There have been any number of occurrences of shrdlu events over the years. I've encountered other people that used the handle (no surprise; what's funny to me is bound to be funny to other geeks). I've collected trivia for years, from the Blocks World SHRDLU of Terry Winograd to pictures of an old Linotype keyboard, where ETAOIN SHRDLU shows clear and crisp.

This one has me stumped. There's a band called Etaoin Shrdlu; there's even youtube video of them playing. There's a couple of spam hunters using the handle; it's uncomfortable, but most people who know me, know their behavior is pretty far off from mine. This one is just too close to home.

Some time ago, I mused ...and just when I thought things would never get any stranger... Apparently, some psychotic in the frozen north has me confused with one of the many other Shrdlu's out there. Take a look at this for something truly strange.

So why do I use a pseudonym (yes, it's true, it's not the name my mother knows me by)? Glad you asked (else why are you here).

Originally, this page was just a compendium of entertaining places I'd found "shrdlu" and a few notes about where it came from. Some joker even linked to it with the explanation that it was a whole site devoted to "Etaoin Shrdlu". Uh, nope. I'd put up the page because there are quite a few folk too young to have ever heard of a linotype, and even more who had no reason to be aware of it.

If all you're looking for is an explanation of what the heck a "shrdlu" is, or why you should care, the old page is still here. I renamed it after it was linked to at http://www.memepool.com/, since I was not interested in getting the high volume of hits for such a relatively unknown link. It is now http://www.deaddrop.org/explains.html.

I used to use a pseudonym for multiple reasons. I had a real daytime job, and I preferred that the two stay separate. It was truly anonymous, and had no silly semantic connotations attached to it (unlike, say, Quantum Zombie or T. Rex). I used to be just shrdlu, but there are so MANY out there. I added the Etaoin as a sort of honorific (and because I thought it would be funny, and funny is always good). There are LOTS of "Etaoin Shrdlu" types out there. Some of them are (or were) me. Some of them aren't.

Over time, the handle has become inextricably linked to me, in real life. Since I've retired, I've given up any pretense or subterfuge in who I am, and whether or not that username is also me.

Update: I've resumed the subterfuge. There are simply too many stalkers, and it seems wiser to expose myself just a bit less. So it goes.