2. Meaning behind your blog name

You want to know the origins of my blog’s name? It’s up there in the right hand corner.

Back in 1997, when the internet was in it’s infancy and nobody used their real names, I was sitting in New Media class and had just read that passage from Asimov a few days before and it was resounding in my head. My teacher, who later became my boss and a good friend, started the class that day by informing us that there was a website where we could get FREE EMAIL SERVICE.

Whhha… FREE?!

Anyone remember Rocketmail.com? Swallowed up by Yahoo in 2001 I think. Long gone. My login name still has the “dotRM” identifier at the end of it.

Meanwhile, back in the past, I sat in front of my monitor trying to think of a name for my email account. When “Dead Robot” hit me I laughed and typed it in. We all shared our emails in class that day and I will never forget one girl making a face like a cat’s ass when I told everyone my address. “Ugh. ‘Dead‘. Why would you use that word in an email address?”

Stupid cow.

Just before the first big internet bubble burst, I was contacted by a Japanese company asking to buy my domain name for just under $10,000. Yeah. Where are you now, you Nippon bastards?!

Nowadays I’ve gained the nickname “DR”, that is “Dee Arr” not “Doctor”. So it’s slowly sticking.