f/k/a archives . . . real opinions & real haiku

This posting is not a sad lament over the dwindling number of visitors we’ve been having at f/k/a since we started our punditry hiatus in early June. (But, it could be, and it’s our own fault.) Moreover, it’s not even a pat on your Editor’s back for the thousands (really) of visitors who stopped by his new weblog shlep today, to read a post about an online newspaper that is trying to deny its readers their right to Fair Use of copyrighted material.  [Hint to Matt Morden on how to get lots of visitors: have the #2 most popular weblog in the world link to your post, as Boing Boing did today for shlep.  Surprised me, too.]

  Instead, the Gang wanted to tell you about the website HowManyOfMe.com, which purports to know how many people have your (or anyone’s) name.   HowMany does warn you that they are using Census Bureau data and people with rare names have been left out, for privacy reasons.  Therefore, “19% of people will have either one or both names missing from the list” — resulting in zero results being found for those individuals.  If you thought it would mostly be those youngsters with aberrant name spellings and novel monikers who would be in that 19% group, you’d probably be right.  But, after just a few examples tonight, I discovered that haiku writers are probably also over-represented in the Zero Names Group — at least, our Honored Guests are. 

Of course, I checked myself first, and “There are 10 people in the U.S. named David Giacalone.”  That number seems high.  Next, I learned that the statistics suggest “There are 8 people in the U.S. named Edward Markowski.”

Looking for a bigger number, I put in “John Stevenson” and was not at all surprised to see: “There are 1,526 people in the U.S. named John Stevenson.”   And, “There is 1 person in the U.S. named Yu Chang” seemed about right.  Then, things got interesting.  According to HowManyOfMe:

— There are 0 people in the U.S. named Laryalee Fraser, as (according to the uncloaked census data) “There are 0 people in the U.S. with the first name Laryalee.”
— There are 0 people in the U.S. with the last name Gurga, so “There are 0 people in the U.S. named Lee Gurga.”
— There are 0 people in the U.S. named Roberta Beary, because “neither was common enough to make it likely that someone in the U.S. has that name.”
— There are 0 people in the U.S. with the last name Kacian. There are 0 people in the U.S. named Jim Kacian.
 

The rest of you out there will have to check out your own names, as I’ve managed to fritter away enough time on this frivolous project already this evening (with Game 3 of the World Series on the tv behind me).  To make it up to you, here are some topic-relevant haiku and senryu:

nameless,
this worm downwind
from countless stars

. . . . . . . by andrew riutta
Simply Haiku (Summer 2005, vol. 3:2)
 

fund drive
the ivy covered building
has a new name

another spring
the nameless shoot
still nameless

. . . . . . . . .  by Yu Chang 
“fund drive”  Upstate Dim Sum (2002/II)
 “another spring” The Heron’s Nest (Sept. 2005)

the shelter of a tree—
neither of us knows
the other’s name

 
no sign
where two roads meet
iris blooms

. . . . .  by paul m 
“shelter” –  finding the way (Press Here, 2002)
“no sign”   the heron’s nest
 

winter night
a stranger in the laundromat
asks my name

. . . . .  by pamela miller ness  –  haiku spirit 20

one sentence from the end
          a pretty nurse
          calls my name

early thaw…
for a moment
mother remembers my name

. . . . . . by ed markowski