Slashdot Mirror
Geek Stars From Atkinson to Zappa
Ian Lamont writes "You probably remember reading about Brian May getting a PhD in Astrophysics, but may not know about the many other celebrities from the music, TV, and film worlds who have studied science and technology in college and grad school, or are simply serious gearheads who like gadgets, games, and other geek pastimes. Computerworld has identified about 50 celebrities who fit the bill, including Dan Grimaldi (Patsy Parisi, The Sopranos) who has a Bachelor of Arts degree in math, a master's in operations research and a Ph.D. in data processing; Rowan Atkinson, who has a master's in electrical engineering from Queen's College, Oxford; and Todd Rundgren, who developed an early paint program called Utopia. Other folks on the list: Dr. Demento, Montel Williams, Natalie Portman, Curt Schilling, and Huey Lewis."
Have you seen the arrow?
This isn't so much "geek stars" as it is an exhaustive list of "Everyone in Hollywood that isn't mechanically inept."
Many actors majored in some field of science rather than art, and didn't flunk. Robin Williams plays video games and likes gadgets. Real big geek cred...
Quite a waste of time.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
Bill Nye the Engineering Guy doesn't seem to ring as well... I don't know why, but a part of my childhood feels like it was deceived. :P
Is mentioning Natalie Portman in a Slashdot story a good idea?
Good to see a Python represented. They were all brilliant, but I suppose they couldn't fit all 6 of them into their list of 50.
Insert self-referential sig here.
I was considering karma whoring and making a Natalie Portman joke early on in a discussion, almost guaranteeing a +5 Funny...
But I decided to actually read the story. According to the article, and also Wikipedia, shes a Psyc student, published a couple papers. Seriously, thats enough to make the geek list? Am I in a dillusioned world that of the thousands of "stars" out there, there aren't many with more geek cred than this?
Oh and I will karma whore... here's the link to the full article print link:
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=printArticleBasic&articleId=9043739
Britney Spears' Guide to Semiconductor Physics :-)
What no mention of Asia Carrera? Mensa, gamer, pornstar
Please show me the ones with PhD's. The rest are just BLOGGERS.
In his book "The Real Frank Zappa" released in 1989 Zappa explains his plan for the future of music distribution. He says that consumers arn't that interested in CDs or vinyl and explains how you could use the cable tv or telephone system to digitally transmit music (and cover art, etc) into peoples homes on a subscription basis. This was back in 1989, long before your interweb thing took off.
I have excellent Karma and I am not afraid to Troll it.
... lets not forget Keanu Reeves.
Magazine 13 - We like to think its funny... sort of
Do the submitters actually RTFA? Dr. Demento's name was dropped in trying to put context around Prof. Tom Lehrer (not sure why you need to see Dr. D's name to understand who Lehrer is). BTW I think Dr. Demento has only a masters degree and was an A&R guy at one time - one of the least geeky jobs ever.
Rowan Atkinson also holds higher levels of British Driving license allowing him to drive HGVs aka articulated trucks on the highways. I'm told he performs many of the car stunts in the shows himself.
threadeds blog
Where's the link? You can't make a statement like that and not give us a link: it leaves us all frozen and petrified.
threadeds blog
His real last name isn't Dolby, it's Robertson.
When he spoke at the BDC, it was about his high-tech startup, which developed a new audio format.
He got sued by the Dolby corporation; according to Wikipedia, the settlement allows him to use their trademark only when in the context of "Thomas ".
Request your free CD of my piano music.
Here at Reed College (Dr. Demento's alma mater), finding Dr. Demento's senior thesis in the Thesis Tower is a common scavenger hunt item. While the topic (the operas Wozzeck and Pelleas et Melisande) isn't traditionally nerdy, no one can get through Reed without being a little bit geeky.
I can't let this go past without bringing up Erdos-Bacon numbers.
Natalie Portman has one of the better scores (Erdos 5 + Bacon 2 = 7). She did not (so far as I know) use her fame in her primary field (acting) to get preferential treatment in the other (science/maths.) There are scientists with a lower total, but I think they've all got an acting part on strength of their science fame (e.g. Stephen Hawking.)
