In the purposefully dark and clandestine world of anonymous or pseudonymous – my personal term of preference – blogging, there lives with the beating heart of each keyboardist the secret fear of discovery. The fear of being unmasked to an amazed world, standing naked in the spotlight of universal discovery. The written self becoming unified with the self that the world observes, the old Sartrian dichotomy of the being for itself blending into the being in itself, the clashing moment when the last piece of the puzzle falls into place, the yin and yang merged into one, all duality demolished in a moment of creative destruction.
The weight of all those private fears can become enormous over time. So, it is with some spirit of unburdening, even – dare I say it? – joy that I reveal to you, gentle reader, the truth: I am not Belle de Jour, the high priced, happy courtesan of London fame, the talented anonblogger and author of books whom Billy Piper poutingly portrayed in an ITV mini-series. Doctor Brooke Magnanti, a research scientist of developmental neurotoxicology, cancer epidemiology and informatics is.
There. I’m glad I got that off my chest.
Normal programming will now resume.
You’re way more than that: You’re Lex, for gosh sakes!!
According to Chap, she also wrote of . Had me wondering for a while, but, alas, she never did girls with guns.
that “of” something was a botched hyperlink to Brooke’s post on a love for whiskey.
http://web.archive.org/web/20031202171614/www.infovore.org/omnivore/
A further clue that it might, in fact, be Lex.
We know who Lex is, and even approximately where he lives. So, anonymity has long ceased to exist for us. Here, Lex is Rex. The rest are just piddling.
If they are, they need to clean up after themselves.
We are who we will ourselves to be. I be FHB, but those who look can see the real me.
You mean that you are not really Lex Luthor?
I am crushed! Next you’ll be telling me Santa doesn’t exist.
The strange world of the WWW. Good for her that she unmasked herself, at a time of her own choosing vs being “outed” like so many other bloggers. For some of us that have been here for a loooong time, I dare say we know not just who you are (ID wise) but prob know you better than some of the ones you work with on a daily basis.
Like former shipmates who I served with, they will always be known by their callsigns, given names forgotten if ever even known. Torch, Postal, Country, GQ, Rico, Kiwi, Andy, Brick et all, I honestly don’t remember most of their real names, but would recognize them in a stadium. Were I to meet you somewheres, you’ll be Lex and I’ll buy you as many Guiness drafts as your heart desire. Don’t know you by any other name.
Those of us bloggers who first “met” each other online discover that we often begin to have dual names when we meet face-to-face multiple times over the years–our given names and our “callsigns.” Makes for interesting public conversations involving those of us with more colorful blogger names.
For instance, I share a first name with the wife of a fellow blogger I’ve come to know quite well. So in public, he invariably me “Fuzzy.”
Not disagreeing with Claudio, I’m actually a bit disheartened at the loss of the ‘mystery’. {sigh} Not that having the mask off this comely lass is a hard thing to endure. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted…
Hmm, idea. Someone creates a blog page wherein are listed callsigns with their related tales of affixation.
I think I heard her callsign is “Clap”.
Whew! At least the authorette/”entertainer” might have been another USNA prof. After all, they have been VERY good about encouraging that “diversity” stuff.
Alas, we are still here with our humble host, listening raptly to his highly improbable tales of airmanship and chivalry performed largely at the taxpayer’s expense. Since the taxpayers get nailed by the government so often, we might erroneously think it is some sort of prostitution racket.
But not the one revealed. Which makes one wonder how our host is so familiar with sordid events…?
Damn, and we had such high hopes.
Geez, I was more accustomed to Billy Piper zooming around the universe with Dr. Who. Ya live and learn.
I am not Belle de Jour
Good to know. Though I am biting my tongue.