Crossposted from skippy the bush kangaroo.
I chose my handle after an obscure character, supernatural investigator Thomas Carnacki, from the early 20th century horror stories by William Hope Hodgson.
I used Hodgson’s Carnacki as a character in my own (as yet unpublished) vampire novel and was in the middle of rewriting when I joined the orange place. I hadn’t put much thought into a computer handle. For years I was known as Odysseus on various BBSes. There was a story behind why I chose Odysseus, but when it came time to sign up at DailyKos, I just chose the first name to pop into my head. Since my manuscript was in my thoughts, I logged in as Carnacki. It seems a good handle because the name is strange enough to be memorable.
In the Hodgson tales, which I highly recommend, Carnacki is an investigator of hauntings. The tales are told as if a friend is hearing them from Carnacki. Each of them begin in a similar way to this opening from The Whistling Room:
Carnacki shook a friendly fist at me, as I entered, late. Then, he opened the door into the dining-room, and ushered the four of us — Jessop, Arkright, Taylor and myself — in to dinner.
We dined well, as usual, and, equally as usual, Carnacki was pretty silent during the meal. At the end, we took our wine and cigars to our usual positions, and Carnacki — having got himself comfortable in his big chair — began without any preliminary:–
“I have just got back from Ireland, again,” he said. “And I thought you chaps would be interested to hear my news. Besides, I fancy I shall see the thing clearer, after I have told it all out straight. I must tell you this, though, at the beginning — up to the present moment, I have been utterly and completely ‘stumped.’ I have tumbled upon one of the most peculiar cases of ‘haunting’ — or devilment of some sort — that I have come against. Now listen.
Hodgson’s tales appeal to my love of English detective characters and supernatural horror. I do hope you read them.
So I’m curious. What’s the story behind your online name?
I got my 10 lb. newfoundland pup, I named him Buster because it is a good name for a huge dog. When I first took him to the vet and she plopped him on the examination table, she called him “Buster Boo”.
I liked that and I called him Boo from them on.
When he grew up to be a 140 lb. he-man, I called him BooMan. So, when I chose a handle at dailykos I used BooMan and I used ’23’ in honor of Don Mattingly, my favorite ballplayer.
Now I just go by BooMan.
I remember the first time I saw your handle, I thought “He likes ghost stories too!”
Thank you for your explanation of “Carnacki.” Alas – “Carnacki” is, most likely, forever associated in my mind with “happy,” not “supernatural.”
I find myself identifying moments that make me smile as, “a Carnacki.” And because of you, I even look for these. Sorry to burden you with responsibility, but there it is – smiles at the most unexpected moments. 😉
You made me smile and happy on a day when I needed both.
had a bit he would do as he became the “Great Carnacki”?
I think it was the Great Carnack. Still, it took many diaries and comments by Carnacki before I could see his moniker and not picture Johnny Carson in that silly turban.
Loved Johnny Carson. I think the character was the Great Carnak.
I know that I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, BooMan–you have all of the better writers here!
You will know the genesis of my name.
I know that you’ve seen this before, Carnacki. boran was the dominant team on Survivor Africa, that being season 3. Suffice it to say that I am a fan and that was my favorite season. The scribe has spoken.
How incredibly low brow!
My name has fairly obvious meaning, but it was a self-given nickname when I first arrived here in the rural Catskills after 26 years as a full-blooded, hip-deep Manhattanite. I realized I’d found my true home.
I was far more wenchlike then, too (under Bush the Elder).
When it came time to register at dKos after the Scoop change-over, I chose the first evocative name that came to mind.
to answer your poll but find that I’m in the grey zone.
Man Eegee – sounds just like Manny G, which is what most of my friends call me. Eegee’s is a local Tucson sandwich/fruit smoothie chain so it’s a hat tip to my city. I also happen to be a Man so it all works out in the end. 🙂
initials aren’t E. G.?
when I’m getting called something insightful like Esoteric Goon or Ecclectic Gangsta 😀
Every time I see your name I think of Man Ray, the artist, and I’ve always had this impression of you as some avant guard surrealist!
