User:Cepstrum

Hello and welcome!

I'm MA's resident mobile-exclusive (well, mostly) editor. Most of my time/effort over the past month has been trying to make the site readable/functional for me. (It wasn't a problem before the great Wikia-wide skin change.) A workable solution seems to be in place now, so I might be able to return to actual editing! Let me know if you're a mobile user experiencing problems: I can offer advice on what helped me.

Notice for people I've offended
NOTICE – please read:


 * I began my work here by posting many ill-advised, ridiculously long "novellas" (as one veteran user aptly put it) on talk pages. I understand the enormity of this error. First, I apologize to anyone subjected to my overly long posts.


 * Unfortunately, I'm still doing this. (I just can't seem to learn!)


 * But there's good news: with the help of Cid, I've figured out a way to solve this: when I'm alerted to an overly long post, I will condense/summarize them while preserving their substance, make a note of it, and link to the entire original post on my talk sub-page dedicated to this.
 * So please alert me to any of my posts that you believe are either too long or unsuitable (eg, irrelevant, unnecessary), and we'll discuss it. If it a consensus is reached that my post was in error, I'll remove and replace (though only after getting permission from Cid or Sulfur: it's a highly tricky business when it comes to altering a post!)

I've tried to stop making needlessly long posts, but I still fail. But now that a solution exists to severely condense them, and I'm (ever so slowly) learning how to make responsible posts – at least, I hope – so try to bear with me during my (very long) learning process!

I hope this will bring relief to those subjected to my silly ramblings/discourses.

Thank you for your patience with me.

About my username
So: just what is a cepstrum?

How to pronounce
And how do you pronounce it? Wikipedia does a good job, if know IPA,  as "ˈkɛpstrəm, ". For non-IPA folks, it's roughly KEP-strum;  &ndasnit's a world-play on:;ectrum

Perhaps you're wondering: What does my username mean, and why do I use it? See. Great fun you'll have. I would really  like to hear from anyone who's familiar with the cepstrum. Speaking of which, click to proceed to my talk page.

Welcome and Introduction
Hi. I've been reading MA for a very long time but only recently registered. My principal contributions have been/will be minor grammar and diction issues. It's difficult for me to do much more: I use an iPod for editing.

Caveats
Please feel free to leave messages etc. for me on my talk page. I'm new at massive collaborative wiki editing, so please forgive any missteps I'm bound to make. I'm also unfamiliar with the MediaWiki markup language (I am used to the TWiki and LateX MLs. See and . And in a pinch, I've had to use very basic HTML for simple web pages. It seems as though it wouldn't be hard to pick up; I just haven't had the need/desire.)

I am a long time MA reader but only recently (September, 2010) decided to join to help with minor copy-edits. Thus I'm not (yet) that familiar with MA policies, interacting with a lot of other editors, or, as I said, even the MediaWiki markup language (I'm used to using small Twiki wikis for work and school. I don't necessarily prefer Twiki, but it's what the IT folks support. It does have a lot of really handy third-party plugins, though!). I'm gradually trying to branch out and actually make more significant, useful edits. I've found, unfortunately, that it's often one step forward, two steps back (or is it the other way around?! Heh heh ^_^).

But now I've switched from making simple copy edits to trying to actually make bigger, more productive contributions!

Special Thanks
If I'm forgetting anyone, please accept my apologies!

Admins
I would like to thank the following admins who have been helpful to me.


 * 1) Sulfur seems to be always there ready to quickly and gently revert ill-advised edits I make. This guy is speedy — superhumanly so! He obviously cares a great deal about MA quality.
 * 2) 31dot, my initial "personal" admin.
 * , who engaged me in my first "real" productive talk page edit, justly critiquing my additions. In addition, he's shown a willingness to help me with my mobile skin woes.
 * 1) And most crucially, Cid Highwind: he's been willing to point out where I go astray and give me many useful tips. Beyond that, however, he's been extremely helpful in adjusting my CSS, which is especially important to me as a mobile user.

Others

 * 1) Defiant, for pointing out some of my newbie mistakes!

Lessons Learned and Useful Links/Tips
I am an inexperienced editor, so this section will contain both lessons I've learned (and should keep in mind) as well as useful tips/links about MA policies and handy tools.

Lessons Learned

 * 1) Don't post redundant questions in different places.
 * 2) Do keep talk posts concise and salient.
 * 3) Don't make a bunch of minor edits to an article in rapid succession; use the "preview" feature.

