Hi! My name is Carl Mikkelsen.

Welcome to my home page	or my Stewart Platform Project Notebook
	[without frames]

I don't update this very frequently, but many extraordinary things have happened!

I am married to Barbara Posnick .

I do computer things both for work, and to relax. It doesn't matter what kind of computer things. I describe myself as a toolsmith, always looking for a better way, a better usage model, a way to apply emerging technology to today's annoying problems, and yesterday's impossible ones.

A bit over a year ago I got involved with through Primenet, a project of Entropia.

I've been hacking computers since 1966, when I was twelve years old. From that point on, I was mostly interested in finding ways to make computers more usable for others, and to use computers to simplify people's work. That trend has continued to this day.

I grew up in Chester, Vermont, with parents who were very involved with Amateur Radio. I was able to experiment with many technologies, such as high voltage/high energy discharges, step-by-step telephony, astronomy, photography, electron guns, relay logic, RF transmitters, solar energy, radio telecommunications, radar, metal casting, soldering aluminum, ... Unfortunately, this all had to be self-taught, since the education system was limited.

I was blessed to be able to attend boarding high school, Hebron Academy (an older link) in Hebron, Maine. If any of you are considering a private school for your children, I don't think you can do better. The school has changed over the years. When I was there, it was an all-male, 99% boarding, fairly strict school. Now, it has a broader collection of local students, and it covers primary as well as secondary grades. I have no information about the relative strictness. :)

After my freshman year, I went to a terrific summer program funded by the National Science Foundation. A description of the program is found in 17 and Yellow Pigs. Here, I first spent time with other hackers, and came to find the joy in computing. I have never looked back.

Over the years, I have done quite a range of things, both with large companies, and with start-up companies. My resume tells the tale.

These days, I still like to touch fields far away from computing. I've written some poetry. I've taken and printed some photographs (but none of them are scanned and on the web yet). I love darkroom work. Still, the lure of computing and the limits of time have brought me to digital snapshots, with a Kodak DC290. Most of the shots on the family photo album are taken with it.

As always, I have a few projects that interest me and keep the spirit alive.

These days, the best way to contact me is to email me at cmm@alum.mit.edu

I have embedded links in the text above, a practice which is cute, but can be hard to follow. For your referencing convenience, I've duplicates some of the links here:

• Barbara Posnick, my wife
• My resume [as a Word .doc file]
  • Companies I've been with
  • Products I've done
• Home Projects
• Mersenne Primes home page
• My poetry

Last updated: August 22, 2001

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