About the name

I’m frequently asked about the source of the name HyperBlazer, and since it was brought to my attention that “blaze” is slang for smoking marijuana, I figured I ought to clarify that it has NOTHING to do with that.

I was in 6th grade, and just getting a taste what the online world could provide (this was before the World Wide Web – back in the days when being on a BBS that allowed REAL INTERNET email was a big deal). I needed a nickname. I had been learning how to program, and geek that I was (am), I decided to somehow use a play on that in my handle.

At that point, I was moderately competent in two programming “languages” (some might disagree that the first was a language). The first thing I learned was HyperTalk, the scripting language behind HyperCard programming. HyperCard stacks were sort of like web pages, only more programmatic, and less interoperable.

The second language I learned, which was already becoming passé by that time, was Pascal. Pascal was designed to be a pedagogical language, and was named after the brilliant French mathematician, scientist, and philosopher Blaise Pascal.

So my young mind went to work, and took the “Hyper” from HyperTalk and the “Blaise” from Pascal. And HyperBlazer sounded pretty cool to a 12-year-old. I’ve been using it ever since. I think I’m a lot more laid-back than the name sounds, but it has been a part of me for so long that I don’t think I’ll ever give it up.