And just now as I was scrolling through this thread, after I thought of replying to you, I see below that Dada’s name is from dadaism, and so a funny synchronicity where the concept of Dadaism comes up, and really, it’s not the kind of word one sees every day. Yes here it is multiple times when I was just thinking of it.
which I think of as a humongous seal. Er… sorry, but it never ceases to amaze me that this board has this giant seal posting to it. (laughing at self)
Now I really need to get back in good standing at katiebird’s blogspace.
an enlightened form of Dadaism with a side of devotion to Saint DuctapeFatwa 😉
one day, a few years ago, when one of Mr. Danger’s henchmen came on saying that in order to protect themselves from evildoers who hate freedom and similar tersts, Americans should keep on hand a supply of duct tape and plastic sheeting.
As a terst, it seemed that the only way I could courteously express my gratitude for the cardio-vascular benefit I received from such a lengthy spell of hearty mirth was to name myself accordingly and lurk forth with Resolve.
Best. Nic. Ever.
One of the most hilarious screen names I’ve ever seen. I harbor some slight jealousy that you were the one that thought it up, not me — but seriously, hat’s off!
This
Peace
Proclamation
Lawrence, Kansas
WHEREAS: Dadaism is an international tendency in art that seeks to change conventional attitudes and practices in aesthetics, society, and morality; and
WHEREAS: Dadaism may or may not have come into being in the summer of 1916 at the Cabaret Voltaire at 1 Spiegelgasse in Zürich, Switzerland, with the participation of Hugo Ball, Tristan Tzara, Emmy Hennings, Marcel and Georges Janco, Jean Arp, and Richard Heulsenbeck; and
WHEREAS: The central message of Dada is the realization that reason and anti-reason, sense and nonsense, design and chance, consciousness and unconsciousness, belong together as necessary parts of a whole; and
WHEREAS: Dada is a virgin microbe which penetrates with the insistence of air into all those spaces that reason has failed to fill with words and conventions; and
WHEREAS: zimzim urallala zimzim urallala zimzim zanzibar zimzalla zam;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Dennis “Boog” Highberger, Mayor of the City of Lawrence, Kansas, do hereby proclaim the days of February 4, April 1, March 28, July 15, August 2, August 7, August 16, August 26, September 18, September 22, October 1, October 17, and October 26, 2006 as
“INTERNATIONAL DADAISM MONTH”
As a resident of Lawrence, I can confirm this. Our mayor, Boog, is awesome.
Mmm, surreal.
Old hippie. Pissed off.
“Tampopo” is the Japanese word for “dandelion.” (I learned this from a Japanese movie titled “Tampopo.”)
I adore dandelions – rich in nutrients, can be made into wine, and change from very cheery yellow flowers into magical puffballs…that spread everywhere…resistant to chemical killers and the desire for conformity and uniformity – just like the human spirit 🙂
A little rain and a little warmth…POOF! Dandelions.
That is beautiful! What a wonderful name and description!
Tampopo is the name of a river in I believe Mozambique!
Having grown up in one of those not-quite-right homes, but being young and clever and trying to make sense of it all, I came to the stunning conclusion that most authority figures lie. I also learned than none of them liked this pointed out.
I chose the most devious form of rebellion — I chose to live by all the principles they taught, but never practiced.
Those experiences made me a great skeptic, with a love of irony, and strangely a deep seated idealism.
And I’m from Minnesota.
So I picked an appropriate nick: Yaright Whatever
Maybe I’ve mellowed with age, because nowadays I think of it more as Yaright UBetcha.
when I got my first computer I had to pick a name to use for email and chat. I combined two of the things I like to do most. Refinishing furniture and….. if I have to explain the second one, then you have led a more sheltered life than I ever have. LOL
trying both refinishing and 69 and winding up stuck in the varnish!
And don’t you just hate when that happens? ;^)
Hell, mine is so obviously complex I very sincerely doubt that no matter how long a post I would write on this subject, or how long a diary I may submit on this subject, it’s highly unlikely any of you would ever come to even one iota of an inkling of an understanding as to what it’s all about…. so let’s just leave it as the very huge, absolutely huge, mystery, eh?
(eh? as in what some Canadians say at the end of every sentence. Here in ND the “eh?” is replace by “then.” As illustrated in this question from someone who has not see you for quite a while, “Where are you at, now, then?”)
With a name like NorthDakotaDemocrat, odds are you’re on the eastern side of the state (and not out west with the tax-hating college-hating sheepherders).
