From the outside of New York’s 4th Annual Comic Con, you’d never have known our country was going through a recession. Hundreds of orcs, superheroes and guys with giant katanas waited in line for the sold out, three-day event at the Jacob K. Javits Convention center, right on the edge of the West Side Highway. Indoors, the giant convention hall was packed full of lectures, special screenings and a maze of autograph signings and memorabilia tables. But even with all the huge attractions – an advance showing of Pixar’s Up, a panel with Watchmen illustrator Dave Gibbons – the main question on this geek’s mind was, “Is anybody buying more than tickets?”

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The 25-year old hacker who created the Wikiscanner, a program that lets you see which companies are changing Wikipedia entries by cross-checking IP addresses, is certainly one suave motherfucker. He’s managed to charm his way into Virginia Heffernan’s column (which, to be fair, isn’t that hard to accomplish) and has girls “hanging off of him” while he drinks White Russians at parties and discusses the Singularity.

Which just begs the questions: when did nerds become the new jocks?

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