Bob Novella
Name: Bob Novella
Date of Birth: July 4th, 1963
Place of Birth: A hospital in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the Western Spiral arm of the Galaxy
Father: Dad
Mother: Mom
Siblings: Sister Sandra. Brothers: Jay, Steve and dizygotic twin Joe.
Spouse: Just one. Claudette
Children: My favorite person on the planet: Ashley. I’m determined to Geekify her.  
 
Education: BS Marketing, BA Computer Science (almost)
Occupation: Lead Configuration Management Analyst (software development)
Currently Residing in: my cranium
Astrological Sign (Just kidding!): Ophiuchus
Likes:

Skepticism, Science, Halloween, Technology, Fitness, the Macabre, Anticipation, Crisp colorful fall days, cool words, a dizzying intelligence, That little involuntary laugh you make when reading or seeing something way cool.

Dislikes:

Extraordinary claims without extraordinary evidence, Mortality, Ennui, Forgetting, Searing pain, gristle

Favorite Food(s):

Italian, Chicken Tikka Masala,  Dad’s meatballs, Mom’s Lasagna, Anything with peanut-butter and chocolate as the main ingredients

Favorite Book(s):

Hitchhiker’s Guide series, Asimov’s Robot/Foundation series, Engines of Creation, Memoirs of a Geisha, Full House (Gould), Steven King’s short horror stories, any book-on-tape read by Tim Curry.

Favorite Movie(s):

Aliens, Terminator 2, Pirates of the Caribbean, 300, Princess Bride, Evil Dead 2, Day of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead, Enter the Dragon, Nightmare Before Christmas, Spirited Away

Favorite TV Show(s):

SG1, 24, Ghost in the Shell, SouthPark, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy…..Farscape,TrekNextGen, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Favorite Music: funeral dirges
Drink/Smoke: cigars
Most respected scientists/skeptics:

Einstein, Hawking, Asimov, Sagan, Kurzweil, Randi, Drexler, de Grey, Jimmy Neutron

Best Scientific Discovery: Fire/Wheel, The Scientific Method, Twinkies
Most interesting area of science: Quantum Physics
Most disliked pseudoscientific/paranormal claim: ID/Creationism
Most disliked pseudoscientific/paranormal proponent:

“The Biggest Douche in the Universe”

Space Travel, Humans or Robots? Both but with an emphasis on robots
Favorite website: Google
Other podcasts you listen to:

SETI: Science and Skepticism, Rotting Flesh Radio, Pseudopod, This Week in Science, Science Talk, Popular Science, Point of Inquiry

Dumbest thing you've ever heard:

“Bob, you’re stupid”

When and how did you become a skeptic:

I’m not sure, I just swallowed the red pill and…Actually, my journey started around 30 years ago when Steve told me ESP was bullshit and introduced me to Skeptical Inquirer.

What you would like to see science achieve before you die: The Singularity. If not that then…Mind-Boggling Nanotech, General AI, A-Life, Oh…and a cure for death
What would you like to accomplish before you die:

I’d like to live to see the heat death of the universe (or at least the Big-Rip). In the mean-time, my goal is to get to the point where going to work is a distant memory, money is no object, and I can spend all my time on Family, Learning, Skepticism, and Halloween projects.

Anything else: Yes
Do you believe in UFOs, astral projection, ESP, clairvoyance, spirit photography, telekinetic movement, full-trance, mediums, the loch ness monster and the city of atlantis?  

“If there’s a steady paycheck in it… I’ll believe anything you say”

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