"What’s in a name? That which we call a geek
By any other word would smell as l33t."
-From Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (II, ii, 1-2)
[with liberties taken by the geekmaster]
Congratulations to this week’s winner for Geek of the Week: "Deadgrass" from Marquette, Michigan.
He dressed up as Frodo when he went to see the Lord of the Rings movies in the theater.
So the problem I was having – with the javascript not working for the Spanish and French translations of the Geek Test – turned out to be a really stupid mistake.
I spent way too much time going through the code, line by line, fixing every little error in the (now) XHTML. There were no mistakes, and yet somehow when I uploaded them, the javascript wasn’t working properly. Triple DUH, for the moment I finally figured it out.
The translators had added additional questions to their translations. The javascript I’m using lists the Q-number… which just needed to be changed to reflect the current number of questions.
I can’t believe I’m blogging this. It was a really stupid mistake. At least now that’s one little nagging thing that I don’t have to worry about anymore!
The Geek Test is now available in Italian. Thanks to Francesco Taraschi, aka "ilfranz" in Italy for volunteering and making it happen so quickly!
I realized that the javascript in some of the translations wasn’t working, so the final score couldn’t be calculated. The problem with this stems from the (Spanish and French) translations being done a while back when the original code was different. Not to mention that the translators took some liberties to change the code further, making it more difficult for me to make everything similar on the current site.
Anyway, I’m still working on that. The German and Italian translations work fine. While I was updating them, I decided to start the official move from HTML to XHTML standards. The (English) Geek Test and the translations now all have Transitional XHTML doctypes and compliant code, and the rest will hopefully not be too far behind. There are actually quite a few pages on my site to update now… so I have some work to do.
It still really pisses me off that Yahoo! sticks non-compliant tracking codes on the bottom of every page, so even though the pages I code are completely correct, I can’t put this
on any pages. Well, someday I hope to have other hosting alternatives. For now, I’m stuck with it.
I knew that there were talks for Disney to buy Pixar, but I usually don’t get involved or interested in corporate merger politics. I think a lot of people are reacting to the purchase like me because Pixar was just… good.
I had been anxiously awaiting the end of Pixar’s contract with Disney so that they could create totally awesome shiznit without the mouse big brother. It’s interesting how it’s played out. Hopefully Pixar will continue to put out great quality films and, I think the best that I could hope for, is for Disney to suck less in general.
Besides, I’ve been going on Pixar movie dates with my now-husband since Toy Story came out. Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, this is personal. We don’t go to the movies that often, and I need to have the option to see something other than Kill Bill or King Kong-type movies once in a while. And those Dreamworks movies just don’t have the same punch.
Come on, buddies, do it for your old pal Yvette. Of course you know me. Remember that one time, at that party? No? Well, then, I’ll have to share the real history of Pixar with the public, won’t I? 
Congratulations to Kaisa, aka "Katza" or "Kirikiri," the winner of this week’s Geek of the Week!
I must say that I really enjoyed the photos that she submitted. 
Last week, when Friday the 13th was almost over, I was doing a string of searches for some geeky stuff related to my website. I came across a call for submissions for an anthology of essays entitled "She’s Such a Geek," to be released in book format this fall.
The problem was that it was due at midnight on Sunday the 15th, and the word count requirement was 3,000 to 6,000 words. I wasn’t sure that I’d be able to do it.
But I did!
I wrote a little about the story of the Geek Test and about the acceptance of my own inner geek as time progressed. That’s a summary. I think that I was able to put it in a more descriptive, literary form. The final word count was just over 5,000 words. Unfortunately, I was writing and editing right up until midnight, so the piece that I submitted was probably not the absolute best that it could have been, particularly towards the end. The actual ending was good, I think, because I had already thought it out. My husband read it and said he like the Tarantino/jumping-around-in-time effect. But nobody died in my essay, so I don’t think I would ever call it true Tarantino style. I wanted to keep fixing it, like every non-published writer out there, but I decided to submit it as it was because the other option would not have even allowed for the chance to be published in this anthology. The subject matter requested was just too irresistable not to submit something! I do, after all, consider myself to know a few things about geeks, and certainly my own experiences as a geek.
In any case, the pain of waiting should last until Febrary 15th. If I don’t hear back from them by then, I am supposed to assume that they have thrown my essay into the trash or into their slush pile (to be discovered years after my death, I’m sure). Here’s the actual post on Seal Press’ website:
SHE’S SUCH A GEEK
An Anthology by and for Women Obsessed
with Computers, Science, Comic Books,
Gaming, Spaceships, and Revolution
Slated for Fall 2006
Geeks are taking over the world. They make the most popular movies and games, pioneer new ways to communicate using technology, and create new ideas that will change the future. But the stereotype is that only men can be geeks. So when are we going to hear from the triumphant female nerds whose stories of outer space battles will inspire generations and whose inventions will change the future?
