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Last Update: 16 Apr 00
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ASKED QUESTIONS NIGHT OWL MK. II FAQ Questions About This Site Why is this site called "Night Owl Mk. II"? Are there any special requirements for best viewing of this site? Do you work for Boulder Games? How long has this site been operating? Why "bakkster.com"? How do you get so many awards? Questions About Me Who are you? Where are you from? What is your formal education? Boxers or Briefs? So, what's your IQ? QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS SITE Why is this site called "Night Owl Mk. II"? Back in the days when "going on-line" meant dialing up a local BBS (Bulletin Board System), I ran a moderately-successful BBS called "Night Owl". The name came from the fact that I commonly stayed up working on my computer until deep into the night. This web site is the second generation of my on-line self and, therefore, is named "Night Owl Mk. II". [Top] Are there any special requirements for best viewing of this site? This site is designed for 800x600 resolution and 256 colors and requires a JavaScript-enabled browser which correctly renders tables in order to see everything as it should be seen. Since my primary focus is on providing as much content as I can, I keep graphics to a minimum and use no Java, Flash, DHTML, or anything that requires special plug-ins or hardware. All pages are constructed using tables which automatically resize to fit the window size of the visitor's browser. I have not yet gone to using style sheets, but that will likely come in the near future. I'll stick with my tried-and-true methods until such time that Microsoft and Netscape produce browsers which are fully in compliance with the newest standards. [Top] Do you work for Boulder Games? No. This site carries the Boulder Games newsletter as my way of saying "Thanks" to Jim Sandefur and Boulder Games for their many years of great service and support -- especially during the time I was stationed in Turkey. It's also my way of providing a service to the hobby of wargaming. I make no money for doing this. [Top] How long has this site been operating? I first launched this site in 1996 as "Mark L. Bakke's Humble Home Page" on a local Augusta, Georgia ISP. I soon filled up the whopping 1MB of disk space I had and went looking for a new host. This turned out to be a short-lived service called "Internet in a Mall" which, at the time, offered 10MB of space and other good deals. After moving my site, I renamed it to "Night Owl Mk. II". Shortly afterwards, Earthlink Networks bought out that ISP and became my new host. As my site prospered and grew, I registered the domain name "bakkster.com" for a larger account on Earthlink and that's where I'm at as of this writing. [Top] Why "bakkster.com"? "Bakkster" is my nickname -- a play on my real last name: "Bakke". It seemed a natural for a personal site domain name. [Top] How do you get so many awards? I decided to start applying for Internet awards to see how well my efforts in content and design stacked up against the general consensus of what a web site "should" be. Since I do some web site consulting on the side, having my own site be considered an award-winner should add credibility to my work. Initially, I was unsure how my site would fare since I'm not into flash and glitz, but the results to date have far exceeded my wildest predictions. I've gotten some good ideas from the comments expressed by award presenters and am very grateful for each and every award I've received. They provide a lot of incentive to continue to improve my work. [Top] QUESTIONS ABOUT ME Who are you? I was born the son of a poor, black sharecropper and...um, wrong story. Sorry. I'm an Army Staff Sergeant who has been serving since 1982. I've spent my entire career as a computer programmer/analyst/geek and currently am assigned to the US Army Computer Science School at Ft. Gordon, Georgia as an instructor. [Top] Where are you from? I came from a small planet somewhere in the vicinity of Betelgeuse...um, wrong story again. Actually, I came from a family farm a few miles outside the small town of McVille, North Dakota (about 60 miles west of Grand Forks). I currently live in Augusta, Georgia, as a necessary consequence of my Army career. [Top] What is your formal education? I have about three years of accumulated college credits (mainly in mathematics and computer science), but no degree and no plans to get one. At this point in my life, I'm comfortable letting my knowledge and experience speak for themselves and don't feel as though I need a sheepskin to back them up. Except, of course, for the supporting documents for my ministerial ordination, my Doctor of Divinity, and my Sainthood. But, that's another story... [Top] Boxers or Briefs? Boxers. 'Nuff said... [Top] So, what's your IQ? I guess anybody who has a decent vocabulary and a good command of a lot of facts gets asked this question sooner or later. Some years ago, I used to take just about every IQ test I could find and, for what it's worth, my average score was 172. Now, there are many different scoring systems which bear little relationship to each other, so raw numeric scores are even less meaningful. Percentile results are better comparisons, and I normally score in the 99th percentile on any given test. Does this make my Philosophy of Life correct? Of course not, but it does mean that weak arguments will fare far worse against me than against most other people. [Top]
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