JARinteractive

Well if you want to find out, don’t use this quiz. Maybe the standards for geekiness have been shifted because being a geek is now the ‘cool’ thing. Maybe they should have actually had a geek write the questions…

1. How many functioning computers and laptops are in your home?
   This question is pretty good. My answer is 3.
2. What kind of computer do you use at home?
   none
   Mac
   Windows
   Mac & Windows
   Linux
   Is it not an option to use all three? I have two macs and a dual-boot windows/linux box. I’ve tried Fedora Core, Gentoo, SuSE, and Ubuntu for the fun of it.
3. Do you have an “Internet phone” or VoIP service at home?
   This doesn’t have a lot to do with being geeky. The current advertising even states that you don’t need a geek to set it up because it is so easy. I have free phone service from my employer, so I don’t have it.
4. Do you text-message or e-mail from your cell phone or BlackBerry?
   If a company is promoting their service with free text messaging, it is probably too popular to be geeky. Also, practically everyone (myself excluded) has a cell phone. $cell_phone_usage != $geekiness
5. Have you ever e-mailed a photo you took on your cell phone to a friend?
   See above comments. I’ll stick with my film SLR until I move to a DSLR. Cell phone pictures are still too low quality for me.
6. Have you ever posted a photo directly from your cell phone to the Web?
   See above comments. Too much cell phone emphasis? I think so.
7. Do you have a home network?
   No
   Yes
   Yes, and I know how to fix it if it stops working
   Decent question #2. Yes, and I know how to fix it if it stops working
8. Which of these devices have you connected to your TV?
   None
   MythTV
   Slingbox
   Rabbit-ear antenna
   TiVo or DVR
   I don’t watch much TV, so I have Rabbit-Ears connected to my ancient 14-inch TV. MythTV is a bit geeky, but the other options don’t make someone less of a geek. To be honest, a lot of geeks would use P2P software as their source of video content.
9. Which game system are you playing most often today?
   None
   Xbox 360
   PlayStation Portable
   PlayStation 2
   Holding out for PS3 or Nintendo Revolution
   Analog (wood) chess set
   I use my computer for gaming. Consoles are not geeky, although many geeks have them.
10. If you were stranded on a desert island, which TV franchise would you prefer to take with you?
    ‘The X-Files’
    ‘Battlestar Galactica’
    ‘Star Trek’
    ‘Doctor Who’
    ‘The O.C.’
    Doesn’t matter to me. Probably Star Trek, but I’d rather do something other than watch TV.
11. If you were stranded on a desert island, which novel would you prefer to take with you?
    ‘The Lord of the Rings’
    ‘Neuromancer’
    ‘Starship Troopers’
    ‘Snow Crash’
    ‘The Bridges of Madison County’
    Definitely the Tolkien one.
12. If you were stranded on a desert island, which movie would you prefer to take with you?
    ‘The Matrix’
    ‘The Terminator’
    ‘Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope’
    ‘Blade Runner’
    ‘Beaches’
    A few too many media-related questions. Geeks do (stereotypically) have certain media tendencies, but it isn’t what defines them. Star Wars all the way.
13. If you were stranded on a desert island, which game would you miss the most?
    Crossword puzzles
    Sudoku
    Magic: The Gathering
    Dungeons and Dragons
    ‘Wheel of Fortune’
    None of the above. Starcraft.
14. If you were stranded on a desert island, which comic-book series would you prefer to take with you?
    Batman
    X-Men
    100 Bullets
    Y: The Last Man
    Archie
    See what I mean about the media related questions? Too many! I would prefer a book of Dilbert or Foxtrot cartoons
15. If you were stranded on a desert island, which videogame would you prefer to take with you?
    Tetris
    Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories
    Counter-Strike
    World of Warcraft
    Ms. Pacman
    Tetris, unless an internet connection comes with World of Warcraft.
16. Do you use satellite radio?
    No
    At Home
    In the Car
    No. Most of my 15+ days of music would never be heard on the radio. I’ll stick with my iPod unless something better comes along.
17. When you need driving directions you:
    Call destination from the road
    Look up directions online ahead of time and print them out
    Fire up your in-car GPS
    Ask for directions at a gas station
    Stubbornly refuse to ask directions
    1. Google Maps/Mapquest; 2. use the map in my car; 3. gas station. In that order
18. A friend e-mails you the following joke: “There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary code, and those who don’t.” Your response is:
    Huh?
    Chuckle.
    Loud belly laugh.
    “Dude, that joke is at least 1100100 years old.”
    Only good because of the last option.
19. Which Web browser do you use most at home?
    Explorer
    Firefox
    Safari
    Opera
    I wrote my own
    What’s a Web browser?
    A better question would be what rendering engine is used (Gecko, Webkit, etc.). I use Camino (Gecko) mostly. Good thing too, because this quiz doesn’t even show up in Safari (Webkit).
20. It’s 1 a.m. You are:
    Asleep
    Surfing the Web
    Rearranging your iTunes playlists
    Meeting the rest of your guild in World of Warcraft
    it depends on if it is the weekend or not (Some of us have real jobs).

I admittedly lose some geek points for my lack of comic book reading, sci-fi TV watching, and D&D playing, but… I have my own domain with a web site I built with a text editor, photoshop, and open-source software. I know a good number of programming languages. I have degrees in Computer Science and Digital Media. I spend my free time coding, playing Starcraft, surfing the web, and other things on my computers. But apparently I am not a geek.