Out of Cheese

I should explain the new name. (If you’re not paying attention, it’s "Out of Cheese".) I could’ve registered a semi-standard name-based domain — say, ejalbert.org or e-EricJosephAlbert-biz.com — but those just aren’t very interesting. I spent a while trying to think of something I’d enjoy using and which wouldn’t sound too terribly weird to casual observers. I’m not sure I succeeded on the second part, but it’s too late to worry about that now.

"Out of cheese" is a reference to Interesting Times, of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series. Among the Discworld characters are a group of wizards from Unseen University. They have a computer called Hex consisting of a few million ants, some male sheep skulls, a waterwheel, and a variety of other bits. You walk up to Hex, pull the GBL (Great Big Lever), and with luck, you get an answer. But it’s a computer, and sometimes things go wrong. And that’s when, at one point in Interesting Times, Hex prints out this message:

++?????++ Out of Cheese Error. Redo From Start.

That sums up so much about computers, doesn’t it?