September 01, 2003
Why is the rat in a box?
Here's Leather, obliging me with another illustration for the Rat in a Box site.
Why, exactly, did we choose "Rat in a Box" as our site name?
Victor and I had decided a while ago to register a domain. The name I'd used on my Tripod site, 4 Legs Good, seemed appropriate for a page devoted to pets, but unfortunately all its variations were already taken. We started brain storming rat-related phrases and names, but found that the obvious ones (rat race, rat pack, rat maze, even rat dance) were pretty much taken, too.
Going through digital pictures one day I had realized that I had a ton of pictures of various rats in various boxes, and I'd put together a quick "Rat in a Box" gallery then. When our Whois search showed that as an available name, we grabbed it.
It isn't a name with a huge amount of meaning behind it, although Bob and Curly, being old psych lab rats, may have done some Skinner Box time in their school days. I just thought it sounded fun to say, and it was easy to spell.
And because boxes are favorite toys here, we won't run out of illustrative pictures any time soon. If you have a cute Rat in a Box picture (and aren't they all cute?) that you'd like to share, send it in!