Why "statsci"?

This blog and the related web site are associated with the user "statsci@gmail.com". StatSci was the name of the company that did the first commercial version of the S language. In a long and tragic tale, StatSci was purchased by MathSoft which became Insightful which was purchased by TIBCO.

When setting up the blog I wanted to have a user name and web site just for my individual technical postings. That is, one not connected with my personal or work email accounts. It turns out that a surprising number of variations on my name were already taken, but "statsci" was available on gmail, Windows live, Blogger, and Google Sites. So it's mine now.

It wasn't available on Yahoo, and the following sites have nothing to do with me:

http://www.statsci.com/
http://www.statsci.org/
http://www.statsci.net/
http://www.statsci.co.uk/

So there's prior art on the recycling of this name for other purposes.

The site that goes with this blog is at:

http://sites.google.com/site/statsci/