Bachelor Geeks!: Geek out, Berkeley style!

If you're ever down Berkeley way, you might want to check these geeks out. They meet each month for an evening of real science with real scientists, along with activities that are just plain cool. Learn about dark matter, then add your artistic interpretation to the Geek Out gallery. Listen to a lecture on the speed of light, then play with prisms and lasers. Check out the Scream Machines (seriously, check them out). And that's just what's on the calendar right now! Who knows where this Geekdom will take you?

GEEK from Wikipedia

The word geek is a slang term, with different meanings ranging from "a computer expert or enthusiast" to "a carnival performer who performs sensationally morbid or disgusting acts", with a general pejorative meaning of "a peculiar or otherwise dislikable person, esp[ecially] one who is perceived to be overly intellectual".^[1]

This word comes from English dialect geek, geck: fool, freak; from Low German geck, from Middle Low German. The root geck still survives in Dutch and Afrikaans gek: crazy, as well as some German dialects, and in the Alsatian word Gickeleshut: geek's hat, used in carnivals.^[2]

Formerly, in 18th century Austria-Hungary, Gecken were freaks shown by some circuses. In 19th century, in North-America, the term geek referred to a freak in circus side-shows. In some cases, its performance included biting the head off a live chicken. The 1976 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary included only the definition regarding geek shows.

Although often considered as a pejorative, the term is also often used self-referentially without malice or as a source of pride - an example is the 'Geek Squad' of the Best Buy company.

^ "Dictionary: Geek". Dictionary.com-Merriam-Webster entry. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/geek. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
^ French Wikipedia Geek Article

Bachelor Geeks!

Geek out, Berkeley style!

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