Is Utah really the nerdiest state???

[jerome1232]

No I wasn't joking.  I was responding to a post that I took as derogatory towards teachers.

I misread your post.

For some reason in my minds eye I always picture a nerd as a hacker type (hacker as in, jimmy rigs things and uses them for unintended purposes, builds them himself) While a geek I picture as sitting at a mac and sipping starbucks.

btw, that's actually a pretty severe blow to for me to accuse someone of using a mac and sipping starbucks So my minds eye contradicts my actual definition of the terms lol.

[Lakumi]

pumpkin spice latte is like... really good but I go really weird and... yeah it's just left at its best I don't consume it anymore

[Backroads]

I'm nerdy, yet not nearly as nerdy as my friends. 

[Quin]

I've spent my whole life around nerds and the like and I have never seen anyone close to that.

No one at any of the anime cons, doll cons, comicons, anycons, nowhere.

They're fabricated characters for TV, nothing more, not at all real people. Socially awkward people in those circles aren't like that, sorry to break the illusion.

ROFL... Oh.... They really, really DO exist.

My uncle was an astrophysicist... His dinner parties were absolutely hilarious.

NO ONE is cooler than all the post docs from applied maths and sciences at a BBQ. I had no idea that a lot of substances were banned &/or illegal (who says you can't grill steaks with thermite? The trick is to contain the explosive nature of 3000 degree heat + water... Or better yet, funnel,it insta something like a potato gun...or that any FOOL wouldn't know "insert some extremely obscure fact here", or that most people don't have to look out for structural engineers crashing the party in spite and removing some of the supports from the deck, so 20 people are on a -perfectly sound- structure that has canted 6feet away from the house.

Think Val Kilmer in Real Science meets Numb3rs meets Big Bang Theory... And you have my uncle's circle of friends and colleagues.

Q

[Lakumi]

so no Val Kilmer from Top Gun?

 

I guess those are in a different set of nerds, then the con kind...oh I have many a con tale...

[Guest]

Hence the nature of my wondering about the original findings. It all depends on how things are defined. I would generally operate on the premise that nerds and geeks are interchangeable concepts for socially awkward sorts who may or may not be otherwise intelligent. Perhaps if the overall premise is too designate people to nerdom or geekdom based on interests than we would see geeks being the overly tech savvy/sci-fi type and the nerds being the fantasy/roleplaying type. When I envision a geek he is an overly skinny hunch-backed teenager with too thick glasses, when I picture a nerd he is an overweight 40 year old still living in his mom's basement with his collection of teenage nostalgia and remakes of it.

 

 

Wierd Al got the gist of it here... LOL

 

To quote a few:

First in my class here at M.I.T.

Got skills, I'm a Champion of D&D

 

Steven Hawking's in my library

 

My MySpace page is all totally pimped out

Yo I know Pi to a thousand places

 

I'm a whiz at minesweeper I can play for days

Once you see my sweet moves you're gonna stay amazed,

my fingers movin' so fast I'll set the place ablaze

 

There's no killer app I haven't run

At Pascal, well, I'm number 1

Do vector calculus just for fun

I ain't got a gat but I got a soldering gun

 

I'll ace any trivia quiz you bring on

I'm fluent in JavaScript as well as Klingon

 

Only question I ever thought was hard

Was do I like Kirk or do I like Picard?

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

[Palerider]

bah, hogwash!

I submit a challenge to enter thunderdome with me! two men enters, one man leaves!

It's on...

[Lakumi]

It's on...

it's dying time!

[prisonchaplain]

Wow...I really got something going with this one.  Two thoughts of my own.  First, I grew up thinking I was a nerd/dork.  Never did qualify as a geek.  Now I realize I was just SQUARE.

 

Second...I love the title of my wife's textbook:  Those who can--TEACH!  Those that love their subjects and their paychecks most, seldom teach.  Those who love their subjects, and find passing the wisdom along deeply gratifying--those are the ones who sacrifice the money--and yes, sometimes the ability to be right at the cutting edge--for the toughest, most underrated gig going--teacher.

 

I'm biased though...I started out as an elementary school teacher, and then found something easier.  :-)

[Guest]

Wow...I really got something going with this one. Two thoughts of my own. First, I grew up thinking I was a nerd/dork. Never did qualify as a geek. Now I realize I was just SQUARE.

Second...I love the title of my wife's textbook: Those who can--TEACH! Those that love their subjects and their paychecks most, seldom teach. Those who love their subjects, and find passing the wisdom along deeply gratifying--those are the ones who sacrifice the money--and yes, sometimes the ability to be right at the cutting edge--for the toughest, most underrated gig going--teacher.

I'm biased though...I started out as an elementary school teacher, and then found something easier. :-)

Now this is taking the matter to the other extreme... Those who love their subjects work on their subjects. Whether it be on the field or in a classroom. Pay checks rarely matter... Pay checks come to them because they are extremely good in their craft.

I love programming. If I get fired from my job, I'd still be programming. Michael Jordan loves Basketball, if he didn't get hired by the NBA, he'd still be playing Basketball. Teaching your craft is a natural progression - you love it so you want to show somebody else so you'll have somebody to talk to about it or somebody who will learn to love it as much as you do. Teaching is not limited to the classroom. Every new intern at my job come to me for training... I don't just teach them programming, I show them how awesome it is so they'll love working on it.

[Blackmarch]

I'm not exactly laughing, 'cause my state's in the same category, but...okay...yeah...I'm laughing!!! 

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2613568/Welcome-nerd-heaven-Utah-nerdiest-place-US-study-finds.html

this makes meh happeh.