The donkey is an in joke, and also a way I use to identify myself online at a time when I wished to be anonymous.

In days gone by, back to Medieval France, the date of 14th January was celebrated as the Feast of the Ass. 14th January also happens to be my birthday. So I became Balaam, or balaam, capitalisation has varied. You can still find balaam online in my screen name on the forum Ship of Fools and Twitter

As I have used a toy donkey as my avatar over the years, it is only fair to give the manufacturers a plug,