What does your avatar mean and why did you choose it?

[soccerdad]

Mine is too transparent. I have 2 kids and coach both of their teams. There are a lot of soccer moms out there but I have yet to be denied registry as Soccerdad! The avatar is of course the (defending Stanley Cup winning, currently poorly playing) Carolina Hurricanes Hockey logo

[nitrogen_widget]

All this talk of Guinness is making me thirsty...
At the risk of being dull and nerdy...

a) The 'widget' is a little plastic capsule (it was shaped like a plug when I worked on it, a few years after it changed to a sphere), that contains nitrogen and is inserted into the can as it is filled. It has an itty-bitty 0.010" hole in it and surface tension keeps the gas in. After the can is sealed, post-fermentation maintains and slightly increases the pressure. When you open the can, it releases a little stream of 0.010" bubbles that give it the creamy head (that's why it says to drink straight from the can). The bottled draught took longer because of marketing droids and, more importantly, because of the increased testing required to stop the little torpedo coming out and choking you.

I actually knew that!
Well, not the exact specifics, but I had to find out how it worked when they first came out.

[Carlito]

Well, mine has no real story behind it. Carlito is a nickname I picked up in high school. Not even sure why or how it came to be... My pic is one of me skateboarding that was photoshop-ed to a black and white silhouette. That is basically it....

[Fatman_do]

Mine is somewhat simple, but here is a long story any way.

My son is Jacob, and when he was born my brother said "Hey, Jake and the Fatman" (pointing at me).

Was a so-so US television show years ago.

Fatman is almost always taken (was here too).

Added the _do to make it sound like "Katmandu".

My other nicknames have been "Houdini", "Alf" and "Haz" (all given to me by other people). Houdini I abandoned online early as it is always taken. It evolved as a bastardization of my last name, and later evolved to "The Haz" as in "The almighty and powerful Oz". My friends call me "Haz" to this day since two of us have the same first name. He is "Doc".

"Alf" (another US tv show) is what they called me at a job when everyone had nicknames (working on airport ramp with radios, all of us had "callsigns").

I tend to be a funny guy, and wanted a Avatar of a chubby funny guy. Was a coin flip from Curly Howard or Benny Hill. Benny doesn't get much love these days so I went with him.

[herbs]

My nan asked me once what name would you like to be called by and it was of course herbs. The actual avatar is from an old 90s comedy show called "Nightingales" about 3 security guards, well 4 really but one of them was dead and they used to split his wages. There was a temp security guard that was a werewolf and a surgeon, just pure classic comedy. If you want to read more see click here, also the dvd has been released.

[stefan]

For me, Stefan is my real name (lo and behold ) The avatar... well, my other online nick is coffeeman (don't know why I didn't choose that one here), so... what can I say, I like coffee

[groover km]

Fatman_do and herbs: Nice choice. Respect to Robert Lindsay and Benny (RIP).

[pcostanza]

I love Guiness.
but hated it out of the Bottle / Can.
Then they came up with a way to have the cascade at home.
The way via a little device that released nitrogen into the beer when you opened the can / bottle.
The device was called...

A nitrogen_widget.

And henceforth I used that as my handle in most of anything involved with being online be it gaming or forums.

I have no avatar because i'm too lazy to set it up.

Love the story and although not a huge Guiness drinker but agree, it did improve the beer.
I have no story except it's my first initial and last name. I know, I'm a real original guy.

[kayak4ever]

My husband and I got a kayak about 6 years ago for our anniversary. I really enjoy the peace of paddling and so this is the name I chose for myself. It gets confusing because we don't do much whitewater and other people normally assume that all kayak lovers are interested in white water.

The yellow kayak is ours and this picture is from La Verendrye faunique reserve in Quebec, Canada


I also enjoy taking pictures of mushrooms (like birdwatching but not as hard because the mushrooms don't fly away) and playing bridge and learning how to make my GB-pvr even better!

[wannabepvr]

I picked a Moai because I think it just looks cool. I like that it is wearing headphones - standing there oblivious to the world listening to its tunes.

Also I love the irony:

The people of Easter Island relied on migrating birds - for sustenance and, well, fertiliser. (And seeds carried in the - err fertiliser)

As the culture of Easter Island grew they created these awesome Moai using many trees to quarry and move the rock.

When the cut down the trees the forest thinned and less birds came. So they decided to make more Moai to please the gods - and to do so cut down all the trees. Ecological disaster! Famine. War. It all fell apart.

Sounds like it should be an episode of the Simpsons.

PS. Don't quote me for historical accuracy. There are other theories as to why it all went pear shaped. This is just my memory of one such theory.

I would love to see the Moai someday - but Easter Island REALLY IS IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE.

PPS. Any Easter islanders out there using GBPVR??