According to Wikipedia, a few people have lower Erdos-Bacon numbers which appear to be 'clean', but I haven't heard of them before: Kiralee Hayashi (3+3), Danica McKellar (4+2), Barney Pell (3+2), John Platt (3+3), Karl Schaffer (3+2), Brian Wandell (3+2), Wendelin Werner (3+3).
Quattuor res in hoc mundo sanctae sunt: libri, liberi, libertas et liberalitas.
isn't this just a list of famous people who also have an academic degree? That's hardly synonymous with "geek" for me..
How does that work?
"e^i*pi = -1. How does that make you feel?"
"Pythagoras' Theorem is a^2 + b^2 = c^2. What do you think he was trying to convey by that?"
That's probably because Mr Bean is one of Rowan Atkinson's worst characters ever and well below his normal level of quality with Edmund Blackadder.
Having seen the comedy he does in things like Blackadder then it doesn't surprise me that he's a bright guy. Interesting that it was Electrical Engineering, though.
Blackadder was good but I prefer his Not The Nine O'Clock News stuff. His sketch with 'Gerald the Gorilla' was insane.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
Wrote his own website and flies aerobatic stunts at airshows - does that count?
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
There's Elvis Costello - former computer programmer who chucked it all for Rock 'N Roll...
(He kept the geek look but lost the career!)
Peter Gabriel is quite the computer nerd...
Joe Walsh of the Eagles - he's got a Ham Radio license...
And Jeff Foxworthy used to work for IBM, but I'm not sure how nerdy he was.
-- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
How wrong he was ! Look, in 2007, most major still push the CD as the main way to sell music. Some even try to sell vinyls again. This Zappa guy was so damn wrong about what the consummer wants ! Oh wait...
____
nico
Nico-Live
Um ... you DO realize they're called stars for a reason, right? Maybe YOU don't care about them, but clearly SOMEBODY does.
I remember going around the university which he got his bachelors from. It seemed to be one of their big selling points that he had been there - needless to say I decided I decided to go somewhere that wasn't trying to sell itself on someone who had nothing to do with EE!
Don't forget Herb Schildt was in the progressive rock band Starcastle before turning to the word processor and churning out an almost infinite stream of books on MS-DOS and C, and later C++. I think he may still be around today, but he was big in the 90s as sort of the paragon/punching-bag of bad technical writing.
Actually, it is only a Bachelors. The University of Oxford "upgrades" all B.A.s to M.A.'s a year after graduation.
In Engineering (or actually, Engineering Science as they call it here), there is the M.Eng for undergraduate masters and for the few postgraduate masters courses, they are normally called M.Sc or M.Phil.
So don't be fooled when you hear of Oxford or Cambridge graduates with Masters, it is a big con!
P.S. How fitting that the captcha is ensnared...
I think I was too young for that. Blackadder has been repeated more on British TV since then, but I don't remember Not The Nine O'Clock News being repeated.
At the time, they didn't give grades. Instead, instructors wrote a short "narrative evaluation" about their students' performance.
However, I understand that they've given into economic pressures, so that now both grades and BS degrees are offered.
Request your free CD of my piano music.
NTNOCN gets semi-regular repeats on the Paramount channel of all places I believe plus there's a best of DVD. It's good stuff - lots of well known UK comedians cut there teeth on it.
I want a list of atrocities done in your name - Recoil
The thread would not be complete without a nod to the British astronomer Patrick Moore. Here in the UK, he has been presenting The Sky at Night for oer 50 years now, which is an oasis of geekdom in an increasingly dumbed-down BBC schedule.
"I bless every day that I continue to live, for every day is pure profit."
Surely the difference between a BA and BSc is in the approach of study - and some subjects are approachable from many angles. While I'd not expect a BA in Engineering, other cutting-edge science could be - I'd expect a BSc in genetics or nanotech to be versed in the technical application thereof, while a BA could be more on the ethics, real-world scenarios and so forth. Both would be strongly versed in theory, of course.
