scientists Archives

🧠 Find Your Inner Nerd Day

As I browsed the list of holidays and historical moments tied to August 23, I’ll admit—I felt a bit deflated. The lineup was heavy:

A Day of Remembrance for the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Remembrance for the Victims of Stalinism and Nazism
Slavery Reembrace Day

And then there was poor William Wallace, executed in 1305 in a way so brutal it makes medieval horror look tame: hung (but cut down alive), emasculated, eviscerated, and finally drawn and quartered. Yikes. I think I need a new calendar.

It’s not that we shouldn’t honor these moments—they matter deeply. But here at Around Dusty Roads, I like to keep things light, curious, and a little whimsical. So when I stumbled across a more cheerful observance, I knew I’d found my muse: Find Your Inner Nerd Day!

Nerd Boy- Stock photo

🎉 Your Inner Nerd

We all have one. And these days? Nerds are having a moment. From science documentaries to UFO deep-dives, geek culture is thriving. What we used to hide—our comic book collections, sci-fi obsessions, and trivia superpowers—we now celebrate.

Not sure what a nerd is? Just take a moment to watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory. It’s all about Nerds.

Big Bang Theory' Cast: Now and Then | Entertainment Tonight

Cast of Big Bang Theory- Stock Photo

So what’s Find Your Inner Nerd Day really about? It’s a reminder to stay true to yourself and embrace whatever lights you up inside. Whether it’s video games, vintage tech, fantasy novels, or obscure historical facts, today is your day to revel in it.

🚀 My Nerdy Confession

Am I a nerd? Absolutely.

I’ve been a Star Trek fan since the original series beamed onto my screen.
I’m hooked on The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch.
I follow Finding Bigfoot like it’s a weekly ritual.

If that makes me a nerd, so be it. My inner nerd gets its fix every week—okay, maybe every day.

💬 What About You?

What do you do for your inner nerd? Do you collect crystals, decode alien theories, binge anime, or build elaborate LEGO cities? Whatever it is, today’s the day to let it shine.

May include: A wooden box filled with a variety of tumbled and polished stones, including rose quartz, amethyst, clear quartz, tiger's eye, green aventurine, and more. The stones are arranged in a decorative pattern and are surrounded by straw-like material.

Crystal collection- Stock Photo

So go ahead—nerd out. Loudly. Proudly. And with joy.

Have you ever heard of the Shark Man? White Shark

My first exposure to that title, Shark Man, was Thursday night. I was back on Cape Cod but not to go “Sharkin”. This time I was there to listen to a presentation by Dr. Greg Skomel aka The Shark Man! I’m not sure when I first heard of Dr. Skomel but by the time I saw him on Discovery Channel’s Shark Week his name was quite familiar to me. In fact when I was challenged to pick 5 people dead or alive, that I would like to spend an evening with, Dr. Skomel was on my list. The rest of my list were Neil Degrasse- Tyson, astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium, Seth Shostak, senior astronomer SETI institute, Dr. Michio Kaku, theoretical physicist, futurist, and last but not least Josh Gates, cable TV host and adventurer. He also has a degree in archaeology so I guess I’m still sticking to the science theme.

I’m not sure if I’ll ever get to meet any of the other people on my list but I can tell you that they will have tough shoes to fill!

Living With White Sharks

Dr. Skomal’s talk was about living with white sharks, a very timely topic for Cape Cod. Greg is assigned to the Martha’s Vineyard Research Station. Can we all say Jaws? I’d been told that he was very charismatic and it was quickly clear that this was true. His spotter pilot was sitting in the same row as I was. Before the evening even got started Greg came over to shake his hand and welcome him to his talk. Once the presentation got underway there was quite a bit of good natured banter back and forth between them especially when Greg showed a clip of an “Air Jaws” right under his feet on the pulpit. You could hear the pilot’s voice telling him there was a shark right below and then wham! That got everyone’s attention! That was the way evening went. It was an intimate setting as there was only room for about 150 people. It was a full house. There were lots of oooh, ahhh and wows in between the more dry scientific stuff.