See my résumé if you're really interested.
I spend my copious free time playing with old and new computers, writing and listening to music at shows or in my home. I have a weakness for old-school punk rock, goth and other alternative music. I also watch many movies and read a lot, both fact and fiction, but probably more Science Fiction and conspiracy theories than is really healthy.
Free access to technology (or anything that teaches you about the world, really) is important to me. I try, in my own way, to fight for this freedom. This includes contributing to Free and Open Source Software, help people getting access to computers and computer networks and many other things. I also believe strongly in the free use of cryptography.
I practise zazen. As you might guess from this, I consider myself a Zen Buddhist. I also enjoy a healthy scientific scepticism (as in Committee for Skeptical Inquiry or the Randi Foundation) when I'm not otherwise busy praising Eris, the Goddess of Chaos. Confusing, isn't it?
I follow a vegan lifestyle, mostly for ethical reasons. Veganism is a very strict form of vegetarianism and it means I try to avoid all animal products. I have been strictly vegan since 2004 and generally meat free since 1997.
The obligatory Geek Code:
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK----- Version: 3.12 GCS/L/P d--@ s+:-- !a C++(++++) UBL++++$ P++$ L++$ E+++ W- N+++ o+ K++ w O- M V PS+++ PE Y++ PGP++ t 5 X+@ R@ !tv b+++ DI++ D--- G e++ h---- r+++ y? ------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
My geek code explained and commented.
This is how happy I looked when I was visiting New Zealand's Mount Cook/Aoraki in early 2006:
Here's a picture from December 2007 where I'm sitting in a thoughtful pose, looking out across the sea towards Denmark:
If you want to reach me, please send text only e-mail to mc at the domain hack.org. OpenPGP encrypted mail welcome.
I'm sometimes on Freenode IRC as mchack. However, I use chat systems very seldom. If you want to chat, schedule it by e-mail. Also, you might want to read Joe Kissell's excellent piece on Instant Messaging for Introverts.