Slashdot Mirror
We Are All Nerds Now
Anonymous Slob Nerd. writes "The Guardian has a good review of something close to all of our hearts. We are all nerds now discusses how the popularity of the internet, video gaming, comic-book movies (Spider-Man, Hulk), the sci-fi epics (The Matrix, Star Wars) and the wizard fantasy (Harry Potter), not to mention The Lord of the Rings has made nerds, and nerdish behaviour, cool."
If the "Nerd" moniker is now the baseline for the general populace then the True Nerds will have to come up with something to differentiate us from Them. Maybe it's time to go back to black glasses with tape, flood pants and pocket protectors. Perhaps a secret handshake too!
Trolling is a art,
In a recent nerd test slashdot was a question we are all cool. - What about physics nerds you never hear anythign cool about them?
What is the default level on the geek hierarchy that the new trendy nerds enter at?
I wish we could go back to the days when we we all bakers and and had really good bread. .
Slashdot should change it's slogan to "News for Everyone. Stuff that matters." Then my non-nerd friends won't be confused when I talk about CowboyNeal.
I am officially gone from
It all started with this 1984 movie called
Revenge of the Nerds
http://imdb.com/title/tt0088000/
90% of all nerds are fake nerds anyway.
Grass-roots web hosting.We are poor colleg
Resistance is futile ..
You mean I wasn't cool as a nerd when I graduated in 1987!?!?!?!?
Although, that would certainly explain a lot about high school...
No. We just feel better about being nerds.
All Your Memory Are Belong To Java
And the nerds that will be looked down on are the ones who still like Star Trek.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
It's just a trend...a fad. Being a nerd brings with it too many traits that are considered 'undesirable'.
Blar.
Liking all of those things doesn't make you a geek. Getting in depth on those things makes you a geek. I like cars, but I couldn't flush a radiator. Does that make me a Gearhead? ... Yes I liked Star Wars, but when I turn into my friend who can play 6 vs. 1 at Star Wars Trivial Pursuit and beat us in two turns(all 6 pies and the center).... thats a damn Star Wars geek.
No, because pop gaming nerds think The Matrix was a good game, while real gaming nerds know that most of the world will miss out on gems like Viewtiful Joe.
Same goes for any of the other formats available. Trying to convince 'cool nerds' of the hidden treasures in each medium only make them easily identifyable as the uncool nerds again.
Nerds will always be around. They arn't identifiable by what mediums they like, only the great lengths they will go to discuss or aquire specific works.
"Old man yells at systemd"
All of which raises some frightening implications. Could it be that there are more nerds today than there were before?
And then there is a further, more troubling possibility. Just what constitutes a nerd these days anyway?
We're geeks, dammit!
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
I somewhat fail to see what's so nerdish about Lord of the Rings. Sure,
alot of nerds have read the book. The books seems to have a cult status among nerds, though I really cannot find many nerds or why anyone would think of nerds while reading the books or watching the movies.
I've never worn glasses, or pocket protectors, and I think I'm as nerdy as you can get to an extent without being stereotypical. You on the other hand I believe are an nerd impostor who's probably never even seen the TV show "PI the final frontier" so I've reported you
MoFscker
Yeah, I'm a nerd, but you still have to grovel at my feet if you want your computer fixed or upgraded.
You have a problem with your DSL/Cable modem connection? Well, kiss my ass then.
You need to remove those pop-up adds? Kiss my ass then.
Yes, I am you overlord, so be happy about it.
Nothing can make nerdish behaviour cool. That's one of the fundumental axioms of social psychology.
-- MarkusQ
P.S. If you doubt this distinction, spend a few minutes and I'll bet you can easily think of two other things that have allways been popular but have never been cool, and at least one thing (YMMV) that is cool but has never been popular. Do this when there is no one within earshot so you won't have to explain your laughter.
After having read the article, my conclusion is: If the "Nerd" moniker is now the baseline for the general populace then the True Nerds will have to come up with something to differentiate us from Them. Maybe it's time to go back to black glasses with tape, flood pants and pocket protectors. Perhaps a secret handshake too!
...in one way or another. Most of the Slashdot crowd are computer/natural science/LOTR nerds whereas Germans, for example, might all be David Hasselhoff nerds. ;)
-- Power corrupts, but PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.
> start by turning the computer off you fat ass lazy "nerds"
... HOW??
To avoid the easy charge of hypocricy, I realize you posted while you were outside, and your computer was off (presumably indoors.)
The real question is
"Old man yells at systemd"
Yeah but they get laid
DVD Ripping, Divx, VCD, SVCD under Linux
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I always wanted to be a demographic! Yay!!
When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain
I think it was the .com bubble, the millions of dollars and the fancy cars that did that.
All this means is that there is more evident stratification in geekdom. Once upon a time, you were either a geek or you weren't. Now, there are levels of geeks. There are wannabe geeks, plain-old geeks, gamer geeks, alpha geeks, BOFHs, etc. Think of it as a multi-level geeking scheme. Geekdom with middle-management. A pecking order. In other words, associating yourself as a geek has become akin to associating yourself with any other group: gotta work your way up.
Where the hell is my hot cheerleader girlfriend?? And where are the disgruntled upended jocks?!
;-)
Sheesh... you all can be "nerds"... I'm happy being "geek".
I-P (Its geordi laforge... as a smiley!)
This is my sig. Its pathetic.
Ceci n'est pas une signature
We aren't all nerds.
How many of us couldn't get a date in high school?
How many of us were better in math than phys ed?
How many read Ender's Game and really, really felt it deep in their heart?
How many know and enjoy a joke that makes a pun on ergs?
Even today, how many of us stand out immediately in a room as the nerd?
I was a nerd before it was cool.
I was a nerd while it was cool.
And I am a nerd now that it is becoming less cool after the dot com crash.
--xPhase
The following sentence is TRUE. The previous sentence is FALSE.
Great...now no one will get laid.
I joined the New Enterprise Regarding Destroying Sociability (NERDS) specifically to avoid the masses. Nerd stuff was sure to keep 99% of the population away. Now what? I don't want to join the cannibal cult, I'm not interested in trepanation. What do I do?
I think we can ALL agree that michael does not get beat up on enough.
Can I get an 'amen'?
geeks are. Nerds are just geek wannabees. One is born into nerdness, but it takes an effort to become a geek.
Appraising the film's cast, he dismisses them as "preppy Ivy League nerds. Not real ordinary slob nerds like us".
Yup, "Booger" was definitely a Harvard man.Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
..if you believe this is a delusion of the Slashdot editors. How many of you cringe when you see another posting on anime, mediocre TV shows, shitty movies(the matrix), or comics. Sometimes Slashdot give nerds a bad name. I think we have better taste than the Slashdot editors. I know some of you must be out there.
why then are most slashdot members still not getting any action...
:P
Speak for yourself, pizza-face.
What a dork.
Karma: Chameleon (mostly due to the fact that you come and go).
We are real nerds. Do the rest of the world do things like this?
DVD Ripping, Divx, VCD, SVCD under Linux
Honestly, how long did it take them to figure out being a nerd was cool? Even in popular culture...
The second that LOTR and Harry Potter were released to astonishing success, I knew it was real. Suddenly, i was the in crowd, Suddenly, All that knowledge that everyone deemed useless could get me a date. "Speak elvish to me again, Raleel...it makes me wet!"
Of course, I got married a while back, before it was cool, so now only one woman gets to listen to it, but still, she thinks its' cool, and she wouldn't ever read the books. It's spawned us watching all sorts of shows that I wouldn't have expected her to like, and brought out a new part of her personality. Hell, I might even do the dishes now...
-- Who is the bigger fool? The fool or the fool who follows him? --
A nerd certification. Administered by Slashdot? "Slashdot Certified Nerd" has a nice ring to it. Or other suggestions?
While we might be consuming the same media, there are still some things that distinguish a true nerd:
1)Superiority complex
Don't worry, you're still smarter than everyone. You knew about Spider-Man back when it was a crappy 80's cartoon!
2)Poor hygiene
"I don't want to waste my time primping and preening," says the nerd. "It's societal bullshit!" You're like Rosa Parks, except the bus is the underwear you've been wearing for the last 3 days. Keep it up, faithful nerd...you shall overcome!
3)Passive aggressiveness
You'd rather take crap from your boss and call him a "PHB" on some internet message board than to straighten him out once and for all! Instead of suggesting your own methods of getting work done, you sulk and try to invent ways to sabotage his ideas.
4)Fanatical Collecting!
You can't relate to most people, but things...things are easy. Whether it's Battlefield Earth action figures or indie rock 12 inches, don't kid yourself-you're still a fucking nerd.
And the rest of us will be waiting patiently for you outside the boy's bathroom, ready to deal out the wedgies, score with the ladies, or become transparently evil characters in your 800-page self published web fanfic about Dracula meeting the Ninja Turtles. Rest easy, nerds. Your position in history is safe.
(-1, Raw and Uncut is the only way to read)
I'm still a nerd and I still don't have a date tonight. Until I can show a girl my Magic the Gathering card collection and impress her, lonely I shall be...
Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
I thought being a nerd was cool in the 90's when every news story was about how much money computer nerds made, then all the trendy people caught on and flooded the industry with idiots. Then the dot com bubble burst and being a nerd was uncool again. So now we're back to cool?
slashdot, news for crazed liberal socialist zealots
it's not really a secret and it's called 'masturbation'
are the real thing. (The really gross thing, but none the less the 'real' thing.)
and no one ever got laid with the line "Did you see the Hulk?"
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
I am sorry, but it's pretty obvious if you have been to high school or watched TV since last week that nerds are still uncool... which is tragic, IMHO. Our society loses more bright minds due to it not being "cool" to be smart, versus say Japan, a country that consistently kills the US in terms of high-tech innovations per capita. We should all pray for the day that the word "nerd" is simply another word for "cool", but it will be a long time coming -- the beer drinking, 100 IQ populous still pays for all the TV ads, and thus nerdiness is still uncool.
stuff |
Just because you wear glasses and/or you like computer related stuff dosen't make you a nerd. I know a lot of people who look nothing like nerds, but who are amazing at computers, while I know really nerdy looking people who are absoloutley hopeless at computers. Even I, who am good at computers and wear glasses, don't concider myself to be a "nerd". Given they choice, I'd rather use notepad than emacs, Mandrake over Debian, Dell over Apple and so on.
