Each and every one of us has probably done something that could be considered geeky. But some people take this to the next level, achieving things so truly geeky that their exploits leave other geeks with no choice but to applaud their efforts.

Today, we're applauding those uber-geeks that have gone above and beyond. They have surpassed the achievements of us ordinary, everyday, run-of-the-mill geeks. They have journeyed to the geeky underworld and survived to tell the tale. Bow down to your geek superiors.

The Geekiest Of Geeky Achievements

What follows is a list of the geekiest things our readers have ever done. While none are likely to blow your mind, some will likely leave you confused, and others will have you nodding your head in appreciation.

Building A Cutting-Edge Piano (Saikat Basu)

Built a small electronic piano with shaving blades as keys. Had some help, but I don’t think I can surpass that.

As geeky, and awesome, and awesomely geeky as this is, I have just one question… Why?!

Tackling Taco Bell Online (likefunbutnot)

I had the first web site devoted to Taco Bell on the internet, starting in late 1994. I had a late-night shift at a university computer lab that was across the street from a Taco Bell. I started collecting stories from the 1AM crew, scanning ephemera and dissecting its TV commercials. People started writing me their Taco Bell anecdotes and even fiction, and I’d put it online. I was C&D’d by Taco Bell’s corporate ownership in maybe 1996, but as I recall it was another couple years before Taco Bell had a web site of its own.

I've contributed code to a few open source projects over the years; I was an early tester for Linux SMP support. Not very many people had multiprocessor 486 computers. I still do hobby programming for my own amusement, but I hate doing it professionally.

I've also ascended with the amulet of Yendor using a wishless Tourist and if that sentence makes sense to you, you’ll understand why that’s geekier than 20 year old Linux bugfixes.

One person, three geeky achievements. The first is bizarre, the second is worthy, and the third is, I haven't a clue what the third is. Klingon, perhaps?

Taming A Tamagotchi (tetrisdroid)

Kept my Tamagotchi alive for 98 days when they were first released. I was 14 and it was in the local paper.

This may be a record for keeping a Tamagotchi alive among our readership, unless you know different?

Talking In Binary (Andrew Baughman)

Talked in binary.

Unless I'm mistaken this means conversing in a series of 1s and 0s. Which beats Klingon hands down.

Voicing Your Own SatNav (robh)

Creating my own voice file for my TomTom (in-car SatNav). Sheldon on TV’s Big Bang Theory did the same but I did it before him!

You're know you're doing something right (and incredibly geeky) when the same plotline appears on The Big Bang Theory some time after.

3D-Printing Daft Punk Helmets (Doctor Scientist)

It’s a toss up between setting up 4 projectors and 4 Xbox 360’s to play Halo 3 with 16 people in a giant living room with 4 couches back to back in the middle of the room so each “team” had their back to the other teams projectors/wall. Also 8 player Co-op through the campaign on 4 projectors split screen was just stupid fun.

Although a very close second was spending two years off and on building a 3D printer based off the Reprap Prusa design. The geeky part was I wasn't even all the excited about all the stuff I could print out, instead I was more excited to see the coding that made it work and understanding all the mechanical aspects of it inside and out. Currently trying to model a pair of small Daft Punk helmets I can wire up with LED’s and turn into book ends… although they are almost big enough to fit on my girlfriends cats heads… Daft Kittahs!

I'm jealous of both of these things. The first because playing Halo on a projector sounds like immense fun, and the second because cats are involved.

Analyzing A Scientific Calculator (Jim Horn)

In December 1976 I was sent to Hawaii by the US Air Force to test some of their satellite support systems on Oahu. But a satellite emergency tied up the systems so for 1 1/2 of the two weeks we couldn't do the tests so had to find other things to do. So what did this 23 year old bachelor do? Analyzed the operation of his then-new HP-67 calculator to derive its division algorithm and how to use it to do programmable timing, pauses and display formatting without stopping a running program. Hey, as a geek, hacking hardware and software outclassed shapely wahinis…

I may have chosen differently. Hacking hardware sounds like fun, but, you know.

Naming Your Child Tiberius (Flubber)

I guess putting Tiberius as our beloved James T. Kirk as second name for my kids was the geekiest thing my wife and i did.

Either this guy's wife is an even bigger geek than him, or she's just incredibly accommodating.

Lighting Up Light Sabers (Sharky)

Back in 1978, I used to fashion LEDs to the tips of my Star Wars action figure blasters (the LED leads held the lamp perfectly in place on the tip with no gluing necessary). I ran stator wire retrieved from a broken Hot Wheels Sizzler motor (the source of many cool projects back in the day) up the arm and around to a button cell on their backs with a switch that was merely a piece of tape holding the positive wire. The tip illuminating when ‘fired’ made the action so much cooler. Many geeky things since then, but in retrospect- for being 10 yrs old in the 1970’s- that was pretty geeky.

To do such a geeky thing at the tender age of 10 suggests this reader's fate was sealed at a young age. And we may have George Lucas to blame.

Meeting Geekier Geeks Than You (Austin Hammock)

Either building my $3,000 computer, or having a conversation with Derek from Veritasium, Henry from MinutePhysics, and Destin from SmarterEveryDay, all in person on the same day that I saw the face of CGP Grey. (Random Acts of Intelligence show in Huntsville)

All of these things are extremely geeky. As is the fact I instantly recognized all four of the YouTube channels mentioned.

Continue The Conversation

We found it fascinating hearing about the geekiest things our readers have done. Some of these activities clearly marked a turning point in the lives of those who did them. After all, once you have stripped a broken computer and rebuilt it so that it works, you know you're no Luddite when it comes to technology. Others came about because of an existing, inherent geekiness.

We hope this list inspires you… to continue the conversation by commenting below, to tackle other geeky challenges, and to generally keep an open mind when it comes to traditionally geeky activities. We all know the geeks shall inherit the Earth, so come join us and help forge the freaky future we're frenetically engineering.

A Debt Of Gratitude

In order to compile this list of geeky things our readers have done, we received a lot of great comments from the MakeUseOf readership. Obviously. As ever, our readers proved to be an invaluable part of the site you’re reading right now.

These readers took the time to answer the question, What Is The Geekiest Thing You Have Ever Done?, and their responses helped us compile this article. Noteworthy comments include those from tetrisdroid, Doctor Scientist, likefunbutnot, and our own Saikat Basu.

Want to explore further? Check out these celebrities who are actually quite geeky!

Image Credits: Blake Patterson, KateMonkey, Neil Milne, Maria Elvin. All via Flickr.