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Gentleman unable to change his name to "NJWeedman.com"

Xeni Jardin at 5:36 pm Tue, Sep 6, 2011

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Adrian Chen at Gawker reports on the tragic tale of an awesome dude unable to change his name to'NJWeedman.com'.

Image courtesy of NJWeedman.com's MySpace.

Boing Boing editor/partner and tech culture journalist Xeni Jardin hosts and produces Boing Boing's in-flight TV channel on Virgin America airlines (#10 on the dial), and writes about living with breast cancer. Diagnosed in 2011. @xeni on Twitter. email: xeni@boingboing.net.

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  • irksome

    So my life-long dream of being named Whydo I. Care is defunct?

  • http://www.appliedesoterics.com bfarn

    It’s because those are ferns

  • RJ

    Maybe the gent is a horticulturalist with an enthusiastic focus on the wild, herbaceous flora of New Jersey and internet top-level domains. Is it a crime to be that way? If you prick him, will he not bleed? O cruelty of our bureaucracy, that we would deny a passionate man of science a moniker he could wear with pride!

  • http://twitter.com/RJMeelar Reed Millar

    Someone should tell him that since google, putting “.com” on things is pretty much a waste of time.  He just got saved from decades of embarrassment for is old fashion web strategy.

  • Gus Strange

    I’m changing my name to Horsedick.mpeg

  • librtee_dot_com

    I don’t care what anyone says, if I meet him on this street I will gladly and respectfully refer to him as NJWeedMan.com.

    Of course, his idea worked, because he just got loads of free publicity for his website. Three cheers to him!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maya-Chhabra/764409047 Maya Chhabra

     He ran for governor a few years back, showing little understanding of grammar or logic in his statements. His campaign was based on his wanting to change his name and wanting custody of his daughter. I thought it was a little creepy.

    • benher

      “He ran for governor a few years back, showing little understanding of grammar or logic in his statements…”

      Who could forget the Bush campaign in Texas! 

      Wait… NJWeedman?

      • librtee_dot_com

        Actually, if you watch Bush in the 1996 gubernatorial debates, he was eloquent, intelligent, articulate…

        It’s very bizarre what happened, watching the clip back to back with the 2004 debates, he’s a totally different person.

        Do you even recognize this guy?

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvknGT8W5jA&feature=related

        • Mister44

          And Obama was loved and inspired the world. Maybe when you become President you turn into a giant douche, or a gianter one if you were one already.

          • librtee_dot_com

            Well, it’s so cliched it barely even needs repeating: “power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

            I think generally anyone who waves a gun around wildly in a crowded room will instantly see their popularity tank..which is a good description of the presidences of both Mssrs. Bush and Obama.

            Still, I have confidence that when NJWeedman.com becomes president, he will remain good and pure ;)

          • Guest

            no, you just attract the attention and ‘admiration’ of bigger douches.

        • Lobster

          Yes, they call that “handling.”  Whether a politician is intelligent or not is unimportant; they put on the face their handlers tell them to and say the lines they’ve memorized.  You could even say that making Dubya look like an idiot was a stroke of brilliance: it meant that if he ever misspoke or REALLY said something stupid, he could just brush it off as a “Bushism” and issue a written press release with what he REALLY meant.

          Of course the sad/frightening part of all that is that his handlers believed America would rather give ultimate nuclear authority to a total buffoon than an “elitist,” and they were right.

    • Guest

      Figures…  he seems a bit off (putting it mildly) from some of his website stuff… :/

    • Guest

      Have you -seen- the last few Governors of NJ? And this guy creeps you out?

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Maya-Chhabra/764409047 Maya Chhabra

        Yes, unfortunately. Were you referring to the one who’s firing teachers right and left, the one who didn’t wear his seatbelt, or the one who couldn’t keep it in his pants? Or all three?
        This guy’s still creepy.

        • Guest

          Have you considered it’s jersey’s fault? 4 out of 4 examples agree.

  • MythicalMe

    Somehow I think the judge might be right in that New Jersey already denied that he could change his name. Why should a court in one State grant something that was denied in another especially when there are felony charges pending? One might believe he was trying to make an end-run around the law.

  • http://evilbobdayjob.blogspot.com/ Deidzoeb

    There are some other unusual legal name changes I can think of that have been granted, but this comment could be removed if I spell them out. I haven’t read if “Fuck Censorship!” was finally able to change his name to “Fuck the drug war”, but I’m pretty sure there is a guy who legally changed his name to “Misteri N****r” (asterisks are mine, he spells it out).

    • Lobster

      You know, there’s a reason most people just leave it at a bumpersticker.

  • http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

    Youcan’talwaysgetwhatyouwant.com

  • http://twitter.com/cicadamania Cicada Mania

    I pity UKWeedman.co.uk. Even though there’s a different legal system in Great Britain, his chances look dim.

  • http://gun.io Rich Jones

    I’ve met this guy a few times in Philly.. what a hilarious concept-person.

    • Guest

      I call them ‘people who are caricatures of themselves”

  • SnortJr

    “Tragic?” Seriously? Sad, foolish, pathetic, sure. But tragic?

  • TooGoodToCheck

    I wish that this guy could change his name, if only to watch his subsequent epic tussle with G+’s real name policy.

  • MollyMaguire

    Ad hominems and reasonable arguments aside, shouldn’t someone be allowed to take whatever name they choose?

    • zombienietzsche

      No.

    • Guest

      The democratically enacted law says no. Also, democratically enacted law can change that. That’s how it should be.

  • http://twitter.com/Listener43 Listener43

    Gentleman?