With some slight modifications, this is my dream bedroom. It’s gorgeous. This is a bedroom worthy of a nerd. I love it because it has wonderful linen sheets, a perfect neutral palette, and mostly because it’s very grown up.

Those of us that identify as nerds have fallen prey to marketers and peer pressure to look and act like children. I think it’s a horrible way to experience adulthood. When we were children, we used to wait for the day we could be grown-ups and wear beautiful clothing, live in beautiful spaces, and partake in the indulgences afforded to age and experience; off-limits to children. At least, we used to.

We don’t do that anymore it seems. Too many adults acting like children. Too much cupcake culture; too many toys; and too little responsibility. I recently visited the home of an older woman that had an entire room lined with bookcases. At first glance it was impressive. Turns out all the shelves were filled with Young Adult fiction (Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Gossip Girls, Twilight, etc.). There were no weighty tomes, no classics, no Greeks, no Shakespeare, no philosophy, no science.

There was nothing to really challenge the mind (though Harry Potter is fantastic). Nothing to inspire the need for what Maslow calls “self-actualization”. I look around and see my fellow nerds acting like 10-year old children and it looks more than a little uncomfortable. Whether it’s still wearing converse sneakers, using silly Tumblr-Speak, or being snarky about everything (I hate snark), it’s just not flattering past high school.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with having lifelong hobbies and interests. However, immaturity and adulthood don’t mix. It’s okay to put away childish things (mostly). It’s okay to learn to like complex flavours that can’t be captured in a cupcake. It’s okay to develop your mind and not resort to the lowest-common denominator of taking your clothes off for attention. Also, it’s okay to express original thoughts because reblogging 50 pictures every day you didn’t take without any context isn’t self-expression; it’s fandom, and it’s lazy.

I know I am in the minority and that my opinions aren’t popular but I stand by them. Sheldon Cooper on TV is funny; Sheldon Cooper in real life is just a little bit sad. Being an adult is great and being an adult nerd is even better. Failing to grow up and be an adult is destructive and a waste of potential.

I’ve decided that once I’ve completed The Artist’s Way this week, I’m going hold off starting Walking in This World until September 1. For the remainder of August I’m going to concentrate on polishing up the writing I did for The Artist’s Way, and continue to work through The Nerdist Way. I’m doing this to slow down the pace a bit instead of rushing onto the next thing. It’s always good practice, after all, to review what you’ve done.

As I polish up and complete my Character Tome for The Nerdist Way, I came up with a point system for completed tasks as part of the RPG Your Life chapter. Here is the muddy bottom break-down. I have everything assigned and tracked on a calendar so I can check off completed tasks.

5 points (easy tasks. Points are tallied at end of each week)

• [redacted]
• each workout completed
• each day of food/exercise journal completed
• each class attended
• each day of morning pages completed (Julia Cameron’s creativity series)
• each week of “counting” journal completed (The Prosperous Heart)
• every $50 saved
• each day of knitting/crochet completed
• each day of reading completed
• each blog post completed (actual original content)
• [redacted]

10 points (medium difficulty. Points are tallied at end of week but only given if all the tasks for the week have been completed. If I miss a day I don’t get the 10 points. For example, if I complete 6 days of morning pages, I would get the 30 points, but since I missed one day, and didn’t complete seven days, I wouldn’t get the bonus 10 points).

• [redacted]
• each week of workouts completed (as assigned on calendar)
• each week of food/exercise journal completed
• each week of classes attended
• each week of morning pages completed
• each week of “counting” journal completed
• every $100 saved
• each week of knitting/crochet completed
• each week of reading completed
• each week of blog posts completed (actual original content)
• [redacted]

25 points (big projects/tasks. Works the same as 10 point system above)

• [redacted]
• each planned activity completed
• each month of workouts completed (as assigned on calendar)
• each month of food/exercise journal completed
• each month of classes attended
• each month of morning pages completed
• each month of “counting” journal completed
• every $500 saved
• each month of knitting/crochet completed
• each novel/book completed
• each month of reading completed
• each month of blog posts completed (actual original content)
• [redacted]

100 points (completed big projects)

• [redacted]
• [redacted]
• for workouts/journals - 100 points after each season completed
• every creativity book completed
• each course completed
• minimalist challenge completed
• every $1000 saved
• each knitting/crochet project completed
• [redacted]
• [redacted]

superseventies:

Steven Spielberg playing around with “Bruce” the model shark (named after his lawyer) during the making of Jaws, 1975.  

fuckyeahmolecularbiology:

6 Things I’ll Bet You Didn’t Know Are In Your DNA

In biology, DNA is presented as a neat, orderly double helix comprised of nucleotides, which determine our genotype and - along with environmental factors - our phenotype. Unfortunately, the DNA replicating in our cells right now isn’t comprised of the perfect right-handed spirals that we picture as the “building blocks of life” - in the words of Cracked.com, “[it] is more like an old scrapbook that someone has torn up, pasted back together, filled with old newspaper clippings about murder and then taken into the bathroom with them.”

So let’s take a look at the creepiest of what scientists think 98% of our DNA - as in, not the approximately 2% that codes for useful proteins - is made up of.