:)
But yeah, I would expect a BA in Maths to be about as useful as a BSc in art - while a fascinating idea, I wouldn't get such a person to design me something
You mean they could be good role models like in: "I couldn't get a proper job despite my academic education(s) but hey, who can complain when you get millions for jumping up and down like a monkey?"
send + more == money?
This comes directly from her bio: http://www.asiacarrera.com/bio.html
Geeky Academic Stuff - NJ spelling champ, National Mathematics League, Spanish National Honor Society, placed in National Geography, Language Arts, and Mathematics Olympiads.
Geeky Other Stuff - Played classical piano at Carnegie Hall at 13 & 14 (Ernesto Lecuona's 'Malaguena' and Bach's 13th Invention), taught Colloquial English at Tsuruga College in Japan at 16
Education - Attended performing arts high school (emphasis on instrumental music and visual arts), National Merit Scholarship Winner (for 1440 on SAT's), and Garden State Scholar (for nerdly grades). Attended Rutgers University on full academic scholarship, with a double-major in Business and Japanese.
Brian May *doesn't* have a PhD. He has submitted his thesis, but hasn't been awarded it yet. Get your facts right.
My web domain.
He apparently has a BA in Mathematics.
I think we've all got to recognize that the psychology department is where people go if they're not geeky enough to go into engineering or compsci, but have too much self-respect to wake up one day with a Bachelor's of microeconomics on their wall.
Natalie Portman isn't a geek, she's just a girl who was smart enough not to spend four years with a bunch of Star Wars fans.
Although he doesn't have the best voice. He did write a slew of hits, Bobby Mcgee and Help me Make it through the night. Was one of the highway men.
1. Rhodes Scholar.
2. Military Helicopter Pilot.
3. Assigned as a professor at West Point but resigned his commission.
4. Golden Gloves boxer.
A true geek in the Heinlein sense. Smart and tough.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Although I don't know at hand if there are any patent trolls or music companies claiming this idea as IP. But wouldn't it being written down in that book count as prior art?
Just food for thought people.
Are you local? There's nothing for you here!
You should have got your university priorities right, everyone know that Newcastle is one of the best places to go to uni from an overall view, i.e. education, beer and girls. I got a good degree, drank a lot of beer, and am 5 weeks awaz from getting married to a girl I meet in my first semester there.
If you read a speed reading book, does it take you less time to read the second half?
The summary metions Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling. Jeff Francis, pitcher for the Rockies is a Physics Major: http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/columnist/bodley/2007-10-23-bodley-column_N.htm.
How about Douglas Adams? His degree may have been in English Literature, but my Joo Janta Geek-Sensing Sunglasses certainly go completely black looking at anything he produced in his regrettably short career...
In the land of the blind, the one eyed man still has no depth perception.
Paul Verhoeven, physicist, who directed Total Recall, Basic Instinct and Starship Troopers.
Unfortunately, the quality seemed to go down quite fast as they started churning new episodes (and scripts) out and the character quickly became annoying.
Dexter Holland, lead singer of the the band "The Offspring" has a Bachelor's degree in Biology and a Master's degree in Molecular Biology, both from the University of Southern California. He is also a PhD candidate in Molecular Biology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dexter_Holland
"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding."
Danica McKellar has her own math theorem, and a book.
The Bad Religion front-man has a PHD degree, is a professor at UCLA and is a long-time anti-creationism militant. More info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Graffin/
Having a PhD does not, of course, preclude nerdiness, but it doesn't guarantee it, either. My old boss Charlie (now retired in Florida) had a PhD and was, in fact, a true geek. OTOH, the fellow now in the next office from mine has a PhD but is dumb as a box of rocks, and has no geek qualifications whatever aside from being a fat dork who wears glasses. It doesn't take a high IQ to obtain a PhD, just stubbornness and a good work ethic. It does require a three digit IQ to be a nerd.
