What IS a nerd?

What is a nerd really? I was listening to some people talk, and they said that anybody who went to go see the new Star Wars movie was a nerd. I think that’s kind of unfair. Just because somebody wants to go see a movie that is associated with nerds (people who take sick days off work and ignore their family for 3 weeks to be the first ones to see it) doesn’t mean that everybody who goes and sees it is a nerd. Going back to my original question, what classifies a nerd in the first place? Somebody with glasses who is smart and has an aptitude for science yet lacks public social behavior? I don’t think that it’s fair to call all these people nerds because I know some people like this, and they aren’t nerds at all. Now of course everybody is a nerd to somebody else but they don’t necessary have to fit this description. I think nerds are cooler then the “cool” kids at school because all the football players think that they are the best and that they can get any girl in the world and the nerds will never get anything. Little do they know that while they are out partying and drinking, the nerds are playing chess or dungeons and dragons or studying for the SAT’s and someday the nerds will be the bosses of these “jocks” and then the tables will have turned.
But lets look at another scenario; would you rather have your daughter or sister dating a jock or a nerd? On one hand, you have the jock who thinks he can get whatever he wants from her and if she ever does anything to make him mad, he can dump her because he know about 5 other girls who like him. On the other hand you have the nerd who will probably respect your daughter or sister because he knows he doesn’t have a lot of girls who like him, he doesn’t get many opportunities to go out with girls, or even people for that matter. (Except for his little nerd crew and their calculators) In this situation, I’d pick the nerd. Its like who would you rather date: The Fonz or Bill Gates? I think the choice is obvious. These are some definitions to go by when looking for nerds: One whose IQ exceeds his weight. A stereotypical label used to describe a person that is socially inadequate. A four letter word, but a six figure income. the group of people who will most likely make a life changing invention that will radically change the world. An individual persecuted for his superior skills or intellect, most often by people who fear and envy him.
Now nerds are not to be confused by Geeks. Geeks are Someone who spends a lot of time on the computer, watching sci-fi, reading fanasty but DOES have an actual life. A NERD is someone who also does these things but does NOT have a life. Nor to be confused with a DORK, whom both the geeks & the nerds beat up.

I hope we all learned something here.
~Ian




P.S. Please notice that I did not mention Napoleon Dynamite anywhere in this article. I have two reasons: I don’t know enough about it to make a honest, truthful, well thought out comment. And the other reason is because I know everybody who even reads this post would stop talking to me, threaten me or simply kill me if I down talked good ole ND in any way, because everybody in Grass Valley practically worships him, and I hate it.
~ian

A great wonder or blunder?

Well here we Americans go again. Redevelopment officials unveiled the new design for the Freedom Tower, the signature building to be built at Ground Zero. Its look is similar to that of one of the old World Trade Center towers. The new building is narrower and more square, It's base the same size as the old twin towers and set back 90 feet from the street. The building is structured around three very tall triangles that will rise to 1360 feet, the same height as the old twin towers. Atop that, a spire will rise from the center of the building, bringing the total height to 1776 feet. (Also symbolic of when independence was declared) Isn’t this a great idea? After terrorists blow up our two trade center towers, we build an even bigger tower to show how great we are. Does ANYBODY else, think that maybe this might not be the best idea? I know I’m not the only one out there who thinks we’re only setting ourselves up for failure. The enormous pedestal, with a budget estimated at $1.5 billion, would overlook the Sept. 11 memorial. "Construction will climax the greatest comeback in the history of our city," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said. Yea, not to mention the arrival of the 2nd greatest attack on American soil.
Maybe instead of building something bigger and better, we should just remember the two towers for what they were. I don’t know, tell me what you all think.

~Ian







Ian's factor of the day:
More than 1.2 million cubic yards of earth and rock were excavated to make way for the World Trade Center. The excavated material was placed in the Hudson River to create 23.5 acres of new land deeded to the City of New York. This landfill area is now Battery Park City.

Waking up early

You know what I realized? I like to wake up early. Well, I mean I don’t like waking up at the crack of dawn and feeling all drowsy and such, but I do like all the extra free time that you get. Don’t you like the feeling of getting things done early so you have more free time to do what you enjoy? Unless of course that thing you enjoy is sleeping. Then I guess sleeping in is your best option. I just like feeling like I have more time to do things, even if it means giving up some sleep. Just my early morning opinion. What do you think?

