What's your specialt(y/ies)?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Feel free to move this to another forum, sticky it, or both.  But I think it's a pretty good reference thread to have.

If we have a question about geopolitics, we go, "Hey Cain!"

If we have a question about biology in general and entomology in particular, we go, "Hey Kai!" (btw Kai, I may ask for some intel on Cimicidae since I am now at war. Know your enemy.)

And....

Hey if we have programming questions, Trip, Faust, and I think Pent. And.....?

So tell us a bit about what you are at least familiar enough to comment on in some sort of professional (this word may be interpreted loosely) degree.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

So, me:

I am Twid.

I never finished college, but my areas of interest are linguistics and astronomy/cosmology.

I am, I suppose, a semi professional musician, specifically a guitarist, bassist and vocalist. I cannot read music but I can describe music theory (just as I can understand astronomy/cosmology to a degree in that I can't perform complex mathematics). So I can comment on music and the pitfalls of being a musician, copyright, and a few other things.

Since 2000 I have worked for the same medical research institute, so I can comment to some degree on medical research, epidemiology and oncology, and somewhat nutrition in particular, but mind that I am a layman, office support, always have been, and that my understanding has been through osmosis and prolonged graphite exposure.

:looks around room:

Irish folk customs, with focus on Connemara.

Linguistic strength is in Latin primarily (though rusty) and Modern Irish (working to improve significantly) though I have also studied French and Russian (I reckon my Russian has atrophied quite a bit) and made a half hearted attempt at Sumerian as used during the Ur III dynasty.

Mythology, focus on Greco-Roman and Insular Celtic. Other mythological interests include Catholicism (especially hagiography) and Zoroastrianism.

History: Classical, American Pre-Civil War, to some degree Middle Ages Western Europe.



Also, feel free to quote and add to someone's post if you think they missed something or needs some other sort of clarification or addendum.

[AFK]

This will answer a burning question that has been out there....


I hAve a Bachelors of scoence in Environmental Policy and a Masters in Public Policy and Political Management.  I also have a Minor in Economics though I will not profess to be any kind of expert in that area.


So I have a pretty solid background when it comes to, mostly, state and local politics as well as national.  I'm interested in the international stuff but it isn't my bread and butter like it is others.


The latter which is being specifically put to work in my profession as a coordinator of a substance abuse prevention federal grant, which is all about community building, coalition building, and affecting policies on a state and local level to prevent youth substance abuse.


Outside of that, I am a musician.  I am a member of a local hand drumming ensemble as well as extended family of an improvisational band based out of Eastern Maine.


I'm also the King of Pain, er I mean Pun.


And I'm an excellent dancer!

[P3nT4gR4m]

I'm Scottish. My specialities are alcohol, violence and bitching about the weather.

I can program databases but I don't know shit about IP networking and all the kind of crap that most laymen want to know about so don't ask and I won't tell you some really convincing bullshit that I just made up.

Oh yeah, that's another speciality - really convincing bullshit. You'll hate yourself for falling for it.

I have very few qualifications, having found that convincing bullshit opens a lot more doors than a smartest-guy-in-the-room certificate. I have a HND in computing and a driving license and, tbh, the driving license is about the only one that's ever been any use to me.

[LMNO]

I know a little about a lot.

Things I tend to talk about:

Music (listening/playing/recording)
Food (cooking/eating)
Physics (mainly high-level conceptual stuff, not maths)
Perception psychology (BIP, et al)
Discoridian theology (I didn't kill my idol, I ate him)
Fabulosity (let's have a kiki)

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The way the military (and other bureaucracies) work.

Industrial maintenance.

Interpersonal relationships and conflict resolution.

The US constitution.

Ranting.

[Placid Dingo]

Batch Arts in Education. Major Japanese, Minor English.

Education and Japanese are my main areas.

Interest in history and politics but am hardly the go to guy.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Arguing until my brain melts through the back of my head, whereupon I shake like a dog and get it on everyone.

Anything that involves typography.

I've had a few years of communication, psychology, social psychology, and marketing, so I have a decent grasp of it, but also am acutely aware of how little I know.

Hypnosis.

A little Zen meditation, a little Vipassana meditation, and a little mindfulness meditation.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

AT WORK: IP networking, emphasis on Microsoft technologies. Network Routing, Active Directory management. Email systems, yadda yadda yadda.

AT HOME: Composing really great music in my head, and interpreting it poorly through the medium of guitar and computer-based drum sequencers.

[BabylonHoruv]

I can read music, although I can't sight read (that is, read it fast enough to play it)
I know Tarot really well.
I know wine and beer, worked as a sommelier and can advise on food and wine pairings.
I'm a professional body piercer.
Grew up on a (semi) functioning commune.

[Triple Zero]

- Computers, software not hardware. Computer programming. Algorithms.
- Medium knowledge of networking and Internet, mostly theory.
- Theoretical Computer Science. Mathematics, mostly discrete Maths.
- Computational Science (number crunching, graph plotting, data analysis).
- Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning, mostly on the practical topics of data mining, statistics, pattern recognition, computer vision, not so much about the philosophical implications of hypothetical "hard AI".
- Web application development, HTML, CSS, Javascript, web security.
- Democoding. Generative Art. Magic Crazy Computer Shit.

So yeah, I got a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I'd *almost* have had a Master's degree in Computational Science (specialisation Machine Learning) too, I passed all the courses, but couldn't finish the final research thesis bit when I got hit by a burnout that I've been slowly recovering from over the past 5-6 years (tedious? you bet!!)

- Graphics designs, pretty things and colours, writing enthousiastic promotional bits (although I suspect most PDers are good if not better at that than me, I have noticed that I'm still a few miles ahead of the avg idiot on the street). Typography.

- I can draw stuff!

- Relentless mega brainstorming powers.

- My younger self would have never believed this, but it turns out I'm pretty good at languages. I can pun natively in at least two.

- Good at explaining complex things.

- I know a thing or two about divination and mystic symbolism. Qabalah, I-Ching, Tarot. Yoga, meditation.

- A thing or two about cooking.

- And I know a lot about the digital signal processing side of music and audio. I'm not very good with instruments or musical notes or tunes.

I probably forgot some things. Is this me? I think not. Fortunately I'm also the go-to-guy is you need someone really nice that's got his heart in the right place.

[The Dark Monk]

Don't forget JOGMA!

[LMNO]

000 is also a master whittler.

[The Dark Monk]

I wander from town to town and try to discover meaning. So far there has been no fruit of labors. Thought I will share experiences with you if you wish

I design clothing and patches and hats from time to time.

I have a large collection of multiple types of music many find obscure, which I will share. It generally has to do with swing, punk, psychobilly, horrorpunk, etc for I love old horror films and monsters.

I play a large collection of video games as well from Diablo 3 (which is a bust don't waste your money) to Sins of a Solar Empire, Age of Empires, Homeworld, Planescape Torment, Neverwinter Nights, etc. The only ones I don't play or know about really are MMO's as I hate being a mailman with drawn out battles with a passion. I kinda miss LOGD now that I think about it....

[Triple Zero]

Don't forget JOGMA!

Hahaa, thanks. Though I personally thought Magnets on a Monday night that is Lost in Time Forever was better. I also made a new mix during your absence, I'm not sure if it's as good I just wanted something new to listen to while running: None of this is really Banging On.

000 is also a master whittler.

A bit of it broke off, it still works but not optimally and I don't know how to fix it, because we don't have the right equipment here. We got wood, knives, but no porches.