It's more than the Guardian caught. Lok at the "classic" B-movies from the late 70s/early 80s, that featured the nerds, and the jocks/cheerleaders... In the post computer (and NASA, modern pharmacuticals, chemical advances, and the general explosion in engineering and technology) and wall street (80s greed is good, smart people making millions on wallstreet, etc.) and the cheesy comedies that were still appealing to the (now older) baby boomers feature 30 and 40 somethings.
Al Bundy is the classic stereotype... High school athlete and popular kid, now sells shoes. How many movies can you remember from the 90s that had people going to their high school reunion, terrified of seeing their tormentors, and their tormentor jock/cheerleader classmates worked in dead end jobs and their cheerleader wives got fat and miserable. And our hero, the high school nerd, impresses everyone with their accomplishments in business, engineering, etc.
The post-WW2 economy was about manufacturing jobs and the middle-class careers came from there.
The Information age jobs stemmed from math, science, or general intellectual pursuits. Sure Jobs/Gates made billions with computers, but Wall Street traders made millions in the 80s, and those weren't the football washouts.
There was a cultural change that followed the baby boomers aging. Manufacturing was replaced with the service sector, and the service sector is divided into minimum wage temps and high paid managers, with less and less middle management every year.
The good looking and popular football player that excelled in the factory because he was worshipped is gone, and the stereotype is now that he works as an automechanic or car salesman. The geek is seen as a high paid engineer or a successful executive.
That's been the see of change.
Alex
librarian.
swarming for the ?last? badtoll?
.continually
as anticipated.
disbulleave if you want to/must, but do keep your shades handy.
unprecedented evile/corepirate nazis/softwar gangster thugs/hired goons (Score:mynuts won, a snow job is better than no job?)
by Anonymous Coward
on Friday December 12, @06:04AM (#7699252)
cloning each other/themselves?
they need to
refresh the suppLIE of wannabe fraudulent phonIE monIE billyonerrors,
as the # of those with felony grand larcenIE indictmeNTs pending, or
already sentenced, & on 'probation', grows daily.
no matter,
as the unprecedented evile execrable's clones are greed/fear/ego based
also, they are no match for the creators' newclear power, &
planet/population rescue mandates..
actually, this stuff is
unbreakable, operates seamlessly on several (more than 3) dimensions,
& offers unlimited energy to build on.
a real nightmare for
the whoreabull payper liesense corepirate nazi softwar gangster stock
markup fraud execrable/walking dead contingent.
for each of the
creators' innocents harmed, there is a badtoll that must/will be repaid
by you/US, as the greed/fear/ego based perpetraitors of the life0cide
against the planet/population, will not be available to make
reparations.
felonious softwar gangsters hoping to freeze time? (Score:0)
by Anonymous Coward
on Thursday December 11, @06:35AM (#7688518 [slashdot.org])
buy striking DOWn UN motion to promote gnu/free stuff to developing nations.
they
seem to have hit the eXPanding georgewellian fuddite corepirate nazi
execrable moretoll bullock. it's really just a sintax (t)error, whereas
the fuddites' infactdead process, keeps replacing the 'one' in one
wwworld, with won.
lookout bullow. continued pretending does not help/makes things worse?, if that's even possible.
united? nations? just won?
consult
with/trust in yOUR creators.... the light itself, is not frozen, but
does function just as well in extremely low temperatures, all the
way down to mynuts won? see you there?
[ Reply to This
]
Being a nerd and enjoying nerdly activities is part of a delicate niche, held only by 3M tape that works remarkably well to bind the bridge of an unrepairable pair of reading glasses.
Just as hip-hop use to be appreciated by a smaller group of people, the fact that it is now mainstream, I suppose, lowers the quality of new material released (at least we don't have any white guys trying to act black).
So, is being more acceptable going to encourage the senseless stares and judgements of being unacceptable? Unlikely, since for an arbitrary thing, there is always an opposite and unattractive 'some thing'. Something that is 'cool' cannot exist without something that is 'geeky'.
Is it possible to merge the two ideals, cool and geek? Isn't that what we call, 'geek sheik'. A oxymoron in my opnion.
i don't think movies/comics/sci-fi/fantasy defines you as a nerd/geek.
i do use linux, thinker with the toaster and have tendencies to do non-mainstream things. but that's because i sort en enjoy having a good challenge
but on the other hand all that "cultural" stuff (movies, comics, animes, roleplaying etc..) won't touch me. sure i'll enjoy the occasional sci-fi movie, for the movie that it is. you won't ever see me at a star trek convention with spock ears (or whatever his name is).
am i a geek? probably. why do i care? i could probably be defined as a goth too, but again what is in a label but that, a label. it's for the unnassuming masses who feel a need to associate themselves with a predefined group so they can feel better about themselves
let the cool kids rot in hell, whatever they call themselves or not.
btw Existenz was, IMO, one of the worst movie of all time
you...don't seem to understand. we would drink beer, but we tend to prefer caffeine (for its accibility and on-the-job premession, not to mention its coding affects...). Most of us do not have girlfriends, and those that do either date geeky girls, or are shunned. in other words, fuck off and go play some sports, you fucking dolt.
mmm....caffeine....
Geek and proud. Nerds suck.
Seriously, for some reason I've always associated "geek" with smart and a little too involved with things, and "nerd" with a lack of social skills. No one else? Ah well, I don't get to dictate the language.
Actually the fact that I don't watch TV and I like classical music makes me freaky enough for most people. Parents already grab their children and pull them away from me in fear. At least I think that's why they do that.
you name one of your D&D characters after a character in the movie, or as a Dungeon Master you make a rule that nobody can name their characters after a LOTR character.
Onward to the Aether Sphere!
The trouble is that there is a great deal of movement between these tribes, and a great juggling of different enthusiasms. Could it be that a nerd is defined not so much by his specialist genre than by the nature and intensity of his interest?
Wow, this guy's a total nerd.
Peter Jackson - huge LOTR/King Kong Nerd.
Tobey Maguire - kind of an impish Nerd, but easily has the nerd look and feel
George Lucas - King of the Nerds
Harry Potter - Uses ineffective magic to make himself seem more Nerdish.
I disagree with the post.
The business smartypants have figured that a focus group of nerds will buy a LOT of "merchandise" and will be easy to create stuff for. No more difficult-to-capture subtle coolness, just stuff musclebound freaks and magic and/or technology on a DVD and its going to sell millions. Then make bendy animal versions of the main characters, sell millions of that. Then make a collectible card game, sell millions more.
This just means that nerd marketing is a good investment. The truly cool people will not participating.
Jag pratar lite svenska.
My favorite nerds were the pink and purple ones. Mmm nerds.
You know, I bought it until:
"you won't ever see me at a star trek convention with spock ears (or whatever his name is)."
Everyone knows who Spock is. You tried too hard, the veil has been pierced, I brand thee: NERD!
evil adrian
There's karma whores, karma trolls, karma etc ..
This just describes most male personalities. if you're not a computer nerd, you may be a car nerd, a gardening nerd or a cycling nerd (believe me, cyclists can truly out-nerd IT techies when it comes to the weight of various bits of shiny anodized aluminium). It's a general syndrome typified by an encyclopaedic knowledge of things J.Random Public doesn't know or care about, and a fascination with the minutiae of such things - so Tolkien nerds know the entire ancestry of Aragorn, bike nerds know the exact weight of their seatpost and car nerds know their ignition timing to the nearest degree BTDC.
When I am king, you will be first against the wall.
shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace, love, and infinite bandwidth.
Damn the man!
- A foolish, inept, or unattractive person.
- A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is
felt to be socially inept.
I'm just gonna crawl into bed now until New Years...The difference between nerds and geeks is that geeks have social skills. As you can't gain social stature without social skills, nerds (by definition) can't be 'cool'.
And none of these lines will cut it:
"hey, I'm running linux 2.6-pre8"
"wanna be the trinity to my neo?"
"I read on slashdot about..." (notice the sentence doesn't even finish before she's dumped your sorry ass!)
KARMA Attemts to Repress Meaningless Assholes
or something like that
Don't waste your vote! Vote for whoever you want, unless you live in a swing state it won't matter anyways
i know who he is, doesn't mean i care enough to know how to spell his name.
A friend of mine pointed out recently that today's case modders are the equivalent of guys who tinkered with cars in the fifties and sixties.
Evil is the money of root.
The casual moviegoer sees LOTR and The Matrix as just action movies. A lot of my friends just say "I saw the Matrix, cool kung-fu but I didn't get it".
LOTR is also another movie simply loved by the masses because it's so hyped up. I flipped through one of those popular culture mags and found all sort of Return of the King promotional stuff for sale or contests you can enter, with posters etc. Do you think they'd have John Howe paintings as posters in those magazines if LOTR was simply a dusty old book instead of never being made into a movie franchise?
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
We've now got lots more products that cater to the female market. There's the Goth section, with the Living Dead Dolls...
Something I've noticed is that about 80-90% of the goth-type people I meet can be described as geeky-- most are into sci-fi, graphic novels, have web pages, are proficient with computers, etc. My theory is that they were nerds first and then migrated to a subculture baroque enough to accomodate the intensity of their interests (which was channeled into the whole 'black' aesthetic). Alot of geek girls have goth tendencies, which is another attraction for the social outcast male.
I get beat up a lot less now that I wear 16 hole doc martins, anyway. Though I'm still a 130 pound weakling.
iopha
So much for that superiority complex, dumbass!
This stuff still doesn't make us cool. It just raises our profile as a marketable demographic. Not sure if this is a good or bad thing though.
-- Len
What if my mother already had a webserver running on her computer (one that she put on herself) ?
I am a nerd. I am also a dork and a geek. I think of these as three separate but related identities and have spent way too much of my free time developing discrete definitions of the three.
Nerds are defined by what they know. We tend to stick to societally acceptable topics, but dive in much deeper or cover a wider variety of subjects than most. We are the grad students of the world, the academics, researchers and general know-it-alls.
Dorks are defined by what they like. Similar to the nerd, we dive in much deeper than the average person, but the topics we pursue tend to be much more nontraditional. We learn to speak Klingon or Elvish or know the plot lines, writers, and artists of all the major comic books and most of the minor ones.
Geeks are defined by what they can do. We may not know as much as the nerd on any given topic, but we can do more with what we know. We can hook up a home theater, fix a computer, or super-charge a lawnmower. We are the tinkerers, programmers, and garage inventors.
Some broad examples of my taxonomy: Nerds get A's in AP classes. Dorks play D&D. Geeks set up LANs.
All of our incarnations have spent more time learning about stuff than we have interacting with other people, hence our reputation for social awkwardness. We are handy, interesting, and often downright annoying to have around when our specialty areas come up, but are otherwise generally avoided.