The #1 all time famous nerd was Niel Armstrong, who was an engineer who famously said "I am and always will be a pocket protector wearing nerd". He accomplished the ultimate in nerdiness, being the first man to step foot on another world. That was a nerd's wet dream come true!
-mcgrew
(Linked text is titled "Growing Up With Computers" from 2005, in it is mention of Niel's most famous act of nerdiness. Another of my useless but on-topic scribblings is a two year old blagh titled What is a nerd?)
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Pah, Manchester (specifically UMIST when it was around) was the place to be. Much more student-oriented and not so cold! You get a better degree from a bigger/more recognised Uni, lots of beer, good rock/metal clubs and I got married to the girl I met in the first semester nearly six weeks ago now ;)
Is it so hard to believe that someone, who may have had a promising career in geekdom (ie..lots of slashcred), receives an opportunity that given a cost/benefit analysis will not only get him/her laid, but might possibly lead to megabucks and/or be a guest spot on The Simpsons, decides to leave writing grant proposals forever?
Unpossible!
Never play chicken with a passive aggressive.
Frontal Lobe Activation during Object Permanence: Data from Near-Infrared Spectroscopy
Definitely geekier than your average psych paper.
And it appears that her other paper, on which she was first author while in high school, was actually in chemistry:
A Simple Method To Demonstrate the Enzymatic Production of Hydrogen from Sugar
Though it's actually in a chemistry education journal, and appears to maybe have something to do with doing demonstrations in chemistry classrooms.
Warning: Apple/Nintendo fangirl. Likes her electronics cute & cuddly. May be rabid.
How on earth could the article have missed off Rod Stewart. This Telegraph article tells that he was recently featured on the front page of Model Railroader.
That's way too geek for me.
I'm a person that just happens to blog, code for a living, and play video games, too. I also have an addiction to Lucas, Adams, and Tolkien. When something bad happens, I say that "Someone set me up the bomb!". I've skipped school to play a chess game against a master. I've waited in line for video game releases. Being a person that just happens to do all these things makes me a nerd. I used to not like the term nerd. But once you get into the professional world, the term nerd is no longer a bad thing. It goes form meaning social outcast to smart person who somehow makes computers and technology work just like you want them to. And best of all, it pays pretty well to. While the terms nerd and geek may be offensive growing up, any grown up should embrace the terms, I think.
...shes a Psyc student, published a couple papers. Seriously, thats enough to make the geek list? I've had a couple of letters published in the newspaper - does that make me a journalist?Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
Many of the people involved in making Futurama are degree heavy. Degrees aren't sufficient for geekdom, but watching the show and DVD commentaries gives evidence that they are true geeks.
Ken Keeler has a Ph.D. in applied math and a masters in electrical engineering
David X Cohen has a Masters in theoretical computer science
Bill Odenkirk has a Ph.D. in inorganic chemistry
Jeff Westbrook has a Ph.D. in computer science
list taken from interview with Cohen at http://frontwheeldrive.com/david-x-cohen-futuramas-head-in-a-jar
I had to make sure Danica McKellar made the list ... sure enough.
...
She was recently on NPR talking about what she was doing with her degree in mathmatics
Poor Kevin Arnold! How'd he let her slip away?
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away" -- "Step Right Up", Tom Waits
This shouldn't have been modded flame bait. He is completely right. We don't talk about famous scientists who have studied theatre or are amateur thespians. So why do we talk about actors who have science and technology as a hobby.
This star worship is the exact same that is always a sign of the downfall of a civilization in times past, and you people are helping push us over the cliff.
According to IMDb and her fan sites, Pauley Perrette, who plays goth geek chick Abby Sciuto on CBS's NCIS, received a Master's degree in Criminology (with honors) from Georgia State and also studied Sociology and Psychology.
Additionally, apparently fellow NCIS cast member Sean Murray ("Probie" Timothy McGee[k]) is a real-life computer geek and David McCallum (Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard) is actually licensed to perform autopsies.
(Of course, take these with the usual internet disclaimers.)
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
He only got an "honorable mention" but because of his long standing environmental efforts and advocacy I think he should belong as a proper geek/nerd.