Official MA Help Pages

 * Help:Link
 * Help:Link
 * Memory Alpha:Inline templates
 * Memory Alpha:Utilities (very useful)

Other Links

 * Archduk3's monaco.css
 * Cid Highwind's concealer.css
 * Cid's wikia.css (incorporates the concealer.css
 * Cleanse has useful transcript etc. links
 * Weyoun has directions for searching transcripts

Tips
Instead of filling this out here, I'm moving it to User:Cepstrum/Tips. No worries about page clutter/bloat, then! And hey: please feel free to go there and help!

Note: I'm retaining what I had here for now, just to give an idea of what my "Tips" page looks like.

Internal Linking

 * Linking to a section (anchor) in an article: Borg drone yields Borg drone.
 * Generic episode. yields.
 * Series-specific. yields.
 * Films. yields.
 * Multiples. yields.
 * Ships. USS Voyager yields USS Voyager.

External Linking

 * External links, type 1. yields  – an unlabeled, numbered link.
 * External links, type 2. Wikipedia yields Wikipedia – a labeled link.
 * An explicit Wikipedia link.   yields.

About Me
I've noticed most user pages tell a little bit about of background info, so here's mine (it's just a long list; later I'd like to turn into an easier-to-read format with sections and all. Not that anyone would care.... ^_^

Still, I'd be interested to know if anyone actually reads this. Let me know on my talk page if you do.

Personal

 * I'm a male in my 20s.


 * I'm an US citizen and reside there.


 * The extent of my foreign travels comprises multiple visits to Canada and once to.


 * I'm single (isn't that a requirement to be a Trek fan?)


 * I'm quite shy and non-belligerent, so I'll likely never try to argue with you or engage in unpleasantries. It doesn't take much for me to feel chastised/scared off, so if end up doing something you object to, please let me know with reasonable kindness and I'll try to accommodate you. I don't respond well to personal attacks (I have a pretty fragile ego and thin skin, so it's not hard to drive me away!)

Academic

 * BS (summa cum laude) in electrical egineering minor in math. One class short of a minor in computer science – oh well: it would mean very little, similar to my embarrassingly meager CS knowledge.


 * MS in electrical and computer engineering


 * PhD student in, you guessed it: electrical engineering!


 * Areas of focus: signal processing, statistics and stochastic processes, biomedical engineering, and acoustical signal processing.


 * Publications: published articles in leading IEEE journals, multiple conference papers, abstracts, and presentations in international engineering conferences, co-author on a few other papers.

Professional/Skills

 * Research assistant in biomedical signal processing; pediatric traumatic brain injury; ICU clinical blood pressure monitoring; tremor disorders.


 * Research associate in acoustical signal processing for the Naval Research Laboratory (US Navy): counter-terrorism work.


 * Teaching assistant and substitute teacher. (My favorite thing.)


 * Lest you think I'm boasting, I consider myself quite mediocre/stupid/dumb/slow. I know very little of what an electrical engineer should know, and IMO, my achievements reflect more on my outstanding advisor and professors than my own initiative. I'm really not very smart. I know little about computer stuff, even though I had to, of course, pass all the classes such as writing device drivers in Assembly. Just don't ask me to do that again! And my higher-level programming/etc. knowledge is pretty much limited to Matlab. Sure, I'm a little familiar with Java, Verilog/VHDL, SPICE, and C/C++, but not not as much as I should be (given my extensive training in them – but hey, I've not had to use them for "real" work!). And I have very few marketable skills.


 * What's worse, I'm terrible with Web design etc. That means you won't find me fiddling too much with CSS, JavaScript, or the various other ways one can customize the Memory-Alpha experience. Pretty bad, no? I can't even create "bots"! But I do know the  markup language fairly well and usually prefer it to WYSIWYG editors such as MS Word or PowerPoint for "serious" document creation. So I'm hoping my knowledge of that will help me as I try to fix and customize Wikia's mobile CSS skin.

Trek Interest
I've always been aware of Trek; in fact, I still remember being frightened by V'Ger when watching on video with my older brother!

But growing up, I was always a fanatic. That interest dissipated upon the arrival of the prequel movies.

Later, while studying, I caught a rerun of a Voyager episode. It piqued my interest, and I watched a few more.