1. Ancient Viruses. I’ve blogged about this before, but it’s so cool I’ll mention it again. While a “normal” virus works by invading a host cell and using cellular machinery to reproduce, retroviruses actually mix their own genetic material into the cell they’re invading. Scientists believe that endogenous retroviruses picked up by our distant ancestors found their way into the sex organs, and the new virus-hybrid DNA was passed onto offspring - which ultimately evolved into us, racking up virus-laden DNA over thousands of years. As a result, scientists estimate we now have 100,000 of these microscopic gate-crashers cluttering up our DNA - making up a whopping 40% of our entire genome. (Edit: As jtotheizzoe pointed out, viral DNA itself only accounts for about 8-10% of the genome, although that’s probably underestimated since a lot of it is hopelessly degraded. The 40% number comes from retrotransposons, like LINE elements, which are not viruses - although they may be ancestors of retroviruses.) Even more eerily, new research suggests there could be a correlation between unexpectedly high levels of a particular endogenous retrovirus and schizophrenia.
2. “Dead” genes. Our DNA is also full of evolutionary relics that have not yet been completely edited out - so called “junk DNA”, or “dead genes.” There’s just one problem with that name, however - the genes aren’t actually dead. A common form of muscular dystrophy, FSHD, is caused by a “dead” gene present in all humans. But it’s only “dead” because it’s missing one specific sequence that allows it to be successfully transcribed; all it takes is one tiny mutation, and the gene is fully expressed. If you thought that was just a fluke, think again: A gene thought to put people at risk for Crohn’s disease was resurrected after 25 million years, and by what? Another retrovirus, of course!
3. Neanderthal DNA. How on earth is 1-4% of our modern genome the same as that of a Neanderthal? The obvious answer is, “Oh, it hasn’t been edited out by natural selection yet”…except for, awkwardly enough, that same 1-4% is only found in people with European and Asian descent, and not those descending from Sub-Saharan Africa. Scientists’ hypothesis? Some of our early ancestors got it on in the Middle East 600,000 years ago after leaving Africa. Neanderthals weren’t our only inter-species coital experience, either - in 2010, researchers discovered another species, the Denisovans, and we apparently got funky with them, too.
4. Your family tree. And, unfortunately, not always in a good way. A study in Sweden revealed a strange pattern in a rural community that had gone through periods of both famine and abundance in the 19th century. The study found that the grandsons of men who’d had childhoods coinciding with abundant years had a life expectancy of 32 years less than the grandsons of those who had experienced famine, with the grandsons’ earlier deaths caused mainly by diabetes and heart disease.
5. Insect-spread parasites. The assassin bug of South America is well known for sucking the blood of sleeping victims while pooping on their faces at the same time. While this is gross, it doesn’t have any affect on our DNA - until we scratch the bite. That causes the bug faeces to enter our system, carrying the parasite T. cruzi - the cause of Chagas’ disease. Being a discerning and ever-questioning scientist, you’re probably thinking: Hey, wait, that’s not right! That’s not genetic! The scary part is it might be. Researchers who deliberately infected chicken eggs with T. cruzi and then tested the offspring of the infected chickens that emerged found that not only did those chickens have the parasite DNA, but so did their offspring, and so on.
6. Your Long-Lost Twin. In very rare cases, one of two twins in the womb will end up effectively killing the other in order to obtain more resources and nutrients for itself. In even rarer cases, the surviving twin can end up absorbing its dead twin’s DNA - a condition known formally as “chimerism.” In 2002, a woman named Lydia Fairchild submitted DNA tests for her three children as part of a welfare claim, only to have the results prove that genetically, she wasn’t the mother. Since DNA is considered the gold standard of medical evidence, she was accused of somehow stealing the children, even after the poor woman gave birth to another “nonrelated” child right in front of a social worker. Finally, more extensive testing unlocked the mystery: Her ovaries had a different set of DNA than her bloodstream. In other words, she’d given birth to her dead sister’s children. Hers wasn’t an isolated case, either: a woman getting typed for a kidney transplant found out that two of her sons belonged to a dead sibling, while a teenage boy being treated for an undescended testicle was found to possess an ovary from his dead sister.

Image: Computer simulation of DNA unwinding.

In the immortal words of Spock,”fascinating”.

The Modernist Nerd: Vintage Science Ads from the 1950s-1960s

I was 19 years old in 1995 when I first went online. I started blogging in 2002. In that time I’ve watched the World Wide Web evolve. I taught myself HTML, CSS, and Javascript and in 2001 I went to college and got myself a shiny new Web Developer diploma (oh and another in Network Administration).

I live in a camp in a remote area of northern Alberta. I wouldn’t want to imagine a day without email, Twitter, Ravelry, Youtube, or reading the news online. Sites like these keep me connected to the world despite the challenges of living in the woods.

I think though, that the World Wide Web will evolve past my interest to stay current with emerging technology and online social activities. My opinion is social networking has either allowed the acceptance of the infantile behaviour of adults or it helped create it. Adults have always had spectacular moments of immaturity but modern society encourages immaturity as acceptable default behaviour.

I’ve also seen the so-called geek/nerd community rally around a small cult of personalities, interests, and companies. It’s unfortunate. One of assets of being a nerd was a real DIY ethos and a willingness to learn and shine a light on the most obscure interests.

I’m confident my type of nerd still exists amid the dross and banality. I’m 36 years old and that means my values and behaviours are (mostly) firmly set. I will always believe in the DIY ethos. I will always look up to the garage geeks of the 1970’s that hacked computers, phones, radios, whatever. I had a programming instructor in college (a woman) who was one of the very first FORTRAN programmers.

I will not behave like a teenager with too much money and not enough sense. I don’t give my money to the Hollywood machine without a good reason. When I do, it’s because something I buy has meaning for me. Lesson learned when I spent, what I consider, a good amount of money on Star Wars junk when in hindsight it wasn’t worth it.

I read a comment yesterday where someone admonished adults for letting the world go to hell without making any real effort to change things. Typically there were a few comments back saying that the original commenter was just old and grumpy and that it’s okay for adults to want to bring some fun and happiness into their lives because modern life is so hard and full of challenges.

Sure. I almost agreed with replies to the original comment until I realized that yes, it’s okay for adults to indulge in fun and hobbies but it’s not okay when it’s become more than an indulgence, but rather the default lifestyle of the infantile, modern adult.