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If Your Geek Goddess Skips A Date, Perhaps It's Because Her Calendar Is Wrong

from the oooops dept

Wed, Aug 30th 2006 2:48am — Mike Masnick

A couple months back, an Australian company decided to put out a calendar of "geek goddesses." That is, this pinup calendar was supposedly full of women who work in the technology field, posed glamorously, copying well known scenes from various movies. The company behind the calendar claimed that it was intended to change the stereotype of women who worked in technology to encourage more women to enter the field. Of course, a few more cynical observers noted that it certainly seemed a bit more targeted at geek guys, who wanted to see scantily clad attractive geek women. It wasn't difficult to assume that people getting their hands on the calendar were more likely to spend time ogling the photos, rather than considering how they had misperceived female contributions to the tech world. Now, it appears that those who put together the calendar may have spent a bit too much time focusing on the photos rather than, well, the geeky details such as getting the dates correct (you know, the little things). According to the Raw Feed, it turns out that the "Geek Goddesses" calendar is riddled with all sorts of embarrassing errors. Apparently, the geeks may be good looking, but they're in need of a proof reader for their calendar. The company is offering replacements, but pushing customers who already bought the calendars to accept "free calendar screen savers and/or high resolution files of the corrected pages" as an alternative. They claim that most buyers are willing to take those alternative offers because, honestly, it's not like they actually were using the calendar anyway.

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41 Comments

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Felix, 30 Aug 2006 @ 3:20am

Yummy geek girls!
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Rabid Wolverine, 30 Aug 2006 @ 3:32am

Geek Goddesses
Who cares about the dates?
Where can I get one? I don't care if it's correct or not, the incorrect one is a collector's item!
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2006 @ 4:06am

Lousy Smarch weather!
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J, 30 Aug 2006 @ 4:13am

Sales Mentality Extraordinaire
I wonder how many extra sales will now be made because it's hit the news alot harder now.

That could be the best advertising technique of 2006, despite being a bit late in the game for an annual calendar.
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bleearg, 30 Aug 2006 @ 4:24am

Goddesses?
Umm...have you *seen* the calendar? I hardly doubt these women are goddesses. I'm no Adonis myself, but when I think of "geek goddesses", I don't think of 50-year old women without chins.
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Astral, 30 Aug 2006 @ 4:34am

What?
I just got finished looking at the sample photos. I know we are geeks but those women are not good looking. Are you telling me that these geeky girls are the best we can do? If so than I'm just going to have to settle for a non-geek and I'm not wasting any money on the calendar.
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slide23, 30 Aug 2006 @ 5:53am

Aren't they supposed to... look good?
FULLY. Yikes. If I wanted eye candy, I'd either pick a swimsuit calendar or take stare at our new Symmetra.
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Secesh, 30 Aug 2006 @ 6:21am

Speaking of
It's one word -- proofreader. Even though it comes from the act of reading a proof, the term is only one word.
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[kossori hana.], 30 Aug 2006 @ 6:23am

eh.
megyn was a bit hot, but they could have done better, take me for instance...
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BillGod, 30 Aug 2006 @ 7:21am

OH MY GOD
I just threw up a bit in my mouth. I wanted to stop looking after the first few pics... but its like a train wreck.. one with REALLY ugly women on the train.
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Uggg, 30 Aug 2006 @ 7:43am

Re: OH MY GOD
Yikes! I thought you might have been exaggerating; but your not. I had to go wash my eyeballs after that.
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Anton, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:15am

It's riddled with problems alright
First, if someone doesn't care about the calendar dates, that's fine. But...what images could you be oogling at? They're not hot!? How about supply some high resolution images of a Victorias Secret catalog to make up for wrong dates and nothing to look at.
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:33am

Well, they're not THAT bad
I just took a look, and you've got to admit, if (most) of those women were working in your office, they'd be hot... if for no other reason that you almost definitely work beside 100+ stinky, ugly looking dudes.

And let's face it, it's pretty difficult for ANY chick to look ugly after you've stared at Apu Nahaspemapedlanguptalicious for 8 hours.

But I'll agree that about 30% of them were atrocious...
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Jeanna, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:35am

WoW!
There are hotter girls in the pics from BlizzCon.
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:35am

REPOST They're not THAT bad
(My post didn't show up...)
I just took a look, and you've got to admit, if (most) of those women were working in your office, they'd be hot... if for no other reason that you almost definitely work beside 100+ stinky, ugly looking dudes.

And let's face it, it's pretty difficult for ANY chick to look ugly after you've stared at Apu Nahaspemapedlanguptalicious for 8 hours.

