(Just a rant)
Hey all, Dave here back in the saddle again. As you may have noticed, we are slowly rebuilding Nerd-Up into an info/news dump with a touch of podcasting when we can. The site will house our rants, news stories, and anything we find cool or amusing. Part of the process is a redesign of the site and logo, which the magnificent Podcasting’s Rich Sigfrit is doing. He really is magnificent, take note.
Well, he said he needed some nerdy imagery to add to the white space in one of the logos. I immediately went to The IT Crowd (a default nerd item for me), grabbed an image, and linked it to give him inspiration. Then for shits and giggles, I went to Google and typed in “iconic nerd images”*. The results were horrifying. There were your obligatory images of San Diego Comic Con, a Spock cartoon**, a t-shirt with some Super Mario imagery, Stan Lee, a D&D setup, a stuffed minotaur and of course Doctor Who. Yes, typical nerd items and there were a fair amount of them. But mixed in with the images I consider actually nerdy were some alarming photos. They were photos of people who were definitely part of the cool crowd, wearing thick-rimmed glasses*** and nerdy clothes like button-up shirts with bow ties. NO! Bad hipsters! I promise you with all of my heart and nerdy soul, that is not what it means to be a nerd.
So, for all of you out there that were picked on when you were young for playing D&D or collecting comics, this post is for you. For those who had to wear the thick-rimmed glasses with no other choice and had to tape them up when they broke, this post is for you. For those who were shunned and looked down upon well before nerdiness went mainstream, this post is for you. Go ahead call me a nerd hipster — I was a nerd before it was cool. I can deal with that, because I know I will be a nerd long after it is cool and I am 100% comfortable in that and love my position in life.
*Here is the link for proof… linky
**I found it funny that Google docs has decided that spock is wrong, but Spock capitalized is right. Love Google.
***True story, in Raleigh there is a growing epidemic of these hipsters having the frames only, without even plain glass or plastic in the frames.