I'm a nerd/dork/geek, but that's not the entirety of my identity. I like myself and my life, and against all odds, I've managed to find a life partner who feels the same. Of course, she's a bit nerdy/dorky/geeky herself, but aren't we all?
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
"I'm not a nerd. Nerds are smart!"
These comments do express the opinions of my employers, and, personally, I think they're complete rubbish.
I was born in 71, my older sister in 62.
Sometime in the late 70's, I was playing with legos, and listening to my sister's "Grease" album on my fabric-covered folding record player, I remember looking up and seeing this poster on the wall: ARE YOU A NERD? kind of like "you might be a redneck...": the guy had a pocket protector, broken glasses, booger on finger for later eating, briefcase, &c. It was some trend thing.
A couple years later she had a "are you a preppie" poster, of the same kind of thing. Damn she wore a lot of pink and green that year.
I guess it was around 1976.
before it was cool.
Seriously, it's not as prestigious a title when everyone is a 'nerd.' Atleast we still have our geekiness with our super computer inteligence (doesn't include spelling). Geek is a term that will keep evolving to include the small group of people who live the newest technologies and apreciate the arcane knowlegde of such things.
-Tim Louden
The dog collar that translates barking into English. http://www.bowlingual-translator.com/html/bowlingu al-inventors.php3
And coming soon, the cat collar that ranslates meowing into English!
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Who remembers being considered a freak when it wasn't cool to watch anime? Who remembers watching dragon ball Z over 15 years ago? Now the cartoon network can't show enough anime.
Its funny how people who are the first adopt something new are considered "crazy"
Am just waiting for the inevitable string of comments "I was a nerd before it was cool"
Where did the comments go!?
On to the point. I happened to be doing some computer/photo work over at my inlaws, where the reality show 'Average Joe' was on. It was the 'big, final, show', where the chick is picking between a rich nerd, and the sterotypical 'handsome guy'.
As I was in the same room as this, I witnessed the ending where the chick picks the 'handsome guy' (who actually lives in his parent's basement) over the rich nerd (who was not unattractive, but slightly goofy)
I had predicted that 'whoever was the biggest assole will be chosen' - the nerd seemed sensitive and not an asshole at all - but the money was throwing off the equation. 'Handsome guy' was actually more average from what I saw; by the definite lack of personality.
Somewhere I lost the point, but I haven't had enough coffee. Needless to say, the show left me with a sour feeeling.
The moral of the story: Rich nerds still don't get the girl, if they're competing against generic 'handsome guys'.
I'm married, but I'm stunningly handsome;) , and rich some of the time, and a nerd. I met my wife at a rock show I was playing, so go figure.
nerds, and nerdish behaviour, will never be cool...
I don't want to be here.
What's Sneakers? I've seen the other 3 films and liked 'em, so I'm guessing I'm missing out on something cool here.
Yeah, I could google it or look on imdb, but on the other hand it would be nice for someone to tell me. Cheers.
evil math within Nature's Cubic Creation!
You have Sam Raimi and Quentin Tarantino, who has been described as resembling the Marvel superhero The Thing.
... unless he's bulked up a whole lot in the last few years and gotten a bad skin condition.
What? Tarantino resembles the idol to millions, the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing? I take it they meant resembles in temperment
No, really, that's being too nice to Tarantino. The Thing is hot-headed and on occasion would destroy property or fight with Johnny Storm aka The Human Torch. Tarantino, on the other hand, punches women in the face. Mr. Tarantino, I know the Thing, I've read Fantastic Four, and you, sir, could not handle the Yancy Street Gang.
-- dR.fuZZo
It's way easier for one to be a nerd (or at least, be classified as a nerd by others) nowadays. Back then we used to get beaten up badly, now it's a trend. We must come up with something new to receive our daily dose of adrenalin while running from them bullies. It's kinda similiar to what freedivers do, they seek higher buildings.
-raz
"I shoot troubles with a jackhammer"
You know, just playing video games like an addict does not make one a nerd. A guy that lives across the street from me apparently plays Tribes 2 all the time to the chagrin of his wife, but I can tell you right now that the guy is a big meathead.
/.'ers DO NOT have. Many computer programmers do not have social skills. Many scientists don't have excellent social skills. So anyways, if you truly want to call yourself a nerd or geek, make sure to be a fat, greasy, smelly person who excels at putting others off in nearly all circumstances. Only then will you achieve true "geek/nerd" status.
Just being totally involved in The Matrix, Star Wars, and LotR trilogies on screen does not make one a geek.
I wouldn't even consider myself a nerd or a geek, even though I've done all of the above, use Linux exclusively at home now, have several computers all doing various things at any one time, am into math, am working on a computer engineering degree, and love to read books on physics theory in my spare time. But for all that, I still wouldn't consider myself a pure geek or nerd, even though many other people would. You see, I have social skills. Something many of you
I don't know who said it was cool to like any of that stuff... but trust me, they were wrong.
http://cassettefetish.com
It's all relative. I don't always consider myself a standard nerd (don't like MTG time games or anything). However, I can't say it was cool that me and my friends have stayed up all night betting on who would win various episodes of the iron chef.
As for tech-nerd status. Everyone has people that know less and people that know more. I fix a lot of people's tech problems, and they think I'm a jedi at that stuff, but I still have higher ups that I need to go to now and then when I'm in over my head.
I think at the base of the Hierarchy sits two chairman, Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson, but that's just my two cents...
-t
http://unmoldable.com W:"No one of consequence" I:"I must know" W:"Get used to disappointment"
Moore's law dude, Moore's law
Will code a sig generator for food
Buying the extended version of LOTR DVD or going to a Harry Potter movie does not make one a nerd or geek... Reading /. does not make you a nerd.
There 'appear' to be more nerds, but this is just a fashion trend... it will pass. It is just another mass-marketing phenomena.
You know who you are! I, for one, do not pretend to be a nerd or geek or whatever. I just like fantasy, science, science-fiction, philosophy, technology, computers and books, and collecting all previous mentioned.
Nerd is an epithet, not a badge of honor. That's like saying we're proud to be motherfuckers or something.
Without the comments, we'll have to read the articles!
Noooooooo!
Wonder if this post will work now...
why be so eager to stereotype or classify yourself? If being a geek means you have to watch this or that movie, i'm glad i'm not one. If being a geek is all about experimenting with technology and the urge to learn new stuff, i pity the people who aren't geeks...
bada bing
You will be assimilated. Your biological and cultural distinctiveness will be adapted to service us. Resistance is futile.
I think what made us cool was that suddenly we could pull down 40-60K right out of school, and Some of us make millions, while the Football QB is pulling down 30k in his insurance sales position.
I, for one, welcome our new nerd overl....wait a minute. That's us!
Proud to be a card-carrying nerd since 1983!!
Chaos will always win out over order because chaos is more organized
Milhouse: "I'm not a nerd. Nerds are smart"
now if only they'd make being fat and addicted to caffeine cool i'd be james dean!
Who cares about labels such as "Nerd", "Geek" or whatever? My likes and dislikes are my business and no one elses. So what if I love science and computers? I also love my wife and my son. What anyone else thinks about me does not matter one bit. Sure, I was tormented by the "cool" kids in school, but as I grew up I realized those people don't matter to me. I hang out with people I like. That's it. If you're going to be a petty, childish dick, then piss off!
*I* think they're cool. Doesn't *make* them cool.
Boo.
Cannot read the comments...
Finally, Slashdot being slashdotted.
Moderating 101
w00t
is it my imagination, or have all of the replies to everything been removed?
"Champagne for my real friends - and real pain for my sham friends!" http://ericblade.postalboard.com/
Spiderman, Hulk, and Harry Potter...these are targeted at *kids*. Sure, the Harry Potter books are good (I've read the first four), but we're really talking about fantasy books that sell the most among preteens. And who buys Spideman and Hulk *toys*? Kids! Duh! Sure, adults have fond memories of superheroes, but we don't obssess about them. The movies are more feel-good nostalgia than anything else. But none of this has anything to go with the general populace being nerds.
Now the rise of the PC, that's unsettling. You hear middle aged women talking about firewalls and WiFi, and it takes some getting used to. But realize that PCs are completely mainstream now, so this shouldn't be a big shock. The catch is that such people use their computers to do their work, or to browse the web, or whatever, and don't just obssess about computers for computers' sake.
whut about the legions on heavy metal nerds..the DIO fans and hordes of power metal , dungeons and dragons , elves and dragons power metal bands like Iced Earth , Hammerfall, Rhapsody...those guys are the nerd crowd in the scene as opposed to say.. pantera or something
no, the jocks and other losers just get to reap the spoils of our battles with science, much like the citizens of a nation reap the spoils of battle when an army wins a war. they are not nerds just like the citizens of a nation are not all soldiers.
Being a nerd got me several hot (non-nerd) GF's in high school. I guess they liked those compliments they could barely understand. Hint...study romantic literature, Shakespeare, Tolkien.
I have not watched neither Hulk nor Spiderman and none of the Lord of the Ring movies. I think the Matrix movies suck and I find Harry Potter pathetic.
I have been trying so hard to become normal and now I am a geek for NOT watching?!
Here in Colorado, after Columbine - an interesting thing happened. Instead of reaching out to the geeky kids, and vilifying the jocks who oppressed them - the opposite happened. Adults went out of their way to demonstrate why jocks beating up geeks was the ACCEPTED reality, and it actually reinforced itself. The Columbine football team went on to win the local high School league, and all the major news outlets covered it like the Super Bowl. The jocks got endorsements, they were worshiped for their ability to "overcome" the tragedy, although it was quite clear they were the driving force behind Klebold and Harris behavior.
It was very strange. Colorado high schools have the very worst case of hating the smart kids, promoting mediocrity, and pumping jock culture. That is one reason I intend to leave before my kids become school age and move to a state that actually understand what a magnet school is, and what it is for.
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Fsck now the species will die out in a handful of generations.
Nerds in general usually get laid a handful of times so no more babies, unless they find a geek grrl.
hmm, on the other hand if we are all nerds then all girls must be a derivitive of or similar to a geek grrl (who can be the most attractive in my opinion, aka a girl who like geek stuff, is smart, and still sexy)......
I welcome this new world.:-D
"Secrecy is the keystone of all tyranny. Not force, but secrecy
From the book: "And then, just to show them, I'll sail to Ka-Troo And Bring Back an It- Kutch a Preep and a Proo a Nerkle a Nerd and a Seersucker, too!"
