To read the tribute to SFC Marcus Muralles, please click here
Tuesday, November 16, 2004
Geeks v. Science Junkies
There are many different types of geeks. There are those who wear pocket protectors and can build themselves their own robot girlfriend. There are those who wash their hair once a week, wear goofy t-shirts, and play RPGs several nights a week (and talk the lingo when they're not playing.) There are those who dress up like their favorite sci-fi character (and not just at the cons) and wonder why people look at them funny when they start quoting that character in everyday conversations. There are the shy ones who talk to no one, never look anyone in the eye, but... if you mention Heinlein or Asimov or Clarke, they can pick apart realistic fact v. could-never-happen fantasy. Then of course, you have the closet geeks, who, to the outside world seem perfectly "normal", but, behind closed doors, they could be any of these other manifestations of geekdom. (Did I miss any?) Most of them can be identified by taking one look at their bookshelf... if their bookcase has more than... 75% sci-fi/ fantasy and/or hard science/tech manuals... they might be a geek.
Why do I bring this up? I'm definitely not dogging on geeks... let's see... I married one, his best friend is one (mildly)... I gave birth to two of them, several of my close on-line friends are... but, alas, I am not one. I mean, I love sci-fi movies (but sometimes I pick apart the bad science), and I used to read hard sci-fi books (the only fantasy books I've ever been able to get into are The Belgariad series and The Mallorian series - and the extra books- by David and Leigh Eddings.) But my kids start talking about damage points or the cool weapon in this game or the whatever in whichever game strikes their fancy this week, and my eyes glaze over. Hubby wants to get together with J and E to play Living Greyhawk- I say "fine... kill something evil"- but I have no idea what they actually do (besides eat, drink and roll dice). (quick story... I went with Hubby one night to Thor's Hammer - the local "gaming shop" and he played a session of Living Greyhawk. I spent at least an hour on the cell phone with Denita and then still managed to finish one book and start another.) Russ and Spats
and Hubby can tell you all about my ineptitude when it comes to computers. And just try to get those silly Vulcan ears on me and see what happens!!!
I may not be a geek, but I am a junkie... an information junkie... I LOVE learning things (when we were in school, I think the term "nerd" was used... but that can be confused with "geek", so.... ARGH!) I have to admit, I have my personal preferences as to what type of information I prefer to gather... politics (duh) and science (space and medical, mostly, but physics and chemistry are pretty nifty, too...) are my subjects of choice. History is becoming more and more interesting to me (thank you, History Channel!) Yes, we can get into the debate over geeks v. nerds v. science junkies (IMO, all geeks and nerds are science junkies to a certain extent; science junkies are not by default geeks or nerds.) Family members find me a little odd in this way (on my side of the family, there are no geeks, nerds or science junkies of any kind that I know of...except me... my dad is the closest thing to a junkie we have, and he is limited to medical shows.)
Yes, I watch Dr. Rosenfeld on FoxNews. I watched SpaceShip1 all three times it flew. I saw the X-Prize trophy in person. The Mars rovers are too cool (I made the boys sit through the taping of a PBS special on the Mars mission at the St. Louis Science Center in which Bill Nye the Science Guy was the host.) Yeah, I'll be watching in March when NASA tests the X-43A scramjet. The Astronomy Picture of the Day is on my daily site list. Get the picture?
So, why this in-depth look into my life as a science junkie? A friend of mine sent me this link. Another black hole? In the Milky Way? Whoa.
UPDATE: Well, dang it. George informs me that the X-43A flew today. That just stinks. I mean, I'm happy that all went well... at almost 7000 mph... but... but... I missed it! I can't believe I missed it!
Why do I bring this up? I'm definitely not dogging on geeks... let's see... I married one, his best friend is one (mildly)... I gave birth to two of them, several of my close on-line friends are... but, alas, I am not one. I mean, I love sci-fi movies (but sometimes I pick apart the bad science), and I used to read hard sci-fi books (the only fantasy books I've ever been able to get into are The Belgariad series and The Mallorian series - and the extra books- by David and Leigh Eddings.) But my kids start talking about damage points or the cool weapon in this game or the whatever in whichever game strikes their fancy this week, and my eyes glaze over. Hubby wants to get together with J and E to play Living Greyhawk- I say "fine... kill something evil"- but I have no idea what they actually do (besides eat, drink and roll dice). (quick story... I went with Hubby one night to Thor's Hammer - the local "gaming shop" and he played a session of Living Greyhawk. I spent at least an hour on the cell phone with Denita and then still managed to finish one book and start another.) Russ and Spats
and Hubby can tell you all about my ineptitude when it comes to computers. And just try to get those silly Vulcan ears on me and see what happens!!!
I may not be a geek, but I am a junkie... an information junkie... I LOVE learning things (when we were in school, I think the term "nerd" was used... but that can be confused with "geek", so.... ARGH!) I have to admit, I have my personal preferences as to what type of information I prefer to gather... politics (duh) and science (space and medical, mostly, but physics and chemistry are pretty nifty, too...) are my subjects of choice. History is becoming more and more interesting to me (thank you, History Channel!) Yes, we can get into the debate over geeks v. nerds v. science junkies (IMO, all geeks and nerds are science junkies to a certain extent; science junkies are not by default geeks or nerds.) Family members find me a little odd in this way (on my side of the family, there are no geeks, nerds or science junkies of any kind that I know of...except me... my dad is the closest thing to a junkie we have, and he is limited to medical shows.)
Yes, I watch Dr. Rosenfeld on FoxNews. I watched SpaceShip1 all three times it flew. I saw the X-Prize trophy in person. The Mars rovers are too cool (I made the boys sit through the taping of a PBS special on the Mars mission at the St. Louis Science Center in which Bill Nye the Science Guy was the host.) Yeah, I'll be watching in March when NASA tests the X-43A scramjet. The Astronomy Picture of the Day is on my daily site list. Get the picture?
So, why this in-depth look into my life as a science junkie? A friend of mine sent me this link. Another black hole? In the Milky Way? Whoa.
UPDATE: Well, dang it. George informs me that the X-43A flew today. That just stinks. I mean, I'm happy that all went well... at almost 7000 mph... but... but... I missed it! I can't believe I missed it!