But I'll agree that about 30% of them were atrocious...
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:38am

They're not THAT bad
I just took a look, and you've got to admit, if (most) of those "godesses" were working in your office, they'd be hot... if for no other reason that you almost definitely work beside loads of ugly looking dudes.

And let's face it, it's pretty difficult for ANY woman to look ugly after you've stared at Apu Nahaspemapedlanguptakrishna for 8 hours.

But I'll agree that about 30% of them were atrocious...

PS The techdirt SPAM filter sucks...
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:41am

They're not THAT bad
I just took a look, and you've got to admit, if (most) of those women were working in your office, they'd be hot... if for no other reason that you almost definitely work beside 100+ stinky, ugly looking dudes.

And let's face it, it's pretty difficult for ANY chick to look ugly after you've stared at the elbonian immigrant in the cube next to yours for 8 hours.

But I'll agree that about 30% of them were atrocious...
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:42am

Spam filter?
Dude, what is up with the SPAM filter? I had to switch computers because it kept labling my crap as spam
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:45am

the

(PS, the post above was labled as SPAM on my other computer by the techdirt filter, you guys should check this out)
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bendodge, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:51am

Bah!
What a worthless waste of time.
(Back to slashdot)
-bendodge
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2006 @ 8:58am

Well, these women are better looking than I am, and contrary to what I see posted, many Geek guys will settle for less than perfection. Some would even be happy to be with me--and I look worse than these ladies. Having a real person is a lot better than posting about how picky you are.

Really hot women tend to want really hot men. Look in a mirror and apply the same standards to your own bodies, guys. Are you perfect? Sure you are. All the hot chicks want you.

*Runs to kitchen to get you a sandwich*
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2006 @ 9:02am

"Really hot women tend to want really hot men. "

But even ugly women won't pay to see pictures of ugly men. Ugly women are a dime a dozen, I don't have to pay money to see them.
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Kane, 30 Aug 2006 @ 9:04am

Well, I'm just going to wait until August 33 to get my replacement.
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Male Chauvinist Pig, 30 Aug 2006 @ 9:15am

You misunderstood. The dates are fine. It's the images they used that are wrong. God, I'm gonna hafta put a bag over my own head when I take this calendar to the bathroom with me.
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Kane, 30 Aug 2006 @ 9:18am

Oops..
Oh, nevermind. I just crossed the 33rd off of my calander. That really is atrocious..and I don't mean how not-hot the women are. I simply don't understand the idea here. If you want a calander of geeky women, why not have them dressed rather geeky, not some wicked lame movie pose.
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Anonymous Coward, 30 Aug 2006 @ 9:26am

Ok, I've got the 44th penciled in for something... perhaps on the 5th Tuesday...?
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Stephen Wright, 30 Aug 2006 @ 9:51am

I bought one of those...
I bought a new phone. I didn't have much money so I had to buy an irregular phone -- it had no number 5 on it. I saw a close friend of mine the other day... He said, "Steven, why haven't you called me?" I said, "I can't call everyone I want. My new phone has no five on it." He said, "How long have you had it?" I said, "I don't know... My calendar has no sevens. - Stephen Wright
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Mike (profile), 30 Aug 2006 @ 10:13am

Re: Spam filter?
Dude, what is up with the SPAM filter? I had to switch computers because it kept labling my crap as spam

The spam filter is fine. If you bothered to read the message when it told you it was holding your comments as spam, it says very clearly that someone from Techdirt will review the posts, and if they're not spam they will be posted, exactly as they were.

The spam filter works on a variety of qualities, including IP address, which explains why your posts on the other computer didn't go through.

However, the spam filter works great. In the last 5 hours, we received 2412 spam comments. Yes, two thousand, four hundred and twelve. Of those, SIX were false positives. Four of which were yours.

You'll note that they were all posted within a couple hours (other than your annoying "tests" of the spam filter, which I deleted as spam). There's nothing wrong with the spam filter at all.
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 10:14am

Re: I bought one of those...
lol!
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Jo Mamma, 30 Aug 2006 @ 10:15am

Re: Re: Spam filter?
LOL!
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 10:39am

Re: Re: Spam filter?
I did read the message when submitting my post, and I have had a "false positive" before (probably about two months ago).

At that point, the message was never reposted... and while my comments (along with everybody else's) may not be worthy of a Pulitzer, I don't think they are "spam".

Because of my previous experience with your spam filter I was expecting the same result. Can you honestly say that you would've picked up my false positive comments if I hadn't posted my complaint? If you can truly read 2412 posts in 5 hours, then I give you well deserved credit. If there is a chance that you may miss a valid message or two, then please forgive my frustration at my previous experiences with your spam filter.
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Mike (profile), 30 Aug 2006 @ 10:46am

Re: Re: Re: Spam filter?
Because of my previous experience with your spam filter I was expecting the same result. Can you honestly say that you would've picked up my false positive comments if I hadn't posted my complaint? If you can truly read 2412 posts in 5 hours, then I give you well deserved credit.

