I feel very honoured to know someone who, for lack of a better word, is e-famous. I first got to know Daniel quite a few years ago, and because I was likely a bit too vain back then, didn’t notice that he had racked up a really good reputation as a web developer, and not just as BoltClock on Stack Overflow. Or maybe it’s because I wasn’t even familiar with Stack Overflow at the time.

Regardless, Daniel has a diverse range of hobbies and interests that I can only describe as colourful. You might only find out more if you get to know him, but with his new blog still in the works (insert invisible link here!) and his Twitter account on semi-hiatus and set to private… this interview might be the most you’ll get for now. ;)

What is your favourite programming language?

C#. Sure it looks like your run-of-the-mill C-style language, but it’s incredibly beautiful and versatile once you really get the hang of it. I haven’t tried Swift yet, but for all I know it could very well be a C#/F# lookalike for Mac and iOS, which is fine with me.

Find the nearest box of tissues. What’s on it?

Tissue #128.

What colour is your shirt?

Gray.

What piece of technology would you eat, if it was edible, and made into a cake form, and was comfortably chewable?

Augmented reality.

Would you rather eat a large cake, a humongous egg, or a kilogram of peas?

A largely humongous kilogram of cake. Or just a large cake.

Imagine you’re on a very long, empty train (or at least, you believe it’s empty. Of course, there is still a train driver). You see a small, hollow, plastic ball roll across the floor of the train from one end. What are you thinking?

There is a small, hollow, plastic ball rolling across the floor of this train from one end.

You’re listening to music as you’re walking through a park. The park has lots of trees. A fairy appears and tells you that the evil LEGO man is coming, then promptly disappears. You are armed with a giant yoga ball, a bottle of Coca Cola, three bags of money and a towel. What is your plan of attack?

Offer two bags of money for the evil LEGO man’s evil scheme, and the third bag of money for the evil LEGO man.

What is your superhero name?

I bet you guessed BoltClock. But you’re wrong — he’s a loser and a nobody. The correct answer is… Wonton Photon. (And no, I did not just make that up.)

Name any famous people you have met.

Stephen Fry. And I think Donna Williams (the Neopets co-founder, not the author) counts, too. And while we’re on the topic of big names on the Internet, Matt Mullenweg (whom you’ve met, too!).

Which famous people would you love to meet?

Weird Al, Michelle Branch, and any of the members of Hi-5.

Mac or PC?

I really love Apple, but let’s be very honest here, with nearly two decades of experience with PCs compared to just a couple of years with Macs…

Cake or cookies?

Cake. But mostly because I’ve clicked enough cookies to last me a quintillion and a half lifetimes, and my antimatter condensers and prisms give me ten times as much in a second anyway.

Noodles or rice?

Noodles.

What is the time?

12:10 pm.

When was the last time you had a cup of tea?

Iced tea at 12:09 pm.

Who is your favourite cartoon character?

I’m having trouble thinking of a single favourite among all of them, so instead I have elected to list my favourite character of each of the last three shows I’ve (re)watched:

• Sam from Totally Spies!
• Applejack from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
• Hikaru from the anime Magic Knight Rayearth

You’re a winner and you get to choose the colour of the next iPhone 5c. What colour do you choose?

Purple.

What would you like to own a LEGO model of?

I’ve actually never really thought about this. The last thing I created that wasn’t with pieces from a brick bucket or Creator set was a factory intended to be a workplace for residents of my LEGO city, and while it was by no means elaborate, I’ve always wanted to build a detailed little minifigure-scale factory where the products being manufactured were LEGO bricks. A factory made out of LEGO bricks… that makes LEGO bricks. If I could obtain the right pieces needed for it I would totally be down for building it from the ground up. In fact, you know, there’s LEGO Digital Designer too, so if I wanted to start today, I just as well could…

How much money would you accept to give up your current reputation of 239,766 on Stack Overflow?

How about a 1:1 exchange? So $239,765 (reputation can’t go lower than 1).

Would you, in all honesty, respond to “Hey BoltClock!” if someone addressed you in that manner in public?

I already have. On more than one occasion.

You can catch Daniel at:

• @BoltClock
• Stack Overflow