What's in a name?

Sometimes providence fashions interesting coincidences. I've been asked about my choice for a blog title. Of course, it's a play on carpe diem (Latin for "seize the day," and dei meaning "of God"), but when I picked the Blogger template, I was draw to the design you're looking at. I liked the orange/blue look and the star reminded me of something vaguely subversive. Taking a second look at the word seize, it reminded me of the Russian word samizdat, maybe because of the quasi-Soviet star on the left. For a blogger, it's most appropriate. It comes from the Russian sam (“self”) and izdatelstvo, (“publishing”).

Samizdat was literature that was secretly written, copied, and circulated in the former Soviet Union and was usaully critical of practices of the Soviet government.

Samizdat began appearing following Stalin's death in 1953, largely as a revolt against official restrictions on the freedom of expression of major dissident Soviet authors.

Who knew?

Someone joked that since God seizes us, the title should be the other way around. To which I reply, Dei the Seize didn't have that swing I was aiming for.