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 It is your civic duty to vote (30 Nov 2005 at 20:40)
I am installing instant messaging. Thinking of a good "screen name" is giving me horrible anxiety. Mike had a good suggestion that I could register a bunch of names and then ask for input. So here are some that I registered:
  • glonus history
  • sucker pinch
  • failcess
  • ipso falso
  • SERVER OK
Despite warnings to the contrary, it is actually really easy to get good numberless screen names if you have my tastes. (They do start giving you fake error messages if you register too many in a row, but I have good evasive maneuvers for that kind of thing.) The only one that was already taken was wanna cyber, perhaps by someone with a less keen sense of irony. Also, the 13 character limit means that counter-strike favorites like "thesis proposal is not optional", "dances with woolite" and "octogenarians die in crash" are out. What do you think? I can't guarantee to listen to your votes, but some time meditating on this will help, at a minimum.
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t		 Max (mheath.stu.wesleyan.edu) – 11.30.05 21:11:55
I mean, glonus history, obviously.
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t		 jcreed (wittgenstein.wv.cc.cmu.edu) – 11.30.05 22:05:58
failcess
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t		 Cortney (pool-151-201-58-106.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 11.30.05 22:43:19
sucker pinch

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t		 Adam (pool-68-162-190-249.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 11.30.05 22:44:55
explosive tombats
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t		 Anonymous (pool-68-162-190-249.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 11.30.05 22:45:22
omg pitt.east.verizon.net
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t		 Cort (pool-151-201-58-106.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 11.30.05 22:53:29
the sad fact is that for the friends who use Apple machines, the iChat program displays the person's name, not their screenname. I've actually forgotten friend's screennames and so when I've opened a chat program on another machine, I think "who is that person?" It makes for interesting chats until you figure out who it is.
favorite friend's screenname: thelonius punk
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t		 Tom 7 (h-72-244-69-245.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 11.30.05 23:00:32
Adam: that is not one of the options!

C: Well, what if I legally change my name to "Sucker Pinch"?
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t		 Cort (pool-151-201-58-106.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 11.30.05 23:09:25
Yes, in that case, I'll see "Sucker Pinch" when you're online. But what would your family think if you discarded Tom 7?! *gasp*
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t		 Tom 7 (h-72-244-69-245.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 11.30.05 23:11:16
Sucker Pinch 7
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t		 Mike Nolan (207.160.210.253) – 12.01.05 00:50:02
SERVER OK
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t		 ndm (pool-70-17-164-51.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 12.01.05 01:29:11
gnous
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t		 Arthur (ctwboo101.ctw.utwente.nl) – 12.01.05 03:08:51
SERVER OK second
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t		 FARINA00 (host226-98.pool8536.interbusiness.it) – 12.01.05 04:29:50
RADAR TOMBSTONE
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t		 Stephen (c-24-131-70-211.hsd1.pa.comcast.net) – 12.01.05 09:59:31
SERVER OK
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t		 jcreed (pool-70-20-109-30.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 12.01.05 10:00:18
SERVER OK is a close second in my mind to failcess
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t		 Max (dssstudentsxp.deans.wesleyan.edu) – 12.01.05 11:57:07
Yeah SERVER OK was my second vote too
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t		 Anonymous (pcp01935919pcs.hamden01.ct.comcast.net) – 12.01.05 12:54:41
Free Fontie
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t		 Marc (h-68-166-233-189.cmbrmaor.dynamic.covad.net) – 12.01.05 13:12:51
I don't get failcess. I like glonous history and SERVER OK.
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t		 Tom 7 (gs82.sp.cs.cmu.edu) – 12.01.05 14:48:10
I find it very amusing my friends from different arenas find appeal in the different names. Most of these are in-jokes. Actually, I am a bit pleased that there is so much support for "server ok" given that it is totally an in-joke about a fairly obscure piece of research software, Twelf. On the other hand, it does totally peg me as a nerd even to those not in-the-know, or at least a forgetful radiohead fan.

