The Wet and Sticky Path

One day, while searching Google for cold+fusion+wristwatch, I stumbled upon a link to the Halfbakery. I thought, “What did a bakery have to do with fusion or wristwatches?” It was the only link I explored. I realized quickly, that this bakery was not only in my neighborhood, but right up my alley. I had spouted off half-baked pseudo-science since I was a kid. At the HB, I read through a dozen, (a baker’s dozen) half-baked ideas in the first three minutes I surfed on by. Some of the ideas were so goofy and so good, I smiled for the rest of the day.

For some time, I simply read and watched idea creation, voting, and annotation. I could pick up the “rules” pretty quickly, even before I read the background pages for the HB. “Be fair. Be fun. Be critical, not vicious. Excuse ignorance, but do not accept stupidity. Gently instruct the newbies on the finer points as they go. Oh, yeah, one more: Spell correctly. Or spell incorrectly on purpose.”

I began to look forward to reading the ideas and annotations of many halfbakers. I was happy to read how international the bakery was. I was happy to read postings by men and women. I was happy to see that it was only as serious as it needed to be, and was quite content to be silly. I was glad that this was not some dark cul-de-sac for middle-aged men discussing whether or not Star Trek Voyager’s 7 of 9’s breasts were real or just Borg implants.

The first time I joined the commentary, I entered an annotation that was factually incorrect. Then, I weblinked incorrectly in an annotation. [detly] very kindly placed the web address as a proper link. At the time, I didn’t know whether to thank him or just leave. Well, I’m taking this time to thank [detly], [tiger lily], [po], [unabubba], [silverstormer], [canuck] and many others for already making me feel right at home.

Because a couple of halfbakers have commented about my username, “rogerdna,” I feel that I am probably missing out on some meanings that might be associated with it. Do me a favor, email me with your interpretations. I think there may be some transatlantic twisting of my username. In the states, “Roger” is a relatively uncommon first name. The only meaning associated with the name over here is as the aviation call signal to verify the receipt of a message, i.e., “Roger that, Houston.” I am aware that in the UK “roger” has an altogether different meaning! How that meaning along with “dna” might have some sloppy sexual overtones didn’t even occur to me until now. But that is how “forest for the trees” I can be sometimes!

The story behind the name isn’t really very sordid. I was in a band called the DNA Vibrators. We made some goofy alternative rock noise for a few years in the Midwestern U.S. The band’s logo was a pair of twisted dildoes connected by batteries. The whole idea behind the band was born out of the band DEVO’s philosophy: “The fittest shall survive, yet the unfit may live.” Every once in awhile, the gene pool needs to be shaken up a little bit. Or, at least, vibrated.

So, DNA has often trailed my good name on the web. Just follow the wet and sticky path and you’ll find me.

You can contact me via email at rpugh@siu.edu

[Jan 14 2004, last modified Jan 07 2004]

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