I’d guess you are somewhere in the narrow strip of civilization desparately clinging to MN. (okay, so is most everyone in the state, but still…)
Then again, ya’ll do send Conrad, so maybe there are more Dems out in the hinterlands than I thought. So ya might be in one of those vast tracts of civilzation off interstate 94, too.
(I don’t mean to pry, I just like ND 😀 )
vell den bye got ya got mosta dat rite!
However, the sheepherders are all in Montana. So if we changed “sheepherders” to “cattle ranchers,” you be darn close to dead on.
I’m in the Fargo area now. But my home county lies within the eastern area you mentioned, and even voted BLUE in 2004. There’s some die-hard democrats there for sure.
Hot Damn, just noticed your sig line quote. I think I’ll make up some 4″ dia. pins (with that on it) for our state D convention and see how many of them I can sell, and then donate the money to a true progressive candidate, of my choice. [With your permission, of course.]
Mahn o’ mahn if memory serves you’ve been hunkered down in the cattails ever since we had that “entertaining” discussion on “framing,” some months back.
Heya,
Day late and a dollar short, but I didn’t forget about ya.
Feel free to use the sig if you like. I’m flattered you think its button worthy 🙂
I’m glad to hear the Blue is alive and well in parts of ND. Thank goodness MN goes Blue, even if I’m in one of the Reddest districts. I’ll do what I can about that tho!
Dang, you remember all the way back to the framing debates? Thanks for reminding me.
to your sleeper cell.
shshshshshshsh!
(Please don’t tell anyone that the numeric sum of the odd integer values of all the letters in question makes up the key to decoding the messages.)
Hey,I just had a thought; You know our gov ain’t the only ones that could make use of a disinformation campaign.
It is fun to see the ones that are computer code when they’re abbreviated and placed in all caps.
😀
*snort*
I still think the all caps = shouting myth was just propaganda.
Carnacki, you have a gift for popular questions.
I discovered the blogosphere not long after 9/11, and one of my first discoveries was “Atrios’s” site “Eschaton.” And of course I was unhappy about his clueless description of what he thought Eschaton meant (maybe he was joking).
Philip K. Dick the great sci-fi writer said the Roman Empire never ended, and I’ve always favored that point of view. So I like the idea of a classical name.
My first major UID on the blogosphere was Timaeus, named after Plato’s dialogue about defining the good life. Unfortunately, Timaeus was assassinated on Big Orange on Easter Sunday 2005 (scores of 0 ratings) when he decided to tackle the popular wisdom on the Terri Schiavo case and reacted acerbically to some attacks.
I had been an early member of DKos, and it had become a big part of my life, so I was so upset to be murdered by my friends that I didn’t look at blogs a single time for six months. Then came Hurricane Katrina. And that led me here.
So I looked for another nice classical name. Arminius was a great German warrior (estimated 16 BC to 17 AD). As Wikipedia now has it: “In the fall of 9 AD, in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, Arminius – then twenty-five years old – and his alliance of German tribes … ambushed and annihilated a Roman army (comprising the 17th, 18th and 19th legions as well as three cavalry detachments and six cohorts of auxiliaries) totalling about 25-30,000 men commanded by Varus. … When defeat was certain, Varus committed suicide by falling upon his sword, and the Romans never again attempted permanent conquest of any territory on the right bank of the Rhine, which formed a limes of the Empire for centuries.”
I think of the Bushies as the Evil Roman Empire Redux, so I thought that Arminius would be a good handle for an opponent of the empire.
Later I learned that another Arminius was a famous Protestant theologian during Reformation times, which is odd because I’m Catholic.
So no name is perfect.
On blogs, my name is the one I was born with. What you see is what you get.
My email address is a reference to the religious doctrine discussed at length in Vonnegut’s classic Cats Cradle – which of course is a must read.
Here goes: When I first signed up, I couldn’t think of anything to use as a screen name. Then I remembered a conversation that I had w/a buddy of mine–he is from a rough part of Flint, and, when I was in grad school, I lived in SW Detroit–similar neighborhood, but it was cheap. Anyway, after I moved out to the ‘burbs, we were bsing about some of the crazy stuff that we had seen (and done) in the neighborhoods that we used to live in. Then we were both laughing, and he said, “We’re both a couple of damn street kids.” So, I used that!
