Or have you not had it yet? Me, I don’t think I’ve had it yet, unless I didn’t notice or I severely underestimated what “fame” would be. I suppose being moderator of this board (and I was mod of another very popular and high traffic board from 2001-2004) could be seen as it, but…not sure.
What has seemed to have come to closest to being it so far for you?
A while back, I wrote a blog post about a new type of Distributed Denial of Service technique being used by a couple of hacking groups. A lot of people in the security community talked about it for a day or so. Some fairly prominent people in the field gave me an attaboy for it.
And, that’s about as close as I’ve come.
I’m very boring.
My amazing cartographic discovery got me mentioned in another blog.
But that wouldn’t have happened if Qadgop the Mercotan hadn’t brought it to their attnetion.
Appearing in The Avengers (more like eight seconds, but it’s all good): I was an Avengers extra - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board
I was a reporter and engineer for a community radio station from 2009 to 2012.
I’ve had three 15 minutes of fame (45 minutes of fame), all in one year:
In my high school class of over 1000, I was the only one to get a perfect 1600 on my SAT.
Then, for my senior orchestra solo, I played the First Movement of Eduard Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole.* Rave reviews.
Later that year, as I entered college, all incoming Architecture students had to take a lengthy test, heavy in math, science and whatnot. They had given the same test every year since sometime in the 1880s. I was the first person ever to get a perfect score.
In the 53 years since then, my life has been remarkably unremarkable.
I was packing and loading a gentleman to move him across the state, with leaving that afternoon firmly in mind.
Halfway through the morning a bunch of guys in pickups roar up and screech to a stop in front of the house across the street, and jump out brandishing pistols. I called 911 and the police sent in a swat team and shut the neighborhood (and my job) down for most of the day while the situation was sorted out. Turns out the guys with guns and pickups were bounty hunters trying to catch a bail-jumper.
When reporter showed up and wanted to talk to me about it, I was in more of a hurry to finish packing and loading than to be famous for a day and almost declined to talk to her. Since driving the load over that day was out of the question at that point I took a few minutes to answer her questions anyway.
Probably a 25-second news report that I filed from a salt mine disaster in Louisiana, that got on the ABC evening news 1n 1967. I used to be a stringer for UPI and had a few radio features distributed worldwide.
Well, does being Vice-Chairman of the Wauwatosa Ratfink Club in fifth grade count?
If not, then it’s still to come. I’ve mentally rehearsed what I’ll say on Colbert and Fallon, and have a rough outline of my TED Talk, so I’m ready…
(Damn, I’ve just outed myself IRL, haven’t I? Most of you know the 1960s WRC officers by heart, right?)
A year or two ago I was attending a party at the marina to raise money for a local animal shelter. I bought a 50/50 ticket and won what I figured was maybe a hundred bucks.
Feeling magnanimous (and pretty drunk) I went on stage to claim my prize, but chose instead to give my 50% to the charity. There were cheers. Then the emcee announced the total amount.
Seems that night’s drawing involved a season-long ticket sale. I hadn’t donated a hundred bucks, but rather several thousand. I wish I could say I knowingly would have done the same (right) thing.
I hosted Top Gear for 2016.
Actually, the biggest level of “fame” I ever had was when I worked for the abbywinters website. I got to be widely known by our members, got a fair amount of praise for my contributions, and was the subject of some jealousy.
Throwing out the first pitch at a game at Dodger Stadium and not pulling a 50 Cent.
I danced, on stage, Indian classical dance, throughout my teen years. It was wonderful, some of the best memories of my life. My high point was either South Street Seaport or Queens Theatre in the Park. My favorite memory; playing Krishna.
Or a Howard Wolowitz.
I’m not sure my practice sessions were all that different.
I was on a commercial in the 80s for a brand of storage bags. I think the commercial aired maybe 2 or 3 times.
I also shot bottle rockets out of my butt for a Chicago radio station in the 90s. That’s good radio.
More like 10 seconds of fame for me.
About 25 years ago, I was playing a local golf tournament for the best amateurs in the region and I nearly holed a 100 yd wedge shot (6" away). Local TV news was covering the event and my golf shot was featured on the 10 o’clock news that night.
Won a state wide award for ‘Achieving excellence in enhancing public facing communications and services’. Only one is given out a year. Any government office State/County/Town whatever can receive it.
Either I haven’t had it yet, or my appearance on the local version of ‘Romper Room’ when I was about eight, was the high point.
I solved a problem with fruit bats, using ultrasonic devices. The company called and interviewed me, then wrote an article about the whole thing. It still exists on the internet, so I guess my 15 minutes continues until the end of times.