Never argue with a man carrying a water buffalo
, probably because a shockingly large percentage of them don't seem to know which end to pick the thing up by. :)
Over ~30 years in electronics, I have met many engineers who are whizzes with SPICE simulations or Fourier transforms, but put them on a bench with a screwdriver and a soldering iron, and you have created a weapon of mass destruction targeted at the most expensive piece of silicon in the vicinity. Some of them know this, and leave the hands-on development/prototyping work to engineering techs, or others with the experience and training for it (most of which is NOT taught in a university EE program anymore).
The few engineers that I have met who can actually BUILD their ideas as well as they could design them got that part of their training outside of an EE program. Some started in TV repair shops, some were techs in the military, and others were ham radio operators, model rocketry geeks, or hardware hackers long before they got out of HS.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
They missed Stephen Fry, who's the cleverest person I don't know, celeb or otherwise.
Here's a direct link to his web site (taken from the above article).
Max.
engineering is a profession and people do not go to college because of their geeky aspirations, but in order to get good salaries and a social status in life, unfortunately. and this unfortunately has been as such for centuries. with the logic that this article is using, we have to classify almost any engineer or science related branch graduate from the last 200 years as geeks. which is totally absurd. i just cant understand why the people who are mentioned at the start of the list have been put in geek category just because of their degrees in this or that field.
the sole fact that many of these people shown as "geeks" due to having a degree in a field are making a living and fame with totally different activities than their degree suggests is that they were pushed/coerced into choosing such a field to study while they were young because of the practical necessities of society - the need for good salary and social status. therefore they do not have any difference to countless people we have as friends from college, who have a degree in a field, but totally irrelevant when it comes to geek considerations. the list is therefore not valid.
"geek" is a way of thinking and behaving. it has much to do with getting excited about new things, using them, even pioneering some of them, or accepting the ways of the online world (which kinda almost totally turn around geeky concepts like tech, blogs, networking, internet, humor) and acting on them, having a strong imagination and not being afraid to use and enjoy it, being creative with a creative community, having a killing sense of humor and etc etc.
Read radical news here
the list is totally upside down. this girl placed people who got degrees from any field at the top of the list, yet real geeks at the bottom. she must have a degree fetish or something.
Angela Gunn, please leave your geek membership card at the reception on your way out. thank you.
Read radical news here
J Geils and his band were nerds, they got together at Worcester Tech in the late 60's.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_J._Geils_Band
These days, Geils lives outside Boston and plays occasional jazz gigs.
And the late, great Erland Van Lidth de Jeude was a hacker at MIT, an opera singer, an Olympic wrestler, and a film actor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erland_Van_Lidth_De_Jeude
What about Rod Stewart? The dude has a 1,500 square-foot model train layout on the third floor of his Beverly Hills home. He built nearly all the models and structures on it. It's on the cover of the current issue of Model Railroader. He takes cases full of supplies and tools on tour with him so he can keep working on his models. Now that is some serious geek for a star of this magnitude.
"The great thing about multitasking is that several things can go wrong at once." -me
So...there're actually two reasons to like Natalie?
(-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
Very funny, funnest game demo I've ever seen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5TXEUiR1Xk
The delicious part is, in the end the demo crashes. Locks the machine hard.
Where's David X. Cohen? He did write that algorithms paper before going on to write things slightly less technical and notably more amusing. And anyone on the Futurama DVD commentary tracks is totally a celebrity.
Talking about a guy obsessed w/ technology... he spent heavily to have the latest video technology in the late 70's. And his "musical director", Roger Powell had a Imsai 8080 controlling a Serge modular via CV/Gate w/ a customized A/D converter into an Apple II w/ a crude sequencer program written in assembler. He later moved it to the PC and released it as "Texture".
Its kinda too bad. Their music suffered during this period. Obviously they were spending the majority of their time on these side projects.
Chicago's Northwestern University in chemical engineering, but dropped out to pursue that....modeling thing. Too bad that didn't work out for her. :-(
Robin Williams plays video games. Many more just "attended" college which may mean one semester. Still there are worth-while entries.