And, here’s the really unusual part–I’m female!
I have explained this previously, but here goes:
My handle is obviously a verb in English, and we should keep asking.
But the background is really very different;
– Ask in norse mythology is the equivalent of Adam (my first use of the handle was at an obscure music board – where I felt very old compared to most).
– Ask is also the protagonist in a notorious (in Norway, as well as other countries – the book was banned) novel The Song of the Red Ruby.
What seems like eons ago when I first stumbled onto the net and dared to enter a forum to post my pitiful little thoughts I had to choose a name for myself. And well I tried. The bloody machine always came back at me though and said ‘Your handle must contain one ore more digits.’ So I tried again and the machine said ‘Your handle must end with a digit’. Ok smartass, I thought; maybe I can be a smartass to. That’s the story of how I came up with my handle ‘high5’. And I’ve actually grown pretty fond of it.
Nice!
“How about five digits, you piece of …”
well, it’s a great old name… there’s a super journalist named Ron… from whom we get “reality-based community” in his Esquire article October 17, 2004; Without a Doubt; by RON SUSKIND… then there’s David Suskind that I used to watch on late night TV in the 60’s and 70’s… then there is m.suskind, who is me…. but if i had another name i’d use it…. just can’t think of one…..
Middle name- Rose and writer hence roseeriter
By the way, I always read that as “Rose E. Writer” (pronounced Rosy Writer). Is that right?
I used to have a competition barbecue team – a little unusual up in New England.
One of the things that I had to do was establish a cookoff. We called it the Pig and Pepper Barbecue Harvest, and it took place every Columbus Day weekend from 1991 to 2000.
It was a fund-raiser, and at its peak we netted $100,000 for the K-8 school system (about $300k over the life of the event.)
It was also the official, KCBS-sanctioned Massachusetts State Championship. Our team even came out second overall one year.
Mostly, though, we just wanted a party…
Our team had several names over the years – Big Bubba’s Marvelous New England Barbecue Squadron; The Iron Men All-Kettle Precision Barbecue, Grill, and Drill Squadron; Pope Smokey and the College of Cookoff Cardinals; and lastly – MC Rub an’ tha’ Phat Boyz.
Members included Grilly G; Snoop Hog; SixPac; Marinator-X; Bikey Bike; and me as RubDMC.
It was the last year we competed, so the name just stuck.
Here’s some of the stuff we cooked up…
And here’re some of the nuts who stay up late and cook all night taking a ride on a carousel we hijacked…
I am a free man!
When I thought I needed my own blog the name I chose was Alice’s Restaurant:
It’s the Alice’s Restaurant Anti-Massacre Movement
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant
Walk right in it’s around the back
Just a half a mile from the railroad track
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant
I’m a devotee of pop culture, and then there’s my hero Alice Paul who stood outside the White House in 1920 demanding the vote for women. I intend to carry on her work for the Equal Rights Amendment. Passed by Congress but still waiting to be ratified in 15 states.
The Constitution is not quite finished: “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.”
I recently saw Iron Jawed Angels- a story about Alice Paul- She was terrific!
Alice….remember Alice?
and the judge wasn’t gonna look at the 27 8 by 10 color glossy pictures with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back o each one explainin what each one was to be used as evidence against us…..
(greetings from the Group W (!) bench…).
When I was still just a lurker at Bradblog and dKos I noticed the screen name of someone at dKos that appealed to my evolutionary bent. It was supersimian.
I love that name. But after failing to come up with something as cool as that I looked for something that described a part of me that I could add super to. At the time I was heavy into sailing and have my own boat which happens to be a Soling, an Olympic Class 27 foot keelboat. A real beauty of a boat and fast too. As soon as I get my new scanner hooked up I’ll post some pictures of her. Kindred Spirit is her name and her sail number is U.S. 269. I was able to get documentation of her birth and who her parents were ;o) She was built for a Doctor who lived in Upstate NY in 1973.
In the mean time, here’s a picture of a German Soling I found on the net to give an idea of my boat.
ps
Refinish69, don’t get any ideas about the sail number ok? ;o)
but here’s the story again!