Yet more mastery from one of my favorite 20th century authors....(go read the Lorax now, dammit)
Peter Bagge has a funny comic on this theme.
IT is the one true hacker movie... all others must be judged by it.
Food not Bombs is a nice platitude but it breaks down when you notice that the Bombees are usually well fed
The term you are searching for is "geek chic".
Some broad examples of my taxonomy: Nerds get A's in AP classes. Dorks play D&D. Geeks set up LANs
all these year's I've been calling myself a geek, when now I finally realize I'm a dork. That's both scary and depressing. We'll at least all the money I spent on Magic cards wasn't in vain.
Excellent breakdown there. I wonder, though, if all these tendencies flow from the same source; is it really possible to have one or two, but not the other? Have you ever seen a geek who never had any really, really wacky personality quirks, aka dorkiness? Maybe there's a reason so many geeks are in SCA, fencing, LARPs, etc.
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
They're the ones walking out of Spiderman or LOTR bitching about all of the changes the movie made to the original story.
All of the above read slashdot, and bitch about other who aren't of the same nerd sub-genre as themselves from time-to-time (the famous troll "how is *this* news for nerds")
Perhaps someone from the MPAA should read this article..
Internet/Electronics:
:)
Just because us nerds made technology easy enough for the general population to use does not mean that the general population is nerds. Technology has always progressed and there have always been people who push technological development and those who simply use the results. When the general population can design these technologies then you can talk.
Video Games:
This has never been limited to nerds. When the nintendo came out, all the kids wanted one not just the nerds. I have a friend that works at a game store and he says the worst part about it is that half the people that come in are the stupid jocks with the "this game is cool cause you kill people" mentality. The only video gaming that have been specific to nerds are MUDs, and for that matter, pen-and-paper roll playing as well. So the popularity of MMRPG's is a step in that direction, although the potential for creativity is much less than MUDs and other role-playing games. Fantasy goes along the same lines. Everyone likes a good adventure, only geeks build entire worlds in their imagination.
Comic Books:
Again, in my dad's time, all the boys liked comic books. What makes you a comic book geek is knowing every single aspect of every single comic, to the point where you are more in touch with the comic book universe and more capable of spotting plot inconsistencies than the creator himself. Diddo for star wars, star trek. Plenty of non-geeks watch those shows. Only the geeks worshiped them
The whole bit about how nerds are succesfull after high school has also always been true. And nerds are still treated the same way in high school as they have always been. The only change in that dynamic, which he barely mentioned, is the new goth, freak, punk groups that have grown staring around the late 70's. They tend to be more nerd-friendly than the popular people.
But yeah nothing he said indicated any sort of signicicant change.
The correct answer to that would have been "I don't wear a pair of Dr. spock ears".
/.
That would have established your credentials as a non-geek or non-nerd who reads
Malvin: "That girl's standing right over there and you're talking about her back door?!!?"
Could someone please tell this to my girl friend. She hates that I go into my "cave" and play FFXI or surf the web for hours upon hours instead of watching MTV's Real World Road Rules Super Duper Kerplunk Special.
Ave Molech Setting
Seriously folks, does anyone else feel this way? I don't mind at all being called a geek. I fit the profile. That's cool. But "nerd"? I dunno, I've just never liked the sound of that. It seems more negative somehow. Thoughts?
Nerds were/are ahead of their time. Victory is mine >:)
Seeing how most of my cube mates have legos, action figures, and my personal fav: a model of the Starship Yamato, I don't think your assessment of of who buys the toys is entirely correct.
Heck, I've got a Tick action figure, myself. I used have a bunch of Gundam models, but my son bogarted them.
Clear, Dark Skies
It was always said that the geeks shall inherit the earth!!! Or did I hear it wrong?
True coding geeks at there finest, the geek version of robot wars .... is that possible?
Sometimes I hate being a manager....
Everyone's a nerd because some bits of sci-fi culture have made it into the mainstream? Bull. Everyone who called me for help this year because they'd (insert blurb from Computer Stupidities here) had seen the Matrix, too.
Chuck Norris: Socialism == a thousand years of darkness.
Every chick I meet says that she's a "real geek". 9 times out of ten, it's not true, but it definitely IS the cool thing among the hipster community right now. Just check out Friendster, and you'll see what I mean. I'm sick of hearing it really, because it's not true. Some chick tells me she's a geek, and I ask her about some article on /. or about OSX, she has no idea what I'm talking about, so I just tell her to shut up and take her clothes off.
when homosexuals refer to themselves as gay, or blacks refer to themselves with the n* word. You take an ephitat or insult and turn it into a badge of pride.
Clear, Dark Skies
One reason for the boom in IT jobs was that almost anyone who knew how to work Windows competently could get a $20/hour job helping office workers with Windows. Now that everyone has figured out how to work Windows, those jobs are not there.....
eat shiat and bark at the moon
You're still a big nerd if you like those things. And you're definitely not cool.
Amen!
I hate to be the one to say this, but this is such a load. I see a story like this every few months. It's the product of nerds trying to validate their existence.
I am a nerd myself. I'm a programmer, computer enthusiast, video gamer, star trek fan, and lanky white guy whose social skills are always in question.
However, I have no illusions about what I am.
Nerds are relative to non-nerds. You can call them Jocks, but that's not the whole of it - Nerds are compared against anyone who is not a nerd. Yes, Geeks count. You are not special just because you change the word.
I'm sure everyone is wondering what a non-nerd is. It's easy to say someone who is jock-ish, works out and is well built, good with the ladies, has some fashion and hygiene sense, works a blue-collar job that makes them dirty every day, and doesn't flinch at loud noises. Add a general lack of intelligence, and you've got yourself a non-nerd, right?
That is an insufficient description of a non-nerd, however. Some nerds work out (usually in a martial arts class) and have good fashion sense. It's simpler to define it as someone who exhibits fewer nerd-like properties than the nerd they are comparing themselves against.
Take two seemingly identical nerds. When they argue, whoever wins by pounding the other with logic and refusing to stop arguing is the bigger nerd. Whichever one has less muscle, and/or is less tan than the other guy is the bigger nerd. Whichever one likes Star Trek more is the bigger nerd. See how simple it is?
And the funny thing is, whichever one considers himself "less" nerdy than the other guy, no matter how nerdy he is, is still a big nerd - however, he does get bragging rights to call the other guy a nerd and proclaim that he is not one himself.
So let's just stop already. We're all nerds, if you want to get technical about it (and if you do, you're a big nerd) but some of us are far less nerdy than others. Those people have every right to call the nerds nerds, beat them up, laugh at them, and assault their self-esteem.
It's your job as a nerd to either accept your place in the pecking order as a nerd and forget about it, dealing with the occasional wedgie or insult now and then, or try to make as many other people as possible look more nerdy than you.
# Erik
(a) Ham Radio
(b) Adults doing LEGO and/or model cars and airplanes
(c) Recumbent bicycles
(d) Miniatures
(e) Astronomy
Normal culture will never assimilate these.
"Would you *like* to see my hulk"...might do the trick...
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
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Yeah, kinda like social security.
I've been saying this for years. Give it up. The only reason you want to be labeled a "Nerd" or a "Geek" is to fulfill your elitist suprimisist ego. The Nerd is dead. The word is no longer useful. You are not a hero. You are not exceptional. There are no "levels" of geek you fit under. No levels of "nerd". Just move on with your life and forget about the whole thing.
That rocks.
People who quote themselves bug the crap out of me -- Me.
You know, the nerd who tries to mack on the hot women by offering to fix their computer problems.
Somehow I figured you'd have a Slashdot account.
Velcro shoes and fanny pack!
---
eeww, I'll have a crab juice.
who wanted to follow up with "in the Dope Show".
7 November 2006: The day Americans realized corruption and incompetence weren't addressing 11 September 2001
Say I can can fix an engine or plumbing, but I don't know how to set up a LAN?
I think the biggest points are applicable knowledge and the dedication required to attain that knowledge.
The more useless your knowledge (you have memorized all the Magic cards) and the more of your life spent learning it, the less "cool" you are.
Spending years learning medicine is cool. Doctors are cool.
Spending years re-reading old Dragon Magazines and memorizing all the D&D rules is not cool.
Wasting one afternoon a month reading Spiderman when you were a kid is okay. Wasting one afternoon and watching Spiderman in the theatre as an adult is okay.
Memorizing all the different artists and writers and what issues they were involved in and how the villian's superpower wasn't consistent between writers, is not okay.
Computer geeks/nerds/dorks/whatever are okay now because computers are common now.
Linux is still nerdy or geeky because it isn't common yet.
welcome becoming a new overlord.
Right now the "True Path" seems to be running a detour through the wide paved road of the Random Masses. If we gain some fellow travelers, great. But the Brights and the Normals will part ways over time again.
Come on, I've been around long enough to remember the Cyberpunk craze. Randoms wandered into our midst, learned a few buzzwords, and then promptly forgot we existed as soon as the next bright shiny thing appeared.
"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival."
--Dr.W.Edwards Deming
However, trolling is Soooo 2001.
I guess that puts smack-dab into the 'dork' category, anti-slash boy.
We Are All Nerds Now...
;D
That's not the word on the schoolyard.
Just because a little fantasy and sci-fi is popular, don't think for a minute nerds are accepted into society.
25 years ago we had STAR WARS, WILLOW, etc. THey were hits for Nerds and non-nerds alike.
And today you have the same crap going on.
I felt embarrassed for about 25 people at the Matrix Revolution that wore their black leather and sunglasses and walked around like some freak-show. How about the Star Wars fans that dress up and go about the foolishness. LOTR has theirs too.
NERDS ARE STILL OUT THERE AND STILL MOCKED. The problem so many of you have to learn to deal with is YOU ARE NOT THE NERD YOU THINK YOU ARE!
The days of a computer person = NERD is over, however the Nerd gene pool still exists and will still be mocked.
Razzious Domini
I could be a GREAT KARMA WHORE if I could just shed the few morals I have left.
There are a lot of schools like this. I grew up in Oklahoma/Texas and I assure you, being a nerd is still *not* cool. Not unless you like getting beat up, picked on, etc.
I still can't get a date!!!!
...being susceptible to slickly-packaged and heavily-marketed entertainment makes one a nerd (geek/dork/preferred label)? Nothing against, say, The Matrix or Lord of the Rings (Wednesday, precioussss...), but you don't have to be part of any culture but Western to appreciate those.
