Geek and Nerd Humor

So far, 4 and 11 got me; I'd only gotten as far as 12 though.

Will report later.

I missed 5. The items were either very easy or I had no clue at all.
What's with the kittens?

Physics was a low point in my education, snort. I've got stories..
that I probably already told on a2k.

Yeah, I missed the one with the kittens, too. What's the pun in"mew"? It must be an expression I'm not familiar with. Don't speak scientificese very well. One of you geeks wanna explain it?

Mew is a pun on mu the greek letter μ (assuming A2K is UTF-8 compliant)

It is used to represent the coefficient of static friction
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friction#Static_friction

the lower your μ the more likely you are to slide on a tilted surface. Or move on a flat surface when a force is applied.

Place two objects of the same mass on a board - slowly lift one end of the board up, eventually one of the objects will slide as the angular component of gravity overcomes the μ of the object.

You do one unit in Engineering and you're cursed for life.

I thought 11 would get some people. It's a maths/computing joke

Oct and Dec are computing ways of describing base 8 and base 10 numbers.

in Base 10 the rightmost digit is how many ones then the next left is the number of 10s and the next the number of 100s

So 127 in base 10 (or DEC) is
100 + 2x20 + 7x1

Oct is base 8, so the rightmost digit is the number of ones, the next left is the number of 8s and the next the number of 64s

so 127 in base 8 (or OCT)is
1x64 + 2x8 + 7x8
which is 136 in base 10 (or DEC)



Bringing it all home
OCT 31 is
3x8 + 1

and
DEC 25 is
2x10 +5

Thus OCT31 = DEC25

If you're nice to me I'll explain binary and why all computers only use 1's and 0's

My gawd, hinge, how do you live with yourself?

Did you really miss 5 Osso, or is that a typo? It's a latin joke, assumes Martini is plural and Martinus singular.

It does explain why I work with computers, in libraries, and have no friends.

That was one of my faves in the whole set. I got it before I saw the punchline. In fact, I accurately predicted what the punchline would be. All I couldn't understand is how's that a geek/nerd joke? It's a linguistic take-off, not scientific.

I think the term nerd is more encompassing than geek. Geek is very computery but nerd is just knowledge herding/pack ratting - and being unable to keep said knowledge in your head rather than blurt it out in polite company.

That said - it is Buzzfeed and not subject to peer review prior to publication.

Hah. My physics episode was episodically gruesome; I had to have it to graduate and took it at the end. Oddly, I did well in other science, or so I claim. Now of course, I'm mildly interested in physics, many decades later. Not to study it, heaven forfend, but just to know it.

I thought mews were some kind of alley or garages or stables or something like that in merry old England, besides being what cats do.

Oh god, please don't! I'm happy just knowing the binary business is there doing its thing.

I also blanked on 13 and 14 and 21.

No, I missed 5 questions - but not #5.
4, 11, 13, 14, 21, which by now I've forgotten.

I figured most (well, a lot) of them were linguistic - or had a linguistic twist.
On latin, I took 4 years in high school and liked it. The other choice was french. Wish I could've taken that too instead of religion or possibly civics, both serious yawners.

Never did get into martinis, though. Ptui.

Yep, physics is definitely your Achilles heel (to mix nerdy metaphors)

13. Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, sites that it is impossible to know both the velocity and position of an electron simultaneously

14. A newton is a measure of force, a pascal is a measurement of pressure which is defined as force divided by area or in the metric system newtons per square meter or newton/m^2

21. Nah, I think you got that one. Maybe 20 plumber "unionized" chemist "un-ionized"

What!!? And miss all the wonderful stories of how the US saved all the oppressed people of the world. Surely you jest, Osso.

No, I know about ions..

I'll go back and look.

I did miss 21. None of them made sense to me. Sigh.

I don't know that it will help but the answer is the question.

A neutron walks into a bar and orders a beer and asks "How much?" The bartender replies "For you, no charge."