I’ve always wondered about your name.
the most beautiful story ever. Sniff! Log house with built-in bunk beds? The boys must’ve been in serious heaven!
Total hats off to the owner, who sold to you for love, not money.
It was a cousin calling my name on a beach… Sharon, Sharon, Sherman… It stuck. Then, it was used by another friend as an adjective to describe me, I was simply Shermanesqe. That stuck too.
When I came here during the pie wars I knew I wanted to change my name as ‘getmeoutofdixie’ seemed to cause some southerners a great amount of distress.
I felt that writing and sharing my thoughts with others was becoming ‘second nature’ to me.
I didn’t know you are getmeoutofdixie! Cool! You always have a hell of a lot of interesting stuff to say! I’m glad you told everyone who you were–I’d don’t think I would have guessed!!!
Thanks, Street Kid ~ my head is expanding even as I write this.
I’ve been noticing that everyone who I really liked from dkos, all of the really sharp people and all of the better writers are here now! I think its great!
I thought you did get the hell out of Dixie. I thought there was hope for me! I was little upset that you left me here, but hey at least one of us was free. You just changed your name!
Heh. Tricky aren’t I? The name’s probably free again if you want it!
AndiF, AndiF … how to explain … hmmm … nah, it’s just too difficult.
Have some more coffee!
In past online life I was known as “scribbler”, a tribute to my attempts at putting cogent thoughts together on paper (or these days, computer). When I entered the blogosphere, I decided to also pay tribute to my home state, thus became Cali Scribe.
I am one of those late to the game gals when it comes to computers. When I was living on KAuai my son decided to send me his old laptop so I could venture into the Internet world. I tried numerous combinations fro an email handle and it would come back already taken. Of course they were things like dolphingoddess, surfergirl etc. My friends have all called me Leezy since my 20s. I love the word Aloha as it means so many “good” things like hello, goodbye, love, peace. So I combined them together and there you have it,,,alohaleezy.
Mine is fairly simple: Denim because (much to my Mother’s dismay) I tend to live in blue jeans and Blue because 1) it’s the color of the jeans, 2) it’s the color of my politics, & 3) it best describes my mood under the current regime.
Well, while working as a stockbroker in the early 90’s I worked with a kid named Larry(7 years younger). He was a white bread as one could be and listened to rap. Everyday he would come in and say “What up Jdog?”. I kept that moniker as J is the first letter of my name, and those who know me, know I am loyal like a dog and as lovable 🙂
The 2 is a verb and the last part is self evident.
Due to some personal situations that arose, the internet Jdog269 no longer exists except here. Now just Doggie269. Doggie was the “pet” name several friends over at Dkos gave me in chat.
Of course, they have given me and a friend a new nickname as we share a pc at her place and chat as one. ShermDog, and I really like that one too.
Years ago, when I bought my first horse, I rode with my best friend. We would pack the horses up in her trailer and just go. Our spouses started referring to us as “the Nags and their Horses”. The name kind of stuck. When faced with choosing a screen name for political blogging, it seemed appropriate in more ways than one. 🙂
Starkravinglunaticradical is taken from an article I wrote for OpEnNews:
Cindy Sheehan: The Human Face of A Nation at War
The abbreviation of that name–Stark–that has been adopted by Bootribbers, means “strong” in German.
Kahli: Hindu goddess of destruction — and creation.
See my signature line line.
One aspect of Kali is Kamakhya. Kamakhya is another Hindu Goddess whose name means something like “She whose eyes radiate lust”. I’ve been Kamakhya Devi for over 10 years. At the time I chose it, I was really into studying Hinduism. When I decided I needed a new name, I opened a book up at random and Kamakhya Devi was the first name that I encountered. It stuck.
I have used the name so long now, that more people know me as Kama, than by my birth name.
My previous incarnation was Tralfamador3000, a hat tip to Vonnegut and Mystery Science Theater.
I am way overdue for a new incarnation. 🙂
“She whose eyes radiate lust”. Whoa! Better and better. Thanks for the info.
Mine was really not thought out. I just got back on the net after years of being off from it , and I’m only three months new to blogs. I used to shy away from anywhere that you had to sign in. So when I took the plunge I could only think of one thing. I’m surrounded by family everywhere, hence the name.
Idredit.
