Michelle Branch found by someone doing their taxes. No, it's not the pop singer. But have they ever found terrorist David Nelson? And will liberal radio host Michael Jackson ever get a job again?
posted by calwatch on Apr 9, 2004 - 6 comments

Giving Credit where credit is due. For your Friday browsing pleasure, may I present the staff at NPR's CarTalk. Enjoy!
The Conclusive, Definitive, Official Dewey, Cheetham, & Howe Staff List In the good old days, we had an engineer and a rotary telephone with a couple of buttons on it. We pressed a button and--BINGO-- someone was on the air. Of course, it was usually a wrong number...but that's the price you pay for simplicity. Now look at the mess we're in! Thousands of people on the staff...all trying to do less work than us. What a revoltin' development this is. Look at all these employees! But despite our huge payroll--we're always hiring. So if you know of someone who may be worthy to join our crack(ed) staff, send his/her/its name and potential position to the Car Talk Plaza Personnel Department via e-mail to Dewey, Cheetham and Howe.
posted by nofundy on Jun 27, 2003 - 10 comments

What's in a name? Apparently not much. One son was named Loser, the other Winner. One became a cop and eventually was promoted to detective - shield number 2762. The other fell into the life of a small-time crook, racking up at least 31 arrests before being sent away for a two-year stretch in state prison - inmate number 00R2807 {found on OpinionJournal}
posted by internal on Aug 2, 2002 - 34 comments

The Name-O-Meter: How's Your Name Been Doing Since 1900? How does it rank in the Top 1000? Is its popularity waning or increasing? Disappointed either way? Look up what your name means to help find out why.[From Parenting.com, via top-ranking Nutcote. More Inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Apr 20, 2002 - 40 comments

What's your Elvish name? An interesting resource -- with a scholarly tone -- for anyone who loves names and/or Tolkien.

[Via JonVW]

posted by silusGROK on Mar 4, 2002 - 32 comments

Parent's name their baby "Espn" after the all sports network ESPN. One of my pet peeves is when parents name their babies something "unique" or "cute." I read somewhere that the director Robert Rodruiguez named his kid Rocket. Don't these parents understand how much teasing their children are going to have to endure? Aargh.
posted by JFunk2800 on Apr 5, 2001 - 32 comments

How you say Duking it out with Accenture for the title of most disagreeable computer-generated faux-English corporate nomenclature de la semaine, a company with the perfectly good name Productivity Works has gone and screwed it up by renaming itself isSound. "Because the future is listening," the homepage tells us. What it's listening to is all of us stammering to pronounce an unnatural string of letters. In related news, despite admitting it still works, isSound isShitcanning itsScreenReader, pwWebSpeak.
posted by joeclark on Jan 3, 2001 - 5 comments

Homophobic decision in my home state is to be appealled. Requests to change one's name are very rarely denied. This judge has really stepped over the line by worrying about "the appearance of [the requester] being married. . . [and] . . . how this would appear to our neighbors, to our shopkeepers and to society at large."
posted by fpatrick on Sep 22, 2000 - 4 comments

Here's a short news story of a street named Cowshit. No bullshit.
posted by lizardboy on May 13, 2000 - 0 comments