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Washington State LUG to Hold "Nerd Auction"
elrous0 writes "As part of a PR stunt, a Washington Linux user group is holding a "Nerd Auction" and appealing to local sororities to exchange dates and makeover advice for their computer skills and homework assistance. 'The problem is that we're all still nerds. Let's face it, guys. If anyone's going to bid on us, we'll need some spicing up,' writes Washington State Linux Users Group president Ben Ford on the group's website. 'And who better to help with that than sorority girls who like nothing better than a makeover?' So far there has been no comment on how a Linux user group is going to help sorority girls with their Windows machines."
Isn't it obvious, by installing linux.
The sorority girls probably aren't going to bite. They know they can get nerds like us to work on their computer and homework assignments and have to give nothing in return. They just have to be... girls. This is sort of like people boycotting gasoline... it just won't work. They can hold out indefinitely since they have other sources of income (read: non-nerds sexing them up) where as we will sit there demanding cheaper gas (read: any sexing up).
Maybe the female college students are already smart enough to fix their own computers, and don't need a big strong man-brain to show them how. For that matter, aren't there any female nerds who'd like also to be appreciated for the technical skills? Can they auction themselves off to the highest bidder too? This story is demeaning to women and to geeks.
"So far there has been no comment on how a Linux user group is going to help sorority girls with their Windows machines"
Meh, if you've seen one box you've seen them all.
When you're really break it down they're all nothing but I/O devices. Sure, some might have a few more bugs then others. And sure, some are more easy to get into then others. But at the end of the day a box is a box.
Oh, and beer never hurts.
To clarify on some details: We are the Linux Users Group at Washington State University, in Pullman, Washington. Enrollment in general in Computer Science has been down for the past few years. This has more greatly affected female enrollment, than anything else, where the number of females in WSU's Computer Science department is somewhere below 10%. What I'd like to make clear is that this event is not being put on to get geeks laid. Rather, it is to make the rest of campus aware that we exist, and are human. Our president, Ben Ford, and a female member came up with the idea to run this event. We hadn't planned for it to be much more than a fund raiser. But when the Associated Press ran a story on this yesterday, things started to blow up. Since then, our president has been shipped off to news studios. I've been on TV twice, and can hardly keep my phone from going off long enough for me to be interviewed. At the time of this writing, three sororities are in full participation for the event. The support has been so huge, that instead of a small fund-raiser like we were intending, the goal now is to raise enough money for a female scholarship in Computer Science.
Oh yeah? Well I worked as a software architect for 30 years while being a full-time professor in math and African history. I know 37 programming languages and 12 natural languages. When I'm not busy being intellectually awesome I like to go rock climbing, practice ninjitsu, wrestle bears, make 100 ft tall bronze sculptures, and play oustide linebacker for the Kansas City Chiefs. So I don't think I'm a nerd either -- I'm entirely too awesome. I don't need to offer to fix a woman's computer in order to spend time with her. I usually just walk around and they are attracted to my awesomeness as if it had its own gravity.
I also think people who join LUGs are pathetic losers who probably couldn't attract a desperate woman *or* successfully wrestle even a small bear. I'm way better than them, and I'm glad to see that there are other folks out there who are just like me (only slightly less awesome).