I – dred* – it. Truth died. Lies, warmongering, hate and deceit have become the norm.
*Dred is the creole english = dread.
lol, I’m glad you explained that one. I always have read that in my mind as “I’d read it” or “I’d re-edit” – depending on what I am doing at the time. If nothing else, it’s served as a useful reminder! 😉
Glad I cleared that up then. Thanks.
Well, I had lurked on Dkos for about 7 or 8 months before I finally decided to join up. I had been sitting there for about 45 minutes looking up at the screen trying to figure out a cute and witty name. (I have no imagination that I am aware of!) And as I was sitting there, having a few drinks with the hubby and listening to Dressed to Kill By Eddie Izzard. The bit about Cake or Death came on , then a lil lightbulb popped above my head just like in the cartoons. It kind of reminded me of the whole situation we are all in at the moment. It seemed like that was the choice that the maladministration de Boosh would give us and that was that.
However when Katrina came along…he did give them that choice and have been thinking of changing it ever since. The only reason I haven’t changed it yet is because I still get comments on how funny the name is. 😉
I chose Ghandi (sic) when I started http://www.expatforums.org .
I once mentioned on the Expatica boards (prior to leading an exodus to EF, the new community – due to an erasing of 200,000 archived posts and a degrading of the software by the management) that it would take a Gandhi to stop the vitriolic troll wars in the News and Views section. Imagine an Expatriate version of Freerepublic meets Democratic Underground… you get the idea.
Gman, G-Handy, and G are variables used by members of the community.
It kinda’ stuck with me.
I live in Kansas and my name is Nate…
I value simplicity. Plus it gives me a little red state cred.
from a song called “I Wish I Were” by Davinci’s Notebook, a now-mostly-defunct a capella “man band” from Northern Virginia.
I wish I were a bird, cause if I were a bird
Then I could take wing high above you
You could see my white wings flap
And I could take a great big crap on anyone who tried to hurt you
But then I’d have to desert you, flying southward in the fall
I don’t want to be a bird after all
I wish I were a deer, cause if I were a deer
Then we could play out in the forest
Until you shot me by mistake
Then you would carve me into steak with a touch so sweet and gentle
Keep my head as a memento, hanging in the upstairs hall
I don’t want to be a deer after all
I wish I were a dog, cause if I were a dog
Then I’d do tricks to show I love you
I would run and fetch the stick
And I would sit right down and lick my privates when your mom came over
But if I was your Rover, you’d have my testicles recalled
I don’t want to be a dog after all
I wish I were a monkey, cause if I were a monkey
I could be your furry jester
And whenever you were blue
You’d come and see me at the zoo; my antics would be reassurin’
But I would always reek of urine and throw my feces at the wall
I don’t want to be a monkey after all
My favorite verse is actually the dog one, but I couldn’t figure a way to turn that into a handle that wasn’t crude or obscene. 🙂
If I had used the UID I wanted to use, people would have confussed me with my father, since we share the same name. So I decided use Chicano Power because of the Chicano Movement. My parents were part of the Chicana/o Movement of the late 60s and 70s. Xicano is in the same lines as Chican@ – which is also pronounced the same – but has more emphasis on the political nature of the term. Some say the ‘X’ comes from in Nahutal (original language of the Aztec) and others say it was inspired by the African-American movement, Black Power. For me, I perfer to think of it as the sequel of the Chicano Movement. Sometimes you will now see the symbol ‘@’ being used, such as Chican@ or Chican@s, this is used to include both the ‘o’ and the ‘a’ at the same time, since ‘o’ is used to refer to the male sex and the ‘a’ to the female sex in Spanish language.
since my daughter is a midwife when I see UID I think IUD (Intrauterine device I think)!
I have the same problem too, it took me a while to get used to using little shortcuts like those.
I wanted to follow in the steps of Street Kid and Kid Oakland.
I’m honoring my great Aunt Kidspeakia.
No, the true story involves one of my cats-in-need-of-attention doing a totally verboten dive off – nah, you’d never believe that one, either, though it’s the truth.
I couldn’t think of a name, didn’t think I was ever going to even comment (this was during the era of lurking on Big Orange), and I was typing absentmindedly… cat crisis happens: Kidspeak
It sort of fits, I am deeply concerning about children in my teaching, research, and other parts of life. How can some adults – esp. some politicians – ignore them, treat them so badly?
