What's in a name?

The domain I've owned for over a decade (daydalus.net) expired and was snatched up some Chinese company that manufactures industrial welding robots. If I was clever and had a bit more time, perhaps I could have played it off as intentional, viral marketing for some science fiction work in progress. Truth is stranger than fiction - that some legitimate business would find use in the name (daydalus.net). I don't speak Chinese, but I don't see any link between the company name (Kaifa?) and daydalus. And I guess there are larger lessons here about the rise of China, pouncing on old American IP that we've acquiesced over the years from bouts of laziness.

On a side note - google domains failed pretty hard to notify me my domain was about to expire.

So it goes.

I decided to go with the shortened url "daydal.us". Interestingly enough, this is a "us" domain, which can only be used by a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. Therefore, I'm somewhat protected against Chinese domain squatters!

Thinking further, the entire event has been a catalyst to think about my own prescense on the web. What's its meant over the years, how the technology has shifted, even my own levels of motivation to write and "publish" on the web. If anything, I'm mostly done with echo-chamber walled-gardens of social media. I don't care if anyone reads my stuff. I do think its worth having a real destinaton on the web that I fully control. Even if the content on there is mostly years (decades?) old and I sporadically post rants and book reviews.

Daydalus.net is dead. Long live daydal.us!