ways_back_room | Research: The Great Equalizer

Probably not the best pup to post this with, but I'm at work, and he's the one logged in.

ANYWAY!

Hi, I'm Sterling (JediGorse on AIM or HexenmeisterNarrin [at] gmail [dot] com

I'm not so good with the actual knowledge, but I'm good at making stuff up.

Actual knowledge includes:
Plants (what herbs to use for seasoning and which to use for healing etc.)
Grammar (No, really, my mum was regularly listed as 'grammar goddess' on like, three newsletters she proofread, so that makes me a demi-goddess of some kind)
Native American/Greek/Norse lore

Stuff I'm good at making up includes
Band names
Song titles
Mutant powers
Foods and/or recipes
Geography

I'm also good at choreographing fight scenes, if anyone happens to need that sort of thing for an OOM.

Yeah, so as I've been thinking I realized: "Hey, I know more than that!"

I've also got a fairly good cache of magic tricks and how they work (was biiiiig into magic when I was younger)
Been living in Sacramento for 25 years, so know Sacto pretty well, and some strange little Northern California towns (Long Barn anyone?)
I also know ... well, not everything there is to know about Disneyland (and for that case most things Disney-related), but a good deal, and what I don't know I can ask my dad, because he'll know if I don't.

How handy! So lessee, what does Aura da Gamer (of the same AIM handle) have in her brain?

-Cooking, mostly cakes & chocolates, but I know what it takes to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner. I also know some helpful properties of food.
-Vocabulary, according to my sister.
-How to play music, specifically the flute & what it's like to figure out songs by ear.
-How to keep children entertained.

I also seem to be doing all right at bullshitting how things in Lunar work, which can transfer over to other video games.

I'm Pyth, my aim is pythianhabenero, and I can help you out with:

-English grammar and vocabulary
-Basic cognitive science (why you would need to know this, I do not know, but I'll put it on the list, though I'm not really an expert or anything)
-The trials and tribulations of experimental cooking (see above); in the same vein, I can talk extensively about making crepes and eating waffles, though not the other way round.
-Very, very basic Latin

I can also occasionally call upon the powers of a friend of mine to find you obscure things on the Internet if you ever need to go where no Google has ever gone before.

Stuff I can think of off the top of my head:

- The proper handling/storage of paper, magnetic, and digital media
- Basic book repair and cleaning
- Digital copyright law
- General knowledge on job hierarchy in libraries, how to -- you know what, if it's got something to do with libraries in general and paper or digital preservation in particular, I can probably help you out, because if I go on much longer this is going to sound even more like a resumé. *laughs*
- General knowledge of Pittsburgh, PA, especially the Oakland/Squirrel Hill regions and public transportation therein (though I'm not on the same knowledge level as a native)
- The administrative and accounting side of a psychiatric hospital and some extremely basic knowledge of the medical side (i.e. how patients might be arranged on wards, general programs and levels of treatment, privileges, etc.)

And...I think that's it for the big things. Oh! And I'm ironic segue on AIM and e-mailable at phoenix[at]crackbar.com.

Oh, also! The care and feeding of pet rats. I owned a pair of them for about three years. :)

I'm Leesha, and I go by leeshajoi on AIM. There aren't a lot of things I would consider myself an expert in, but I can help you out with the following:

- Anything related to the Mac OS and/or Apple Computer.
- The Lewis and Clark expedition. (I'm not sure how relevant that is in Milliways, but still.)
- Geography, flora, and fauna of the northwestern United States.
- The ins and outs of modern river rafting, kayaking, etc.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment.

Let's see... some stuff I know a reasonable amount about...

- fashion and decorative arts and their history.
-pretty much anything about costuming
- also the construction methods and materials used through time.
- sewing, I'm talking serious seamstressing and tailoring techniques.
- fiber arts and dyeing, painting and otherwise altering fabric
- herb lore to a certain extent
- likewise astrology to a certain extent, I'm sure there are others who know more
- a lot of really random facts about music, literature, films and pop culture, like we don't all have that
- how theatres run and work.

Um.... yeah. don't know a lot, but there it is.

I'm Rachel and can be found using FrnkTransporter on AIM and frankmartin(at)moretomorrow.co.uk

I know:
- tourist German and up to AS-level Latin
- current Catholicky stuff
- programming tolerably in Java, enough in Prolog and very very badly in Haskell (and the habits of programmers stuck in a computer lab mostly underground with no windows)
- assorted computer stuffs including VR, Databases, Human Computer Interaction and... stuff that isn't hardware.
- the Solicitors Accounts Rules! and stuff about accounts in the context of law firms
- Britpop

I'm not sure how useful any of that would be to most of the characters I'm aware of though. :D

Oh, this is neat. Also, useful.

