"...Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil: in it's worst state an intolerable one."

Thanks for visiting my website. It is a mix of personal interests and professional experience.

My professional background is focused on software quality assurance, but not just pointing and clicking! My approach to quality assurance is engineering based with an emphasis on "pushing left" and building teams from the "ground up". This means understanding the importance of being involved early in the software development lifecycle, being able to create detailed documentation, reliable processes, automating error-prone, mission critical and mundane tests, as well as harnessing human strengths (like exploratory testing).

I also have speaking experience on a variety of topics software quality assurance-related. My contact information is in the footer if you are interested in having me speak at an event.

When I'm not being a software quality assurance guru I enjoy a variety of activities, some of which are represented on my website. I like making craft cocktails , building things , and listening to podcasts.

- Krypton -

NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day [APOD] NASA APOD

The Large Magellanic Cloud

Have you ever seen another galaxy with your own eyes? The featured image shows the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), one of the closest neighbors of our Milky Way. If you are anywhere south of latitude 20° N (but the further south, the better), you can see it with the unaided eye if you go to a dark sky location, away from big cities and light polution. It is a dwarf irregular galaxy about 163,000 light-years away, and a member of our Local Group of galaxies. Despite being small, with a total mass approximately equivalent to 10% - 20% of the mass of the Milky Way, the LMC is very actively forming stars. This is likely due in part to the gravitational push and pull of tides caused by the Milky Way on the LMC. Some astronomers have predicted that it will collide with the Milky Way in in about 2 billion years.