Mr. Journalist Man, come back to me when you have computer parts scattered across your living room, and have forgotten to eat or shower because you've almost got that code working, dammit, or when you have more genre fiction books and and comic titles than square feet in your house stacked up in your bedroom, or when you have just roleplayed for 12 hours straight because you couldn't bear to let the session end, or when you finally resolve Saturn as a disc through the telescope you built yourself. It's not about the trappings...it's about the passions.
Hmm...apparently I take my counterculture identity more seriously than I had thought.
-Carolyn
Like Daddy always said: if you can't dazzle 'em with brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit.
I've got a Green Lantern cover as my desktop wallpaper at work, and one of our architects came by and saw it, and she said "Ooooh, Green Lantern! Bruce Lee was so cool in that."
"That was Green Hornet, not Green Lantern," I said with mock disdain.
Then she asked me what Green Lantern's origin was. Before I knew it, I had launched into a detailed explanation of Hal Jordan's beginnings. It was surreal. I've never said the words "Abin Sur", "power ring", or "Guardians of Oa" out loud before.
When the story was over we switched back to talking about our firm's marketing materials, but then I paused in mid-sentence and said "I can't believe I just told you Green Lantern's origin". It was so weird, because usually the geekness is kept pretty private. I don't have any like-minded people to talk about comics with. But now when I'm stoned with my girlfriend, I tell her to ask me about the origins of superheroes so I can go off on a long, rambling, tanget-laden story about the Flash(es), or Cyclops & Havok, or how Aquaman lost his hand, etc. It's a lot of fun, and it feels good to share. And my girlfriend is very amused.
Better than jury duty? I don't think so.
-Reid
Therefore making it the easiest color to coordinate. No thinking about 'will this go with that' or anything. Just grab a black shirt and black pants and you're set.
Unless you're in arizona; and then you're screwed.
I wish I had some mod points. The next time someone calls me a dork, I'll point them to your description (at which point they will be impressed with what I know and correctly call me a nerd).
-- Solaris Central - http://w
The Lord of the Rings has made nerds, and nerdish behaviour, cool."
Watching the LOTR movies is definatley cool, but if you ever say "I've read those books at least 5 times, and the Battle at (whereever) was better in the book" then that is definately NOT "cool."
will inherit the Earth..
*cue Rush*
echo
I also want to say is that the reason most geeks are looked down upon is usually because they're socially inept be it not knowing how to carry a conversation, being self conscious, saying things that put people off or just plain bad uncomfortable vibe. Look at Linus Torvalds. His interview in Wired made him look very charming, charismatic and intelligent. I think most people would take that first impression and allow them to see the geek that he is, in a positive light.
I only mod up parents of "mod parent up" posts...
Sadly, for most of the other bandwagons I'm on, I doubt that they ever WILL become "cool".
We already have that something to differentiate Us from Them. It's called virginity.
...you insensitive clod!
I don't think I am geek, I played sports in HS and college, never had a problems with getting a girl-friend, but I always loved things like math, chess(strategy games), and computers.
I always say I am a geek when it comes to computers, and there is no shame in this rather a compliment.
So my father-in-law in a geek when it comes to old engines. Or my friend is a geek when it comes to James Bond movies, etc.
Does anyone else talk like this?
No.
The good looking and popular football player that excelled in the factory because he was worshipped is gone, and the stereotype is now that he works as an automechanic or car salesman. The geek is seen as a high paid engineer or a successful executive.
No the "good looking and popular football player" goes on to becomes a salesman or marketing exec making a nice 6 figure salary (probably getting a nice Christmas bonus as well). While the geek/nerd works a dead end system admin job or script writer for a measily 65k a year (probably getting a mug or mousepad with the corp logo as a Christmas bonus).
Yeah there are exceptions to the rule, but the bottom line is on average the good looking charismatic salesman lives in the pseudo-luxo mansion making money off the products produced by the tech monkey.
Homer: Welcome to the Internet, my friend. How can I help you?
Comic Book Guy: I'm interested in upgrading my 28.8 kilobaud Internet connection to a 1.5 megabit fiber optic T1 line. Will you be able to provide an IP router that's compatible with my Token Ring Ethernet LAN configuration?
Homer: (pause) Can I have some money now?
He sure sounds like a geek to me.;)
Is this a sigs-optional kind of place? 'Cause I am totally down with that if you know what I mean.
cat and girl explain it all
...only a geek would argue with another over whether spiderman or wolverine would win if they battled eachtoher!
....the only way us nerds met women was by being sysop of a BBS. For some reason there was a 'sysop mystique' we could take advantage of.
A Good Intro to NetBS
I've stopped caring about belonging to a classifiction BACK IN HIGH SCHOOL.
I do things which are sometimes nerdy, sometimes not nerdy.
I am not a stereo-type. I am me, with all the wonderful degrees of every group in me.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
Not being accepted has a certain allure to some people actually. They enjoy being the outsiders and feel a certain sense of pride and superiority from it, just like what some people feel from being a closely associated with a group (i.e. team, military, political party, etc).
It is by the juice of the coffee bean that thoughts acquire speed, the teeth acquire stains. The stains become a warning
I have to admit, it was nice having somewhere the Great Unwashed didn't have access. Maybe that's a little snobby but when the AOLers rolled in it was abrasive. They were idiots and they were rude, by our standards anyway. By today's standards they were towers of tact and decorum.
Maybe a little geek balkanization wouldn't be such a bad thing. Something to separate the real geeks from the wannabes. Some-whereeeeee o-ver the rain-bow, en-crypt-eeeeed satellite network...
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Klebold and Harris didn't take out enough of those pampered mothereffers. Too bad they didn't get the bombs built. Lots of shrapnel to take out all those pretty plastic surgury faces. Do it on parent/teacher night so the mothereffing dogcrap parents could be converted into burning whiffs of chemicals too.
Cube kinda sucked, but Pi would be up there with the best movies ever made. After that movie the producer (or maybe it was the director~"~) did Requiem for a Dream, and from there he got the new Batman movie coming out. You can just see the budgets climbing exponentially.
Doesn't that make Pi less geeky though:)...
I can't imagine anyone not appreciating Pi as a movie, even if it isn't somthing they'd choose themselves.
Also did anyone notice where LOTR the Two Towers got its theme music from.
VENI, VIDI, VICI, DIXI
Shortly after my nephew was old enough to speak I tried to teach him the names of the original Star Trek crew.
Ten years later it is obvious thhat it didn't take; three bullies tried to beat the crap out of him last year... he beat the crap out of them instead, all at once. He's had two girlfriends... at the same time. He doesn't know who Spock is.
I think I've failed to create the next generation of nerd/geek/whatever in my family. :(
has made nerds, and nerdish behaviour, cool.
Tell that to the jocks that beat me up in gym class everyday.
They're so much easier than thinking or considering individuals.
--- Ban humanity.
nerdish behavior is not even becoming -popular-. what's becoming popular is merely -part- of the content that used to be exclusively in the domain of the nerdish. it's being coopted and de-geeked. as acceptance of parts of our domain grow, some of those parts are merely breaking out of our social stigma.
watching a scifi or fantasy movie may not be nerdy anymore, but reading a scifi/fantasy book, or discussing the technology/philosophy still is.
having a collection of comic-based movies may be cool, but having an actual comic book collection will still get the derogatory labels applied.
no friend-geeks, this is not 'our' time. this is merely a time of acceptance of some of the content and media we embraced long ago.
those who lead can never be part of the pack.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
When you start trying to do things with technology that arn't mainstream, like using linux or even just making a webserver on your mom's computer, then I'd say you are getting there.
I'd say that this isn't even enough. "Geek" or "Nerd" isn't about achieving a milestone...it's a process - a way of life that is focused on technology, technical skill, and forward thinking. It is a passion, not an event. People who are geeks EARN that distinction....not by installing the latest uber-cool Linux distro, for example, but by knowing why one distro might be better than another within a given set of circumstances. HUGE difference.
Just because "nerdy" things happen to be popular at the moment doesn't make everyone "a nerd".
Some would say that the thing that connects all nerds is heaps of knowledge or intelligence, but there are certainly counter-examples for this. Plenty of doctors are not nerds.
What about the strong desire to investigate how things work, to learn, to take apart? There are plenty of people that seem content to take the world at face value and watch TV for their entertainment, but I know a lot of mechanics who like to take things apart to see how they work. Do they count as nerds? Do archaologists?
As the article said, it's a tough label to pin down. But is that bad?
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
The Internet boom made nerds cool years ago, and rich too. Ain't nothing wrong with a little nerditude, just don't let me catch you riding a Segway...
Imagine you had a form to fill out before you were born that let you pick your sexual orientation and gender identity. Selections include "I want to be a man, I want to be a woman, I want to be both", and "I want to be attracted to men, women, or both".
I don't know about you, but "both" sounds like a great answer to both questions!
As Woodie Allen said, being bisexual doubles your chances on Saturday night. I am also seeing in the generation coming of age now a fluid sense of gender identity that is rather different then that which emerged during the 70's counter-culture. Then, masculinity and feminity blended together, now the boundary is crisper, but is also considered more crossible.
Maybe its just because I am a nerdy bi trannie that I see things this way!
Maybe nerds can be socially acceptable, but geeks probably never will. There's just something disturbing about biting a chicken's head off that makes it impossible to become popular.
LOTR blew dogs. And, in all likelyhood, so do many of the cast. Just because something is hyped, doesn't mean it's good. Just because something makes a lot of money, doesn't mean it's good. This happens to be a geek/nerd forum, hence the enthousiasm.
Quite frankly, I'm surprised Muppets didn't make it into LOTR. But then again, there's still The Hobbit.
Why do geeky/nerdy types enjoy that crap? Escapism maybe? Cute, Boo-Boo type pathetic characters they can identify with? Who cares. It makes them happy, much like a balloon makes my 3-year-old happy.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
I had some whiny-ass sniveling user on the phone one day... he said something about "..you computer nerds..." I stopped him and said, "Actually, I prefer to be called a geek.".
True story.
"Would it kill you to put down the toilet seat?" -- Maya Angelou
...that jocks are now the outcast?
When presented powerfully, as we've seen with the latest round of Hollywood-ized fantasy flicks, it's virtually impossible for anyone to ignore the attraction of these kinds of work.
However, when presented by skinny, awkward guys wearing awful costumes and feebly battling one another outside of the local comic convention, I can almost understand why the mainstream would disregard fantasy and/or comicbook fiction as a viable means of entertainment.
No, it's still not cool. There was like a meta-hype about nerdyness about 3-5 years ago or so, but it isn't cool. Nerdy is still nerdy.
:wq!
Cube, Pi, ExiZtenZ, and sneakers are a few movie I can think of that I've seen, but I doubt any non-geek has (unless made so by their SO)...