Spouse thinks it’s a terrible name. He’d suggest one of his usual Saga names,e.g. Half-Fang, or some such.
My brother suggested I redo it as “Bleat”, or “BaaBaaBS”
My other brother suggest “Kidsnot” as well as something I won’t repeat!
About the only thing of amusement is that it ended up as KMc instead of KMcC when I signed on at big orange because I mistyped. I considered anonymity, but decided that I wanted to wear my bleeding liberal heart on my sleeve.
mine is from this:
That’s pretty much how I felt about discussing politics and religion with most people, and so it seemed appropriate to use it online.
The first time I noticed your screen name, I thought it was so cool.
I attribute mine to lack of imagination…
Well, no, not really. Thing is, I started posting on internet boards in the role-playing game communities. And most of the posters there were kids — high school, college-age — and they’d use all kinds of wierd or cute names, take the names of characters out of books, movies, their own games, the game books, or some kind of geek-speak that I have never figured out. And not being a kid (nor wanting to look like I was trying to be one), in fact being old enough to be a parent to some of those kids, I didn’t feel like coming up with a cute nick. I wanted to be ME, not identify myself with or as a character from something. So I logged on as JanetT — which proved useful when I started writing for the game company, because it meant the other posters realized who I was.
So I’ve kept that name or some variant on almost any discussion group I’ve logged onto, because it’s simpler. And I live in Maryland.
I’ve debated coming up with something more anonymous, but once people get to know you by one screen name, it’s a pain to change it, so I haven’t….
Not so very an interesting story as some of you, I signed up for DK lo these many months/years ago, actually only a year and a half, but when I tried to get Diane it was already taken so I just added 101 and it worked so here I am Diane101. Where did I get the Diane from, dunno know…lol.maybe Diane Sawyer. I also wanted to identify myself as a woman although I did think of using a non gender name but War Admiral was taken.
Mine comes from a nominal worship of Isis, the Mother deity of the ancient West.
I was incited by this from a passage in Lucius Apulius’ famous classic, The Golden Ass, a marvelous story, funny and occult at the same time. The scene of Isis rising from the sea is a fabulous description, but her discription of herself is awesome.
When I first got my computer someone told me about a site called Open Diary and I knew several people who had diaries there so I decided to join. Coming up with a diary name wasn’t too difficult. I just thought about my interests and how my friends might describe me.
If you haven’t figured it out, I’m a slave to chocolate and for the ink part, it simply sums up my love affair with books, magazines, pamphlets anything with the printed word on it and also the fact that I wish I could write.
After leaving Open Diary and discovering Kos, I saw no reason to come up with a different name and why I carried it on over here to the Trib.
The only other option to having a name describe me to some extent would have been along the lines of ‘racists are bigoted scumsucking ignorant evil assholes’ but that just seemed like a bit of a long moniker.
Everytime I see your name, I remember my sister and I trying to write on homemade cookie “valentines” using chocolate syrup as “ink”.The writing was a complete failure, but the mess tasted and smelled wonderful!
I’m a cyclist. For 30 years I raced road, velodrome, and mountain bikes. I haven’t raced for a few years (it consumes one’s life (training, diet (even the timing of meals), sleep, mood are all critical) – and I can’t get into the suffering anymore), but I still enjoy long rides in the mountains of north Los Angeles County. This last year I have a new bike hobby – jumps and big concrete berm tricks on the mountain bike – and fast technical descents in the dirt – I just got a Giant Reign 2 – the suspension has 6″ travel front and rear – like a dirt bike, but with gravity for the motor.
My roadie friends tell me I’ve turned to the dark side ~; }
“cyclismo” would be too obvious, so I played with the letter sounds and viola!
– psyclism –
I knew this day would come.
The day my lack of originality and creativity would be laid bare for all at the pond to see.
Actually, I love knowing where people are from, even while the rest of their life can be a mystery. And those of us that live on this side of the Mississippi River have a BIG chip on our shoulders about the “other” twin city.
I see you lack of originality extends to your email address also. :0)
My screen name is who I am. . .Shirl of the Stars = shirlstars. Those of you who know me, I think you know it is pretty well true. Head in the stars, feet not nearly touching the ground.
