Are "WE" all full time geeks on here or what?

[roaduck]

I was using a big search engine ending in an "e" (they don`t need more advertising) the other day and was typing geek(hack) for this forum but the auto suggest went to geektest instead so I thought I`d have a laugh and do it.

I`ve always been rather bookish and enjoy some obscure hobbies etc but I didn`t expect to get a score of 15.6% (a definate "Geek") compared to over 75% for a "Dysfunctional Geek" on my first attempt.

The horrifying thing is that the test was very `Americentric`and obviously aimed at child prodigies, polyglots, polymaths and geniuses.Even so a lot of the questions alluded me.If it was an anglophile orientated test I probably would have got more - 50% plus!

The thing is I`ve never really considered myself to be "Geeky" just pragmatic and hopefully reasonably open-minded.Just because I like quality hardware and software doesn`t neccessarily make me a "Geek"



Did "WE" all take the test already and pass it with flying colours? He ! He! He!

http://www.innergeek.us/geek-test.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[wellington1869]

I like fixing things but that doesnt necessarily make me a geek either I think. I mean if it wasnt computers, then I'd probably be a mechanic or a carpenter.  Or just sit at home and play with my tinkertoys and legos like ripster

As for writing, if I werent doing technical documentation (which I do on the side sometimes) then I'd be writing/teaching revisionist history (oh yea, I do that too ). If I didnt do either of those I'd be a travelling storyteller or something.  (yea, that wouldnt pay much better either).

But that means I'm inclined to be a polyglot and inclined to fix things - but I still dont think that defines a geek.  I always thought 'geek' meant some kind of obsessive quality and narrow mindedness, lol.  Not a very positive term, tho can be used ironically for fun.

But then I always think of becoming a patent lawyer, for some reason, too. Which doesnt really fit with the above - well, maybe it does - its kind of like being a technical writer I guess.

[itlnstln]

I am not a Geek.  Not anymore, anyway.  I play one at work, but at home, I am anti-geek.  I have had my geek card revoked for some time, now.

[erricrice]

Well, according to another big(new) search engine ending in 'g' the definition of geek is:

- awkward person: somebody regarded as unattractive and socially awkward
- obsessive computer user: somebody who is a proud or enthusiastic user of computers or other technology, sometimes to …

So the second one applies more to us here than the first, but I believe I also had my geek card revoked three years ago when I got a steady girlfriend...

I think most of us here aren't really placed under the 'geek' category since we have all found ways to make it part of our lives without neglecting the other parts of our lives(back to the obsessive thing there welly)

[d4rkst4r]

- awkward person: somebody regarded as unattractive and socially awkward

This is a nerd, not a geek.

- obsessive computer user: somebody who is a proud or enthusiastic user of computers or other technology, sometimes to …

Again, not necessarily a geek. This is someone with an addiction problem - like a WOW addict. Or a CrackBerry addict. Some of these are hubristic people who sit at Starbucks with their Netbooks and walk around in public with a bluetooth earpiece sharing their annoying inane conversations.

IMO, a geek is any person who puts some intellect into their hobby of choice. You could be a Civil War geek, a sewing geek, an electronics geek, a cooking geek, a music geek (aka audiophile), a muscle car geek, etc. This is what enriches our lives and makes us interesting to other people.

Nerds on the other hand, are socially awkward, don't know how to dress, have no sense of style or taste in music, and are generally clueless about life. Because they're not necessarily intelligent, they fall into whatever profession suits a nerd - usually insurance sales or politics, maybe accounting.

I just hate it when people confuse geek with nerd.

[roaduck]

I used to work in a very esoteric Hi-fi shop in London and because I was quite knowledgeable on the hardware models and I retained specifications and knew the key synergistic compositions etc they wanted me to do a few adverts for their quarterly newsletter.

This was at the height of "Yuppydom" Porsches,bear city traders with red braces and cocaine damaged nostrils on every corner.I have a wry,black mocking sense of humour so I did a few `verts on a freelance basis with no NUJ union card from `89 -`91 and it was quite lucrative but coupled with selling £14,000 Koetsu moving coil cartridges it burnt me out and I came back "Up North" to Manchester.

It must be the same in every major city - you miss your true friends back "home" and just collect acquaintances and no real "friends" because everybody is suspicious, sellfish  and sarcastic.

