The webmaster of this site is Keyan Farlander (obviously an allonym), also known to the H2G2 community as Researcher Farlander (206300).

Farlander was born on the 11th of March (please note: Farlander shares H2G2 founder Douglas Adams' birthday) in some obscure corner of the Earth. It was Farlander's dream throughout grade and high school to follow Carl Sagan's footsteps, and go to Cornell University in pursuit of a degree and career in astronomy; however, by an ironic twist of fate, Farlander instead went on to study Microbiology in the country's most respected university, and graduated at the top of the class in October 2001 with a First Class Degree in Science (majoring in Microbiology), a CGPA of 3.88 and a Gold Medal in Biology.

Farlander is currently, for no comprehensible reason, pursuing a Masters degree in Medical Science, researching an improbable bug called Legionella whose pestilence is encouraged by the rise of technology.

To complete this senseless profile, Farlander stands at an embarrassing 5'51/2", has absurdly brown eyes (hidden behind immensely thick glasses) and dark hair. Farlander is sensibly fit and enjoys walking (if your only mode of transportation anywhere is a pair of Converse All Stars sneakers, you might as well enjoy the ride), racquetball, swimming, and the occasional bout of meaningless kickboxing.

When not socialising with microbes, Farlander can be found playing piano for the college choir (where Farlander currently maintains the reputation of being the university's scoreless accompanist), trombone for the university band, and French Horn for the university orchestra. Farlander also spends an obscene amount of time at the H2G2 website, and reading anything thatis not too high on the bookshelf. What with the unnatural appetite for processed tree carcasses and free-flowing electrons, it is surprising that Farlander is not yet blind.

Interests

Farlander's passion lies primarily in science fiction, fantasy and science. Farlander indiscriminately reads any work of SF available, from Golden Age science fiction to pulp sci-fi to hardcore SF, although chief favourites are Isaac Asimov, AC Clarke, Robert Heinlein and Philip K Dick. Although not well-versed in fantasy, Farlander greatly enjoys JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling, Raymond Feist and Michael Moorcock (the last two often taken from the shelves of friends). Star Wars comic books also rub shoulders with Vertigo titles such as The Books of Magic, Lucifer and Sandman on Farlander's bookshelf. However, lest you think Farlander spends too much time floating around in hyperspace, Farlander is also an avid reader of the science non-fiction works of Richard Dawkins, Carl Sagan and John Gribbin. A weekly dose of non-science literature - chiefly PG Wodehouse and World War II accounts - is also on the menu.

Being a self-confessed geek, Farlander spends an obscene amount of time putting together models of airplanes and starships, and an even more ridiculous amount of time soaking up radiation in front of the computer, building websites with nifty new multimedia software (the current program of choice being Macromedia Flash), programming music, playing insanely sadistic computer games - and generally puttering about H2G2.

When Farlander's nose is not buried in books or computer screens, it is generally stuck into sheet music. Farlander plays the piano - admittedly very violently - and guitar, as well as the trombone and (recently) French horn (as befitting Farlander's immense ego. What, you didn't know that trombonists had bloated egos?). When not attempting to reproduce sonic booms, Farlander can be found listening to classical music (usually Mozart), John "Star Wars" Williams, 1930s swing music and British names - chiefly Blur, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Pet Shop Boys and Noel Coward.

Farlander enjoys mythology and folklore, and takes perverse pleasure in taking embarrassingly candid shots of people with an Olympus C-70 Digital Camera. Farlander is also a big fan of John Cusack's (don't ask), and dreams of someday going to Cambridge University to meet Professor Stephen William Hawking (if not to study!).

Copyright © 2003 Keyan Farlander