About

Who is Geek Universalis?

Geek Universalis is currently written by two people. One is John, aka “me.” I’m a 36 year old living in the Pacific Northwest. My workplace is interesting, but my work isn’t… “that’s all I have to say about that.” I have a hankering to write about the things I love; the advice consensus, after all, is to “write what you’re passionate about.” Well, I’m not passionate enough about gaming to write about it every day. Ditto music, theater, technology, politics, books, and so on. I am passionate about living my life, though, and I cover a lot of ground. I suspect I’m like a lot of other people in that regard, so let’s give this a whirl.

Please feel free to contact me at john [at] geekuniversalis [dot] com or drop a comment in any thread that strikes your fancy, new or old. If I wrote the post, I’m probably eager to discuss it no matter when it was published.

The other person who writes here is Ray. Says Ray, “we are trying to provide a broad menu of geeky sustenance, and one way to do that is to have authors with different interests. My day job is interesting, and I often jump fields. I hope to bring some of that enthusiasm and variety with me.

I am something of a dilettante, so I can’t really predict what I’ll be posting on, but I suspect physics, computers, electronics, and remote control helicopters will all make a showing at some point. Maybe even finance, if I think it fits.”

Between us, we really don’t know exactly what we’re going to publish, but we know it will interest us and we’re counting on it interesting you. Feedback to that effect is always welcome.

What does “Geek Universalis” Mean?

Fair question. When I (that is, John) was pondering blog names I decided I really, really liked the name “Renaissance Geek.” It meant exactly what I wanted it to mean, and it was pretty unambiguous. Or at least, it was unambiguous to the audience I was aiming for; if you don’t get that, you won’t get me. So, of course, the name is already taken. No harm, somebody beat me to it, even if he actually calls his blog something else completely *mutter mutter*.

By then, however, I was bound and determined to go with that name, or something like it. Wikipedia to the rescue! Turns out there are similar phrases, one of which is homo universalis. One bastardization later, voila!