Calling All Nerds

Listening to: Weezer, "The Good Life"

I am calling out to my fellow nerds, geeks, and dorks, in the hope that you will join an ongoing project/movement dedicated to decreasing worldsuck.

First, some background.

The Brotherhood 2.0 project, which I've mentioned once or twice before, is an ongoing video blog by John and Hank Green, in which they have banned all textual communication (emails, text messages, letters) between themselves, and only communicate via their daily vlog posts (and the phone, and in person, of course).

The vlogs themselves are always fascinating, and if you start from the beginning and work your way towards the latest vlogs, you really start to feel like you know these guys. I mean, it's just three or four minute snippets of their daily lives, but it's interesting. I'm pretty close to my siblings, but I don't get to see them that often, and honestly, watching Brotherhood 2.0 makes me really, really miss them. It's that good.

So, the vlogs have spawned some terminology, which the brothers Green helpfully define on the website. For instance, Nerdfighters, which originated here. And decreasing worldsuck, although I don't have the time to find the vlog. And there's even a forum called "My Pants"...so, if you want to talk about nerdfighting stuff, you go talk about it in My Pants. See how wonderfully silly and nerdy it all is?

If stuff like this had been around when I was younger, I probably wouldn't have been so ashamed of my nerdiness. I might have been quicker to embrace it, knowing that I wasn't really alone.

So anyhow, the brothers, after a recent trip to the Dominican Republic, have started a project aimed at decreasing worldsuck. The project involves donating--actually, loaning--money through Kiva, a website that allows people to make mini-loans to Third World residents starting small businesses. You can learn more about it in this vlog post, and this one.

The nerdfighters ha've raised a few thousand dollars so far for several businesses. It's a pretty damn cool project, and one that hits close to my heart, since I spent a week in Jamaica building houses a few years ago (someday, I'll do a post about that). People go to posh resorts and hotels, and they don't realize that life-threatening poverty is right down the road. This project not only raises global awareness, but also helps people rise above that poverty.

The problem is, they're running low on nerdfighters. They need more nerdfighters, because the more nerdfighters there are, the more people they can help!

So, fellow nerds, go to Brotherhood 2.0 and get to know the brothers Green. Browse through the vlogs posted since January 1st--I promise, you'll be entertained. Then, if you feel so inclined, check out Kiva and consider making a donation.

Be a Nerdfighter! You know you wanna!