I've actually known several very-nongeek* people who really liked Pi (at least 4 I can think of off the top of my head). Sneakers, though, I think you may be right.
* In this case, that means people who majored in art, history, writing, etc and now do things not remotely related to math, science, or engineering.
ive noticed this trend growing since the dot-com boom, and its become quite annoying EVEN Vin Diesel played D&D in the 80's!! grah... we definitely need to find some way to rise ubove the populace in a truly nerdy fashion... while still getting the girls of course
With all the "geeks" out there there has been a stratification of geekdom. You have the annabe's, the internet help desk geeks, uber geeks, and the BOFH's.
The meek shall inherit whatever they are damn well given. This is why the BOFH's rule over all. While other nerds and dork wonder in the friend zone, the BOFH's go out with the message chicks, the models and the local gym hotties.
So get some balls my fellow nerds. Use your power for at least personal gain if not oververt overlordship! Blackmail the DP pool stunner into going to the bar with you. Tap phone lines, read other email!
---- It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again. It does this whenever it's told.
No wait, "Unix" was that funky GUI in Jurassic Park, right? The little girl said so!
Seriously, Unix has invaded the American home in the form of the Tivo, and most Tivo owners have no idea. But that just showcases the strength of Linux: flexibility. It can be easier to use than Windows with the right interface, and everything else about it is (IMHO) already an improvement.
You're right, though, in that mainstream folks will never have _control_ over Unix, but they weren't even writing BAT files back when home computers used DOS. I think that Unix will come into the mainstream home, but like Tivo, people won't necessarily recognize it. Some argue that most people don't really know Windows is there, and just care about the applications, and I certainly see some truth to that.
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
YahYahYahYAH...yes It is about time for us mentally gifted in flaven to be in the zoibenar.
I do not think this is anything new. I think people misunderstand what a "nerd" really is, which is not someone that's into tech stuff, but someone who is so passionate about an interest, that they sometimes allow their obsession to interfere with more social types of behavior.
Passion has always been a main ingredient in movies, television and the media. There's nothing new about that. There are waves of certain genres of film and TV which become more and less popular, but nerd'ness isn't specifically about sci-fi or computers. Anyone who is truly passionate about something can be a "nerd."
That after all these years, Huey Lewis would be proved right?!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
The general population plays FPS's on PS2's, Gamecubes, and Xbox's.
Nerds play Ultima and Monkey Island on their PC's.
And True Nerds write their own engines for playing Ultima and Monkey Island on their PC's!
Ladies that have been recently "Uncoolified" (cheerleaders, etc.). Being that "coolness" is a sexually and socially transmitted disease, I am willing to infect you with my newly contracted "coolness". Sign up now.
I hate star trek
Ive never played D&D
I stay away from video games
so does that mean I'm not a nerd.
I allways thought that being a geek meant that you were really jazzed about technology,
that you believed in the future of technowlogy and wanted to play a part in its future.
to me a geek or a nerd is someone who cares more about performance that looks.
when i call myself a geek or a nerd. most people think I'm crazy, but then they see me spending at least 20 hours a week learning new technology or experimenting with new OSes or applications.
thats what a geek is to me, so i think that the author of this article is seriously missinformed. and well i didn't read anything other than the headline.
The Matrix is not a nerd phoenomenon.
LOTR is.
The Matrix is a marketing phoenomenon.
Soccer moms aren't reading Tolkien; they are attending lame, over-hyped movies.
LOTR is an epic story. The Matrix is a formulaic series of screenplays designed to show off special effects, distract the masses, and make money for corporations. The origins (and the circumstances/motivation under which they were written) of these disparate trilogies are completely different and no self-respecting nerd would lump them together.
As a proud nerd, I feel it's my obligation to point this out. LOTR is an icon of nerd'ness, but the Matrix is today's FX flavor of the week.
What about dorks and dweebs?
What's has me in a quandry now, I've always considered myself a nerd. But it was my SO, who is not a geek/nerd, who made me watch Pi. So now, who is the true nerd?
Nerds have the ultimate revenge later on, when they attend their High School reuninions, driving up in their Porches watching the fat, dumb jocks being led around by their annoying, whiny wives. The nerds have great jobs. The jocks are selling insurance or working in retail. The tables turn.
Dorks are NOT nerds.
I don't care WHAT kind of electrical equipment
they own or carry.
I grew up in Michigan. They seemed to know what magnet schools were for. After the instution of the magnet program there was the basketball school, the football school and the metal-shop school.
Magnet programs just seem like an excuse to leave some students behind and to ensure others don't have to learn too many advanced or broad subjects to graduate.
Most important of all, school doesn't make you what you become. You have to do so. School does provide some tools to do so.
Do we also get to bang the cheerleaders?
! the cheerleaders
ducks
I thought it was social incompetence, not the movies you watch or the gadgets you use that define one as a "nerd."
lev@levtop:~$ dict ponce
1 definition found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
ponce
n : someone who procures customers for whores (in England they
call a pimp a ponce) [syn: {pimp}, {procurer}, {panderer},
{pander}, {pandar}, {fancy man}]
lev@levtop:~$
You can have your circuit board my lad
Q: What do you think about American Culture?
A: I think it's a good idea.
(adapted from Gandhi)
Except for that whole visual, generic crypto cracker. Like that was believeable. :)
Still, much better than Antitrust, Swordfish, or (sigh) Hackers. Gawd! -- I can't believe a wasted a Netflix rental on Antitrust.
Method of processing duck feet
Told you I was hardcore.
...if you have spent any amount of time arguing what the difference between a nerd and a geek is.
I know I'm guilty as charged!
If God had had a computer it would have taken him 7 months to create the earth...if he even bothered to do it at all.
No it hasn't. There are still plenty of us who wonder what lusers would still play D&D style games years after they used it as an escape from real life in high school. You weren't cool then, and you aren't now. You never will be. Get over it.
And I would be lying if I said the n* word wasn't still controversial, even when Richard Pryor or Eddie Murphy is the one using it; but when I call myself a geek I use it as a term of pride - I survived everything the jocks and preppies threw at me and I now hold a postion of more worth and more income than all of them. So, I can afford to throw their insult right back in their faces.
Clear, Dark Skies
...not to mention The Lord of the Rings has made nerds, and nerdish behaviour, cool.
Oh, I wish.
these days there are too many nerd-wannabes out there. people who think they're smart, and try to brag about their what-they-think-are-nerdish activities.
I disagree.
I've actually thought about this topic a bit, and to show how fast things change ("internet speed" as it were), I'll compare my brother and myself. My brother went to high school 4 years after I did, so I graduated 1996 and he started fall of that year.
During my high school days, AOL had _just_ gotten the web so not too many people were on it (and there were only a few local ISPs cropping up). BBS's were almost done, but they had been my major "online time". Liking Star Wars (even though I wasn't into it) would have been extremely nerdy, etc.
Fastforward three years.
My brother talks to all his friends, hell, the whole school, on IM, in chat rooms, on the web, etc. A large amount of people spend their time downloading things (porn, music, games) off the internet, just like I used to off BBSs. Star Wars is back in style.
Liking Spiderman 4 years ago would have gotten your ass kicked. Now you'll just be one of many. I think all of this applies most aggresivly to the high school and younger crowd, because they're the ones to apply the labels to exclusion.
It's verbose. Try:
This sentence is false.
Clear, Dark Skies
I'd always hoped college would be like that. And I guess I'm fortunate it was closer to that than RotN.
...and that's the way the cookie crumbles.
oh wait...
Really though, it doesn't matter if you are a geek, or a jock. It matters if you are hard working, and are likeable. You can be likeable for your appearance, your personality, intelligence, or any combination of those. Granted, good looks really do give you an edge, but they are not the end all and be all of success. Jock and geek labels are both dead ends, you need to be a well rounded person.
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keep using words like trepanation, cuz no amount of lotr/matrix movies are gonna help increase the vocab of jocks and beautiful people.
One confound is that newspaper writers are not in school. In the real world, nerds are much freer to pursue their own paths. A strong correlation between nerdiness and skill leads to many successful, influential nerds in the larger culture. A closed world of schools prizes other talents, and nerds are the ones who just do not measure up by popular standards that weight toughness and appearance.
/. has many youngsters. I hope coming here helps them bear the roughness of childhood and adolescence. There are people out there with whom they could become great friends and have fun times. They are not simply defective. Just tell them to hang on long enough. Being a nerd is always great for the coolness of the literature, games, information and learning. For people who can find them, it is also great for the friendships and social times.
Growing up nerdy with only a few people with similar interests and abilities around me was tough, but I always hoped it would not last. Many people manage to make a jump at high school, college or somewhere else into a social environment that allows them to express themselves and pursue their generally unpopular interests in a supportive subculture. They can blossom. They find friends. They find romance. I found that I was not uniformly socially inept in the least, nor were many of the other nerds I knew. They just needed more common ground.
Closed environments with forced mixing are different. Nerds can have difficulty relating to some people and some interests. People with less eccentric personalities and goals will dominate those situations. Sports are popular. Money is popular. Beauty is popular. Their appeal is wide and common. People whose gifts and talents lie too far outside these realms will end up at the bottom in a mixed society.
I wish we had better ways to reach the isolated people. The Internet helps. Nerds can google their favorite things and see how many people share them. They can find other people. Meeting in the flesh has been more fun, and I am sorry that so many people are forced to be so lonely for so long.
Buck up, young nerds. A great future awaits.
Absolutely some 'nerd' things age becoming more mainstream. But most of those thing's weren't nerd exclusive. And most of the things the article refers to are entertainment, and a casual interest in it.
I'm guessing there are two things that make a nerd. It's not the object of interest, but the intensity of interest. Star Trek is fun. Lots of people like Star Trek. Not everyone that likes it knows the design specs of all of the Enterprises, or has seen every episode over 20 times, or any of a number of things that say "obsessive".
The Japanese have a great word. Otaku. It's not a good word. Otaku are the people that everyone lokos down on as having no life. And they don't. Not all people labled Nerds are Otaku though. A lot of people with that label are simply interested in the same things as Otaku. Now someone is saying that interest in something that a Nerd is interested in, makes them a Nerd.
I'm thnking that the other thing that makes a nerd a nerd, is a certain type of intelligence. It seems to be a combination of classical thought, with a scoop of imagination. You might say that Nerds are smarter than the average person, but that isn't always true. They just think a little differently. And seem to be alot more prone to sarcasm.
