BBC Model B
I love BBC Model B's. Best computer ever. I found one a while back, in about 1998 and wrote a Millenium Countdown Clock and we left in on in the office for nearly 2 years.

As we had to work that night, (huge overtime bonuses) we gathered round and watched it countdown (well count-up actually) whilst quaffing some cheap beer. I was a bit miffed when it went:

23:59:58
23:59:59
23:59:60
23:59:61 etc.

(Not to mention in reality it was about 1045pm in the evening and had been running fast all along).

Happy days though, happy days.
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 13:06, 3 replies)

I should be writing my dissertation
but instead i am waiting on the last few episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles to download through bittorent.

After watching them, i may play some more DoD:source. And then browse the random selection page on Wikipedia as it is my home page.

I refuse IE; only using FireFox.

I read 4 daily webcomics.

I am surprisingly single.
(Schumann makes awesome quiches., Thu 6 Mar 2008, 13:04, Reply)

I've probably made a balls of the grammar somewhere.
( Milgigan Double, Single, Single, Double., Thu 6 Mar 2008, 13:03, 7 replies)

Buy - Obsess - Sell
At various times, I have...

- owned assorted Hillman Imps, 875cc of fuck all power (39bhp, 55 in the Sport), but mad good fun to drive, and some of the owners are right up there in the kagoul top 10, discussing paint codes & the like.

- assembled a collection of eighty bootleg Pink Floyd DVDs in the course of a few months, which I sold for fifty quid so as not to profit from free downloads (covered costs of discs, sleeves, covers, inks etc.)

- now have 25 Smiths bootleg DVDs, 12 Black Flag, asst Devo, Dead Kennedys etc....

- this weekend just gone I bought 54 Target Dr Who books for forty quid at a boot fair, all 70s & 80s editions, all a bit scruffy. *BLISS*

Heh, nerd. Excellent.
( Fathter Puddytat Kill Kill dat widdle boid is mine on, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 13:02, 3 replies)

Couple of years ago
to impress my nephews , step daughter and assorted small children, I always used to pretend to open the automatic doors at supermarkets by using my mind and accompanying hand gesture (Obi Wan style)

for a brief period I was a god among adults in their eyes

(I told them that I'd taught them this power too by special mind transfer)

the nerdy part is I still do it even when I'm on my own - most recently going in and out of the local library on Monday night


:)
(The Goat www.cuttingthroughthematrix.com, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:58, 8 replies)

The missus
..claims not to be a geek. But she is a slightly obsessive organised project manager type.

This morning I recieved an email from her containing:

1. The minutes of our chat on the sofa last night during which we discussed 'the future'. (including all the vague promises I made in order to move bits of the converstation on).
2. The action points from above. (Sample: "Will try harder to complete financial questionnaire for new pension").
3. A Microsoft Project Plan for the next 5 years with some frightening detail.
4. Spreadsheet showing predicted finances for next 5 years, including project salary/bonuses, potential childcare costs(we dont have kids), new car (maybe need a new one in 3 years or so), maternity pay from her employer (18 weeks full apparently), the entire costs for selling our 2 houses to buy a big joint one including HIP costs.
5. Three little 'x's. Aww.

I love her really though.
( I have run out of coke is a little sweaty, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:57, 5 replies)

Ecce!
This came up in a reply thread a while ago. Twenty years ago, I learned that in pictura est puella romana nomine Cornelia, and that etiam in pictura est puella romana nomine Flavia. Cornelia cantat dum Flavia sub abore sedet.

I am able to deduce from that a little of what Cornelia was singing about: a thing rather than a person, which would have taken "canat".

A little later, something happened with the upshot that Davus, servus Brittanicus, iratus est.

Click if this rings a bell with you...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:57, 17 replies)

not me but
An ex-colleague of mine was perhaps the nerdiest nerd known to man. He was a programmer of some kind, about 6' 2'' with an adam's apple like a swallowed anvil, brown teeth, body odour and a diet of white bread and marge. He was a virgin at 24. But that's not what made him a nerd.

He was a tremendous fan of Noel Edmonds' Deal or No Deal (I've never seen it) and would set his VHS video to record it each day while he was at work. Then, when he got home, he'd transcribe all the stats and events from the show on to a dedicated website he'd built. If he took a holiday from work, he would stay at home lest he missed an episode and had a gap in his stats.

A pleasant enough guy, but utterly without a life.
(frankspencer, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:54, 1 reply)

I sometimes lose my grip on real life.
My phone and computer are synchronised with matching 24 themes. Both backgrounds are from CTU computers, my login screen is the same as on the show and my screen saver is the spinning CTU logo. I'll have to take a photo, it looks very techy when it goes simultaneously on my two screens. Ring and message tones are the external and internal call tones from the show, respectively.

