Hi, I'm Nick Bensema.

I'll put up more about myself later.

Programmingly speaking, I have a love/hate relationship with PerlLanguage, a working knowledge of PythonLanguage and the budding RubyLanguage, and I was a closet CobolLanguage sympathizer.  I learned about CeePlusPlus and VisualBasic at DeVry; no doubt both have changed since then.  My most recent professional experience is with JavaLanguage.

I'm one of the people who contributes to the spoken language pages, having studied EsperantoLanguage briefly.  LojbanLanguage looks cool, but I probably won't get around to learning it.

Here are some Mitch Hedberg quotes that I think are applicable to some of the patterns and antipatterns already floating around the Wikiverse.  Mitch is a stand-up comedian I've seen on TV, which is why I didn't Wiki''''''Name him and give him his own page yet.  But a lot of his material seems to be more oriented towards the design and usage of various objects and devices, which I think leads to more relevant insights. 

* "I wanted to buy a candle holder, but the store didn't have one.  So I got a cake."

* "This jacket is DryCleanOnly, which means it's dirty."

* "EscalatorTemporarilyStairs.  Sorry for the convenience."

The above were written before Mitch died in 2005.  The saddest part was what they found on his body.  It was a roll of Life Savers, and pineapple was next.

The idea of PairProgramming intrigues me, but I think it might be awkward with my visual impairment and all.  But now that multiple monitors are standard, I might be able to mirror screens or something like that.

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Hey cool, someone whose name I recognize.  SmallWikiAfterAll. --DanielKnapp

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[moved here from WikiMiniSpokenLanguageLessons]

This would be good for me, since I've studied lots of languages but still have trouble expressing certain simple ideas.  In Spanish, for example, what's a good phrase for "excuse me", used, for example, to get a busy shopkeeper's attention, or as an opening line to prepare a stranger at a bus stop to be asked about the schedule.  Four years of Spanish and they never told me what to say there.  --NickBensema.

You could say 'Perdone...'. Or the less formal 'Perdona...' if the shopkeeper is young and friendly. :)

If you're going to try it in Buenos Aires, you would probably want to use 'Disculpame' or 'Perdoname'. Not as formal as 'Perdone', nor as informal as 'Perdona'. I use the first one, and live in Buenos Aires! :)

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Big Ben was the handle I chose when I first started BBSing.  It was probably the best handle I'd ever come up with.  The name "Ben" was at the same time an abbreviation of my last name, and a misleading suggestion that it was my first name.  And "Big" was used in an ironic sense, since I was nine years old when I picked it.  -- NickBensema

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The only pages that link to XkCd are the "Changes in Week Whatever" pages?  That's sad.  -- NickBensema
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