Being a Nerd will always be who you are, not what you like. And chances are, I'll always be a Nerd. And that's a social group I don't mind being a part of.
Two Rules For Success:
1) Never tell people everything you know.
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Also did anyone notice where LOTR the Two Towers got its theme music from.
I recognised it, but couldn't place it. What is it from?
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...who thought you were talking about geek clothing?
It was meant for it to say "Blessed are the geek for they shall inherit the earth."
Don't some of you folks in this thread feel a bit silly for identifying yourself with a particular group whether it's nerd, dork, geek, jock or whatever?
Group names are what *other* people might use to categorize you. They need to do this to make sense of their world, keeping everything / everyone in it's place, so they don't become confused.
I find it rather demeaning, limiting, and usually phony, when a person classifies him/herself. Very "fraternity-ish." Don't you feel a bit limited in scope when you pigeonhole yourself into a artificial/imaginary group?
Perhaps it is more wise to just be yourself, do what you want, and let others worry about name-calling if they need to. Be proud of being such a well rounded and complex individual that you defy categorization.
To paraphrase Lester Bangs: No, I know you. You're not cool.
Better than jury duty? I don't think so.
/pretentious film nerd
you just didn't get it.
Well at least all the crazies over at VHEMT will finaly be happy!
This is the third article in two days to use "internet" in lowercase at the same time as capitalizing other words like Spider-Man. When did the Internet change to "the internet"? Am I insane for noticing it? It is intentional? Someone forgot to send me the memo when it changed :)
I for one welcome our new nerd overlords!
A d20? As in... singular?
(Pause)
Infidel! Burn him!
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
But the media portrayal of the 'geek' is usually the guy who can't get a date and such. He spends his weekends with other dateless geeks copying software and arguing about Alien vs Predator. :)
But the car geeks have girlfriends and spend their weekends with other car geeks and their girlfriends racing their cars.
Welcome our new nerd overloards!
This 'nerds are cool now' thing is very very old, if incorrect culturally... er, imho
/. posts are often evidence of this.
The issue these days I'm a thinkin' is how mean 'geek culture' has become. I seem to remember back in the day how fellow 'geeks' were inclusive of each others obsessions. Now, it has degenerated into name calling, bashing, and outright hatred.
I think it is ironic how this has all happened. I remember in high school having "LAN parties" at friends houses, to play the original WarCraft(Blizzard). We wouldn't tell people about it cause they would make fun of us if they heard about it.
Now, it seems like every guy and girl in town owns an XBox... and they get together once a week to network them together for gaming!? Suddenly its cool to spend an evening or weekend playing video games in mass!? I never thought I would see that day come! The funniest part is they seem to think this is new technology. "Wow, you can network the consoles together to play each other?" Yikes! I remember trying to setup a coax network to try to get a Marathon game going.
So, you define a nerd as someone that goes above and beyond the 'norm' and finds creative ways to express his/her likes?
Going to see LOTR is acceptable, but dressing a part is 'nerdy'?
If people like you had done away with people like us in the 1700's, men today would still be wearing white wigs, buckle shoes and tights and, most likely, burning witches or some such.
Have you considered that with the rise of IT in avery aspect of life, perhaps the meek _have_ finally inherited the Earth, or, at least, the rich western like countries (for the non nerds, those includes the G7, Australia and a few others)?
Finally, "we told you so". I was doing email and online gaming back when most of 'you' couldn't use a computer because it involved LEARNING something new on dial up BBSes. See? That stuff IS fun.
Pokemon? Try, "Mail Order Monsters".
I suspect we will continue to try out new fads years before you - leave your future entertainment to us.
Personally, I think it is all strange, from a socialogical viewpoint - these words we use, the way we speak depending on our race, the fact we see races at all - all of it serves only to divide us, instead of bringing us together to strengthen our one commonality:
Being human
Reason is the Path to God - Anon
This reminds me of an argument I had with my aunt a couple years ago.
.com boom, simply because there was a lot of money to be had...and that's what gave nerdism popular approval. Money is power, and for perhaps the only time in history, $your_choice_label had lots of it. My grandmother was going to pass out and die with all the F-bombs that were dropped during that raid. Nerdy is chic...my ass.
I forget what we were talking about, but she came out with this "nerdy is chic." Having been a nerd/geek/whatever ($your_choice_label) all my life, I wasn't going to let that one pass. "What the hell are you talking about??"
It pretty much boiled down to me telling her she was out of her fucking gourd...and that the only reason it was ever cool to be nerdy was directly related to the
// Agent Green (Ian / IU7 / KB1JQO)
// IEEE 802.3: All 10base Are Belong To Us
Most of society is average, and there's "safety" in numbers. The teen and pre-teen period are when self-image becomes important, and few are able to withstand ridicule during those years.
Captain Obvious strikes again!
Speaking from the "below average looking" point of view ... "Good Looks" are more than just an edge, they are a measure of your value as a human being.
The best quote in the whole article, which I'm surprised hasn't been remarked on here:
Over at Marvel studios, there is a similar respect for the web user. "I used to hate the internet," studio chief Ari Avad recently confessed to USA Today. "I thought it was just a place where people stole our ideas. But I see how influential the fans can be in building a consensus. I now consider them as film-making partners."
I mean, did you catch that? A movie studio head who *doesn't* think the Internet is just a place for having his IP stolen. Good gosh, what's next, actually *using* the Internet to make money? Maybe there's hope yet...
Sorry if I find your argument rediculous, but the only reason its ok to talk about spiderman or star was now is because they both just had huge thearetical releases with amazing special effects. If the movies wern't out, you would still be beaten up.
Isn't that what I said? What once was "nerdy" is now accepted as "popular" culture because of ease of access or general mass acceptance (in this case because of the films). I think the point of the discussion is these things are _now_ becoming mainstream when before they probably would have stayed on the sidelines. Computers were around and popular when I was in high school, but if you spent lots of time with them, you were odd. Now its commonplace. Its not so much that nerds have been accepted as their culture has been assimilated.
It was always something I noted in school that around seventh and eighth grade, I was called a "nerd" for using computers, chatting on the internet, having an e-mail account to talk to friends, and so on.
Fast forward two years, and those same people--jocks, preppy girls, and everyone else--had AIM and Yahoo usernames, checked their e-mail accounts to talk to people, and surfed the net. I couldn't help but laugh.
"Sufferin' succotash."
Sounds like the author is trying to turn the term "nerd" into an equivalent to the Japanese term "otaku" (which in Japan has rather more of a "weird & scary" connotation than its more cuddly usage in American anime and manga fandom). Japanese otaku come in many types -- anime, manga, computer, pop idol, military hardware, video game, samurai movie, etcetera. The "title" is more about intensity and lifestyle than subject matter.
- - - -
The real Tetsujin 28 is a giant robot.
You know the ones, where everyone starts off by standing up and saying "I'm Fred Jeebums, and I'm an alcoholic"...
Frankly, I don't think we need a 12-step program... A 32-bit program, on the other hand...
A friend during the Internet bubble years referred to the web as "revenge of the nerds." The Guardian finally picks up on that meme.
Give serendipity a chance.
So what's your penalty for multiclassing?
There is a difference between a geek, a nerd and a dweeb.
Geeks are techno-savvy, they need not be stylistic nightmares or wimps. In fact, Martial Art Geeks are pretty damn tough.
A nerd is defined by style and social functions. They are also geeks by definition.
A dweeb as all the social and dressing problems of a nerd without the techno-saviness of a geek.
-------- -------- Support Wesley Clark for president!!!
...slashdot posters need a proofread option?
Heh... Yeah, I've been in similar situations. Perhaps the oddest such thing I remember was a get-together/party I attended 4 years ago or so. I was either friends with or on good terms with most of the people there, but one guy always irritated me. I tried to be civil to him, but he was obviously living the stereotype of "cool jock from high-school/college", and just rubbed me the wrong way with most of his comments and discussions.
Anyway, at one point (after a few drinks, which I guess loosened him up enough to start admitting the truth), he came up to me and said "You know something? I really hate you!" I laughed and said "Huh? Why's that?" He then proceeded to tell me (almost to the point of tears!) that he was never a smart guy, and was always frustrated that people like me knew so much about "useful things, like computers".
As I've gotten older (and I suppose, just started caring less what other people think of me?), I've come to realize that just about anything in life takes considerable time and effort to pursue. With the limited time we have, none of us are likely to become "good" at more than a select few things. The "jocks" made their choices to pursue their interest and enjoyment of athletics. By association, that brought a bunch of other "side benefits" with it, such as a perception of being "above average" in attractiveness to the opposite sex, an "above average" sense of fashion/style, etc. It also put them in a group of their peers, who could share their experiences and build friendships. So really, there was nothing "bad" or "wrong" about it! It's just that, unfortunately, it also burnt up enough of their "free time" that they missed out on learning about many more "technical" pursuits. Right now, the technical-minded folks have the spotlight (maybe for the first time!), so the other people aren't quite sure what to make of it.
Nerds are outmoded. Surviving nerds get laid about as often as my 96-year-old grandma. Trust me; the lady talks a good game, but the demographics just won't support it.
In Gleick's biography of Feynman, he says,
:)
"At MIT in the thirties the nerd did not exist; a penholder worn in the shirt pocket represented no particular gaucherie; a boy could not become a figure of fun merely by studying. This was fortunate for Feynman and others like him, socially inept, athletically feeble, miserable in any but a science course, risking laughter every time he pronounced an unfamiliar name, so worried about the other sex that he trembled when he had to take the mail out past girls sitting on the stoop. America's future scientists and engineers, many of them rising from the working class, valued studiousness without question. How could it be otherwise, in theknots that gathered almost around the clock in fraternity study rooms, filling dappled cardboard notebooks with course notes to be handed down to generations?"
Of course, then it goes on to say that there was something a little lacking socially in these guys
(Oh, yeah: and props to the text search at Amazon.com to allow me to find that quote, since my copy of the book is away for the moment!)
I dont like ages old british comedy, i have a social life, i do have friends, i do drink beer, im not a nerd, im a geek!
Nerds are a lower form of life!
Giving IE users a taste of their own medicine since 2005 - http://pods.-is-a-geek.net/
I think a lot of people are missing the point here. People aren't becoming "nerds" because it is cool. People always were nerds, but now expressing yourself is more acceptable. If you remember the end of "Revenge of the Nerds," the point was that everybody feels awkward and unpopular, but now we have the internet. No, I don't mean that just being on the internet makes you technically proficient enough to claim to be a nerd, but it means that you can find a support network no matter how "different" you are.