"Division have vetoed that course of action" tended to mean the ex wanted to stay in and watch a movie, and I've really lost track of how inappropriate it is to always yell "Now" after ordering something in a shop.

After too much GTA I may or may not have stolen an abandoned bicycle because I didn't want to walk all the way across town. I could almost see the * over my head.

Any time I have a Fallout binge I start to think like the game, EXAMINING things and USING them when I figure it out.

The most damning evidence however is hoarding every odd bit of tat I can find and keeping it in the boot of my car (or on my person if I'm feeling retro) and instinctively knowing roughly how many bottle caps its worth if I can find the right trader.

Click "I Like This" if you understood any of that.
(Edktstsss, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:51, 2 replies)

Holding down both 'Symbol Shift' keys on a 128k Spectrum +3
will allow you to walk through walls when playing Gauntlet*

I can't remember what I did last month, when the piece of work I'm currently working on is due to be finished, or the names of some of my younger distant relatives, but this tidbit of geeky gaming genius has stayed with me all these years :)

Hurrah for Spectrums :)
(but booo for the seething jealousy I harboured for my cousin and his shiny Amiga)

*blue valkyrie ftw!



( Droog is too orangey for crows, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:51, Reply)

Oh shit...
I just had a terrible realisation.

I'm a graphic designer by day, and do quite a bit on photoshop in my free time too.

I'm not much of a sleeper, at most I'll get 5 hours a night, but last night I woke up after an hour, having a dream about how to achieve a particular effect in photoshop.

I got up, wrote a few key words on my arm in CD marker, Donnie Darko style, so I'd remember and went back to sleep.

When I got to work today, I fired up photoshop, and the bloody thing worked.

So in short, I dreamed about photoshop.
That's actually pretty sad.
( Cawl, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:50, 2 replies)

Further confessions
* I used to own a number of Ian Allen train spotting books and a yellow highlighter pen. A group of Thermos-wielding saddoes on platform five of Reading station ostracised a fellow spotter when we caught him crossing off train numbers he had patently not seen

* Former membership secretary, the official Terry Pratchett fan club

* Thames Valley cadet forces target shooting champion at 300 yards

* Attained --- E L I T E --- status in the BBC Micro computer game of the same name THREE times

* First proper girlfriend aged 21, which may be explained by the rest of this post
( Scaryduck LIKES EGG, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:46, 4 replies)

Actually, now I think about it ...
I am a nerd, and this is the clincher: I went to the Edinburgh premier of the re-jigged, re-released, digitalised and generally messed with Star Wars: A New Hope back in '97. There was a fancy-dress competition for this screening, with prizes presented by none other than Sean Connery's brother. Really.

So, I love Star Wars, and felt the need to show this, and after much deliberation decided on a costume which would demonstrate to the world just exactly how much love a man could have for a film. I was going to go as the Death Star. I got the official Star Wars (TM) Death Star companion technical manual, one of those big round paper lampshades, some Airfix model paint, a coat-hanger and a miniature 2 inch scale model of the Millenium Falcon.

I painted the lampshade grey, then added detail, lights and shadow with black and silver paint. I even managed to make the big planet buster laser bit look like a dip by judicious use of shading.

I cut a small horizontal hole near the base to see out of, and the lampshade sat quite happily on my shoulders (i.e. my head inside the lampshade). For the piece-de-resistance I used the coat hanger to suspend the mini Millenium Falcon from the side of my lampshade/Death Star so it looked like it was flying in. Class.

So we went to the film. On arrival, it was very busy (sold out I think, but of course we'd had our tickets for ages). My companions had also partaken in the fancy dress competition, so I was accompanied by Luke Skywalker (in his pyjamas) and the lovely Princess Leia. Of course, I could see sweet FA out of the helmet despite the gap I'd cut in it, so I was led into the auditorium by my friends, taking a couple of people out with the dangly Falcon on the way.

The fancy dress competition was before the film, and we were invited one by one to parade before the audience and judging panel (the aforementioned Sean Connery's brother and the cinema manager). When it was my turn I staggered to the front and apparently (for I could not see) received a standing ovation from my fellow Star Wars nerds making up the audience.

