Let's roll some dice, watch some movies, or generally just geek out. New posts at 6:30 pm ET but only if I have something to say. Menu at the top. gsllc@chirp.enworld.org on Mastodon and @gsllc on Twitter.
It’s September, the start of a new month. Well, in mid-August, half a month too late, I came across one of those internet challenges. Being a music nut, I’m willing to take my chances with the data mining assholes and participate. For the month of September (plus October 1), I’m going to answer each of these with a blog post. Here’s the challenge:
The latest nerd war inspired me to write another mean post. Actually, I wrote it some time ago but was unsure I wanted to post it. Now I’m sure. During my time in Facebook jail, or maybe shortly before that (I’m old; I don’t remember), a fellow nerd shared this meme.
Sad news: They weren’t thinking of you specifically when they named the candy.
Nothing says nerd like a meme that showcases your insecurity. C.f.,
Having done both for decades, I can firmly say no, they aren’t the same. They just have superficial similarities that dumb and/or ignorant people confuse with identity.
These don’t come across as quite the burn you think they do. Instead, they make you look, well, nerdy and insecure. Moreover, the people you’re targeting aren’t paying attention because they don’t care what you think. That’s the nature of “not being a nerd.” More importantly, the meme falls short of its intended mark. Consider that following candy bar names:
The truth is that candy bar names run the gamut — everyone’s looking for a distinctive trademark — but because we picked the fight with this meme, it’s appropriate to point out that the ones I listed were named after a specific person worthy of recognition. Can you name a specific nerd who was worthy of a candy bar name? Einstein? Hawking? Me? The first two are famous, and they don’t get a candy name. And don’t try to pull cookies into this. It won’t work as well as many seem to think it will.
We remain individually obscure and just get picked on as a group, and obviously some of us aren’t self-aware enough to realize that yes, this candy name is probably just picking on us. Don’t pick battles you can’t win. If one of those “cool people” accidentally hears what you said, you’re gonna lose.
Food critics are a weird thing. I hate mushrooms, so no matter how good you think a brand of mushrooms are, you can’t convince me to eat them. So what’s the point of food critics? What do they really offer us?
My favorite dessert by far is key lime pie. When I saw these limited edition key lime pie Kit-Kats, I just knew I had to buy some. However, they’re tough to find, so my only option was EBay. This is the most I’ve ever spent on a candy bar, but it wasn’t too bad.
My verdict?
For a brief moment, I’m convinced my life was better than all of yours. Sadly, this is something you’ll have a hard time finding yourself. Get ’em while they still exist.
Play What You Want 