Being geeky to me implies being insular,introspective and introvert and because geeks are mostly indoor types with no suntan and questionable interpersonal skills like Goths and scientists perhaps.

I`m always outside - I love the sun in the med, Middle East and Africa - I`m quite brown and I`ve been told off for being a "Party Animal" so I`m non-conformist.

Well done for being a revisionist - that takes guts - I hate racist supremacy and bigotry in any form.I know the score because I read banned history,ideology and political books.Have a look at my parapolitics.current affairs blog forum at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wrh/ to get my point oif view.

[lowpoly]

I once failed a geek test because I lacked knowledge on StarTrek and the X-Files.

[d4rkst4r]

I don't like people who say "oh I work with technology, so I'm a geek and must wear the geek uniform". I also don't like people who say "oh he works with technology so he must be a geek." These are all lonely people, with no personalities of their own. I only see people with or without passions. My girlfriend's passion is fashion. She knows the most trivial things, a walking encyclopedia.  I don't see a difference, and neither does she. The rest is what you make of it.

I don't like people who say "Oh, you're a programmer. Can you fix my computer and get rid of all the spyware & viruses and save my illegal music collection?". Um, no.

Sounds like you have a fashion geek GF. That's really cool. I bet you learn a lot about fashion!

To me, geekiness is that passion & appreciation for something, including the technical aspects. It's always revealing when you ask someone what they're into or what they collect.

[erricrice]

This is a nerd, not a geek.




Again, not necessarily a geek. This is someone with an addiction problem - like a WOW addict. Or a CrackBerry addict. Some of these are hubristic people who sit at Starbucks with their Netbooks and walk around in public with a bluetooth earpiece sharing their annoying inane conversations.

IMO, a geek is any person who puts some intellect into their hobby of choice. You could be a Civil War geek, a sewing geek, an electronics geek, a cooking geek, a music geek (aka audiophile), a muscle car geek, etc. This is what enriches our lives and makes us interesting to other people.

Nerds on the other hand, are socially awkward, don't know how to dress, have no sense of style or taste in music, and are generally clueless about life. Because they're not necessarily intelligent, they fall into whatever profession suits a nerd - usually insurance sales or politics, maybe accounting.

I just hate it when people confuse geek with nerd.

I never said those were the definitions, I just said they were the definitions according to bing.

And I totally agree with all your points there.  What makes a true geek is a full knowledge of what he does beyond the 'normal' operational knowledge that most people seem to be content with.

Like us here.  Most people know that a keyboard has a bunch of keys and you press them and they usually come free with a computer.  Most people are content with that definition of a keyboard, but we are not.  We look farther and find more.  We notice a small difference between the crap we have and someone else's keyboard and we wonder why.  We then start to search the internets to answer that question and end up here.  In the process we buy a number of keyboards, some which we may like, some which we may not, but either way we gain the knowledge we were looking for when we first noticed the difference between keyboards.  We got our answer.

We are geeks because we like to learn and take pride in our knowledge, no matter how useless it might be to someone else because it is useful to us.

[d4rkst4r]

Not necessarily. I love her for her passion but that doesn't mean I need to know all the details, just as I wouldn't want to bore her to hell with a long talk about keyboards.

Last week she went to London to win a handbag. Not just an ordinary handbag, but a gray/silver/green ("industrial?") uni color issued by the ruling party in east german DDR times. That kind of stuff. Am I boring you yet?

Naw, I have a good appreciation for things made with form in mind as well as function.

You must not let these fashion and keyboard worlds collide. Bad things will happen. Bad things.

[d4rkst4r]

I'll tell you what she likes. She likes IBM Model M Industrials (the looks, not actually using one). And the μTRON. She just uses a laptop keyboard though.

What's stupid is colored keys.

You mean like this?

[roaduck]

Thank you all for the fascinating "received wisdom" "from the web" of what does and does not constitute being a "geek" or a "nerd"

In the little time that I have spoken to the members of this forum, I have found you all to be, without exception, to be multi-faceted passionate knowledgeable individuals who genuinely care about things in general.

I have learnt to shake off stereotypical "labels" eg -  hippy, socialist, anarchist etc because people find it easier to judge people based upon initial impressions and societal memes leading to misconceptions and ignorance of how to view people in a neutral respect.