~Ian




Ian's Factor of the Day:
PNEUMONO­ULTRA­MICRO­SCOPIC­SILICO­VOLCANO­KONIOSIS = a lung disease caused by breathing in particles of siliceous volcanic dust.

Stupidity: Not a prerequisite for living.

Dear: The Universe.
I just recently came to realize that lots of people are stupid. This article is me making fun of quotes by people who obviously couldn't think outside the box. The realization that not everyone can be the sharpest knife in the drawer came to me when I was at work and watched my co-worker bang her head on a wall for 6 minutes over a ruined over a mac and cheese bowl that exploded in the microwave because she put it in for 20 minutes instead of 2. "Wow" I thought. "some people are just stupid" Not only have I learned to pay closer attention to detail, but also to keep my cool no matter what the situation. Also I thought I would exploit some innocent people in the learning process. Enjoy.

"Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons."
Popular Mechanics, forecasting the relentless march of science, 1949

~Well this guy certainly doesn’t have much confidence in modern technology. 1.5 tons?!? What kind of computer was he talking about? I don’t know why he thought they could get any lighter than 1.5 tons, but look how small our computers are nowadays. They weigh less than 2 lbs! Now that’s one giant leap for mankind if you ask me.

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

~Now this genius was onto something. Of course back then all computers did was make noise and it took about 30 minutes to do a single calculation. These days the fastest computer (IBM Blue Gene) can calculate up to 130 Tflops (Tera flops. Each tera flop is equal to 1 trillion calculations per second). I would want that in my room even if it didn’t do anything else but calculate stuff. Think outside the box Ken.

"We don't like their sound, and guitar music is on the way out."
Decca Recording Co. rejecting the Beatles, 1962.

~Boy I bet that CEO is hanging himself now. Reject the beatles? Sounds like a good idea. They’ll never be popular or rich. Yea right! Paul McCartney alone has come out top in a list of Britain's richest rock stars. Business Age magazine compiled a list of Rock music's Top 40 rich list, and Paul came out clear top with an estimated fortune of £500 million. This was over three times greater than the second placed richest rock star, Sir Elton John who was estimated at £156 million. Not only that, but they are known almost worldwide as one of the best bands ever. Way to go Decca recording. We hate you!

"Drill for oil? You mean drill into the ground to try and find oil? You're crazy."
Drillers who Edwin L. Drake tried to enlist to his project to drill for oil in 1859

~No don’t drill in the ground, drill right into the air stupid! OF COURSE DRILL INTO THE GROUND! Where else are you going to drill? Into animals? Into heaven? Even if the ground had no oil under it, it has to have something people could use. They call him crazy too. Crazy! Look who’s crazy now. That’s what you get when you don’t graduate high school. THAT’S WHY YOU’RE A DIGGER AND NOT A SCIENTIST!!!! “What? Put someone on the moon? Your crazy! What? Machines that can carry hundreds of people thousands of miles in a matter of hours? You’re a crazy lunatic! What? Let Hayden Christensen play Darth Vader even though a chair does a better job of acting then he does? Now that’s crazy!” I guess "crazy" was a vague term back then.
~Ian

This is completely random and has nothing to do with my life.

