Der Nerdery

You’ve missed the last comic con in Seattle, and you had really planned on going to it, too. But don’t despair, not only are there other comic cons on the horizon, both near and far, but, in the interim, why not get yourself to a nice, intergalactic UFO con?

You Are Not Alone

2011 MUFON (Mutual Unidentified Flying Object Network) of Ohio Summer Conference is a con on the very near horizon, right behind that round saucer-looking thingy in the sky. With a conference title of “50 Years of Abduction Experience – Setting the Record Straight,” people are stampeding to get their plane tickets. It’s a one day conference, July 16, in Ashland, Ohio. This is the con that bills itself “REAL UFOs – the latest UFO videos and news,” featuring Travis Walton, “author of the famous abduction account ‘Fire in the Sky’ made into a blockbuster movie,” and Kathleen Marden, niece of Betty Hill, and author of the bestseller, “Captured! The Betty and Barney Hill UFO Experience.”

Or if that’s too soon, plan to go to the McMinnville UFO Festival next May, noted as “the second largest UFO Celebration in the Country,” held in an out-of-this-world venue, McMenamin’s Hotel Oregon. Here’s an event that offers the best of both worlds – or of many worlds. It starts off with an Alien UFO Costume Parade, followed by the Alien Pet Costume Contest. Getting those alien creatures to look like earth dogs is no easy task, but the festival participants are pretty successful at it.

The other bonus is that the McMinnville UFO celebration is held in the heart of Oregon’s wine country, so you can tour the many excellent wineries as well. No wonder the aliens landed here.

I-Con, Con You?

But if the UFO scene is too “spacy” for you, how about I-Con (aka: Island Convention) held in March at Stony Brook, New York, on the State University of New York campus. This is an eclectic convention including science fiction authors, Anime and other animation devotees, furry folks, gaming, SCA medieval participants, with various and sundry performances.

The first I-Con was held in 1982 with Gene Roddenberry as a GoH (guest of honor). How do you top that?

Finding Our Furry Friends

And now, for something completely different, how about a furry con? The attendees at a furry con focus on fictional anthropomorphic characters. The first furry convention, ConFurence, was held in California in 1990.

Many attendees at a furry con wear elaborate animal or animal-like costumes, usually of their own construction. Costumers play a major role at a furry con. Like most cons, attendees will find an art show, a masquerade – distinguished from walking through the halls by having a raised stage – discussions of the literature, movies, print and online fare of anthropomorphic stories and characters.

Boo!

And if all of the foregoing is not scary enough for you, why not go to a World Horror Convention? The next one will be held March 29 through April 1, 2012 in Salt Lake City, “At the Mountains of Madness.”

Salt flats for miles, now that’s scary! Here attendees rub elbows with famed horror writers and watch horror films, as well visit the dealer’s room, go to presentations and panels, as is usual for all cons. But horror Con-goers have the added advantage of getting to run about the halls in terrifying zombie, oozing, blood-dripping costuming. Fun will be had by all.

I Want My Comic-Con

But if you’re still pining for a full-on comic con, don’t despair. THE comic con of comic cons, the San Diego Comic-Con International, will be held July 21-24 at the San Diego Convention Center, Petco Park. With an attendance of 130,000 in 2010, it is billed as the fourth largest convention in the world. It’s still but a pale follower of Comiket, held in Tokyo, Japan twice a year in December and August, with an attendance of 520,000 in December 2010.

The San Diego Comic-com was originally all about comic books, but has expanded to include, somewhat logically, animation, anime, manga, horror, webcomics, fantasy novels, the burgeoning popularity of the illustrated novel, as well as the other pop culture components of video games, toys and collectible card games.

Probably the most intriguing aspect of the wealth of cons is that people from all walks of life, with greatly varying belief systems, political stances, cultural underpinnings and gender persuasions come together and play well together. Earthlings, take a clue!

Matthew Warren is a sci-fi fan, wanna-be astronomer and a programmer when not working on Gump Tees and Things Nerds Like.

We all have heard it. We’ve all been called it. We’ve all had our feelings and sense of security threatened by this overly-simple, six letter word. Stupid; such a small and simple world, but how can it hold so much negativity and power? If people would realize there isn’t truly a stupid, then we could work for a better world. Stupidity is either an all or nothing deal, as intelligence isn’t truly a measurable, or tangible for that matter, subject. Each person has a specific mental intelligence, and they are all unique in their specific intelligences. None of these intelligences are superior, more so they are equal but many societies bias some as “superior” over one another. So if you’ve ever been called stupid; just select what mental intelligence fits you best and stand proud with it!

1. Mathematical/Logical Intelligence. More common amongst males, this type of intelligence views the world with numbers and defined logic. One who operates on this level of thinking is often described as being “cold” and “uncaring.” Although this is honestly not their intentions, they do not realize they seem socially cold. These people are often interested in deep thought and are the day dreamers of our world. A prime example of a user of this type of intelligence would be Albert Einstein.
2. Artistic Intelligence. Quite the opposite of the mathematical and logical intelligence, these people view the worlds in colors and shapes rather than numbers. These people tend to be outgoing, friendly, and bubbly. These are the people who enjoy photography and remembering the “golden days.” This type of intelligence is often taken as bubbly and bright. A popular example of this personality type would be Pablo Picasso.
3. Social Intelligence. This is similar to artistic intelligence, but not quite as bubbly. These people know how to be socially accepted and just “get along” with almost anyone they meet. These people can smooth talk their way into any conversation or opportunity that comes there way. They are often quick-witted and comedic people and are the life of the party. A great individual who fits into this role would be Stephen Colbert.
4. Musical Intelligence. These people are the people you see constantly playing some sort of instrument. They have a passion for music and often are attending concerts or trying to organize some themselves. These people are often trying to make beats out of just about anything, including tapping their pencils in class! A “classic fit” to this intelligence, would be Ludwig Van Beethoven. Pun intended.
5. Emotional Intelligence. These are the people who base their decision making off of emotions. Whether these emotions be controlled or not are completely up to them. To be honest, the largest determination in success in life is the ability to control this type of intelligence. You could fail math class, or science class, and still be better off if you can emotionally stabilize yourself like these people. An example of an emotionally intelligent person would be George Washington, or anyone who is able to make sound decisions and hold their temper, honestly.

