Once upon a time, geeks were the butt of jokes.

They were the kids in high school with the plastic pen holders in their vest pockets carrying brief cases. Their marks were always straight A's even if the strange language they spoke was C++. The closest these guys every got to athletics was wearing white hockey tape around the rim of their eyeglasses to cushion the bridge of their noses.

Oh, how times have changed! Geeks are the new cool. Step aside jocks: You're so 20th century!

We marvel at super-rich geeks like Mark Zuckerberg. We admire former geeks who go mainstream like Bill Gates and dedicate their later years to helping the less fortunate around the world. We laugh with -- no longer laugh at -- geeks in popular culture on hit TV shows like The Big Bang Theory. Geeks really are the new cool.

To read this article in its entirety, visit the Huffington Post Canada