The mystery quote is:
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?

The line is from William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet (Act 2, scene 2, 2–6) and the full quote is:

But soft, what light through yonder window breaks?
It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
Who is already sick and pale with grief
That thou, her maid, art far more fair than she.

When I included the line, I was not thinking of the play. I was thinking of that moment when analyzing a problem, just before a solution comes into plain sight. It is the brief period just before the final aha moment. It is the moment when you realize that all of that work, all of that analysis, all of that thinking might just reveal an insight, a solution, or (heaven forefend) and actionable item.

It also turns out that I may have misquoted, or at least mispunctuated, the line. Some versions show it as:
But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks?

So here is another video of a man doing stunts. No quad bike, no muscles, just a lot of skill.

A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning in general. It is someone that is interested in more abstract and academic pursuits. These interests may or may not be technical. They may, or may not, be obscure. They are more likely to know quite a lot about quite a lot but not necessarily to the huge depth of the geek.

A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular subject or subjects. Often these will be technical or obscure. They will tend to know their subjects in incredible depth and detail, far more than a normal person could bear.

A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations and interactions. They may, or may not, be a geek or a nerd. They may have perfectly normal interests and knowledge but just find people “difficult.”

Where the confusion comes is that often these are mixed. Many nerds also have particular subjects they are geeky (expert) about. Many geeks also have a general interest in subjects outside their area of expertise (nerdy).  Due to their introspective nature, many geeks and nerds also have trouble with common social interactions (dorks).

To sum up: Some nerds are also geeks. Some geeks are also nerds. Not every nerd is also a geek. Not every geek is also a nerd. Geeks and nerds can also be dorks but not every dork is a geek or a nerd. Geeks and nerds are not always dorks.

I hope that has cleared things up.

One of the archetypes mentioned in my article on chick taxonomy was the Femme Fatale. Well it turns out there is a real life version posting on the Internet. Naturally, Typealyzer considers her a party girl.

Have fun nerdy reader, but beware the warnings in my taxonomy article.
The linked blog is probably not work or family safe.

Far worse, from a nerd hero perspective, you would imagine are romance novels. You know those books whose cover features longhaired beauties falling into the arms of buff heroes. If cinema will not feature geeky heroes what hope is there for romance novels?

Imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only is there a romance novel with a nerd hero but an entire series. Yes, an entire series. It is called, surprisingly enough, “The Nerd Series” by Vicki Lewis Thompson. Obviously you would not believe me unless I provided a link.

Of course, reading the small print (if not the novels themselves) reveals that the heroes are not particularly nerdy. In one novel the computer programmer is able to land a pilotless plane because of his flight simulator and gaming experience. As far as representing nerdish/geeky types as heroes, it is start.

But nerdy reader, do not get carried away with fantasies of falling into favor with the babes. One Amazon reviewer had this to say:

…And MAYBE that all might have been acceptable if Charlie had been a much more interesting hero. But it seems like VLT set out to make Charlie as normal and as nerdy as could be. He’s reserved, repressed, only slightly funny, and an overall nice, fairly handsome guy.
link

In other words, he would be a great nerd hero if only he was not such a nerd. I mean he is only slightly funny.

Nerd heroes? As the say, truth is stranger than fiction even heroic nerd fiction.

The idea of a management dashboard is a useful metaphor.  A dashboard gives you a quick overview of your car’s systems. It alerts you to areas that might need your attention. A management “dashboard” should also give you a quick overview of the enterprise and alert you to areas that might need attention.

It was the steering wheel that did it for me. I have visions of the CEO making car noises (like a five year-old) as he looks at the screen, begging the senior accountant for “just five more minutes.”  I wonder if they used something like this to monitor all those CDO, CDS, and MBS instruments. It would explain a lot.
[On a previous assignment we called our "dashboard" a "cockpit." Partly because it contained some aircraft style dials, but mostly because it sounded cooler.  We did not include pictures of a joystick or ejector seat.]

In case the linked site is not available, here is a copy of the dashboard image.

Whatever about the sound quality, the album art is just not the same reduced to CD size. The impact of something like Dark Side of the Moon is entirely lost when it not on a 12 inch square. There was some excitement in sliding that big disc out of its cover, placing it carefully on the turntable, and gently lowering the needle. There was a certain joy in sitting back the gatefold cover open in your lap, studying the lyrics.

But tell that to young kids today and they won’t believe you.

What better way to replace “Lorem ipsum” text than with … Lorem ipsum text.

If you have ever seen mockup for a web page, brochure, or other document, you may have encountered lorem ipsum. It is a section of Latin text that acts as a placeholder for the final copy. It looks better than “place content here,” because it more closely resembles actual text.

Lorem predates the electronic age, having being used in typesetting; some put its earliest use as 1500AD. Although the text is meaningless, it is based on Cicero’s De finibus bonorum et malorum (the original words are scrambled).

You can generate you own lorem text at http://www.lipsum.com/. If you have Microsoft Word 2007, you can generate the text by typing =lorem() followed by Enter.