I'm Lorna, online (when I am) at LornaDooneII on AIM, and I can help you with:

- sailing (less with tall ships and more with small day boats, but really a lot of the same stuff applies)
- along the same lines: sea chanties
- Chinese (no, really)
- Victorian novels and poetry
- fairy tales, folklore and folksongs (I did my thesis on fairy tales and folklore in Vicotorian literature)
- geology
- General New England knowledge

Hi! I'm Becca, bookelfe on AIM, and I'm an English major, which means . . . most of my specialized skill-set y'all need no help with. However, things I do know that might be slightly more esoteric:

- seamstressing, tailoring, and costuming techniques, although probably in not quite as much detail as Jess with her Mad Skillz
- viola use/maintenance/repair (which also extends in theory to violins)
- enough French and Hebrew to construct intelligible sentences on a moderate range of subjects
- the basics of film theory
- general knowledge about geography and public transit in the Philadelphia area and the area between San Jose and San Francisco
- Jewish culture and history, although again, there are at least three Milliwaysers off the top of my head I can think of who know more than I
- care and feeding of guinea pigs, hermit crabs, and chinchillas

Hmm... This is a great thread thing.

What can I offer?

Philosophy. Western philosophy specifically. Special focus on: The Greeks, The Enlightenment (think Descartes, Leibnitz, Spinoza, Locke, Hume), the modern (Kant, Hegel, Kirkegard), and contemporary (with focus on language, aesthetics, education, science, and the philosophy of philosophy itself).
Sociology. Modern theory and practice (both academically and in application). Fun subjects like Deviance and Stratification and Discrimination!
Community formation and maintenance with a special focus on internet communities.
Law enforcement, local police in the 100k-250k population range. Emergency services and dispatching. Disaster first response for major events (like hurricanes and earthquakes).
Indonesia. It's an archipelago in southeast Asia. I know everything about it you want to know.

I think that's it?

Hey there! Mercuria here, known to most as Merc and to some as "What the hell are you doing here?" My infotastic range of knowledge and special skills includes:

- film-making and film editing
- basics of ballet, jazz, hip-hop, salsa, tango, cha-cha, waltz, and a liiiittle bit of two-step
- general geography/atmosphere/strange quirks of the Boston area and also a lot of Texas (specifically Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, the Rio Grande Valley, little places like Eden, Utopia, Fredericksburg, etc.) (as a note, my quirky knowledge of TX is faaaar greater than knowledge of MA)
- basics of field hockey, soccer, softball, does anyone even need to be told how to play those? whatever
- running a political campaign, esp. on local/state level
- se habla espanol aqui
- ... um, that was "Spanish spoken here."

Yyyyyep. 'Sall she wrote.

Right. I'm Jill, and while I haven't been as active here as in the past, I do still hang around, and I know stuff. Stuff includes:

*a hell of a lot about the RMS Titanic (those old obsessions really stick in your head)
*enough Spanish to patch together approximate translations/still read it fairly easily
*rather less Japanese, but still some basics
*cultural quirks of an all-female college
*cultural quirks of southwest Ohio (not that I know of anything set there, but just in case. XD)
*marching band
*classic rock, the more obscure the better
*radio station DJing
*tabletop RP (though I have a feeling those with characters likely to do such already have an idea...)
*working in a factory

I'm Sweeney, and I'm contactable through my LJ or through a comment dropped on the LJs of my characters. (Kaylee, Destruction, Dale Cooper, Bill Adama, Al Swearengen, and Angela Petrelli are the most active ones.)

I can help with:

-- the South in general; Georgia and Kentucky less generally; Atlanta and Louisville in particular. And rural south Georgia, too.
-- Unitarian Universalism
-- literary theory (the modern stuff, anyhow -- Matthew Arnold forward)
-- writing center theory/pedagogy
-- women's colleges
-- making awesome scrambled eggs
-- the history of folk music and rock and roll
-- where/how to get cheapass plane tickets (advice: fly through Atlanta)
-- music theory
-- piano technique (and cello and trumpet technique to a lesser extent)
-- Westerns. No, seriously. Westerns.
-- Specifically: the American West as mythological landscape, and the history of how we came to view it that way.

Oooh, I think we had one of these before, but still a great idea. Especially with newer muns around.

I'm Di, sometimes Whisper. Jane of various trades, mistress of ummm, I know a lot? Almost like a walking encyclopedia at times.