I must say that I am basically only considereing "sucker pinch" and "SERVER OK" now because they're the only ones I can say to people and that have an obvious spelling. That's more important than you think.

It seems that I spelled glonous history "wrong", in fact! One pro of this name, though, is that I could cleverly sign my name as "Tom Thurnb." Hah... get it?!
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t		 jetfuel (rhydon.omnigroup.com) – 12.01.05 16:32:05
SERVER OK
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t		 Mike Nolan (207.160.210.253) – 12.01.05 16:58:46
What IM service are you using that allows up to *13* characters anyway? What a strange number to choose.
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t		 Tom 7 (h-72-244-69-245.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 12.01.05 19:19:54
AIM! I have no idea how they chose that length, but that's apparently what it is.
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t		 Max (mheath.stu.wesleyan.edu) – 12.02.05 00:50:00
I just can't read the phrase "glonous history", regardless of spelling, without cracking a smile. And the thought of you having to annunciate it clearly out loud to some innocent person who really wants to know what your AIM name is is pretty funny.
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t		 Tom 7 (h-72-244-69-245.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 12.02.05 11:47:08
But it's funny like when I slip on a banana peel. Also, I think part of the appeal of "glonous" as a word is that it sounds like it must be some part of the anatomy that is not supposed to be mentioned in polite company.
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t		 sauce-master (pool-70-17-189-207.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 12.04.05 21:37:56
So will a name ever be picked? I'm *dying* to know! What will it be?

I like tombat, too. and Free Fontie, because it sounds like something a protester yells outside of a prison.
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t		 Tom 7 (lolo.wv.cc.cmu.edu) – 12.04.05 22:03:40
Not yet! This weekend has been so incredibly busy...
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t		 jcreed (c-67-186-35-18.hsd1.pa.comcast.net) – 12.05.05 19:28:32
failcess: n. (also failceed, failcessful) The situation that obtains when, after an important operation has been attempted, everything proceeeds silently as if it were successful, even though it was not. Very common in "programming" "languages" such as actionscript, javascript, and perl (if you leave use strict and -w off) where it is sometimes considered a feature.

Have you ever, due perhaps to a typo, called a function or accessed a variable that toally didn't exist and receive no error message whatsoever? Welcome to failcess!
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t		 Tom 7 (h-72-244-69-245.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 12.05.05 19:50:02
heh, I think "failcessful" is new. Nice.
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t		 Sridhar (cmu-155125.res.cmu.edu) – 12.05.05 21:46:44
Undoubtedly "Tom 7" is already taken, but the fact that you already regularly use an alias ending in a number could have been quite useful otherwise.

Out of what you've registered, I'm most partial to "ipso falso" myself, but I'll never rally the votes in time. Some day, when someone else needs to choose a screenname, I'll send them to you to pick that one up, along with the others that you will have so callously wasted in your selfishness.
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t		 Marc (c-24-128-249-112.hsd1.ma.comcast.net) – 12.06.05 09:06:37
Ahhh, thank you for the definition. Yes, I think I have encountered failcess many times with PHP...
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t		 Gerry (l3-202-89-185-198.arach.net.au) – 12.06.05 21:46:00
@Sridhar
Well here's one for ya.
"
ipso falso", because it's the only one I understood and most people would probably get that it was something to do with the signup process.


"failcess" is pretty funny now that jcreed has explained it, but he also mentioned the P word, so I hate him.
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t		 Tom 7 (h-72-244-69-245.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 12.06.05 21:49:49
You mean "proceeeds"?
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t		 Cortney (pool-70-20-127-150.pitt.east.verizon.net) – 12.13.05 21:26:01
Having had "Server OK" explained to me, it comes in a close second to "sucker pinch."
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t		 Tom 7 (h-68-166-177-60.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 12.13.05 22:10:48
Oh man, Server OK is totally going to win now.
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t		 Tom 7 (h-72-244-69-85.phlapafg.dynamic.covad.net) – 02.17.06 12:46:43
It won.
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t		 Genug (dsl093-172-164.pit1.dsl.speakeasy.net) – 10.18.07 08:59:17
bathroom mushroom
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