This thing lies

Comments

# William said on January 6, 2005 12:06 AM:

Man i scored an 83. I really don't think I'm that high?!

http://blog.markarteaga.com/PermaLink,guid,d2785b07-db97-4f1e-b5e5-9bd57dd50594.aspx

# William said on January 6, 2005 1:09 AM:

I BEAT YOU ALL !!! HAIL TO THE KING NERD GOD !!

http://dotnetjunkies.com/WebLog/sahilmalik/posts/41603.aspx

WHOOPIEE !!! :D :D :D

# William said on January 6, 2005 6:30 AM:

I am not the great Sahil but I did pretty good.

81%: high level nerd

MIT material should apply!

# William said on January 6, 2005 6:39 AM:

Don't worry Bill! Site is a gag. And you didn't make the cut because you have a real life girlfriend, an actual biped, and chat up good looking women in malls.

In 1973, I resolved to write a Basic compiler but then met the lady who became my wife. I spent the subsequent years in thrall to her charms. Gee, coulda been Gates...but given her and the kids, I have no regrets.

"Edward, are you going to sit up all night with that THING instead of ME? You don't care about me! Boo hoo!"

"Awww hon, I do so care about you. I will shut it down. Just let me save this file."

(This being 1978: whirr click boing).

1979:

"Daddy can I help you with that computer? What's this button say."

"Power off, Eddie."

(Bloink)

"Oops, there went the parser. Oh well. Let's go to the park."

1989:

"Dad, that Macintosh you bought me is sooo bogus AND you paid too much money for it at CDW. My friend Vijay coulda got a high end for half what you paid."

"Where? Off the back of a truck?"

# William said on January 6, 2005 9:39 AM:

I agree with Edward, I got a really low score 55% but I chalk that up to being married for a few years...I can guarantee that it would have been way higher if I took it about 8 years ago before I met my wife...

# William said on January 6, 2005 9:43 AM:

Edward is always right - so I'm finding solace in that. Plus if you got 55% that's further validation that it's skewed. However Sahil is pulling a BumRush with his score - I'm jealous as hell.

# William said on January 6, 2005 9:47 AM:

I think it must be fairly random because I got a 96% and I'm married with two kids. I answered in a very non-geeky fashion and still got a 96. It's either random or I'm a lot more geeky than I thought.

# William said on January 6, 2005 9:50 AM:

Lucky SOB! I'm sitting here in a fog - I started taking Ambien for sleeping and I also took this sinus medication last night - I dont' remember ANYTHING - like posting this in the first place (and no - alcohol wasn't involved). I have like 6 editors up on my Mac of shell scripts I was writing, ironed my clothes for work, did all sorts of productive stuff - but can't remember posting ANYTHING last night - nothing - total blank. That stuff is bizarre. I don't even remember taking the test or anything but from the looks of my code and those shell scripts - it apparently didn't hinder my functioning - just my memory. Not remembering 4 hours is scarry.

96% though - I'm green with envy

# William said on January 6, 2005 10:23 AM:

Edward - that is one of the greatest replies I've ever read - you had me rolling. BTW, where can I find Vijay?

# William said on January 6, 2005 12:19 PM:

37%

Should I even be allowed to take the test? :)

# William said on January 6, 2005 12:50 PM:

I think that the fact that we are here complaining that we didn't get a high enough 'nerd score' is proof that we are quite the geeks :P

One thing though; I am proud to be a geek but don't want to be known as a nerd...I believe that they are very different in the social aspect. See Geek: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geek and Nerd: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerd

I agree with the "exactly reversed view" part of this statement:

"Some factions maintain that "nerds" are both technically skilled and socially competent, whereas "geeks" are only technically skilled while socially incompetent; others hold an exactly reversed view, with "geek" being the socially competent counterpart of the socially incompetent "nerd", and call themselves "geeks" with pride..."

# William said on January 6, 2005 4:05 PM:

I always thought the difference between a geek and a nerd was about $30/hour. Nerds do the same thing that geeks do, but for free.

# William said on January 6, 2005 9:26 PM:

My good fortune is the women, from JoAnne Czchechowski in grade school to my wife to my translator here in Shenzen who have appointed themselves wearily to the task of making me less a geek.

I should remark that neither JoAnne Czechowski nor my translator were in any sense girlfriends of any sort, only innocent bystanders.

My translator, a compact Chinese woman who one Best Soldier in university, performing bayonet practice with stuffed American figures, advised me last week to (1) get a haircut, (2) shave more accurately, (3) LOSE the red guards neck scarf I have been sporting and (3) watch one of her favorite shows, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which is popular in China. This is because we have a new CEO.

So I did and showed up for my meeting in a dress shirt and tie with a haircut.

As a result the meeting went well.

# William said on January 7, 2005 8:16 AM:

Chicks are good like that ;-)

So do you speak any Chinese yet? My step dad works for a company that makes electrical transformers - anyway the Chinese government bought a few of them and he had to go over to Shanghai to make sure that things went smoothly. He spent a bunch of time in the Peace Corps and can speak 4 languages already so he tried to bone up on Chinese before the trip - said it was quite rough though - b/c unlike French of Spanish - there's very little frame of reference. I found the same to be true in college w/ Japanese (Turnip Head?) but I heard Chinese is a lot harder w/ many more dialects - I guess after all since its a 'little' bigger than Japan - that's not too surprising.