The entries have been gathered, the aspects of geekiness quantified, and the composite scores calculated.

While computer-love made a positive contribution in the nerd index, the development of knowledge in other venues (and frequently, in multiple areas for the same nerd) was factored in as well. After all, the thing about nerds that made those beautiful people in high school so scared is that nerds enjoyed learning things for the sheer joy of learning them. That this is learning for learning’s sake is pretty evident from some of the areas to which the formidable brain power on display was applied. Being able to name Jupiter’s moons, or to do a mental sort of states by area or population isn’t a wildly handy skill, but it does give a nerd a sense of what his brain can be harnessed to do.

Given that the social difficulties of the nerd seem to arise in large part from living in a world where the love of learning is feared, rather than cherished, there were no nerd points awarded for social awkwardness per se. However, glorying in one’s nerditude despite social pressures, setting aside appearances, or challenging the fashionistas with a geeky T-shirt, earned points.

Nerds read books, watch TV and movies, play games, collect toys, go out (albeit to fan cons and ren fairs, libraries, geological expeditions, and nerd proms), play and listen to music, and tell jokes. They raise nerd children (or expose the kids they babysit to geeky ways of knowing), and they make their parents and partners accessories to their mental conquest of the world. Sometimes, their mental activities leave a permanent mark on the landscape. All of this was factored in to the nerd index.

I’d share the algorithm, but it’s proprietary.

There were many impressive nerds in the field of competitors, but a few attained nerdliness orders of magnitude above the pack. And, we may all be just a little bit nerdier for having trotted out our geek bona fides.

Results for the nerd-off after the jump.

Continue reading→

I wanted to remind all the nerds (a term I use to encompass as well geeks, poindexters, dweebs, and those in allied fields) that you’ll need to nerd things up by Sunday evening if you want to be considered for the final nerd-off rankings. The time remaining to represent is ticking down.

And that reminded me of my nerdy DARPA time piece, pictured here. You can’t buy this watch in stores!
But perhaps even nerdier is the reason I always opt for analog over digital watches: analog watches remind me of the unit circle, for which I have a deep and abiding love.

Today, at a local outpost of a large chain bookstore, the sprogs and I endeavored to spend some gift cards. Since this is a chain which does not make book-locator terminals available to browsing customers, we were waiting at the customer service desk.
Patron ahead of us in line: I’m looking for The Prince by Machiavelli.
Bookstore employee at the customer service desk: Can you tell me what kind of book that is?
Patron ahead of us in line: What do you mean?
Bookstore employee at the customer service desk: What genre? Is it fiction? Non-fiction? Children’s?
Patron ahead of us in line: Children’s?!
Me: You might try philosophy or political science.
Bookstore employee at the customer service desk: There it is, under philosophy, and we have a copy in stock. (Goes off to show the patron ahead of us in line where it is, then returns.) Can I help you?
Me: We’re looking for some children’s titles, but I wanted to see in which subsection they’d be located. The first one on our list is The Borrowers.
Bookstore employee at the customer service desk: That was a great movie!
Me: (with some restraint) The book is even better.
Bookstore employee at the customer service desk: Well, I’ll have to read it some day.

(“A strong mind in a nerdy body”, from the Latin, five years of which also contributes to my nerd cred.)
There’s this stereotype that the really brainy kids have some difficulty moving around the physical world successfully. Sometimes it holds true, I am sad to report.
In junior high, my physical education grades (Bs, generally) routinely kept me off the highest tier of the honor roll. In high school, though, I managed to earn varsity letters:

Continue reading→

Although it would seem that some suspiciously hott ScienceBloggers think they have enough data to call a winner in the nerd-off, it’s not over yet.
There are more nerds poised to represent. (Not just ScienceBloggers, either. I’m curious to see whether anyone at Cosmic Variance will throw down.) As well, there will be a proper analysis and weighing of the data in evidence.
So there’s still a chance to get your nerd on in the nerd-off. Anything posted (and detected via Technorati or Google Blogsearch) by next Sunday evening is eligible. The results will go up Monday, Sept. 18.

Let’s start with a song:
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall,
Aleph-null bottles of beer.
Take one down, pass it around,
Aleph-null bottles of beer on the wall!
When you’re done with that:

Continue reading→