Joyce sent me a link to a very interesting article. Names That Match Forge a Bond on the Internet
That article was inspired by a new book, Finding Angela Shelton. A writer met with 40 other Angela Sheltons, and wrote about her findings. There is a focus of physical and sexual abuse there, just to forewarn you, but as connections go, it's fantastic!! VERY nice project.
The article is altogether interesting, but here's a quote:
Now that the telephone book has been all but replaced by the minutiae-rich Web, searching out, even stalking, the people who share one’s name has become a common pastime. Bloggers muse about their multiple digital selves, known as Google twins or Googlegängers (a term that was the American Dialect Society’s “most creative” word last year).
SameNameAsMe.com is a place to register and you can get messages there from others with same names, maybe. There's a free registration option.
To voice recognition phones, "Zangara Dodge" sounds like "Sandra Dodd" and so I've put the phone number of Zangara Dodge by all my phones and I just give the people the right number when they call. I reported that a while back as Robotic Secretaries and Minnesota. It continues. A couple of callers have said I should report it or complain, but where and how would I complain? That's my name! It only happens a time or two a month. For another connection, this Zangara guy is the uncle of Brett Henry who's been friends with our family since he was eight or nine.
Connections, connections, connections!
Dave Gorman, an interesting UK performance artist, did an experiment called Are You Dave Gorman. There's a book and a stage production. I have the book somewhere, but haven't read it. And there is a DVD of the show that spun off of the game.
ReplyDeleteThe linked article includes a paragraph: "In studies involving Internet telephone directories, Social Security death index records and clinical experiments, Brett Pelham, a social psychologist, and colleagues have found in the past six years that Johnsons are more likely to wed Johnsons..."
ReplyDeleteWonder if that explains why my first marriage was to a Taylor?
I keep wanting to use my name when registering for things too. However Jenny Star is a porn star, I guess. Also, there are just too many Jennys and Jennifers out there for some of them to not want to be a star. My dad gave me my middle name because I was the star of his life, or the twinkle in his eye, so he says. I could use my last name, Cyphers, but it means zero, or a person of little or no value and so I don't go around boasting that name! (the bad guy in The Matrix, was named Cypher)
ReplyDeleteI thought the reason the bad guy in Matrix was called Cypher had to do with codes and such. He worked alongside Tank and they looked at alphanumeric codes onscreen to find out when to jump. Huh so it has more to do with "zero" than cyphering.
ReplyDeleteIt has to do with numeric "figuring" AND zero, which makes it even more interesting. And in binary, that's a lot of zero AND a lot of calculation!
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