I'm a professional electrical engineer specialising in real-time embedded software development in the telecommunications industry. I live in Carshalton [2], south London with my wife Amanda, who is a history teacher at Putney High School [3].

The surname McKerracher apparently comes from the Gaelic name MacFhearchair or Farquharson [4], pronounced like this [5] and meaning (son of) "very dear one". We pronounce it to rhyme approximately with "America".

My interests

My main hobby is playing the violin [6] in amateur orchestras and chamber groups such as the Bromley Symphony Orchestra [7]. I started learning when I was 8 and still have lessons occasionally. Not surprisingly, I also like listening to classical music [8]. I also play the piano.

I'm also interested in theatre lighting and sound [9]. I have recently designed and operated lighting for the Spring Park Dramatic Society [10], Croydon Operatic and Dramatic Association, and The Barn Theatre [11], Oxted. My wife acts with some of these groups. I enjoyed operating cameras, mixers and other equipment at public access cable TV studios in Mountain View [12] and Hayward, California, when I was working there a few years ago. They even had me hosting a half-hour show live because of my "posh English accent", which was strange considering that I still speak with a noticeable Australian accent!

Photography has always interested me, and you can find some of my most interesting pictures in the album [13] here. Don't miss the ones of the Grand Canyon [14], Great Wall of China [15], Space Shuttle launch [16] and the "Road Ruiner [17]".

I have travelled quite a lot for business and pleasure, attending standards meetings, adapting products for different markets and on holiday. I travelled all around Europe by bus and campervan in 1984 and have enjoyed holidays in China, Southeast Asia, Poland and cruising around the South Pacific. I would still like to visit Africa, South America and Russia. I attended evening classes in German for several years, eventually gaining an Intermediate Diploma from the Institute of Linguists [18]. I also speak some French.

I am one of the least superstitious people I know, and for many years have been interested in paranormal phenomena [19] from a skeptical point of view. I share the fascination many psychologists and magicians [20] have for the ways in which we can be deceived and the insight this gives into how we think and what we are. I look after the web site of The Skeptic [21] (UK) magazine and was a committee member of the Australian Skeptics [22] and Australian Humanists [23] for a while. Prometheus Books [24] publish many interesting books in this field, and good skeptical magazines are available in Australia [25] and America [26].

I stay in touch with developments in my industry and in science generally by reading Spectrum [27] (the journal of the IEEE [28]) and Scientific American [29]. The Register [30], Electronic News [31], Electronics Weekly [32], Computing [33], Slashdot [34] and Wired [35] are my main online sources of industry gossip. I like the comic strip Dilbert [36], especially since the author, Scott Adams, was formerly an engineer in the ISDN industry.

I also support the Brights [37], Amnesty [38] and Mensa [39].