Geek Pride Day is an initiative to promote
geek
The word ''geek'' is a slang term originally used to describe Eccentricity (behavior), eccentric or non-mainstream people; in current use, the word typically connotes an expert or enthusiast obsessed with a hobby or intellectual pursuit. In th ...
culture, celebrated annually on May 25.
The initiative originated in Spain in 2006 as () and spread around the world via the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
.
Origins
Tim McEachern organized unconnected events called
Geek Pride Festival and/or Geek Pride Day 1998 to 2000 at a bar in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...
, which are sometimes seen as a prelude to Geek Pride Day.
Dick Morley, a "father" of the
programmable logic controller
A programmable logic controller (PLC) or programmable controller is an industrial computer that has been ruggedized and adapted for the control of manufacturing processes, such as assembly lines, machines, robotic devices, or any activity that ...
, organised Geek Pride Days at The Barn, his retreat in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, as early as 2001. He describes it in his book,
Techshock – Future under repair'' (ISA, 2009). He held them on the longest day of the year and he wrote o
Geek Pride Day (Or Outing Engineers in the Bush!)on page 19.
In 2006, the Spanish
blogger
A blog (a Clipping (morphology), truncation of "weblog") is an informational website consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries also known as posts. Posts are typically displayed in Reverse chronology, reverse chronologic ...
Germán Martínez known online as ''señor Buebo'' organized the first celebration. The day was celebrated for the first time in Spain and on the
Internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
, drawing attention from mainstream media. The biggest concentration took place in
Madrid
Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...
, where 300 geeks demonstrated their pride together with a human
Pac-Man
''Pac-Man,'' originally called in Japan, is a 1980 maze video game developed and published by Namco for arcades. In North America, the game was released by Midway Manufacturing as part of its licensing agreement with Namco America. The pla ...
. A manifesto was created to celebrate the first Geek Pride Day, which included a list of the basic rights and responsibilities of geeks.
2008
In 2008, Geek Pride Day was officially celebrated in the U.S., where it was heralded by numerous bloggers, coalescing around the launch of the Geek Pride Day website. Math author, Euler Book Prize winner, and geek blogger
John Derbyshire
John Derbyshire (born 3 June 1945) is an American journalist and political commentator. He was one of the last paleoconservatives at the ''National Review'', until he was fired in 2012 for writing an article for '' Taki's Magazine'' that was ...
announced
that he would be appearing in the
Fifth Avenue
Fifth Avenue is a major thoroughfare in the borough (New York City), borough of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue runs south from 143rd Street (Manhattan), West 143rd Street in Harlem to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. The se ...
parade on the prime number float, dressed as number 57.
See also
*
Towel Day – celebrated on the same date since 2001
*
''Star Wars'' Day
*
Pi Day
Pi Day is an annual celebration of the mathematical constant (pi). Pi Day is observed on March 14 (the 3rd month) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant figures of , and was first celebrated in the United States. It was founded i ...
*
Glorious Twenty-fifth of May
References
External links
Orgullofriki.com(Spanish)
{{authority control
May observances
Nerd culture
Recurring events established in 2006
International observances
Unofficial observances