Kari Byron from the show Mythbusters is the ultimate geeky babe.
Compared to her, Portman is just a ballistics gel replica of a woman. Wait... on second thought, that doesn't sound too bad either.
1) yes, this is a fun list and some of the people on it are legitimate celebrity geeks; 2) if someone checks a box that says "physics major" when they are 17 then drops out of school to become a musician/actor/celeb, that does not necessarily qualify them currently as a geek. It just means they are a college dropout who didn't know what they wanted to do with their life when they were 17 (they could still be a geek, though); 3) if someone is a member of MENSA, this also does not necessarily qualify them are a geek. It just means they are insecure about their intelligence, which is merely a necessary (but not sufficient) condition for geekdom; 4) naming your child after a video game character like Zelda does not mean you are a geek, it means you are insane (something you can put on your geek CV, but is neither necessary nor sufficient for geekdom); 5) I wouldn't have thought it possible, but after this article, Natalie Portman has single-handedly propelled psychology into the hard sciences.
i\hbar\dot{\psi}=\hat{H}\psi
Todd Rundgren only gets a single line:
...but his involvement with technology has been greater than any other person in that list.
Pretty damn geeky.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
All these posts and no Danica McKellar?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danica_McKellar
Yes that's Winnie Cooper from The Wonder Years. And a genuine math guru. And really nice on the eyes.
Meh. I don't know what her qualifications are, (too lazy to Google) but basically she seems like a cute babe who likes to blow shit up. Certainly not a bad thing, and very entertaining (and she's easy on the eyes), but it hardly equates to real geek cred.
load "windows7"
The article refers to FZ as 'largely self-taught.' Try 100% self-taught, and in no way an intellectual or tech geek. Just a guy who got obsessed with 20th century composition and spent many hours in music libraries reading scores. No one with hordes of groupies counts as a geek.
I guess he knew of which he sang! ;)
Iron Maiden frontman. Commercial airline pilot.
His Discovery channel series "Flying Heavy Metal" shows he really know planes and demonstrated some insane maneuvers in large Airbus aircraft.
If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
Just how do you get a Bachelor of Arts degree in math?
In my world, mathematics is considered a science, and the degree awarded is a Bachelor of Science...
Beef
How did they forget Greg Graffin of Bad Religion fame? Two bachelors degrees, masters degree geology, a Ph.D in zoology, professor at UCLA, etc.
Anyone else notice the word "ass" directly under the picture of Wil Wheaton?
/\/\icro/\/\uncher
... is a big D&D nerd. How can that go unmentioned? Becaues geek pursuits don't count if he uses them as part of his acting training.... his only acting training.Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
Natalie Portman -- on topic! It must be Armageddon! Next thing you'll tell me Signal11, Jon Katz, and some ninjas are outside, waiting to pour hot grits down my pants...
This post expresses my opinion, not that of my employer. And yes, IAAL.
OK, you have a point there and I should have known better since my PS3 node is christened 'hiro'
send + more == money?
I was not referring to Bjørk nor Kidman when I said proper job (and nor were you.) But it is my firm belief that both of those guys would raise an eyebrow when you say it is a very desirable way of living to be an actress/actor
send + more == money?
What are we to do between work and sleep, what are we to do? I have no problem with conversing with strangers on slashdot, totally wasting my well measured time in this world.
Do you?
send + more == money?
Don't forget Geoff Muldaur who had a career as a programmer/consultant for the auto industry. (No good reference found.) and Tom Rettig: from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Rettig "For the last 15 years of his life, Rettig was a very well-known database software author and expert. He was a very early employee of Ashton-Tate, and specialized in (sequentially) dBASE, Clipper, FoxBASE and finally FoxPro."
I looked at both manchester and newcastle, ended up down at imperial though. Half way through my degree I don't quite know why I didn't choose manchester (my 2nd favourite)
American football quarterback, PhD in mathematics (yes, they are the same Frank Ryan).