Get Ready For the Nerdlympics

jfruhlinger writes "In the upcoming Olympics, competitors will take part in the 'modern' pentathlon, designed in 1912 to simulate the skills a cavalry officer would need when trapped behind enemy lines. ITworld.com has developed a new set of competitions — untangling cables! code obfuscation! — that are a bit more relevant to the modern geek." Don't be too smug, though: Naturalist points out a story indicating that "Exercisers learn faster, remember more, think clearer and bounce back more easily from brain injuries such as a stroke."

Comments

Code obfuscation?

[Anonymous Coward]

I wouldn't think code obfuscation is a useful skill under any circumstances. I'd think it would be always detriment. Rather, a useful skill would be code de-obfuscation.

Insultolympics

[CopaceticOpus]

Gee, great, because you know most geeks only love computers and don't have diverse interests.

This is a dumb article written solely for the purpose of generating traffic, and by getting on /. they've succeeded in spades.

Re:Insultolympics

[Jimmy_B]

There are two types of Slashdotter: Those who read the article, and those who comment on the story. These groups do not overlap.

Re:Insultolympics

[AP31R0N]

If there was something called the Cheflympics and it was a series of cooking contests would that be insulting? Are the x games insulting to skateboarders? You know, i bet Tony Hawk has other interests besides catching wicked air. So?

Sure geeks and nerds are a diverse lot, like ANY OTHER GROUP YOU COULD NAME. But this isn't about what makes them different, but rather about what they have in common (and poking a little fun at it).

A website trying to get traffic and generate revenue through their sponsors? That unpossible! Imagine if other sites start doing this. What would happen if Fark starting linking to controversial articles to generate hits? Next thing you know, /. will start posting links to things that nerds find interesting in the cynical hope to get more members, donors and sponsors! Playboy will have pictures of young, heavy breasted women to entice lonely males to buy a magazine full of ads....

Is today "Take Things Too Seriously Day"?

Re:Need more evidence

[icegreentea]

Then don't observe 'jocks'. Observe athletic people, or at least try to find some smart people who exercise. Jocks and 'athletic' are not the same. In any case, if improving your brain is the only reason you would exercise, you probably wouldn't enjoy it that much anyways.

Re:is it just me...

[DerekLyons]

in a land where ignorance and laziness are applauded (nascar, etc), is this an attempt to make learning and knowledge "popular"?

Someone who doesn't bother to properly capitalize and seemingly prefers bias and stereotyping himself... shouldn't complain about ignorance and laziness being applauded.

Re:Now thats the shit

[eugene ts wong]

I don't know if you're trying to be funny or not.

How does anybody verify that 2 messes are equally messy? What if 1 mess is stiffer and harder to untangle, even though it's not as confusing? I think that we've all seen knots that were really tight, but simply knotted.

If this is all just for fun, then it's no big deal.

Re:is it just me...

[Otter]

As I posted that, I realized it's obviously wrong: if you have to teach the chimp, I suppose it is in fact "learning and knowledge".

Re:is it just me...

[Neil Watson]

A NASCAR driver, or any race car driver, is a combination of an engineer, and an athlete. Hardly ignorant or lazy.

Pointless

[kenp2002]

It is a telling sign of the time when a people elevate the useless trapping of sedentary life in an attempt at parity with the advancement and conditioning of the human body to a state of near perfection.

Have we lost the passion for self improvement somewhere in the fields of snack food and talk shows?

"To all things I see bent knees to man's greatness as man discards the human gifts and flaws for the cold comfort of a life spent as a machine..."