I thought this article by Patton Oswalt, shared by my younger son, might be of interest to those of you who, like him, grew up in the eighties.
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_angrynerd_geekculture/all/1
By the way, if you need to ask "Who's Patton Oswalt?" you're probably not a recovering nerd.