geekdom and lightbulbs
A couple of days ago, my boyfriend and I went a bit personality and IQ test-crazy. We stumbled across a site purporting to contain the most scientifically valid IQ test available on the internet today. It did not look dodgy, and being the geeks we are, we even paid the $9.95 USD required to obtain our results.He took the test first as I did the washing up, and very narrowly missed being classified in the 'gifted' (2.3% of the population) category. I got nervous when I sat the test. This, I thought, could potentially be embarrassing.
As it turns out, I somehow managed to miss being classified as a 'genius' by four points, beating him in each category except for the one having to do with timing (evidently, I might be of reasonable intelligence, but the cogs in my mind also seem to work rather slowly). In the days following the sitting of the test, I have been beleaguered by the Boyfriend and (quite rightfully, but don't tell him that) labelled a 'geek' or 'freak' and every possible derivative in between. 'Christ', he joked at one point, 'the things this does to the male ego!'
I'll admit to being a 'geek' (the more politically correct term being 'gifted'), but the Boyfriend rather seems to enjoy pointing out that had I completed the test in a slightly shorter time frame, I would have made it into the 'freak' category (the more politically correct term being 'genius'). He conveniently 'forgets' that according to his own dodgy definitions, he too can technically be classified as 'geek' - which he is, I can assure you.
Yesterday, one of the lightbulbs in my flat burnt out. Armed with a reasonably high IQ and a new lightbulb, I proceeded to attempt to replace the offending bulb, thinking nothing of it - after all, as slow as the cogs in my brain might be, I actually have replaced lightbulbs before, which might surprise most of you lot. The bulb made a satisfying click as it slid into place. The problem was this: the lamp refused to turn on afterwards.
So being the apparent Nerdus officialus that I am, I began thinking thoughts along the lines of the probability of the lightbulb being defective, and what distribution (exponential? Weibull?) could best model the failure rate of bulbs. They came in packages of two - were the bulbs independent of each other? When I patiently explained these thoughts to the poor boyfriend, he sensibly suggested that there was probably something wrong with the filament and that I probably had a defective package. 'What about the independence-' I began. He sighed. 'Why don't you just buy another bulb and try that one instead?'
Poor guy - stuck with someone of seemingly reasonable intelligence whose mental lightbulb has evidently burned out as well (how ironic). Feel free to send him your sympathies.
L'Esthete @ 01:19