Although there are many more intelligences, so many so I could write a book, these are the primary. If you can figure out where you fit and be comfortable with what you were born and raised with, you can truly see who you are and that you are an intelligent being. You have value and intelligence no matter what any ignorant fool may state using that cliché six-letter-word. Remember that intelligence is not just school!

Tim Frisch is a student at the University of Wisconsin – Stout and is a regular contributer at PSCLife.com (http://PSCLife.com).  PSCLife.com has been in business since 2009, and is a leading retailer of ThreeLac – a lemon-flavored probiotic supplement designed to boost immune health as well as provide numerous other health benefits.

In celebration of Halloween here is some extra nerdy ideas for you to consider.

The Legend of Zelda

Princess Zelda

Link

Bleach

Inoue Orihime / Arrancar

Icigo / Zangetsu

Rukia / Sode no Shirayki

Random Nerdy Costumes

Pokemon Team Rocket

Naurto: Gai Sensi and Rock lee

WOW/ Drani

WOW / Baby murloc

Kingdom Hearts/ Sora

And dont forget your four legged friends

Dog/ Yoda

Did you dress up in a extra Nerdy outfit send us a picture and we just might feature you next Halloween

While not as news worthy as the first day, it was a exciting day at Blizzcon with exciting highs and lows.  Most of the day was filled with mundane Q&A panels.  However most of the action goes to the Tournaments with a first World Starcraft 2 Champion:  Min-Soo Jung  from South Korea.  However that was dwarfed in excitement to the long and down to the wire World of Warcraft PvP tournament.  The final two teams aAa and Complexity Red.  While aAa dominated the tournament, including a win against Complexity Red earlier in the day, Complexity Red scored a wining kill with 5 seconds of the match end, where the teams had been evenly matched for the previous 40 minutes of the round.

Some low points of the day was Blizzard COO Paul Sams making announcement for the new MMO during the closing ceremony, only to pull a Bazinga,  unless of course your into World of Jersey: Shorecraft. Then announcing they would be giving away “free beta keys to Diablo 3” to huge cheers, but then adding only to “1000 people” to roaring boos.

There was also the Tenacious D concert that debut two of their new songs, but I instead choose the more engaging WoW 3v3 tournament(that lasted until after 1am EST), so I don’t know how the concert went.

Overall Blizzcon was still thrilling, but didn’t live up to the magic of previous years, but there is always next year.

***Correction After I posted this last night, the last match in the World of Warcraft 3v3 tournament went under review and changed the outcome of the tournament.  In fact it was aAa that won the Grand Tournament.  Find out the details here.

Day 1 of Blizzcon 2010 is officialy over. Surprisingly, very little news came out of Day 1 this year compared to previous years.  It is known that Blizzard is working on a new MMO and the second act of the Starcraft 2 Triliogy, but unfortunately we’ll have to wait another year for any news on them.  Most of the news came from already talked about Diablo 3 and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

Blizzcon Diablo 3 News:
The fifth and final class of Diablo 3 was announced as a Demon Hunter,  this character is a ranged class with dual wielding crossbows.  Yes, you read that right – Duel Wielding Crossbows.  The class is similar to the Amazons from Diablo 2.  Also added to Diablo 3 is player-versus-player arenas (so much for luring people out of safety, killing them and taking an ear as in Diablo 2).

Blizzcon World of Warcraft Cataclsm News:
Most of news on the World of Warcraft side was clarification of the new Raid locks, meaning you can only down a raid boss once per week either 10-man or 25-man, but not both.  The loot is going to be the same (2 drops for 10-man, 5 drops for 25 man), but you get extra justice points for doing 25-man versions.  The bosses are no longer linked to your raid id, but to your character, so you can pick up with a different group if you choose.

Blizzcon Starcraft 2 News:
The other big news is in Starcraft 2, a couple of developer mods are going to be added to the game, the big one being Defense of the Ancients.

Want More Blizzcon 2010 News?
If you want more Blizzcon news or watch Day 2, parts will be streamed live for free tomorrow (Oct 23) at http://www.blizzcon.com

And if you’re a huge fan of World of Warcraft, don’t forget that Der Nerdery is starting up it’s own WoW Guild.  Check out the details here.

How to join? Leave a comment and we will get back with you.

Realm: Shadowsong , Alliance

WoW Guild Name: DerNerdery

Purpose: We vow to level and have fun while being our nerdy selves.

Yes, you heard right DerNerdery now has a World of Warcraft guild. If you have not played before and you want to try we have a team of experienced wow players who can help you if you need it. The guild bank is stocked for lower levels but we have plans of making a higher level guild for the experienced players.

If you have never had a wow account before, there is something called  ”Recruit a Friend” and we would be glad to team you up with one of our experts. With Recruit a Friend you will receive 3x the experience and friend recall. The team is from different states and work at different times so one will be matched to the time you are available. If you want to level fast this is the way to go!

No, this is not one of ours just thought it was cool.

Play WoW already? Just looking for a fun guild to join? Come with us to shadowsong, the more the merrier!

Whats that?

You just want to help new WoW players? Great! Then come join our team of experts , we would be glad to have you.

Join us! The DerNerdery team… Having fun on WoW.