But it wasn't until I was stuck at home recovering from a serious, lengthy illness that I began recording every Voyager episode on reruns (except for two: ). I was hooked. I had thought at the time Voyager was the only series I liked. I was wrong.

I then taped reruns of Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation. Now I've come to like all three "TNG-era" series equally but for different reasons. Still, Voyager will always have a social place in my heart, for it was the series that got me into Trek.

Then I began recording reruns of Enterprise. Unfortunately, my free cable expired after I got the last episode of season two. I never got into it as much as the TNG-era shows, but I hear the third season, with it's lengthy Xindi arc was a dramatic improvement. I want to see it when I have the chance. I did catch a few fourth season shows, including, but they didn't impress me as much as I thought (that is, except for TATV: my expectations were low in advance!). I don't know why I couldn't ever get into the series. I do want to give it a other chance, though.

I've hardly seen any of TOS...maybe one day.

Finally, I'm not of movies in general and much prefer the Trek series to the films. Strangely enough, even though I'm not a TOS fan, I like TMP best. Others I like include, , and. Yeah: I have poor taste!

Characters I Especially Like

 * B'Elanna Torres
 * Harry Kim
 * Chakotay
 * Tuvok

Ok. Wait. I like almost every character and dislike none. It'll be easier if I just list the few that aren't ones I consider favorites:
 * Kes
 * Kira Nerys
 * Odo
 * Tasha Yar
 * Leonard McCoy
 * Ezri Dax

That's about it. And, in fact, I really do like the above characters. But if I had to create an ordered list of favorites, they'd be towards the bottom (some people have to end up there!). But seriously, I do like them. I just other characters even more. (Also: I'm excluding Enterprise characters. I've not yet warmed up to any of them. But I'm willing to try again.)

For captains, I'd say it's a four-way tie (ie, everyone but Archer). But man, Patrick Stewart and Avery Brooks were amazing. I'm a fan of Kate Mulgrew, though, too, and William Shatner is larger than life!

Favorite Episodes from Each Season
To be completed. (Not that anyone is going to read my user page!)

Reading
I love purchasing (and reading) used college textbooks from booksales. Most subjects interest me: political science, history, economics, philosophy, sociology, psychology, literature, linguistics and more.

Favorite book: toss-up among ', ', ', ', and, .

For lighter reading I love Sherlock Holmes and. I've read several times, and I like George Macdonald's works.

Sports
I passionately love college and professional football (American) and professional basketball.

Misc.
I love browsing Wikipedia and Memory Alpha. (My best childhood gift was a set of encyclopedias I received at age nine. I quickly read and reread them, so imagine my delight at the virtually endless content of Wikipedia!)

I love weightlifting and healthy eating, and I usually maintain a pretty low bodyfat % (3--&%). Doesn't matter on the Internet, though! Really: it helps keep my mind in shape just as much as my body.

The Trek Reboot
I don't have strong feelings about the new Star Trek reboot. I don't really like movies (especially compared to the Trek TV series). I've also only seen a few portions of TOS, so I couldn't complain about it changing things. I'm just glad it brought a lot of cash and cachet to the Trek franchise. I'd really like to see another TV series set a little way into the future from the TNG-era but realize that probably won't ever happen. I think the "old" Trek is gone for good. I'm glad it produced 21 fun seasons (and perhaps +4 if I can get into Enterprise).

Please Bear with Me!
I'm new at massive wiki editing, the MediaWiki markup language, and MA's policies. I've made plenty of mistakes in my short time here and am bound to make more. Please be patient with me. Thanks! ^_^

My Major Contributions

 * Fourier analysis (rewrote parts to enhance accuracy, though most were reverted as "nitpicks" and rightly so. I just couldn't help myself: it's my livelihood! ^_^ Still, it's significant because it was my first real edit.)
 * Kobali (massive revamp to help it conform to MA standards)
 * Borg Philosophy (major revamp; still in progress)

Special Pages/Sub-pages

 * Sandbox (for testing and fiddling)
 * Working CSS skin (a link to a "frozen" version of my wikiaphone.css that looks acceptable)
 * Profile testing (might want to move my profile/bio info here to reduce the clutter)
 * Tips (considering moving my ever-growing "Tips" section to its own page.....actually, I should do that with a lot of sections to remove page bloat!)
 * To do list
 * User:Cepstrum/Monobook1 (an interesting and rather mobile-friendly version that I'd like to save)