What's in a name?

I've had the username SOTA for around 16 years now. Most people first think it's for the ending of the state, MinneSOTA, but I'm much more of a geek than that. It's actually from a tabletop D&D'esqe game called Shadowrun. Me and some friends use to play online in a roleplaying MUD with our very first dialup net connections back in 1994. SOTA were optional game rules requiring players to pay out so much money each month to stay on top of their tech and maintain their lifesytle. Without it players could have some lucky runs and end up impossibly rich. It was a gold sink, and still seems fitting for my love of new technologies.

Tech doesn't stand still. The deck that cracked a mainframe wide open last month might not even get past the SAN today. To stay on the edge, a decker has to stay current with the "state-of-the-art," the SOTA. Selena must pay off a SOTA Factor of 61 to maintain her utility programs. Her deck has an MPCP Rating of 8, so she makes a Computer (8) Test. She acheives 2 successes, so she reduces the SOTA Factor by 6 x 2, 12 points. Her SOTA Factor is now 49.

Then there's the company name I borrowed. The second Mac I ever used was a friend's Mac SE, which was very similar to my Mac Plus, but was loaded with various games and applications because it had a whopping 40Mb hard drive. I borrowed several of the applications off that computer and noticed they had all been registered to this Detachable Penis Publishing. My friend is an english major, a music-lover, and has a ironic sense of humor. So I keep using the company name in hopes it turns up in amusing places.