I won (admittedly partly due to the weak field of 2 Lukes, 2 Leias and me) and was invited to make a speech. Sean Connery's brother (I'm sure he has a first name but lets face it, he is probably only ever known as Sean's Connery brother) shoved a microphone into my vision slot, and I said the now legendary (at least to my mates who were there), "That's no moon, it's a space station". The crowd went wild ("like a million voices cried out ..."), I got two free cinema tickets, a complete set of Star Wars pogs (really), and the respect of my geeky peers. Oh, and to meet Sean Connery's brother.
( paulieg La, la, la, not listening, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:46, 4 replies)

Ahem!
I am not nerdy in any way, shape or form. To tell the truth you all should banish me from this site forever with a big fat sign on my forehead saying 'too cool for us nerds'.

However, I do have a soft spot for nerds and geeks, guys with ginger hair or glasses and anyone who can make me smile with their amazing depth of knowledge on things no-one but other nerds would want to know.
( girlinthehole, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:44, 4 replies)

roll 2d6:

2-4 not nerdy at all.
5-7 a bit nerdy.
9-10 noticeably nerdy.
11-12 very nerdy indeed.
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:44, 3 replies)

MMORPG madness
I got so hooked on the game Earth and Beyond that I was playing it every waking moment, and I actually bought a second PC so I could run a second account and play two characters at the same time for extra firepower. By the end I had 10 characters (5 on each account), all at maximum level, with all the cool equipment and skills. It was only when EA cancelled the game that I finally came back down to earth and got on with a normal life (if you can call this normal).

I still miss those days though...
( calibrax loves teh hamsters (not in that way), Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:42, Reply)

Ruined Blackadder/Monty Python and (x-files)
As a teeneager I had a massive thing for the X-Files. Spent hours watching the video box set at £100 a go.

I could name every episode/character from the first 6 series - including Mulder and Scull's badge number and -even sadder Mulders phone number 555-0199.

Also- I can quote EVERY line from Blackadder - series 2-4 (working on series 1)

Oh and can never watch lIfe of Brian, or Holy Grail (Monty Python) without laughing before all the lines.

Sad, very sad.


Oh - and I am a software tester- who actually enjoys it.

I am also recently single. Can't imagine why.
(audreyforbes audreyforbes, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:40, Reply)

Also, when I'm not just dicking about on the internet I:
work on my computer science degree (a bit)
read wikipedia, new scientist or national geographic
watch tron and get annoyed because THAT'S NOT HOW COMPUTERS WORK!
play on either my atari 2600, snes, megadrive, n64, gamecube, xbox or wii (notice how i've actually bothered to put them into chronological order based on generation) I also know various little facts about them, such as the 2600 didn't have a video buffer, and it had 2 sound channels, one of which would only produce white noise.
I've known how to fix computers since ever, i used to know the archimedies like the back of my hand too. I don't like apple macs, but I want a spare pc just so I can put osx on it to say that i did it.

I have a modded ds with zx spectrum emulator amongst other things

When I was about 12 I took a city and guilds test to gain a licence to operate ameteur radio (ham if you're a yank) my callsign was 2e1gya until i took the 'full' test and aquired g8geb.

Actually I don't consider myself a nerd, nerds do things just to prove they can, i assume i can and don't bother. I have the virtue of being lazy.

Oh yeah, and I'm currently badgering my dad to steal me the neccesary components from his work so I can build me a theremin.
( Slippery Mick ‏, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:39, 1 reply)

I'm still a bird watcher.
Actually, more worryingly, I only started being one a few years ago.
I think my lowest point was when i visiting friends in Finland one December and I spotted what looked rather like a Bar-headed Goose on the water. I employed every bit of ninja skill I had to get closer by sneaking up behind a tree on it, only to find it was infact a strangely-shaped buoy with a a sock hanging from a pole on the thing, which gave it a very goose-like shape.
No, there's nothing funny about bird watching.
Apart from laughing at twitchers. Even bird spotters laugh at twitchers.
( Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:39, Reply)

I don't have a lot of time to be a nerd.
I must guard the three sacred words - 'Ni', 'Peng', and 'Neee-wom'!
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:36, 2 replies)

and
I also get a daily Dilbert Cartoon to my e-mail and have a daily Dilbert calender.

Also know a bloke who looks like him (life imitating art perhaps)
(Fuckarma was masturbating into your handbag, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:35, 2 replies)

Organ
I used to be an organist (got the senior organ scholarship at school, played for assemblies and services, contributing even more to my overwhelming geekery, which didn't exactly make life happy for me).

I no longer play, but my best fried and I (he is a professional organist, as are quite a few of our mutual friends) still sit down and listen to records of Messiaen, Bollman and the like, screaming with joy when a particularly juicy stop combination is introduced, some throbbing pedal work kicks in, or the swell box is used in an overly dramatic way.


We also came up with the Eurovision Drinking Game. It's very simple: get an unfeasibly huge amount of alcohol. Every time there's a key change, drink 1 finger. Every time there's a key change coinciding with the start of a chorus/solo bit (for group efforts obviously), drink 2 fingers. Every time Wogan says something sexist, racist or just plain daft, take a massive swig.

