Way OT: What's your geek?

Submitted by Hail-Storm on

With only a few weeks left, and football news coming in still pretty slow, I'd like to start one of the last OT threads of the summer.

The Mgoblog community is a diverse, intelligent community, with lots of great interests. So my question, what is your geeky thing you are into? Can be games, books, movies, cars, historic timeframe, some collectible you are into. 

Here are some of mine;

I played D&D growing up with friends and brothers. I actually highly recommend any parents with kids support this, as there is lots of story telling and character development in this gameplay. We actually were able to play some last year.

X-wing miniatures: Is a table top game with models where you simulate a dog fight between Star Wars space ships. I've recently gotten into this, and I'm currently obsessed

Reading: I've read a lot of books, but are probably not considered as nerdy or geeky as the popularity has grown. Ender's Game, X-wing series, A Song of Ice and Fire series (GoT), Harry Potter.

This can also apply to Michigan Football, as I'd consider WolverineDevotee, Mathlete, WolverineHistorian to have taken their fandom to geek status with the amount of knowledge and devotion they've made to their hobby. 

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Louie C

August 13th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^

I enjoyed "A People's History", but I felt it wasn't objective enough. That book and "A Patriot's History of the United States" were the "textbooks" for a history class I took, and I felt that "Patriot's" leaned to far to the other side of the spectrum. I think that's why they were both assigned; to read both and come to our own conclusions about the same historical events they both espoused.

Joined: 11/16/2009

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Rabbit21

August 13th, 2015 at 11:32 AM ^

Agree with the assertion that Zinn's book is too skewed to be a good start for history.  It's interesting later on as a histriographical piece, and in offering a different perspective.  As far as a good start, in my opinion you can't go wrong with listening to Dan Carlin's Hardcore History podcasts and then delving further into whatever subjects you find interesting.  

Joined: 11/12/2009

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bacon1431

August 13th, 2015 at 11:36 AM ^

I love Zinn, but I wouldn't just try to read straight through that as it's an overview of American history from a specific perspective. Great book. Just not something you want to get started with. When I read and re-read it, I usually do like a chapter or two a week. 

Joined: 07/26/2008

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TIMMMAAY

August 13th, 2015 at 12:01 PM ^

Start at the beginning. I don't know titles off hand, but I've read a lot of very interesting history about Babylon, Ninevah and Mesopotamia in general. From there go into Egypt, then Europe. I haven't read much on the far East, though it's on my to do list.

Joined: 09/08/2008

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mgoblue0970

August 13th, 2015 at 12:09 PM ^

Yeah, love history... I thought it was interesting standing at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers -- essentially downtown Mesopotamia and reflecting upon how thousands of years later, the place that gave us the foundation for literature, mathematics, science, and all kinds of other cultural influences... and standing there with a heavy heart that those fuckers have regressed.

Sigh!

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 18648

bacon1431

August 13th, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^

I read the Harry Potter series almost every year. And I love Star Wars and LOTR. Just your basic level of geek. 

When it comes to video games, I really like simulating games/seasons. I don't like playing them. I like to play the role of coach or GM, build the team and watch it succeed or fail. In my adolescence, I used to track my progress over the virtual years and compare different careers. 

Joined: 07/26/2008

MGoPoints: 25294

MGoBrewMom

August 13th, 2015 at 9:49 AM ^

MGoBlog, and it used to be beer. Otherwise, I'm just a middle-aged, working, soccer mom trying to stay fit and get enough sleep. My kids keep trying to get me into Minecraft...but sadly, no time.

Joined: 08/13/2009

MGoPoints: 22969

CGordini

August 13th, 2015 at 9:50 AM ^

I also am a huge fan of the X-Wing book series (more Stackpole than Allston, but I've grown to appreciate the latter), and you HAVE to mention the Thrawn books.

I'm a computer science major, 'nuff said there. Work full time as a "software engineer".

Play *some* MTG (super casual, either standard or egh), Hearthstone, and also far too much CounterStrike: Source through high school that has left me with a good amount of skill. Used to do TF2 pretty heavy, back in '10 or so.

These days, more casual gaming -- fire up whatever is in my Steam/GoG library (currently going through a replay of TIE Fighter and Rogue Squadron 3D, as well as Earthbound).

I tinker with Arduino/Raspberry Pi on occasion, but the vast amount of my time is spent with my car.

Joined: 12/25/2014

MGoPoints: 1966

Hail-Storm

August 13th, 2015 at 1:26 PM ^

I was not excited when I first saw the new squad books, but after reading them, I liked them a lot better. I liked the wraith team as a whole and felt bad when characters died because each had a positive part to play. I also liked corran more before I found out he had the force. Still love all the series and is a huge reason I'm into the table top xwing game.

Joined: 06/07/2010

MGoPoints: 9881

BrotherMouzone

August 13th, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^

Vintage baseball cards/memorabilia. They help tell the story of our country. Oldest card is from 1917, coolest card is a Jackie Robinson Topps card. Favorite non card piece is Babe Ruth striking out on the cover of a 1934 Free Press or an old magazine with Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson on the cover. I also love my old Sport Magazine with Joe Louis on the cover from '42.



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Joined: 07/17/2015

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BrotherMouzone

August 13th, 2015 at 10:29 AM ^

No not really, most of what I buy is not in mint condition and that is where the real money is. I have a lot of stuff ranging from $50-$500 but nothing crazy. I tend to buy stuff based on the "cool" factor, not the "expensive" factor. If its cool in my book then I go for it. Probably one of the more expensive items I have is a ticket to a Brooklyn Dodgers FOOTBALL game in 1942 against the New York Giants. Yes, there was a Brooklyn Dodgers Football Club for a while.



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blueinIN

August 13th, 2015 at 9:53 AM ^

Military history of the world: most major confilcts from the beginning of time.

Physics: especially astrophysics

Wargaming: Hearts of Iron series, Europa Universalis series, Total War Series, Wargame series.

Last but not least, FOOTBALL and HARBAUGH.

Joined: 01/06/2013

MGoPoints: 960