About
I am presently the CTO of a small Internet Service Provider in Chicago, IL. During my lifetime I have held the following positions, in no particular order: machinist, electrician, recording studio engineer, adjunct professor, theatrical technical director, gaffer, telecom engineer, and inter-networking engineer. I have been a member of two labor unions, the IBEW, and the UAW. My wife and I currently own Pick a Cup coffeehouse, and spend all of our free time there.
I began working on the Internet in the mid-1980s, prior to that I had run a couple of small BBSs and had worked as a DEC operator with access to ARPA-net. I have firmly believed, for many years, that the Internet offers the last and best hope for citizens to freely share ideas, criticisms, and information. It provides a low cost platform which has the ability for everyone to connect with one another and participate in the body politic. The Internet allows us to take advantage of H.L. Mencken’s aphorism: “freedom of the press is limited to those who own one”. With the rise of the Internet and particularly the Web, we may all now own a press.
As someone who ‘came of age’ during the Watergate trials, and the 1976 bicentennial celebration, I leaned early to hold a reverence for laws and the constitution of this country, and a distrust for those in power.
Quick facts:
- I was recently profiled in Crain’s Chicago Business
- I have one wife - happily married for 10 yrs.
- We have three cats - Selima, Puck, and Pete
- I hold degrees in Political science and Literature
- I have been a political activist for 20 yrs.
- My wife and I own a little lefty coffeehouse
- I smoke - Yes, it’s bad - I like it
- I drink: scotch, absinthe, vodka
- I am an
Atheist - though raised in the Catholic pre-Vatican II tradition - I am feminist - I have performed volunteer work for a number of women’s organizations
I can be contacted at sjk (at) cupacoffee (dot) net