We're usually pissed by the 4th entry. The rest goes in a blur. I love Eurovision night.
(The Empress it seems you CAN polish a turd!, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:35, 9 replies)

Nerdy in a couple of ways
1) Bit of a games nerd. Used to work in computer games, but was obsessed with them before that anyway. Currently hooked up to my TV, I have: PS1, PS2, PS3, DreamCast, Xbox, Xbox360, GameCube and a SNES. There's about a dozen more tucked away somewhere. I also have a gaming PC, so the missus can get on the regular, web surfing one.
2) History Nerd. The wife has banned me from watching The World At War, since I can repeat every episode, word for word.
3) Fact nerd. Wikipedia is my god. It's got so bad that my missus got me a Page a day diary for Christams and says that I have to put a useless fact on every page. I always win pub quizes.
4) Joke nerd. I have hundreds, maybe even thousands of jokes. Most of them crap. All of them still make me laugh.
(ScousersPet, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:33, 1 reply)

I named my computer Proteus IV
For those that don't know, Proteus IV was the computer protagonist in Demon Seed who starts learning on it's own about humans, and life. After a while it decides to take the next logical step, to reproduce. He picks it's creators wife for the task. Unsurprisingly the creators wife isn't too enamoured at the prospect of having offspring with a computer. Which results in the computer raping her.

Length? It used a big syringe. and straps, lots of straps.
( Slippery Mick ‏, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:31, Reply)

Multiplayer Notepad
I still hang out in IRC Channels... a dying art.
(wicks, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:30, 1 reply)

Geek Me?
I collect Star Wars Lego and was chuffed with the at-at I had for Christmas I filmed it and put it on youtube

www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nwl80tVjOI

I had a character in Vampire the masquerade that I used for years (every Sunday regardless)

I used a toy lightsaber in an intimate way on my ex

In the gap between seasons I re-watch all the previous seasons of Lost, and now re-re-watch certain episodes to see if things are matching up i.e Last weeks was followed by Series 3 episode 8 in an attempt to correlate Desmonds visions/time travel.

I have the complete sets of Buffy,Red Dwarf and V

And at one point I had three versions of each of the Star Wars films on video
Original video release, wide screen remastered and the special edition box set.

Oh and my ringtone is the Imperial March

so yeah I'm a little bit of a geek
(Barry Chuckle has gone out in the thong to feed the pigeons, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:30, Reply)

I wouldn't count myself as too bad
But the word "how" has inspired me to answer.

I'm pretty into my computer games, it used to be the old RTSs like Total Annihilation, Red Alert and the like.
Now I find myself spending stupid amounts of time playing RPGs, like (the Star Wars-based) Knights of The Old Republic, Oblivion, Mass Effect, Fallout and so on.
I realised the other day that I've played through some of those games five or six times, at 30-odd hours a time.
Maybe that does count as nerdiness. *shrugs*
On the subject of gaming, I hate "online gaming", as I'd much rather play with myself *ahem*...
I don't like the idea of being beaten by some 13-year-old web-footed inbred from America.

I own a pretty substantial collection of DVDs and books, because (I wonder if anyone out there has the same problem as me?) I have a pretty good memory for plots and dialogue.

That sounds a useful thing, but it's rubbish, as I don't get any "replay value" out of these things.

I can watch a film once, and be able to quote most of it, and remember the full plot, shot for shot, for years, which really ruins seeing it again.
Same thing with books.

Appologies for unfocused rambling, length, and lack of humour.
( Cawl, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:30, 3 replies)

Nerds For Teh Win!
At school I wrote computer games for fun and got laughed at for it.
For the last two decades I've been writing compter games professionaly and get increasing sums of money for it.
For fun I build stage special effects and medieval seige weapons.
( DukeEuphoria Comes highly reccomended, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:28, 2 replies)

ABEND
1. I can program in MVS Assembler.

2. I have a certificate to prove it.

3. I have a Facebook group dedicated to it. It has two members. One of them is me.

4. One of the Facebook group's discussion topics is "your favourite MVS instruction?"

5. I have just checked the group and the second member has left.


Someone please award me a medal or shoot me or both.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:27, 3 replies)

oohh ohhh ohhh!!!! I forgot to say
(and I don't know why I am so excited about this)
I play transport tycoon deluxe, but not the original version but the open source one - opentdd. It is possibly the geekiest game ever and now there are patches written by geeks like me that extend the ttd world even further!

It is quite simply the best game ever made
( SiX and his hat, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 12:25, 2 replies)