Just some information we all should know: How does a Lightsaber work? Well I will see if I can help answer this for you. Chances are that you have seen a lightsaber at one time or another, whether on the evening news or down at the local cantina. Therefore you know that a lightsaber is an amazing and versatile device that is able to cut through nearly anything in a matter of milliseconds. Have you ever wondered how these remarkable weapons work? Where does the energy come from, and how are they able to contain that energy in a rod-like column of glowing power? A lightsaber is a unique device, created by hand -- the controls will be slightly different on each individual lightsaber that you buy. But all lightsabers share the same general characteristics. If you were ever to pick up and examine a typical lightsaber, here are several things that you would immediately notice:
A lightsaber is normally about 30 centimeters long, about the size of a large flashlight.
At one end is the hand grip, belt ring and on/off switch (a.k.a., the Activation Matrix).
At the other end there is the blade arc tip and stabilizing ring.
Somewhere on the case (generally near the blade end of the lightsaber) you find one or two adjusting knobs for blade power and blade length.
When you turn on the lightsaber you will notice the blade rapidly extending to its set length. You can adjust the length using the blade length-adjusting knob. The lightsaber blade will make a distinctive sound that is typical of an arc wave energy field. You will also feel a gyroscopic effect in the handle, which again is a distinctive characteristic of the arc wave blade. This gyroscopic effect can take some getting used to, so be sure to handle any active lightsaber with extreme care until you are completely familiar with its feel and handling.
Once active, the blade of a lightsaber can be used in many different ways.
The most common use, of course, is slicing. A lightsaber is like a sword on steroids. Cutting through any human limb -- even an entire torso -- is trivial. It's like cutting through a banana with a machete. Another common use is melting. For example, if you come upon a three-foot-thick blast door, you cannot "slice" your way through it like you can with a normal steel or concrete partition. But you can plunge the blade of your lightsaber straight into the door and then melt your way through it to cut out an opening. This normally takes several minutes, but the results are most impressive to anyone on the other side of the blast door.
Another important use of a lightsaber is deflection, in two different ways:
A lightsaber blade can deflect another lightsaber blade and block its path.
A lightsaber blade can deflect blaster bolts. In most cases you will want to deflect the bolts back at the person who shot them at you in the first place, but it is also possible to deflect them toward other objects and people in the room.
A lightsaber user with a strong affinity for the Force has a distinct advantage in the latter situation. By using the Force, the wielder can anticipate the path of the blaster bolt and align the blade with that path prior to the bolt's arrival. Using normal visual tracking to accomplish the same effect can be far more difficult.
The four major components inside any lightsaber include:
The power cell and associated components
The crystal energy chamber
The energy channel and blade arc tip
The controls
Obviously a lightsaber contains a tremendous amount of energy -- far more than a blaster, for example. Any device that can melt its way through a three-foot-thick reinforced blast door in a matter of minutes obviously has access to tremendous energy reserves. Estimates range as high as several megawatt-hours of stored energy.
The source of this energy is a diatium power cell -- a device no larger than a roll of LifeSavers®. Diatium power cells are available from a variety of military and some civilian sources.
Surrounding the power cell is a power field conductor and the power vortex ring. These two devices work in concert with one another to move the available energy toward the energy gate. The energy gate controls the flow of energy into the crystal energy chamber.
The Crystal Energy ChamberReally the heart of any lightsaber, the crystal energy chamber is responsible for primary energy conversion. At least two crystals (typically of the Adegan variety) are used in the energy chamber.
The first crystal is known as the primary crystal. It converts the energy channeling from the power assembly and then transfers its output to one or more focusing crystals. The focusing crystals are held in place by the focusing crystal activator.
The crystal energy chamber is the reason why all lightsabers are built by hand, and then only in the latter stages of Jedi training. The builder must align the crystals perfectly or risk detonation of the lightsaber upon activation. Only through the use of the Force can the proper alignment be guaranteed.
With several megawatt-hours of energy on tap, detonation is of course a catastrophic event. For this reason, initial activation is normally done remotely with an inexpensive droid.
The Energy Channel and ControlsThe energy channel is where the actual lightsaber blade is generated. Energy flowing from the crystal energy chamber is converted to the arc wave that will become the blade. The arc wave flows up through the blade energy channel and past the cycling field energizers. These energizers are responsible for the gyroscopic effect discussed earlier in the article.
The refined arc wave makes its way to the blade arc tip and from there becomes visible as the glowing blade of the lightsaber that is so familiar. The on/off switch, also known as the activation matrix, as well as the blade length and power adjustment controls are typically located near the cycling field energizers. Using these controls, the lightsaber's owner can tune the blade for specific applications. Well that’s how one would work if they existed. But I’m not going to step on your dreams. Imagine away!
http://homepage.mac.com/dtrull/pix/tpm/saberbattle.jpg

Work sucks sometimes.

Well Here I am in wonderful san Diego and trying to enjoy myself. I am working in a hospital and I thought everything would be awesome and such but of course, not the case. Instead they have me working records and boring hallway type jobs. Sad, yes. Unfortunate, yes. Temporary, Heck yes! I will only have to endure 2 more months of this. Although I must say, I shouldn't complain. My job is mostly me working on folders and files and in my free time (all 5 hours of it) is mostly me on the internet pretending to work. Actually I keep my co-workers entertained with my vast knowledge of news stories from all over the world. Its tough but somebody has to do it. (evil grumble).....