Welcome to my website

Hi, I'm Stephen. I'm a web developer, technical author and a creative problem solver living in Lincolnshire.

I've produced this site as a showcase for my origami designs and a test-bed for my web development work.

I've spent most of my working life as a technical author, but I've also done a lot of web development stuff, using hand-crafted HTML and CMS systems such as Mediawiki and Sharepoint. I've been using computers since the late seventies and I've never stopped discovering new things about them. I have a wide experience with standard writing tools, especially Microsoft Word and Adobe InDesign, and I'm familiar with many of the common programming languages and platforms on the web.  The most recent addition to my mental toolkit is Bootstrap, which has been invaluable in helping me create this site. I've also been teaching myself Angular.js and Node.js. I prefer to use existing libraries whenever possible, but if you need something non-standard, there's no substitute for being able to write your own custom scripts.

Skills

I like to think of myself as having a flexible mindset with the ability to assimilate information quickly and to learn new skills easily. I'm a natural problem solver and I pride myself in the simplicity of my solutions. I'm also very analytical, taking great pleasure in working out how to reproduce an effect that I've seen on a website or to discover the logic behind an origami model such as Tom Hull's Hexagon Lace tessellation. I'm also persistent and I have a great amount of patience, and once I've started a project, I'll invariably finish it, irrespective of how long that takes. I pride myself in meeting deadlines, and if they're impossible deadlines, I pride myself in achieving the core objectives by the due date, finishing the remaining parts of the project as time permits. 

Interests

Origami

I've been folding paper since I saw Robert Harbin on the TV when I was about seven. After decades of folding the same models, I discovered the British Origami Society, met other folders and started to raise my game. These days, I'm a tessellation folder with an obsessive interest in square twists and Fujimoto Hydrangeas, an interest which would be more appropriate if I was especially good at folding the things. I may not be the most precise folder, but I love the feel of the paper when I'm creating the initial folds and I love the way that the tessellations collapse into existence during the final moves. It doesn't always work, but when the model goes wrong, and it often will, I do what every experienced folder does: I blame the paper. I'm also a big fan of origami cubes, especially the Fujimoto and Kawasaki versions, which have an elegant simplicity and which feel wonderful to fold. The original Jackstone is another of my favourites, because although I've never been able to make a really neat one, the final move when you open up the model and it becomes three-dimensional is amazing. I love folding boxes and I regard Tomoko Fuse as one of my favourite designers, a pleasure which is enhanced by the fact that I've been taught by her at conventions.

Science Fiction

I freely admit to being a Doctor Who nut, but I'm also interested in all forms of written, visual and audible SF, from Issac Asimov to Roger Zelazny. I went through a phase of attending Science Fiction conventions when I was younger, having the joy of hearing Bob Shaw giving his "Serious Scientific Talks" and laughing so hard that I could barely breathe. I remember hearing the late and sadly missed Ian M Banks read one of his short stories, "Piece", and I remember being deeply moved by that. I was at Congregate when Terry Pratchet was guest of honour, and I remembering the way that he was asking people if they knew any good jokes about camels. I also remember the places, from Glasgow to Winchester. Great times! Bob Shaw was one of the genre's hidden talents. He's famous for "Orbitsville", a book that had the misfortune to come at the same time as Larry Niven's higher profile "Ringworld", but for me, his best work was "Ship of Strangers".

My favourite Doctor is the Thirteenth one, although admittedly I've yet to see her appear for more than a few seconds. I'm sure she'll be amazing though! I'm also a massive fan of both Tom and Colin Baker's Doctors. Although I loved Jon Pertwee's Doctor, I've always regarded Tom Baker as "my" Doctor. I remember liking Colin Baker when he was on TV, but I've adored his later work on the Big Finish audio plays, and I'm convinced that if he had been given a better stab at the role when he was cast, he'd now be a lot more highly regarded amongst the general fan base. My favourite Peter Capaldi story is "Heaven Sent", which I believe showcases his astonishing talents to the absolute maximum, but after a slightly-lack lustre first series, I definitely think he turned out to be one of the greats. But then again, all the Doctors have been great for me, and I agree with the Brig when he said that they were "wonderful chaps, all of them".

 I love the work of Douglas Adams, but although I'm a huge fan of the radio series, my favourite of his books is actually "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency". I'm also of the opinion that if you haven't read "Last Chance to see", or indeed heard the radio episodes, you haven't experienced Douglas Adams at his best. I'd also recommend listening to his astonishingly funny "Kamikaze briefing room sketch, if you can find it.

I spent years trying to track down a complete set of Colin Kapp's "Unorthodox Engineers" series before finally being able to buy a copy on my Kindle. "The Subways on Tazoo" is an absolute classic! I'm also a massive fan of the "Nebulous" radio series, especially Mark Gatiss' performance in the title role. "I shall *not* clown". For me, the funniest SF isn't "Nebulous", Red Dwarf, or even "Hitchhikers": it's the film "Dark Star", and I can never suppress a grin when I hear "The Marriage of Figaro".

History

I'm more interested in recent history than the ancient stuff and I'm especially hooked on the history of science and technology. I live in the same county as Isaac Newton's birthplace, and I have a fair amount of training in physics, so I'm naturally fascinated by his story, but there are a tonne of other scientists who made huge contributions to our world whose stories are equally compelling,  particularly the story of the discovery DNA and how Rosalind Franklin became one of the unsung heroes of the DNA revolution. I remember watching the "Horizon" episode "Life Story" when it was first broadcast and it moved me deeply. I'm also massively interested by the history of computers, from Babbage to Bill Gates.  A few years ago, I visited The National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park and saw some of the first ever computers, including a wonderful reproduction of the original Collossus. Whilst I was there, I also enjoyed a visit to the other museum on the same site, which is highly recommended if you're in the neighbourhood. 

Computing

I've been using computers since they became widely available and wrote my first published article using a text editor called SOS, which stood for "Son Of Stopgap". I also attended the computer show that launched the Sinclair Spectrum and saw Clive Sinclair surrounded by pretty girls who were handing out the initial fliers. As it turned out, the first computer that I actually bought was a Jupiter Ace that had just a few kilobytes of memory and which ran an obscure programming language called FORTH. It was a successful purchase, because I used the manual to reverse engineer the language for my own implementation that I created at university. Unfortunately, I wrote the thing in an obscure assembly language called Macro-10 rather than something more portable. The FORTH implementation needed documentation, so it also led to the creation of my first computer manual which I wrote using WordStar on an early PC, a machine that was so primitive, it didn't even feature cursor keys. Over the years, I've used Amstrad PCs, BBC Micros, Atari STs and Commodore Amigas, and I've loved every minute of that. i do prefer using modern PCs though, because although they can be cranky at times, they're in a different league to the machines that I started with. I've been reading computer magazines since the days of "Byte" and "Personal Computer World" and I have fond memories of catching the latest articles by Jerry Pournelle and Guy Kewney. I know that Jerry Pournelle had a slightly dodgy reputation as an SF writer, but if you haven't read "The Mote in God's Eye" which he wrote with Larry Niven, it's definitely worth a look.