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A Nerd Planet, Gobsmacked by the Reticulum

January 07, 2009 by Patrick LaForge in Moving Images, Paper & Ink

I'm happy to report that I finally finished the 900+ page "Anathem" by Neal Stephenson, just four months (!) after starting it. I have to admit that I took breaks to read a few other things. I previously posted about the difficult, otherworldly vocabulary that Stephenson made up for this book. (For example, the "Reticulum" is similar to what we call the Web or the Internet, though you have to figure that out based on the description of a narrator who is basically a cloistered monk who never uses technology. "Jeejahs" are smart phones or mobile devices of some sort. Videos are "speelies" recorded with "speelycaptors." Those are some of the neologisms that feel apt. Not all of them do.)

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January 07, 2009 /Patrick LaForge
aliens, American Nerd, Anathem, Any Rand, Arbre, Battlestar Galactica, Books, Buddhism, Clock of the Long Now, concents, Cryptonomicon, Edmund Husserl, geeks, Google, Internet, IT, jeejahs, Kurt Gödel, Neal Stephenson, nerds, quantum physics, Reticulum, Roger Penrose, science fiction, spacecraft, speely, speelycaptor, string theory, uncertainty, video, Web
Moving Images, Paper & Ink
2 Comments

Podcast Zeitgeist, Dec. 19

December 19, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Here are more quick takes on podcasts that caught my attention this week, in the order I listened. [See previous lists.]

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December 19, 2008 /Patrick LaForge
ads, advertising, Airstream RV, Alex Lindsay, baby names, Bob Thurman, Canadians, CommandN, Daisy Whitney, Digital Photography Life, driver's licenses, Flickr, geeks, global warming, horror, Jason Calacanis, John C- Dvorak, Jonathan Larroquette, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, MacWorld Expo, misogyny, nerds, Net@Night, Night of the Living Podcast, Nikon D3-X, Personal Life Media, photography, polar icecaps, Seth Romatelli, Smugmug, Susan Bratton, Sylvester Stallone, The Futlie Podcast, This Week in Media, Tibetan Buddhism, Twitter, Whopper virgins, Wired Gadget Lab
Podcast Zeitgeist
5 Comments

The Great Nerd Book Remains Unwritten

December 14, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Paper & Ink

Supposedly, nerds are now cool. People compete to show their nerd cred. They are joining Facebook, taking nerd tests on the Web, and discussing the definitions of geek and nerd on their blogs. They watch TV shows like "Battlestar Galactica," "Heroes" and "The Big Bang Theory." They read adult comics and mammoth science fiction novels. Even Barack Obama is said to be a nerd. It was not always this way, a topic that Benjamin Nugent explores in "American Nerd: The Story of My People," published earlier this year. I ordered the book after listening to Nugent give an interview on The Sound of Young America podcast about what he called his childhood experiences as a self-loathing nerd. It was poignant (and familiar) to hear him describe dumping his nerdy Dungeons & Dragons friends in high school so he could pass for normal. Unfortunately, the book did not quite live up to that interview, either intellectually or emotionally.

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December 14, 2008 /Patrick LaForge
technology, Revenge of the Nerds, herbs, movies, Wikipedia, dweebs, dorks, wimps, computers, J-R-R- Tolkien, SNL, uber-nerds, geeks, nerd cred, Benjamin Nugent, American Nerd, Sound of Young America, films, D&D, Facebook, nerds, podcasts, Books, Dungeons & Dragons, Saturday Night Live
Paper & Ink
7 Comments

Podcast Zeitgesit, Nov. 13

November 13, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

What I got out of this week's podcasts for nerds and geeks:

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November 13, 2008 /Patrick LaForge
Adam Christianson, Andy Ihnatko, Apple, Dan Savage, Five Tacos and a Taco, Found magazine, geeks, iPhone Apps, iPods, Jesse Thorn, John Gruber, John Hodgman, Jonathan Coulton, Jonathan Larroquette, Leo Laporte, MacBreak Weekly, Maccast, macs, Merlin Mann, nerds, Podcast Zeitgeist, Seth Romatelli, Sound of Young America, This Week in Tech, Totally Rad Show, Twit-tv, Uhh Yeah Dude, You Look Nice Today
Podcast Zeitgeist
2 Comments

Podcast Zeitgeist, Nov. 6

November 06, 2008 by Patrick LaForge in Podcast Zeitgeist

Podcasts I got around to listening to this week, and what was on them, in the order I listened:

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November 06, 2008 /Patrick LaForge
Buddhism, Diggnation, feminism, films, finabulous, Franklin's Tower, geeks, Grateful Dead, John Hodgman, Jonathan Larroquette, Leo Laporte, meditation, movies, nerds, podcasts, Seth Romatelli, sexism, This Week in Tech, Twit-tv, UFOs, Uhh Yeah Dude
Podcast Zeitgeist
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