Yup. I actually saw the posts caught in the spam filter before I saw your other comments.

The admin form we have allows us to skim a lot of "spam" comments very quickly. It's usually pretty easy to spot the few non-spam comments mixed in with the thousands of spam comments. I'm sure every once in a while we do miss some, but I think it's pretty rare. Apologies if an early comment didn't get through.
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Monarch, 30 Aug 2006 @ 10:57am

Just to let all the guys know, I'm a woman in IT. I looked at those pictures, and I think maybe 3 of them were GOOD Looking. The others were butt ugly or looked like someone's Grandma in a provacative pose.
As for myself, I'd consider myself a 6 on a scale of 1-10.
And no, I wouldn't even think of being a model for a calendar.
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trashmem, 30 Aug 2006 @ 11:07am

Re: Re: OH MY GOD
Your on the point! GAWD!! 70% were fugly!!! I'm no Adonis but when you advertise GODDESS and get these pics, something is wrong with these guys. Who chose the chicks the Queer eye for the straight guy staff?
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Dan, 30 Aug 2006 @ 11:07am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Spam filter?
Ok, then I will try to be more patient next time.

I look forward to the time when both my computers are removed from your spam filter. :-)
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BillGod, 30 Aug 2006 @ 11:39am

Re: Re: Spam filter?
HA 4 of the 6 were yours... HA
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Lia, 30 Aug 2006 @ 11:58am

Gawd, listen to you lot - you guys are oil paintings huh?

Good on em I say - no one is making people buy the calendar *winks*
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Madison, 30 Aug 2006 @ 4:50pm

Techie Women Are Here to stay
Loved this blog. I think the concept of "geek goddess" is hysterical and who cares if there are errors- the concept is supposed to be funny. I'm a girl looking to head into the IT world, so I'm glad to hear that women are here and are staying. For instance, this past march I headed to this thing called HD Expo that had a bunch of cool cameras and things. Lots of equipment and screens and stuff. Anyway- i stuck around for the cocktail party and found out that the entire Team is run by women. and they weren't geeky looking but cute and trendy.. blah blah- maybe because they are from LA. Either way- i was shocked and I'm glad that the image of gadgets and men is OUT in my mind and gadgets and women is here. You go gals.
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Jennifer, 30 Aug 2006 @ 5:13pm

Re: Techie Women Are Here to stay
Madison- I live in LA and have been to the HD EXPO's and have actually met some of the gals working there. it is funny because if you see the tradeshows they do- you would be surprised to find out they are a female company driving the HD Market because the industry if full of men that are actually quite protective of these gals. It's pretty amazing stuff. The owner has a blog if you are interested, it's really funny because it is totally from the female perspective in a techie/gadget world.
www.techinthecity.com/blog

Hope you enjoy it..
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Jeanna, 30 Aug 2006 @ 9:47pm

On a side note...
For a site made for geeks and about geeks, it has a greater plethora of weird bugs and random errors than most amature sites. Now that's just silly.
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sonja Bernhardt, 8 Sep 2006 @ 4:01am

Shallow Hal
Hello I'm Sonja Bernhardt, screen goddess innovator. AH touch of saddenss as I read the other screen comments reminiscent of "Shallow Hal" ... one major theme of the calendar is DIVERSITY - it is about showing that women of all ages, body types and roles work in IT and they ALL LOVE IT, are super passionate about what they do and there is NO ONE NERD image - media continually slams us with nerd/geekimages whereas we are all individuals.

Screen Goddess www.itgoddess.info is about smashing through that and getting the topic on the table and getting people to realise the ONE thing that does unite technology people is we love technology and innovative ways to create things - geek is good.

There are women in their 20's and 60's there are bikini gorgeous as well as size 16's, there is a wide ethnic blend and massive diversity of roles and backgrounds, there are people who love firefly and andromeda and also those who love the classics.....book readers, and surfers......

Move beyond 'shallow hal' comments and get into what it is about....DID you know every image has placed/ or hidden technology in it, plus there is a secret message in the calendar waiting for some wise geek to solve it and win prizes.

What technologist does not want more women in the workplace do you really want an increasing male environment - where technology is created from one view point/experience??? - 100% of the profits of the calendar go towards actively encouraging more women in technology studies and careers.

Stand up and be counted and Support this brave, bold initiative! don't hide behind personal comments stand by principles and a shared pasison for the industry.

regards
Sonja sonja@itgoddess.info
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