What is convention after all ? - just widely tolerated behaviour that might have been construed as radical a year before, it`s only fickle fashion at the end of the day.

Just my tuppence.

[roaduck]

Ripster you can do amazing things with lego - That is art my son.It`s got immediate impact and they have a certain je ne sais quoi.You arrange the pieces like a film director - the displays totally transcend language.

[rdjack21]

I'll tell you what she likes. She likes IBM Model M Industrials (the looks, not actually using one). And the μTRON. She just uses a laptop keyboard though.

What's stupid is colored keys.

Hey I like my colored keys. It just looks so good when done right that is.

[clickclack]

I remember many years ago when talking to a physics instructor of mine the topic of geek and nerd popped up. He said "The difference between geek and nerd depends on the color of the ink of the pens in their pocket protector". I thought that was classic, and he went on to say "blue or black ink".

I dont recall which was which, but I really want black ink to be nerd and blue to be geek =P

LETS GO "GEEK IT UP" PEOPLE!
=D

[roaduck]

Oh in case you`re wondering what my avatar is supposed to be - it`s the Manchester Mark 1 - The first stored program binary computer that was "Turing Complete" in April 1949.It had no operating system and stored memory in a Williams cathode ray tube.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Mark_1

I am rather proud of my hometown Manchester which has been a "pioneer" city for a very long time :


Manchester 1st

The saying: "what Manchester does today, the world does tomorrow", is
a statement of fact. The city and its twin sister, Salford have
produced a rich treasure chest of beginnings without which the world
would be much reduced. Below is a list, with a brief description, of
the most prominent "firsts", some global, some national, some frankly
bizarre.

World's First Modern Industrial City

Manchester, in the last years of eighteenth century and the first
years of nineteenth century, provided for the world a model of the
emerging industrial society. The new opportunities, together with the
tremendous problems to be overcome, were highlighted in this one
place.
In Asa Briggs' memorable words, Manchester was "the shock city of the
age": where ideas of society, economy, of the way people lived and
worked, were turned on their heads. There has been no treaty signed
at Manchester, no famous battle won or art movement defined. What
Manchester has is a period of years when it led the world, for better
or worse, into the modern age. This is history with a capital H.

MANCHESTER 1st Index

POLITICS, RELIGION AND SOCIETY
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY
TRANSPORT
ARTS
SPORT
CIVIL ACHIEVEMENT
MISCELLANEOUS

POLITICS, RELIGION AND SOCIETY

THE ANTI-CORN LAW LEAGUE
This was the first modern political movement. It employed full time
administrators, teams of public speakers, mail shots, lobbying and
the latest technology - the new telegraph. Its methods were the model
for the most later political lobbying groups. The League was a
combination of the middle and working classes brought together with
the twin aims of freeing trade from tariffs and lowering the price of
bread. The victory of the movement in 1846 marked the symbolic end of
aristocratic rule in Parliament.

VEGETARIANISM
The movement began in 1815 in the Salford Bible Christian Church,
inspired by the sermons of the local preacher, named, of all things,
the Rev. William Cowherd. A vegetarian cookbook was published here by
Martha Brotherton in 1821 and her husband Joseph was the first
vegetarian MP.

VOTES FOR WOMEN
Emmeline Pankhurst founded the Women's Socal and Political Union in
1903 in her home, which still stands, on Nelson Street. Three years
later, with the slogan "Deeds not Words", the movement became
militant and gained the title suffragette in the battle for the vote.
Earlier, in 1867, the National Society for Women's Suffrage had been
founded in Manchester by Lydia Becker.

TUC
Originally founded in The Three Crowns pub in Salford, the first
general meeting of the Trades Union Congress was in 1868 in the
Mechanics's Institute, Princess Street.

INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY
A forerunner of New Labour, the ILP was born in Manchester in 1892.
Its first MP was Keir Hardie.

COMMUTER TOWNS
The world's first true commuter or dormitory towns - suburbs too
distant from the city to be rached easily by horse carriage or on
foot - developed along the railway routes of southern Manchester from
1842 at places such as Alderley Edge and Sale.

