Top 5 Nerd Holidays

In addition to all of the traditional and national holidays printed on our calendars every year, there are other, equally as important holidays that deserve recognition.  As nerds, it is up to us to ensure that these glorious tributes and anniversaries get the attention they are due.

In honor of Towel Day, here is my list of the top 5 nerd holidays.

5. September 19th – International Talk Like a Pirate Day

Created back in 1995 by fellow Oregonian’s Ol’ Chumbucket and Cap’n Slappy, International Talk Like a Pirate Day is the day in which we can all…umm, talk like a pirate.  You might be wondering if this is truly a nerd holiday.  I say that only nerds would celebrate and participate in such a day and therefore, it does qualify…kind of like a Ren Faire qualifies (believe me, it does).

“But HNG, how do I celebrate this holiday?”

By dressing up like a pirate, talking like a pirate and changing your facebook language settings to “pirate.”  You can also watch pirate movies and read pirate books.  I do not recommend the following activities on Talk Like a Pirate Day:

thievin’

pillagin’

rapin’

engagin’ in general forms of debauchery unless it is between consenting adults

You may; however, drink copious amounts of rum providing you don’t get behind the wheel of your pirate ship afterwards.

4. March 14th – Pi Day

Mmmmmm….pie……

Get it? 3.14?  This holiday is definitely geared towards the math nerds and much as I appreciate their mathematical prowess, math has never been a particularly strong point of mine.  On that note, I would like to personally invite Danica McKellar to be my private math tutor.  Note: Pi Day is not to be confused with Pi Approximation Day celebrated on July 22nd (get it?)

“But HNG, how do I celebrate this holiday?”

Bake a pie and eat it (personally, my favorite way of celebrating).  You can also memorize as many decimal digits of Pi as you can and recite them for all of your friends (trust me, they will be VERY impressed).  If you’re a true math nerd, you could apply to MIT.  If you get in, they will mail your acceptance letter so that it is delivered on Pi Day (oh math nerds, they’re so funny).

3. August 12th – PC’s Birthday

Ahhh, the good ol' days

The IBM 5150 PC first went on sale on August 12, 1981.  If you’re counting, that means that this year the PC turns 30 (*sniffle* they grow up so fast).  This holiday is for all you computer nerds.  I’m a PC gal myself, but if you happen to be an Apple fan, I suppose you can celebrate Macintosh Computer Day on January 25th.  But since you wouldn’t be able to celebrate if it weren’t for the magical PC, I’m only counting August 12th on this list.  Deal with it.

“But HNG, how do I celebrate this holiday?”

By doing some long overdue computer maintenance (you know you need to).  January is technically National Clean Up Your Computer Month, but since August is about halfway through the year, it’s as good a time as any to do a little cleaning up as well.  You could also replace your PC.  I may be a PC gal, but I’m not so stubborn that I can’t admit that PC’s can, umm, be less reliable.  There, I said it.  You will never hear me say it again.  Damn you.

2. August 29th – Judgment Day

Good times worth celebrating

This holiday commemorates the day when Skynet will go online and destroy the vast majority of humanity.  Yay!!!  Why do we celebrate this day?  To remind us all that, while nerds and geeks may rule the world, we must be careful about not abusing our power lest it rise up against us.  I mean, seriously, how many movies have to be made before we realize that maaaaybe cloning people using nanobots and other crazy shit that serves no real viable purpose is probably not the best idea?  Hrrmmm?

“But HNG, how do I celebrate this holiday?”

By starting a letter writing campaign to Arnold Schwarzenegger informing him that Terminators don’t age and 64 might be a little too long in the tooth to be playing the same character he first played when he was 37.  Or, you could watch the movies.  Or you could take your kids to a playground and gaze fearfully up at the sky while watching out for a giant orange blast that will set you on fire and shred you apart until finally your bones explode.  Yup, have fun with that.

1. May 25th – Geek Pride Day AND Towel Day

Geek Pride Parade

May 25th should really be a holy day.  Perhaps a feast day for Saint Lucas and Saint Adams.

May 25th was opening day of the original Star Wars, a day that shall live on forever in geek lore.  The holiday has a Bill of Rights and, even though it’s not meant to be taken seriously, it’s full of bullshit stereotypes so I’ll only print the ones I feel should be included:

  1. The right to be even geekier

7.   The right to have all the geeky friends that you want

10. The right to show off your geekiness

11. The right to take over the world

May 25th also marks Towel Day, an ode to Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.  It was started in 2001 in response to Adams’ Graduation.  Why towels you ask?  Because….

“A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapors; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is, is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

Hence a phrase that has passed into hitchhiking slang, as in “Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There’s a frood who really knows where his towel is.” (Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)”

That’s why.

“But HNG, how do I celebrate this holiday?”

By carrying a towel around with you all day.  If you work in a relaxed enough environment, you can also wear pajamas and a bathrobe.  You can read the book, but don’t bother watching the movie.  If you do, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Are you celebrating Towel Day today?  Feel free to take a picture and put it on the facebook page!

Also, I’m thinking it might be pretty awesome to put together a nerd calendar that features these holidays and more.  Am I forgetting any?  Have one you would like to add?  If so, let me know!


Comments

11 responses to “Top 5 Nerd Holidays”

  1. Wesley Kinslow Avatar
    Wesley Kinslow

    Really? No Star Wars day? May the 4th be with you…

    1. Yah, that one counts too BUT I had a seperate post for that one so I didn’t want to get repetitive. It will definitely be included on a future nerd calendar, if I do one. Here’s the May the Fourth Be With You post: http://hotnerdgirl.wordpress.com/2011/05/04/may-the-fourth-be-with-you/

      🙂

  2. LOL! I haven’t heard of some of these, but I’m falling out of my chair here!

    1. Excellent! 😀

  3. Alecia Avatar
    Alecia

    More holidays?

    April 2.

    4-2 the answer to life, the universe and everything day?

    June 23. Being Joss Whedons birthday, it has become a day of rallying for browncoats, also assigned as the date of U-day (unification day, date assigned by the fans), and the day of several Firefly awareness events

    1. Great additions! Thanks!

  4. Per PC-History.org http://pc-history.org/ : The Apple II was the first true”personal computer” it was factory built, in-expensive and easy to learn and use. Provided with the most extensive set of software and low cost floppy disks, the Apple II was also the first personal computer capable of color graphics and easy modem operation.. Development of the Visicalc spreadsheet program created a business tool that made adoption of Apple II a regular part of business.

    April, 1977

  5. May 3, should be holiday. We all need to sit down and hone our web spinning Skills to honour the release of the Spider Man Movie that was released in 2002! GO WEB GO!

  6. nostrad Avatar
    nostrad

    Pick up an holyday nerd shirt on the way… LOL
    http:www.nerd-shirt.com

  7. Hello, fellow nerds! I and several more nerdy individuals have founded a facebook group called Nerds (shocker, I know.). If any of you find yourself worthy ye shalt be tried and the victors shall bask in the heaven that is nerddom. The URL is http://www.facebook.com/groups/174277315965380/ visit us, and apply. We shall find out, ART THOU WORTHY?

  8. Also, I like Peinstein day, for 3.14. It’s also Einstein’s birthday, and what self respecting geek wouldn’t want to give homage to one of the biggest geeks ever!?

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