Female geeks are busting out of the labs and into the spotlight. They have the skills and knowledge that can inspire social progress, scientific breakthroughs, and change the world for the better, and they’re making their voices heard, some for the first time, in the upcoming anthology She’s Such a Geek. This anthology will celebrate women who have flourished in the male-dominated realms of technical and cultural arcana. We’re looking for a wide range of personal essays about the meaning of female nerdhood by women who are in love with genomics, obsessed with blogging, learned about sex from Dungeons and Dragons, and aren’t afraid to match wits with men or computers. The essays in She’s Such a Geek will explain what it means to be passionately engaged with technical or obscure topics—and how to deal with it when people tell you that your interests are weird, especially for a girl. This book aims to bust stereotypes of what it means to be a geek, as well as what it means to be female.
More than anything, She’s Such a Geek is a celebration and call to arms: it’s a hopeful book which looks forward to a day when women will pilot spaceships, invent molecular motors, design the next ultra-tiny supercomputer, write epics, and run the government.
We want introspective essays that explain what being a geek has meant to you. Describe how you’ve fought stereotypes to be accepted among nerds. Explore why you are obsessed with topics and ideas that are supposed to be "for boys only." Tell us how you felt the day you realized that you would be devoting the rest of your life to discovering algorithms or collecting comic books. We want strong, personal writing that is also smart and critical. We don’t mind if you use the word "fuck," and we don’t mind if you use the word "telomerase." Be celebratory, polemical, wistful, angry, and just plain dorky.
Possible topics include:
• what turned you into a geek
• your career in science, technology, or engineering
• growing up geeky
• being a geek in high school today
• battling geek stereotypes (i.e racial stereotypes and geekdom, cultural analysis of geek chic and the truth about nerds, the idea that women have to choose between being sexually desirable and smart, stereotypes about geek professions such as computer programmers)
• sex and dating among geeks
• science fiction fandom
• role-playing game or comic-book subcultures
• the joys of math
• blogging or videogames
• female geek bonding
• geek role models for women
• feminist commentary on geek culture
• women’s involvement in DiY science and technology groups
• Stories from women involved in geek pop and underground cultures. These might include comic book writers, science fiction writers, electronic music musicians, and women interested in the gaming world.
• women’s web networks and web zine grrrl culture
• Issues of sexism in any of the above themes
EDITORS: Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders are geeky women writers. Annalee is a contributing editor at Wired magazine and writes the syndicated column Techsploitation. Charlie is the author of Choir Boy (Soft Skull Press) and publisher of other magazine.
PUBLISHER: Seal Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, publishes groundbreaking books by and for women in a variety of topics.
DEADLINE: January 15, 2006
LENGTH: 3,000-6,000 words
FORMAT: Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on the last page. Essays will not be returned.
SUBMITTING: Send essay electronically as a Document or Rich Text Format file to Annalee Newitz and Charlie Anders at sheissuchageek@gmail.com.
PAYMENT: $100 plus two books
REPLY: Please allow until February 15 for a response. If you haven’t received a response by then, please assume your essay has not been selected. It is not possible to reply to every submission personally.
Reling from Germany is the winner! You can view his bio and read the updated submission guidelines here: http://www.innergeek.us/geek-week.html
I also updated the guidelines for holding an officially sanctioned Geek Party
That’s all for now…
Here’s your chance to shine in the Geek World! I have a page reserved for this new contest: http://innergeek.us/geek-week.html where all winners will be featured. I would like to have one winner a week.
You do not have to be a member of the innergeek forum to enter. Here’s how to enter:
Send an email to geekmaster@innergeek.us with "Geek of the Week" as the subject. Include the following things in your email:
1. Your Code Name (handle/alias/whatever)
2. Your real name
3. Your age
4. Your city and state (and country, if not the USA)
5. Your email address
6. Your personal website (not required)
6. List some of your likes and dislikes
7. A true story about yourself that shows off your geeky side(s)
8. A photo of yourself (the geekier the better)
If you are selected, I will not publish your email address on the website or in the forum. If you are under 18 or make a request in your email, I will also not publish your real name, your city, or your photo. If you don’t want your actual age published, please at least give me a decade to work with.
Submitting an entry does not guarantee a place on Geek of the Week, but it does confirm that all information you provided (with the exceptions of your real name, your age, and your city) may be used at a future date somewhere on innergeek.us.
If you have questions, ask them on the forum. Otherwise, I look forward to seeing your submissions in my mailbox!
I normally get about 2,000 hits to my site on the average day. Today, though… wow! Almost 20,000 hits! It may have something to do with this link from digg.com:
http://digg.com/technology/How_much_of_a_geek_are_you__2
I read through the comments, and they’re pretty much in line with most reactions that I’ve seen. Some people love it, some people don’t get it, and others slam it because, and I quote, "its like form the pre-history period its so old."
Comments like these used to sting. I guess now I’m used to them, so I don’t have a problem laughing and moving on! I’m currently working on the site and monitoring the forum, but when I do eventually bring the test out of the Triassic period, I’m sure that people will always find something wrong with it.
