Thanks for visiting SecularMonk. My name is Paul Kotschy, and I think I am a secular monk! Here you'll find a collection of my works and writings.
I studied physics and applied mathematics at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Then for a few years I worked at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in South Africa (CSIR), straddling material science, mechanical engineering and applied mathematics disciplines. I worked on so-called finite element analysis techniques for numerically simulating heat transfer in coupled conductive and radiative systems.
Based on this work, I completed a PhD in applied mechanics from the University of Cape Town, South Africa.
Whilst at the CSIR, I became exposed to UNIX computing
and to programming computers in the UNIX way.
And when Linux burst onto the scene, I knew that UNIX
was here to stay, and that my time investment in
being UNIX
was not in vain. Thankfully.
So I founded the company SevenC Computing to focus on providing Linux-based computing services to small and medium-sized enterprises. With the help of others, I enjoyed developing SevenC's software which underpinned our various service offerings. I'll say that starting a business from scratch is not easy. But over time and with the help of a burgeoning multidisciplinary team, work-life improved. And improved. Still, at some point it seemed right for me to sell SevenC. And so I did.
But of course, as a SecularMonk,
UNIX—and FreeBSD
in particular—remains firmly embedded in my DNA.
All my software development and simulations are done on
FreeBSD. All my writing
is typeset using the venerable LATEX,
TikZ and related tools, all running
on FreeBSD. My own software
distribution
known as
pkBSD
embodies an extensive turnkey customisation of
FreeBSD.
pkBSD
runs all my servers, workstations, laptops, and TCP/IP network.
I am a SecularMonk who was once religious—a Christian, actually. But when the scientific and religious mindsets bumping around in my head became ever more difficult to keep apart, I felt I had to choose. After all, compartmentalising of reality is an artefact of our own making, right? So I chose the scientific mindset. And I am glad I did because it has allowed me to think about everything in a scientific way. Everything! I hope my writings reflect this orientation.
As a SecularMonk, I hope that my writings here also reflect the deep sense of awe I feel for the richness of our world, the breadth of the macrocosmos beyond us, the detail in the microcosmos all around us, the mathematics which codifies much of it, and above all, the physics which makes it all possible.
Thanks again for visiting. Please stay for awhile.
