When the Science Bloggers had their nerd-off recently, I finished dead last. I could not hold a candle to the sheer geekiness of the rest of the group (especially Orac, the Uber-nerd). But last night I boosted my nerd cred: I knocked Wil Wheaton out of a tournament at Poker Stars (which says nothing at all about our relative skill at poker, by the way; I had the cards and he didn't the last two hands and that was that). I was on the verge of going out myself when suddenly I was in two hands against Wil and one other guy and I was lucky enough to win them both and boost myself up to over 8000 in chips. Sadly, that didn't last long and I was knocked out in 33rd place when I had to make the top 14 to win a seat in the million dollar tournament on Sunday.
Wil was a really nice guy and fun to play with. He joked around a lot and had fun with the other players. I told him the story of the Science Blogs nerd off and specifically about Orac winning the competition by posting pictures of his action figure collection. But I forgot about this one from Orac's nerd manifesto:
7. in 1987, I paid money to see Gene Roddenberry speak about the then new Star Trek: The Next Generation series.
The very series that made Wil a household name. These days he's playing poker semi-professionally and blogging. But in true ScienceBlogs fashion, he's also written a book called Just A Geek. I think we've found an honorary member of the group.
- Log in to post comments
But it doesn't count for much next to PZ getting to meet Lalla Ward's husband.
I finished last in the nerdoff. You'll have to tell me who Lalla Ward is.
Hmmm....
I thought Mark CC was declared the winner. The two were neck and neck, but Orac has a decidedly unnerdy job.
I mean, how can a job depicted by Donald Sutherland and Elliott Gould be considered even slightly nerdy.
Indeed, Wil Wheaton has become one of those who is recognized as a semi-internet-nerd-spokesman, or some such. Many of the same people who once complained about the character of Wesley now seem to think that Wil is cool....
If memory serves, Wil is also one of those who has spoken out for things like the EFF and CC.
-Rob
Lalla Ward played the second incarnation of Romana in Dr Who (1979-1981). She's now married to Richard Dawkins, whom PZ met last week. I'll get my anorak.
Sorry, I still subscribe to the "NO WESLEYS!!!" school. ;o)
"101 things to do with a dead Wesley"...
"When in doubt give Wesley to the [insert evil alien lifeform here]."
Lalla Ward was also married to Tom Baker, the third Doctor.