Why Nerd's Eye View?
The other day I was sitting at dinner with a woman who'd offered her insight in to promoting my work. (Thanks!) I handed her a copy of the collection I'd put together and she asked "Why Nerd's Eye View?" I didn't really have a good answer at the time, but there is one. There is.
First, it's a pun on "birds-eye view." In typical nerd fashion, I went and looked things up on dictionary.com.
bird's-eye
\Bird's"-eye`\, a. 1. Seen from above, as if by a flying bird; embraced at a glance; hence, general; not minute, or entering into details; as, a bird's-eye view.
nerd
n. Slang
1. A foolish, inept, or unattractive person.
2. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
nerd
n. 1. [mainstream slang] Pejorative applied to anyone with an above-average IQ and few gifts at small talk and ordinary social rituals. 2. [jargon] Term of praise applied (in conscious ironic reference to sense 1) to someone who knows what's really important and interesting and doesn't care to be distracted by trivial chatter and silly status games.
It used to be a bad thing to be called a nerd. But anyone who's been paying attention knows that Lisa Simpson grows up to be president. The longer I've worked with technology, the nerdier I've become.
Now, about the bird. There's a kid's show I like to watch on German television called "Siebenstien." It's about a bunch of characters that live in a junk shop. The woman that runs the business; that's Siebenstien. There's a suitcase that's a bit of a wet blanket know it all; that's Coffer (meaning suitcase in German). And there's Rudi. Rudi is a fluffy black bird that's kind of bratty and talkative. He's always getting in to things he shouldn't be because of his inordinate sense of ownership for everything, plus, he's curious. And he's kind of a pest. The world is his oyster and he wants you to know it.
I liked the idea of a character like Rudi, only more bookish, more nerdy. How, otherwise, is he going to put together a website? That's how I ended up with the little bird in glasses logo. It's the nerd bird. That bird does a lot of flying, but doesn't over look the details. It's no mere flyover. It's a Nerd's Eye View.