SHAKERS
Ann Lee, founder of Shaker Religion, was born in Manchester in 1736.
She emigrated to America in 1786 taking her visions and follower with
her.

back to top

SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY

TRANSIT OF VENUS
Salfordian William Crabtree greatly improved knowledge concerning the
movement of planets. His friendship with Liverpudlian Jeremiah Horrox
led to them jointly becoming the first to witness, in 1639, the
transit of the planet Venus across the sun.

STEAM POWERED MILL
In 1783 Richard Arkwright set up the firs mil to use steam power on
Miller Street in the city centre. This marked the move away from
natural power sources such as water and paved the way for mass
production techniques.

ATOMIC THEORY,
METEOROLOGY,
COLOUR BLINDNESS
John Dalton was the scientific colossus of early industrial
Manchester. His atomic theory (1803) with its pioneering work on the
constitution of elements was the precursor of all modern chemistry
whilst his lectures on meteorology turned the study of the weather
into a science. He was also the first to describe color blindness.

ELECTRO-MAGNET
Adopted Mancunian William Sturgeon (1783-1850) discovered the electro-
magnet which would later assist in the development of such items as
the electric telegraph and electric motor.

HENRY'S LAW
This law concerning the solubility of gases was formulated by
Manchester doctor, William Henry (1774-1836)

MICROPHOTOGRAPHY
In 1853 John Benjamin Dancer working from 43 Cross Street invented
microphotography and microfilms. He also developed a spring contact
breaker for electric bells and stetoscopic camera.

FIRST LAW IN THERMODYNAMICS
This law of physics concerning the mecanical equivalence of heat was
discovered by James Prescott Joule (1819-89) whose work is
commemorated by the international name for the unit of energy,
the "joule".

PRECISION ENGINEERING
Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-87) was the father of precision
engineering. His work finding true planes allowed him to gain
accuracies in tool making up to 0.000001 inch. He was also the first
to develop a standard screw thread and the first to design a
mechanical street cleaner.

CAST IRON BEAM
The introduction of cast iron beams strong enough to span large
distances was the work of Eaton Hodgkinson and sir William Fairbairn
for bridge building, in particular the Britannia Tubular Bridge
across the Menai Straits. They also began the large scale use of
plated wrought iron. Fairbairn, (1789-1874), an engineering giant,
was responsible for a leap forward in boiler making and the invention
of riveting machine.

STEAM HAMMER
Invented 1840 by James Nasmyth at his Patricroft works: the hammer
enabled huge iron components to be shaped.

INDUSTRIAL ESTATE
The first purpose built industrial estate was Trafford Park. It was
created in 1896.

SPLITTING THE ATOM
Ernest Rutherford working at Manchester University discovered how to
split the atom in 1919.

COMPUTERS
The first computer with a stored programme and memory,
nicknamed "Baby", was developed at Manchester University in 1948 by
professors Tom Kilburn and Fred Williams. Before this computers had
been simple calculating machines, afterwards the modern computer was
possible.

back to top

TRANSPORT

THE MODERN CANAL
In Britain, this was the Bridgewater Canal - a totally artificial
waterway independent of natural rivers. Opened in 1761, it was an
instant commercial success and provoked 'canal mania'.

STEAMBOATS
The first steamboats operated on the Bridgewater Canal in 1773.

RAILWAY AND RAILWAY STATION
The worlds first true railway started operating from a purpose built
station on Liverpool Road in 1830. Other places had used steam
engines but the Liverpool and Manchester Railway had the lot,
including steam locomotives throughout (no horse drawn carriages),
two tracks, timetables and proper stations. It also got the attention
of the world's press and started the global stampede for railways.

SUBMARINE
The first mechanically powered submarine was launched in 1880 to the
designs of eccentric Hulme curate, the Rev. George Garrett. He also
invented an armour plated mortar-board for academies under attack.

SWING AQUEDUCT
The first and only swing aqueduct in the world is at Barton, west of
the city. Built in 1893, it carries the Bridgewater Canal over the
Ship Canal and carries 800 tons of water.

BRITISH AEROPLANE AND AVIATOR
Local man A.V.Roe designed and flew the firs totally British plane in
1908. The plane was described as a "damaged toast rack, imitating a
motor-car". He had already claimed, unofficially, to be the first
Briton to fly earlier that year. Roe pioneered the enclosed cock-pit
and single joystick. In 1928 one of his Avro Avians, made in
Manchester, became the first plane to complete a solo flight to
Australia.