I love the stars both scientifically and metaphysically, so it seemed just right to me.
shirlstars is a great name for you.
Hi Luv!
Good to see you out and about lately. Big hugs to you, I’ve missed you.
Shirl
Thank you. Miss you too! :^)
my ‘net moniker has been planb247 since I first got on in ’96 or so. meaning, that we need a Plan B because the status quo just ain’t working. and 247 for 24-7, all da time.
anyway, this became DJ Plan B when I played records in St. Louis in the late 90s. some of my friends then just called me Plan B, but one started calling me Planet or Planet B and it sort of stuck. I use all three interchangably on the net.
I blog “anonymously”, but any fifth grader could find out who I am pretty easily through google and whois, so it’s not really anonymous.
I blame me mum.
Keres is the greek goddess of crops and the harvest. It can also be spelled Ceres. The greeks use a ‘K’ where english speakers would use a ‘C’ and I defer to the Greeks in all things Greek.
Now here’s the monkey wrench, name is pronounced like the word “series” (not care-ees, which is the sound most of you probably have in your head when you read it). From her name we get the word cereal (first meaning grain, and now breakfast made of grain-stuff {and way too much sugar]).
Her symbol is the scythe, and she represents the cycle of life.
In a previous net-life, I went by the name nemesys (the goddess of devine retribution)
least imagination. I found Bradblog first because I just couldn’t shake my feeling about the 2000 election. I would pour over the newspaper and television for any kind of coverage that something was severely a miss. Found Bradblog and lurked there saving my sanity. Found dailykos from there and lurked, very relieved to witness people speaking about all issues that were frying my liberal brain while I sat there thinking and feeling like I was all alone in caring. On Kos though things seemed a little skewed sometimes pertaining to military perception….I really wanted to inform. Some people in the military can be wackjobs and some aren’t. It is nice to be patriotic about our soldiers too and I believe that some of that is warranted. Soldiers are people though and even when you are trudging off to a war it’s really only a job. I think that keeping that in perspective douses the patriotism that kills. Soldiers that die for a lie are just people doing a job and getting killed because their bosses are lying. There isn’t anything romantic about dying for a lie or being the widow of someone who died for a lie. All this dying for our country bullshit is so tiresome. If the enemy is attacking in our streets and our soldiers are out there dying in those firefights then they are dying for their country. When I finally decided I had something to say it was about “the military”. Filling in the blanks to sign up I had never thought about a screen name. I have been Tracy my whole life and I wanted to comment on military issues at first……everybody else was covering everything else just fine. Haven’t been able to shut up since though. At Kos when people seemed to get abusive to others I started to have a big mouth and short fuse sometimes….and my husband told me reading over my shoulder once that I sounded a drill sargeant.
I remember reading the first of your posts at dKos. I remember being impressed. I remember being able to feel your anxiety through your words too and it was clear many there did, judging by the welcome I saw many give you. Later it was cool to find out that we,d both been lurking around Bradblog at the same time too.
what’s the word, katiebird? It’s my name. That’s all.
takes me to McCaffrey’s dragon stories. I loved the stories of dragons and people who bonded and created a new kind of relationship. I loved the thought of all kinds of color in their scales – gold, bronze, brown, blue and green. I loved the different versions – the large dragons, the little dragonettes and the watchwhers, all of whom have some imponderable knowledge about their lives and planet and the people that they interact with.
The people in those stories are people like you and I – full of good traits and bad traits and just plain irritating traits. But the dragons all are loving and giving.
YAY!!! I love that series as well. I really never could get into any of her other ones though.
I think I just thought I was being clever…at least I impressed myself 😉
is what Earthlings are called on Stargate. I was gonna be Noc, cuz the Nocs (nox?) are a very cool race, but I thought I should stay with what I am, a human.
As in “things are Looking Up”. Wanted something positive, had just read an article saying you should vary your screen name (which I regretted almost immediately, but oh well) so the NSA-types couldn’t catch up with you. Way too often political blogs are doom/gloom, so.
My home page inspires me to Look Up, I recommend a dose daily:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
not to mention:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap060302.html
and:
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
and it has a search funtion, too.
Try a search on “earth’s limb”. 🙂