# Geekermania! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 5, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454 "2002-08-05T18:42:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/1 "2002-08-05T18:42:48Z")
I bet there are many on here who either (a) consider themselves geeks (or nerds, if you will) or (b) think that other people consider them to be geeks. So what’s so geeky about you? In other words, what would other people point and laugh at if they knew you did it? (And no, I’m not including masturbation!) Or what do you do that people _already_ point and laugh about? 😉 For me - now stop that sniggering back there, I can hear you - I actually have ticket stubs to nearly every movie I’ve gone to since 1988. Yeah, 1988. If **that** ain’t geeky, I don’t know what is. Who else? ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2002, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/2 "2002-08-05T19:24:21Z")
Had a garage sale the other day with a fairly “normal” friend, and someone came looking for Star Trek books, specifically written by Peter David. I had some, and sold them to the guy, then pursued a lengthy and quite detailed conversation that started with the Q Continuum and worked its way through Michael Crichton’s and Robert Heinlein’s books, ending with a sharp turn into Ayn Rand. Halfway through this conversation I turned to my very puzzled friend and asked “How much like a complete geek do I actually sound right now?” ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/3 "2002-08-06T04:24:52Z")
I live on the internet. I have Tux the penguin shirt. I like Mandrake Linux. I talk about my computer all the time. I love Star Trek; I think Star Wars is retarded. I have signed art from lots of Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons and Dragons artists (and I know how to play both.) I think Alan Turing and complex mathematical equations are sexy. I fantasize about a minor character from Final Fantasy 6. I quote Monty Python all the time. I make webpages for fun. I just realized I have no life. :eek: I am a [geek](http://www.jinwicked.com/images/pics/wheel07.jpg). What do I win??? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/4 "2002-08-06T12:06:13Z")
You win a stack of Monopoly dollars, each with consecutive serial numbers for collectibility. You win the Dungeons and Dragons Pepsi Challenge, in which the characters are played by various Pepsi products: Diet Pepsi the Mage, Pepsi Blue the Cleric, and Crystal Pepsi the One Who Gets Beat Up a Lot. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/5 "2002-08-06T14:11:09Z")
\Mmmm…Crystal Pepsi… \ ---
**Author:** ![blinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a5b964/32.png) [@blinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blinx)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/6 "2002-08-06T14:21:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinwicked \* > \*\*I live on the internet. I have Tux the penguin shirt. I like Mandrake Linux. > > What do I win??? \*\* But… but… Mandrake Linux that is only wannabe-geek. Next contestant please! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/7 "2002-08-06T14:51:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinwicked \* > **I think Alan Turing and complex mathematical equations are sexy.** So…how you doin’? 😉 I’m a geek. I have a bookshelf that’s half-filled with math books, ranging from low-level (calc I and the like) to stuff that I would have trouble reading (like _Complexity Theory of Real Functions_, which assumes familiarity on the part of the reader with NP-completeness and Lebesgue integration). I’m particularly interested in computability theory (the area that Alan Turing founded), and I can spout equations to your heart’s content, **jin**. I make an effort to have an encyclopedic knowledge on any subject I’m interested in. Fortunately, I’m not the sort of person to share my knowledge for hours at a time. I work as a programmer dealing with networks and low-level hardware stuff. I think database design is really cool. I can speak Elizabethan English better than anyone else I’ve met (which probably isn’t that well, seeing as I haven’t met that many other people who actually speak it). I don’t have any gadgets, although I’m probably going to get a cell phone later today. I view it as a necessary evil, and I promise to be courteous about it. Is that enough? ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/8 "2002-08-06T15:02:56Z")
Well, to be a real geek, you need to be obsessed with minutiae. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![av8rmike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/edb3f5/32.png) [@av8rmike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/av8rmike)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/9 "2002-08-06T15:18:54Z")
I understand this: GE/MU/O d+(-) s+: a- C++ UL\>+++ P+ L++ E- W++ N o? K- w O? M- V- PS+ @PE Y+ PGP- t++ 5 X++ R tv++ b++ DI++ D++ G++ e++ h+ r-- y? Unfortunately, Robert Hayden will probably never make a new version of his [Geek Code](http://www.geekcode.com), but one can always hope. Regarding myself, I’ve gotten into debates with co-workers about the merits of object-oriented programming. I’ve seen every episode of _The X Files_, _Monty Python_, and most of the Star Trek incarnations. Oh, and I went to one of the geekiest colleges there is. I’m a geek of “other” because there is no aviation category (hence the username). I can identify most of the world’s civilian aircraft on sight. People usually come to me to check the validity of things like aviation news stories. That’s probably enough for now. ---