AIRLINE SERVICES
Propably the world's first scheduled airline service was set up in
1919 between Manchester and Southport.

TRANS-ATLANTIC FLIGHT
Former Manchester Central High School students , J.W. Alcock and A.W.
Brown, were the first to fly the Atlantic Ocean, non-stop, in 1919.

SUPERTRAMS
Trams were reintroduced on to British Streets by Manchester's
Metrolink service in 1991.


back to top

ARTS

PROFESSIONAL, PERMANENT ORCHESTRA
This was the Halle Orchestra, set up in 1858 by German conductor
Charles Halle who was later knighted for his work.

REPERTORY THEATRE
Ann Horniman began British repertory theatre in 1908 at the Gaiety
Theatre Peter Street.

ART TREASURES EXHIBITION
Following the success with science and industry of the Great
Exhibition in London, Manchester in 1857 began a trend for
international art exhibitions.

POT BUILDINGS
Pit-owner John Fletcher finding fire-clay next to a coal seam at
Bolton decided to advertise the use of terracotta (a product of fire-
clay) by building churches completely of this material in the 1840s
at Holy Trinity, Platt Fields, Manchester, and at St Stephens, Little
Lever, Bolton.

back to top

SPORT

FOOTBALL LEAGUE
The world's first professional football league was set up in 1888 in
the Royal Hotel, Piccadilly. Curiously of the twelve original
memebers none were from Manchester.

EUROPEAN CUP, DOUBLE DOUBLE, TREBLE
Manchester United were the first English football team to win the
European Cup in 1968 and first English club to twice achieve the FA
Cup and the Championship in the same year in 1993-94 and in 1995-96.
They then topped both of those achievements in 1998/99, winning the
Champions League, FA Cup and Championship all in the same year.

CROWD ATTENDANCE
The first and only time that the crowd at a English club match has
exceeded 84,000 was at Maine Road in 1934, when Manchester City
played Stoke City in the FA Cup 6th round. The actual attendance was
84569 and City won.

back to top

CIVIL ACHIEVEMENT

GAS STREET LIGHTING
Part of Chapel Street in Salford was illuminated in 1805 along with
the Philips and Lee factory.

MUNICIPAL PARKS
Philips Park, Queens Park and Peel Park opened in 1846 to become the
firt municipal parks.

WATER
Manchester led the way in providing the citizens of the new big
cities with a supply of pure, fresh water when it opened its
Longdendale Reservoirs in the 1850s.

MUNICIPAL LIBRARIES
Salford Borough Library opened in 1850, followed in 1852 by
Manchester's which operated the first Children's Library from 1862.

FREE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Perhaps, the nation's first free, public library opened as Chetham's
Library, off Long Millgate, in 1653, for "the use of scholars and
others well-affected. "It was a bequest from wealthy mercant,
Humphrey Chetham and is still open, public and free.

FIRST BUS ROUTE
This ran from Market Street, Manchester, to Salford and began in 1824.

SMOKELESS ZONES
Manchester and Salford led in the development of smokeless zones in
the 1950s.

URBAN HERITAGE PARK
The castlefield area of the city became Britain's first Urban
Heritage Park in 1982.

back to top

MISCELLANEOUS

FIRST CASUALTY OF ENGLISH CIVIL WAR
This dubious honour lies with Richard Percival, linen weaver, shot on
Market Street in 1642.

OBSTETRICS
Doctor Charle White pioneered many new practices in obstetrics
including the use of fresh water and fresh air for women after giving
birth. His book, "The Management of Pregnant and Lying- in Women" of
1773, marked a great leap forward in midwifery.

BULLFIGHTER
Frank Evans from Salford is Britain's first and only matador and has
fought many times in Spain. He took inspiration from the pictures he
saw in the home of a Spanish family who lived in his street.

LONELY HEARTS
Helen Morrison was perhaps the first Briton to advertise for a
husband in 1727 in the Manchester Weekly Advertiser. She was later
sent to a lunatic asylum.

