|
Geek
The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In the past, it had a generally pejorative meaning of a "peculiar person, especially one who is perceived to be overly intellectual, unfashionable, boring, or socially awkward". In the 21st century, it was reappropriation, reclaimed and used by many people, especially members of some fandoms, as a positive term. Some use the term self-referentially without malice or as a source of pride, often referring simply to "someone who is interested in a subject (usually intellectual or complex) for its own sake". Etymology The word comes from English dialect ''geek'' or ''geck'' (meaning a "fool" or "freak"; from Middle Low German ''Geck''). ''Geck'' is a standard term in modern German and means "fool" or "fop". The root also survives in the Dutch lan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geek Picnic (Moscow; 2014-01-26) 28
Geek Picnic is the largest European open air festival dedicated to popular science, modern technology, science and art. The first festival was held in St. Petersburg in 2011. Since 2014, Geek Picnic has been held in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2016, the first Geek Picnic was held in Israel. Festivals 2011 The first Geek Picnic took place, at the New Holland Island in Saint Petersburg, on August 6, 2011. It presented several scientific shows, including 3D printing and robotics, as well as indoor and outdoor activities like modern game consoles, monocycles, Powerbocking, jumping stilts, gaming zone and sports ground. The festival attracted more than 1500 visitors. 2012 The second Geek Picnic was held at the same location on August, 3rd. It featured a wide variety of events including robot exhibition, a number of lectures in the format of TEDx and masterclasses by recognized experts from global (Gaidar Magdanurov from Microsoft, Yury Lifshits from Yahoo!), and Russian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nerd
A nerd is a person seen as overly intellectual, obsessive, introverted, or lacking social skills. Such a person may spend inordinate amounts of time on unpopular, little known, or non-mainstream activities, which are generally either highly technical, abstract, or relating to niche topics such as science fiction or fantasy, to the exclusion of more mainstream activities. Additionally, many so-called nerds are described as being shy, quirky, pedantic, and unattractive. Originally derogatory, the term "nerd" was a stereotype, but as with other pejoratives, it has been reclaimed and redefined by some as a term of pride and group identity. The term may be considered a synonym for geek. Etymology The first documented appearance of the word ''nerd'' is as the name of a creature in Dr. Seuss's book '' If I Ran the Zoo'' (1950), in which the narrator Gerald McGrew claims that he would collect "a Nerkle, a Nerd, and a Seersucker too" for his imaginary zoo.American Heritage Dict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geek Show
Geek shows were an act in traveling carnivals and circuses of early United States, America and were often part of a larger sideshow. The billed performer's act consisted of a single wikt:geek, geek, who stood in the center ring to chase live chickens. It ended with the performer biting the chickens' heads off and swallowing them. The geek shows were often used as openers for what are commonly known as freak shows. It was a matter of pride among circus and carnival professionals not to have traveled with a troupe that included geeks. Geeks were often alcoholics or drug addicts, and paid with liquor – especially during Prohibition in the United States, Prohibition – or with illegal drug trade, narcotics. In modern usage, the term "geek show" is often applied to situations where an audience is drawn to a performance or show where the performance consists of a horrific act that the crowd finds distasteful but ultimately entertaining. It may also be used by a single person in refe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fandom
A fandom is a subculture composed of Fan (person), fans characterized by a feeling of camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant portion of their time and energy involved with their interest, often as a part of a social network with particular practices, differentiating fandom-affiliated people from those with only a casual interest. A fandom can grow around any area of human interest or activity. The subject of fan interest can be narrowly defined, focused on something like a Media franchise, franchise or an individual celebrity, or encompassing entire hobby, hobbies, genres or fashions. While it is now used to apply to groups of people fascinated with any subject, the term has its roots in those with an Sports fandom, enthusiastic appreciation for sports. Merriam-Webster's dictionary traces the usage of the term back as far as 1903. Many fandoms are overlapped. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Freak Show
A freak show is an exhibition of biological rarities, referred to in popular culture as "Freak, freaks of nature". Typical features would be physically unusual Human#Anatomy and physiology, humans, such as those uncommonly large or small, those with extraordinary diseases and conditions, and others with performances expected to be shocking to viewers. Heavily tattooed or body piercing, pierced people have sometimes been seen in freak shows (more common in modern times as a sideshow act), as have attention-getting physical performers such as fire eater, fire-eating and Sword swallowing, sword-swallowing acts. History Since at latest the medieval period, people with deformities have often been treated as objects of interest and entertainment, and crowds have flocked to see them exhibited. A famous Early modern Europe, early modern example was the exhibition at the court of Charles I of England, King Charles I of Lazarus and Joannes Baptista Colloredo, two Conjoined twins, co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city and state. Austria is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. The country occupies an area of and has Austrians, a population of around 9 million. The area of today's Austria has been inhabited since at least the Paleolithic, Paleolithic period. Around 400 BC, it was inhabited by the Celts and then annexed by the Roman Empire, Romans in the late 1st century BC. Christianization in the region began in the 4th and 5th centuries, during the late Western Roman Empire, Roman period, followed by the arrival of numerous Germanic tribes during the Migration Period. A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard A
Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'strong in rule'. Nicknames include " Richie", " Dick", " Dickon", " Dickie", " Rich", " Rick", "Rico (name), Rico", " Ricky", and more. Richard is a common English (the name was introduced into England by the Normans), German and French male name. It's also used in many more languages, particularly Germanic, such as Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, Icelandic, and Dutch, as well as other languages including Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Finnish. Richard is cognate with variants of the name in other European languages, such as the Swedish "Rickard", the Portuguese and Spanish "Ricardo" and the Italian "Riccardo" (see comprehensive variant list below). People named Richard Multiple people with the same name * Richard Andersen (other) * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Colbert Report
''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December 18, 2014, for 1,447 episodes. The show focused on a Stephen Colbert (character), fictional anchorman character named Stephen Colbert, played by his real-life namesake. The character, described by Colbert as a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot", is a caricature of televised political pundits. Furthermore, the show satirized conservative personality-driven political talk programs, particularly Fox News's ''The O'Reilly Factor''. ''The Colbert Report'' is a spin-off (media), spin-off of Comedy Central's ''The Daily Show'', where Colbert was a correspondent from 1997 to 2005. The program, created by Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Ben Karlin, lampooned current events and American political happenings. The show's structure consist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Digital Revolution
The Information Age is a History by period, historical period that began in the mid-20th century. It is characterized by a rapid shift from traditional industries, as established during the Industrial Revolution, to an economy centered on information technology. The onset of the Information Age has been linked to the development of the transistor in 1947. This technological advance has had a significant impact on the way information is processed and transmitted. According to the United Nations Public Administration Network, the Information Age was formed by capitalizing on Miniaturization, computer miniaturization advances, which led to Modernization theory, modernized information systems and internet communications as the driving force of Sociocultural evolution, social evolution. There is ongoing debate concerning whether the Third Industrial Revolution has already ended, and if the Fourth Industrial Revolution has already begun due to the recent breakthroughs in areas such ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nightmare Alley (novel)
''Nightmare Alley'' is a novel by American writer William Lindsay Gresham, published in 1946. It is a study of the depths of show business and its immoral inhabitantsthe dark, shadowy world of a second-rate carnival filled with hustlers, scheming grifters, and Machiavellian femmes fatales. Gresham attributed the origin of ''Nightmare Alley'' to conversations he had with a former carnival worker while they were both serving as volunteers with the Loyalist forces in the Spanish Civil War. Gresham wrote the novel, his first, while working as an editor for a "true crime", pulp magazine in New York City during the 1940s. He outlined the plot and wrote the first six chapters over a period of two years, then finished the book in four months. Each chapter is represented by a different Tarot card. Plot Stanton Carlisle watches the geek show at a Ten-in-One where he has recently begun working. He later asks the carnival's talker Clem Hoately where geeks come from. Clem explains th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Lindsay Gresham
William Lindsay Gresham (; August 20, 1909 – September 14, 1962) was an American novelist and non-fiction author particularly well-regarded among readers of noir fiction, noir. His best-known work is ''Nightmare Alley (novel), Nightmare Alley'' (1946), which was adapted to film in Nightmare Alley (1947 film), 1947 and Nightmare Alley (2021 film), 2021. Life and career Gresham was born in Baltimore, Maryland. As a child, he moved with his family to New York, where he became fascinated by the sideshow at Coney Island. Upon graduating from Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn in 1926, Gresham drifted from job to job, and worked as a folk singer in Greenwich Village. His parents divorced when he was 16. His own first marriage also ended in divorce, as well as his second to a New Jersey socialite, which fell apart after nine years when he returned to the United States, embittered by his experiences in Spain. In 1937, Gresham had served as a volunteer Combat medic, medic for the A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
American Heritage Dictionary
American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, people who self-identify their ancestry as "American" ** American English, the set of varieties of the English language native to the United States ** Native Americans in the United States, indigenous peoples of the United States * American, something of, from, or related to the Americas, also known as "America" ** Indigenous peoples of the Americas * American (word), for analysis and history of the meanings in various contexts Organizations * American Airlines, U.S.-based airline headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas * American Athletic Conference, an American college athletic conference * American Recordings (record label), a record label that was previously known as Def American * American University, in Washington, D.C. Sports teams S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