**Author:** ![butter\_pie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aca169/32.png) [@butter\_pie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/butter_pie)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/10 "2002-08-07T02:21:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ultrafilter \* > \*\* > > So…how you doin’? 😉 > > I’m a geek. I have a bookshelf that’s half-filled with math books, ranging from low-level (calc I and the like) to stuff that I would have trouble reading (like _Complexity Theory of Real Functions_, which assumes familiarity on the part of the reader with NP-completeness and Lebesgue integration). I’m particularly interested in computability theory (the area that Alan Turing founded), and I can spout equations to your heart’s content, **jin**.\*\* Oooh, NP! I sat in on a complexity class at the U of T while I was doing the preliminary sketches for my Universal Turing Machine drawing, and I used some of the equations from the class notes for the background of my drawing. (I gave the #1 print to the professor of the class and had a short talk with him about it last time I was up there. An aside – Andrew Hodge, the guy that wrote Alan Turing: the Enigma has #69 – also a gift) I really dig the complexity stuff in a way over-my-head aesthetic sort of way. I’m interested right now in possibly doing an image of Charles Babbage next, because from what I’ve read so far he was something in the way of a borderline madman… a very eccentric kind of guy. I really think people need to know more about the individuals that influence these fields… it really puts a human face on it, makes it more than just numbers. It’s history. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/11 "2002-08-07T04:07:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinwicked \* > \*\*Oooh, NP! I sat in on a complexity class at the U of T while I was doing the preliminary sketches for my Universal Turing Machine drawing, and I used some of the equations from the class notes for the background of my drawing. (I gave the #1 print to the professor of the class and had a short talk with him about it last time I was up there. An aside – Andrew Hodge, the guy that wrote Alan Turing: the Enigma has #69 – also a gift) I really dig the complexity stuff in a way over-my-head aesthetic sort of way. I’m interested right now in possibly doing an image of Charles Babbage next, because from what I’ve read so far he was something in the way of a borderline madman… a very eccentric kind of guy. I really think people need to know more about the individuals that influence these fields… it really puts a human face on it, makes it more than just numbers. It’s history. \*\* If you’re looking for interesting stories about mathematicians, I highly recommend Eric Bell’s _Men of Mathematics_, which was written in 1920-something, and details the lives of the men who were considered the greatest mathematicians at that time (the field has only become larger, of course). Also, check out the life of Kurt Gödel. He was too late to be included in the book I referenced earlier, but he was kind of an odd dude, and his work is of the same importance as Turing’s (i.e., the most important stuff done in the twentieth century). Come to think of it, math is the one subject that I could talk for hours about–just because it takes that long to get to all the really good stuff. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/12 "2002-08-07T04:10:24Z")
**jin** : I forgot to mention, I really like the Universal Turing Machine drawing (shown [here](http://www.jinwicked.com/en/art/drawings/turing.html)). I can’t wait to see what you do with Babbage. ---
**Author:** ![sunstone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunstone/32/3372_2.png) [@sunstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sunstone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/13 "2002-08-07T04:39:17Z")
(Head down…mumbling) Yes, I am a geek. I read science books for fun. I do volunteer work teaching senior citizens how to use the computer. I pick up interesting rocks and keep them in my pocket. I am sometimes surprised when I realize that the people around me have eyes that are slowly glazing over as I am explaining the taxonomy of lizards. I have worn Hawaiian shirts and Vans deck shoes for the last 20 years. But the most damming of all is that I actually watch educational TV deliberately, and find most TV very dull. Except for Dexter’s Laboratory…that was me as a kid (in my imagination) ---
**Author:** ![p\_cific\_812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@p\_cific\_812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/p_cific_812)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/14 "2002-08-07T04:45:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jinwicked \* > \*\*…I quote Monty Python all the time… \*\* Wait a minute… The fact that I have committed the scripts to most Python movies/sketches to memory makes me a _geek_?! But my mom said I was cool!!! ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/15 "2002-08-07T05:02:52Z")
Where to start…? Well, there’s my Star Trek watch, photo of Kirk and Spock, keychains, lots of ST and other trading cards and books, etc.; my Battlestar Galactica Colonial Warrior jacket; my boxes full of comics; my tendency back in high school to befriend and hang out with other geeks and nerds; I have a brother who’s even geekier than I am. That should settle it. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/16 "2002-08-07T05:21:17Z")
I watch things like C-Span. Do I get any points for that? :o ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/17 "2002-08-07T05:43:45Z")
I build lightsabers. ---
**Author:** ![JimSox5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5a626/32.png) [@JimSox5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JimSox5)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/18 "2002-08-07T05:46:32Z")
I don’t know about nerd. . .maybe freak is more appropriate. . .but I have a webbed toe. People did point and laugh when mashed potatoes shot out my nose at lunch in 6th grade. ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/19 "2002-08-07T05:47:41Z")
It hurts me to learn that Jinwicked doesn’t like Star Wars. So, so sad. O woeful day! ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2002, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454/20 "2002-08-07T06:00:42Z")
“There’s a penguin on the tele!” Whattya mean this makes me a geek? I thought that being able to quote Monty Python made one cool but perhaps it’s that very misconception that pushes one into the realm of geekdom. Watching educational television is simply a practical use of one’s free time isn’t it? Besides that I don’t think I’m a geek but then again… ask me about fountain pens… I dare you. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/geekermania/122454.md?page=2)