MARKS AND SPENCER STORE
Despite having a market stall in Leeds, the first Marks and Spencer
store opened in Stretford Road, Hulme, Manchester, in 1894.

ROLLS ROYCE
In 1904 Frederick Royce produced the first car from his factory in
Cooke Street, Hulme. He soon attracted the attention of Charles Rolls
and following a meeting in the Midland Hotel (now the Holiday Inn,
Crowne Plaza, Midland Hotel) they set up the famous company which
bears their names.

WATERPROOFS
Glasgow born, Manchester mill owner, Charles Mackintosh, took out a
patent in 1825 for practical waterproof fabric. He gave his name to
the raincoat. Crease proof fabric was the work of Manchester company
Tootal Broadhurst Lee in 1932.

UFO LANDING PAD
In the new Hulme Park there is to be a UFO airport located on so-
called ley lines. The potential of the site was pointed out by local
Geomantics. Manchester likes to think ahead: who knows where the
business links of tomorrow will be?

back to top


Try These


Home
Manchester Firsts
Manchester History
79 - 1699
1700 - 1799
1800 - 1899
1900 - present
Bomb to Boom
Millennium
Manchester Cotton
36 Manchesters
Twin Cities
Manchester Quotes
Manchester Stats
Crop Circles
Musicians of Manchester
The Hacienda
The Smiths Story
Alex Ferguson
Munich 1958


http://www.manchester.com/features/first.php

[clickclack]

Interesting info there! Thanks for indulging

btw just took that Geek test thing...
I got 44.5 (MAJOR GEEK) just a hair off Super Geek... I am a little bit scared now
:S

[roaduck]

Thanks webwit - I currently live in Manchester - North West England

I am British by birth but I`m a bit of a mongrel, - I have Polish ,Ukranian, English and Welsh genes  floating about somewhere inside.

[sixty]

Hmm maybe it was just the Amiga hacking scene? Parties with booze, hookers, Ferrari's & fan girls (ehm, gotta do some "samples" baby).. and mostly teenagers. And I'm not making any of this up. Oh yeah the bbs money.. Or maybe because I used to be a soccer and surfer/beach dude as well

So were you part of the Amiga scene? Any interesting group history? Sadly I missed the wild days of the Amiga scene, and got in way too late due to my young age. Had quite a bit of experience with the console scene, which still had equally fancy parties in the early days.

If you look at demo parties nowadays it looks almost like relabelled lan-parties, with intel, amd and nvidia sponsoring it. It grew so lame that it disgusts me. Either that or I grew old, but it's just not the same anymore.

PS: Talking of long dead hacking scenes, check out this video from the 80s about the c64 sceners from "The Wanderer Group", very geeky stuff indeed:

[quadibloc]

Manchester has a football team?

The reference is to Manchester United. They actually play a game that uses a round ball (and without wearing helmets). I think it's rugby rather than soccer, but I'm not absolutely sure which one.

Also, I don't think they even have cheerleaders.

[InSanCen]

Regardless of what any "test" says, I am a geek and proud of it.

Geek with Attitude. is what someone once called me.

I love technology, computers (Keyboards, naturally). I also love dirty great engines, and before I got myself engaged (soon to be married?), I had a healthy interest in many many members of the opposite sex (Socially inept? not bloody likely).

So while I don't fit the classic definition of being a  "living with mummy, basement dwelling hermit-virgin with a Beowulf cluster", I am unashamedly in love with technology as well as mechanical things (Qualified Welding Engineer). I am a biker (Though not club affiliated, I hate politics), and trust me, your stereotypical geek would last about 3 seconds in that environment.

Make of that what you will, But I will always be a geek. By choice.

[InSanCen]

The reference is to Manchester United. They actually play a game that uses a round ball (and without wearing helmets). I think it's rugby rather than soccer, but I'm not absolutely sure which one.

Also, I don't think they even have cheerleaders.

Manchester City, not United (Although there is a Manchester United). I'm fairly sure (I hate football) that an American owns Manchester United.

Football to most of the world, soccer to the US. Just to be pedantic... we did invent the sport (Well, acting class these days, more than a sport).

/dons flameproof suit

[clickclack]

..."basement dwelling hermit-virgin"...

That's classic!

GEEK IT UP PEOPLE, GEEK IT UP!