Let's assume that there are 1 billion people on the internet (I know I could look up the exact number, I just don't feel like it.), and that your particular obsession only appeals to 0.00001% of the population. That still means that there are ten thousand others out there that you can relate to!
Now, the things that define a stereotypical nerd are actually much more mainstream: Computers, math, science, engineering, science-fiction, fantasy, comics, animation, books, obsession with sex, etc. So, now that people can go out on the internet and find millions of like minded people, they don't feel so bad expressing themselves publicly by buying the toys and wearing the t-shirts. The nerds have been here all along, but now they don't mind being labeled.
Long live the Speaker Bracelet
Rolo D. Monkey
Same here. There are at least 3 copies of Ender's Game on my shelves. 2 more are out on permanent loan to people I know. I think I gave away at least 20 to other people, and either stopped associating with them or forgot who had them.
I also bought 50 copies of the softcover edition of Maps in the Mirror. Anybody I meet who admits to reading gets a copy. It includes the original short story "Ender's Game", which is missing the siblings storyline. I have about a dozen left (after 7 years, and I meet tons of people. That says much of the importance of reading in our society.)
The first book (and the new Shadow continuations) are about treating intelligent children as if they have a purpose. The rest of the original series was about redemption of the childhood star, so had little interest to the audience of children who were entranced by the idea that adults might recognize their worth.
So I was not the only one who knew as a child that I could change the world for the better if only given a chance?
I had the technical abilities at 10 to do anything I have done since. I have learned much about people since then, but I already had the ability to see a system and know how it can be improved. Started my first technology business at 18; even at the "adult" age it was extremely difficult to get adults to respect my thoughts (which directly led to the business's demise.) I gave up the fight and partied for 6 years of college before I started caring for the world again. It would have been great for both me and the world if my talents were exploited earlier.
---
My father recently asked my advice about how a friend of his should handle a super-intelligent child who was bored with homework. I told him to forget about the homework and help the child learn as much as possible about the child's current interests while trying to expand those interests, such as using algebra as an excuse to teach about the Greeks and move into philosophy. His reply was that I was talking like a child. He still does not understand, even after "raising" a genius, although around age 8 (when those silly tests said I should be in college, but they still insisted I do third-grade homework) I gave up on adults as sources of information, and started raising myself.
I spend my life entertaining my brain.
I didn't realize how mainstream computers and technology had become until lunch one day back in 1997 or 98. My buddies and I stopped off at a local cafe and taken a booth. Sitting behind me was a mother and her pre-school child and I half listened to their conversation as I started into my burger & fries.
She was asking her son if he could remember his ABC's. He said "YES!", quite confidently, and started right in: "ABCDEFG..." followed by a pause, where the mother helped by hinting the letter 'H' "HIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWWW dot XYZ"
It may not have been the first time, but it was certainly the most memorable time that I'd expelled Cherry Coke through my nose.
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
I really enjoyed your post. It was intriguing, because it communicated a very complex idea that we simply do not have a name for. But I recognize it (perhaps in myself).
Perhaps the predominant trait of geeks (or whatever you call them) is that they really seek to understand and connect with things at a deeper level. For some this means obession, for others study of meaningless (?) details. Still for others it means taking time to do something which only has intrinsic value and maybe only you see it as such.
I think this desire to see things beyond their 15 minutes and to connect with ideas, over say people or society in general, is isolating and inspiring. And you have to wonder why? Why isolate yourself, even to a small degree for anything? Most people do something because someone else is doing it or it will connect them with other people. Why not conform? Isn't that what we are supposed to want - to be accepted because we are similar to other people or have/share something they want? I sometimes want that. But then I read things like your post, and feel that same way about all the things I know and understand - it's more than anyone wants to hear definitely. So why bother learning it? It's such a strange feeling - knowing and understanding things simply for knowing and understanding them. And what do we get for it - we become misunderstood, sometimes even by those who care about us. Still, I don't think I'll ever stop/change. You?
Anyway, that's how I felt about your post. Even though I am not the comic book person, your post really communicated to me. Again, thank you.
...the "dweeb" in their taxonomies.
Please enlighten us all.
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I'm no nerd! Geeze, this is just like that time ...in Monty python...err....
DAMMIT!
in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
...Huey Lewis wrote a song about it?
"A great democracy must be progressive or it will soon cease to be a great democracy." --Theodore Roosevelt
I too was sufficiently large in middle and high school to avoid the worst of it. Joining the wrestling team (which, oddly enough, seemed to have very few B or C students on it - just people at the head of the class and those constantly on academic probation) helped too, though screwing up my shoulder was probably not the best long term health move.
I sometimes wonder what it would have been like had I not had physical size on my side, and it's not pretty.
Really, geek girls still have to face a lot of opposition (despite the discussions on the semantics of nerd/geek/dork, I'll stick with geek as my preferred title, but this idea applies universally, I think). The worst offenders are other girls, who simply cannot understand that really, I'd rather tinker with memory timings than peruse "Seventeen".
Not to say that guys are completely understanding either. I've tangibly seen guys get intimidated when I mention the words "computer engineering". Once in a while, I'll meet someone who's a psuedo-nerd and thinks it's really cool that there's a girl that "likes computers". Then we get to the point where he gives me a blank stare when we barely scratch the surface of the *really* technical stuff.
I understand and somewhat appreciate the elevated status that geek girls tend to automatically attain in the presence of geek males. I've noticed, though, that attitudes towards geek girls tend to go in two directions. Either a geek treats them with kid gloves or ends up treating them exactly as they would a guy. I've tended to try to sway people towards the latter, since I don't believe others should treat me better just because of something determined at my conception. I can't help but feel, however, that there are grave compromises made with that solution also; namely, the problem is that I tend to lose the feminine part of my identity.
So I guess my question is, can one be fully geek and also fully feminine? Is it possible for me to customize keywords in Visual Studio to color-coordinate and not be ridiculed from both sides? Can you guys start treating your geek girl friends like the women they are?
Please note that this is just what I've observed from personal experiences and obviously, I'm not trying to make blanket statements about all geek guys. I do think that there is some truth to what I'm saying, though, and that perhaps I can challenge you to examine how you treat your geek girl friends and see how you can improve those relationships.
Life itself is bound by the rule. The rule is, "Survival of the fittest". In this time of technology, the fittest are those with strong intellect. Those with strong intellect are, in many cases, classified into a group generally known as the Nerd. As it stands, though I have no official numbers on this, I am forced to make the assumtion that approximatly three fifths of the population in highly developed parts of the world, (e.g. Japan, United States, U.K.) are, in fact nerds. "Only the nerds survive"
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Do you really think they're going to learn something important in that mandatory middle school Home Ec. course that will both be useful later on in life and that would go unlearned were it not for that hour in the room with 30 dangerously half-broken sewing machines?
Home schooling is an option in every state (though some states make it more difficult to do than others - have you considered New Jersey?), and, contrary to popular mythology, is not generally a right-wing-fundamentalist-in-a-bunker option. It's not even necessarily that hard or expensive - you're already homeschooling your kids for the first five or so years of their life anyway. Free your children from the viscious cliques that develop at almost any school (yes, even magnet schools) and at the same time give them a better education than they're likely to get otherwise.
As a starting point, try googling on "unschooling". If you're looking for a dead tree starting point, track down a copy of "The Teenage Liberation Handbook".
Note: I don't want to imply here that I think that public school teachers don't do the best possible job with the situation handed them (though obviously some don't); rather, I think that public school teachers are in a situation where it is almost impossible to do a good job. (Reference here almost anything written by John Taylor Gatto) I'm not blaming the teachers for the poor job done by the public schools. At the same time, I don't see why the extreme difficulties of being a public school teacher should cause me to subject my children to the difficulties of being public school students.
Jim was a geek, Malvin was a nerd.
:)
They were probably both nerds (really smart in their field) and geeks (dedicated technophiles in their case, not the live-animal eaters) but Malvin was a complete dork (no social skills).
At least that's that how we use the terms on the east coast.
Talking about Wargames charactes makes us geeks, but not nerds (film geeks are often pretty dumb) and the slashdot posters who write "you're a complete fucking moron, here's what the characters are" are dorks.
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
I am so glad you responded to my post...I wrote back to you earlier in the hopes that you'd have a merry X-Mas -- I still don't have it in me to fight it out again, but either way, I assure you that I do wish you the best this holiday season, and I hope you can bury the hatchet. I think there are vastly more tempting *fanboys* out there...but if there aren't, I will still be here to entertain you and vice-versa.
I don't care if you buy anything...period...I read an insightful post the other day which summed up my position -- we are not defined by what we buy. Some times the things we buy work and sometimes they don't. Either way, it is not a reflection on us.
Anyways, I hope you have a good holiday, and I look forward to interacting with you in the future -- hopefully on better terms.
Sincerely,
Stupid Cocksucking Apple-Using Fuckwad
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
Again, I am so glad you responded to my post...I wrote back to you earlier in the hopes that you'd have a merry X-Mas -- I still don't have it in me to fight it out again, but either way, I assure you that I do wish you the best this holiday season, and I hope you can bury the hatchet. I think there are vastly more tempting and zealous *fanboys* out there...but if there aren't, I will still be here to entertain you and vice-versa.
I don't care if you buy anything...period...I read an insightful post the other day which summed up my position -- we are not defined by what we buy. Some times the things we buy work and sometimes they don't. Either way, it is not a reflection on us.
Anyways, I hope you have a good holiday, and I look forward to interacting with you in the future -- hopefully on better terms.
Sincerely,
Stupid Cocksucking Apple-Using Fuckwad
p.s. If you are over twenty-five, which your experience would lead me to believe, and you are actually this much of a dick, and it is not just some wonderfully-sick hobby (which I could appreciate), I think you might have serious transference-anxiety-issues...
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
Occasionally, I lose hope for all of us...you have reversed the tide...Have a great one!
Sincerely,
Fanboy
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON
I like your style...what can I call you -- if you care to share? Do you have a sig here? I'd like to stay on the lookout for you in the future.
;)
I really don't like the zealous types out here either(regardless of platform) -- it's funny, I never thought myself *blindly* zealous -- but obviously I rubbed you the wrong way once (or a dozen) times...when did it start? Or rather was there an initial post that ticked you off, or did I just seem like so many other frothy mac users around here?
BTW, I'm also in my 30's -- with a couple of rugrats to boot
Best regards,
"Stupid Cocksucking Apple-Using Fuckwad" -- aka 'Sasha'
We apologise for the fault in this post. Those responsible have been sacked. -- Signed RICHARD M. NIXON