Closet Slashdotters: The 'Intellectually Curious' 394
An anonymous reader writes "Slashdotters are certified geeks, but apparently there's a bunch of other people out there who are very interested in science, technology, politics and culture but they don't want to be known as geeks. A media consulting firm called OMD did a study for the company that owns Space.com and LiveScience. They conclude that 60 million Americans can be called "intellectually curious." Intellectually, I'm curious what that makes the rest of them."
hacking good and bad (Score:2, Interesting)
Nerds that Matter (Score:3, Interesting)
"Intellectually Curious:" Post your relevant title (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It makes them... (Score:1, Interesting)
Turns out I kinda like it. Strange kinda celtic/gypsy/punk sound, as performed by the genetically engineered offspring of Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen. I'm inclined to at least try playing with them. If the money's decent I might be inclined to stay.
The contact address is a MySpace page. I didn't know you had to register with MySpace just to send an email.
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!
KFG
Re:It makes them... (Score:5, Interesting)
I makes them apathetic [reference.com]
You can sum it up with the words "Don't know & don't care"
Anti-Intellectualism is a whole different ball game
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-intellectualism [wikipedia.org]
Re:Nerd Myopia (Score:3, Interesting)
My general impression is that geeks are probably more open-minded and accepting of people who are different from them than the general population, but that's just my subjective opinion, and of course it's biased as I'm a geek. As far as dislike of non-geeks go, sure: some geeks just aren't willing to take the time to understand people who don't think like they do. But part of it might have something to do with the deep anti-intellectualism that pervades American culture, where it's considered uncool and vaguely shameful to be intelligent, curious, and well-educated. A lot of us grew up being marginalized and looked down on by the cheerleeders and jocks, so given an excuse to look down on them, or some way we can view them as inferior, it's hardly surprising that we'll often take it.
Of course, being accepted by a geek vs. being accepted as a geek are two different things. To be a geek, you've got to display some expertise in an intellectually challenging field.
Sort of in-between (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Nerds that Matter (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:grr (Score:3, Interesting)
I spent over seven years doing telephone tech support. The ones I hated the most were the ones who told me that with pride, as though their ignorance makes them superior to me. I'm sure they thought they were impressing me, and in a way they were right: they were impressing me with how stupid they were.
Re:Being a geek (Score:2, Interesting)
http://web.vee.net/stuff/geek-vs-nerd.html [vee.net]
http://twilightuniverse.com/2003/09/geek-vs-nerd/ [twilightuniverse.com]
Re:It makes them... (Score:3, Interesting)
or people who watch the OC or people who read People Magazine or George Bush
But Mischa Barton is hot,
http://images.google.com/images?q=mischa+barton&h
and George Bush is a good read.
Re:Err... (Score:2, Interesting)
In fact, the Republican party reminds me a bit of the Tories in England when Thatcher was in power. They're not short of ideas, but that might not be a good thing for them in the long run, since tax cuts and a project to democratise the middle east are not mutually compatible if you want a stable economy.
Re:It makes them... (Score:2, Interesting)
The hammer remains one of the most effective weapons for short range hand to hand. The pointed pick autobody hammer is my urban weapon of choice (although a one piece, 3/4" low D PVC flute is what I usually carry). It is nearly identical to a medieval war hammer, just smaller and lighter. Few ghetto punks wear plate armor these days.
Smiths were the first to use a modern style, metal headed hammer as a tool of production (go figure), for making other tools of war. The whole iron nail thing came rather later.
KFG