I know a smattering of French, some Russian, and a bit of Japanese.
I've done some study of various cultures, especially Asian, European, Native American.
Politics (US, and international, and I try to keep current), History, Geography, Philosophy (Western and Eastern to a lesser extent), Religions, Mythology/Folklore (Greco-Roman, Indian, Norse, Celtic, Japanese), Computing (hardware/software, mostly PC, some programming knowledge), Business (Economics, Marketing)
Astrology, Tarot, Paranormal
Basics of photography and film development.
Astronomy and Physics
I also know field events like javelin, discus, and shotput, dunno how necessary that would be.
Also very familiar with Southern New Jersey and Greater Philadelphia region (Center City Philadelphia especially), some familiarity also with upstate NY (Albany area, and lower Adirondacks), and South Carolina (Mainly the 'Grand Strand' part of Myrtle Beach, N. Myrtle Beach, and Murrels Inlet)

I also like to research so happy to look things up for folks.

Oh, and forgot to add, a lot of trivia about the entertainment industry, especially movies.

Cooking, and some herbal medicine.

(no subject)

mm_madb - 2007-06-02 22:21 (UTC) - Expand

Danii
AKA ashurbadaktu@aim

I know:

Thaumaturgy - magic systems new and old, energy working theory, etc. Everything from chaos magick to norse "shamanism".
Parapsychology - ghosts, psychic studies, etc.
Cryptozoology - sightings of various perhaps-real creatures, urban legends, etc.
Divination - different forms, the history of them, etc.
Piano - learning, playing, writing for, etc.
Werewolf lore - the myths and legends concerning these from various countries and centuries
Vampire lore - it sucks blood, I've probably heard of it
Spanish
Early Modern Literature - this includes both the plays of the time, Shakespeare and his contemporaries (Beamont and Fletcher, Jonson, Dekker, etc.)
Early Modern History - aka Elizabethan
Sexual History of America - gender studies, the role and attitudes towards sex in various places at various times, what items (such as condoms or birth control) was available when, etc.
American Revolutionary War
Epic Poetry - more specifically English epic poetry, such as Paradise Lost, The Faerie Queene, etc.
Musicals
The Psychology of Eccentrics

...and probably more but I can't think of it off the top of my head.

Also!

Long Island Geography/Locations/etc. - figure that might be helpful to the Young Wizards folks.
Online Ad-network Stuff
Tea
Crochet

...will add more if I think of it.

I suck at remembering

daniidebrabant.livejournal.com - 2007-06-04 16:03 (UTC) - Expand

So.. I really know very little that is at all useful to this sort of thing, but I suppose the main stuff I can offer apart from completely useless trivia is:

- A fair bit about culture/language of Britain (Being a Brit helps this, yo).
- General film knowledge (and some uber geek knowledge on the odd one).
- All things projection related, such as the workings, sound formats, film editing etc. Bearing in mind this will be the British way of film handling. xD
- General workings of a cinema (Odeon. Yes, it sucks, bring back UCI).
- Certain reptile rearing and breeding.
- Knowledge of a fair amount of outdoor activities including archery, horse riding, quad biking, mountain biking and.. running around like a loon.

So, yeah, not much I can lay on the table that's actually useful, but you never know when there'll be a budding Brit projectionist gracing Milliways! .. *coughyahsure*

Roger here. AIM: sirfritzbamwalla

I'm pretty much your computer science/math geek. I have programming knowledge of about 20 different languages, from Assembly all the way up to things like C# and Java. Maths up to Differential Equations.

Other than that, I can almost certainly help out in areas of tarot card reading, vampire lore, and enough knowledge of physics and cosmology to provide endless streams of technobabble sufficient to most applications and uses.

Ah, but do you know LOLcode (http://www.lolcode.com/)?

Hi! I'm Heather, my AIM is quaereverumxi and I can help you with:

* Psychology, including Freud & mental illness
* The art of violin playing
* Celtic mythology (limited, still researching)
* The music of Nova Scotia & Cape Breton Island
* Almost anything related to New Jersey, including myth & legend
* Rabbit care
* Dog care
* American news networks
* Almost anything related to the paranormal
* Musical theatre/production (limited to beginners' stuff)
* I know The Great Gatsby like the back of my hand - this may be helpful if someone has to do a report?

And other things! Like Di, I love researching, so if I'm ever needed, I'm usually around. :D

Hi! I'm Karen and you can reach me at XVCountess on AIM, and I can probably help with:

*Knitting. Though you might not want to get me started.
*Spinning to some extent.
*Daily life in US/Canada/Britain from about 1750-early 20th century, especially the Victorian and Edwardian eras.
*Clothing during the same period.
*Canada, particularly Toronto/Southern Ontario
*Pretty much anything to do with working in libraries/museums, especially day-to-day things.
*Meteorology, to some extent.
*Forensics, to some extent.
*The R.M.S. Titanic.

And I know a whole lot of strange, near-useless trivia that tends to pop up at odd times, though that's not terribly helpful. I am good at finding information (librarians represent, yo), so if your Google-fu is flagging, give me a ping and I'll give it a whirl!

Also I won't list this as an area of any expertise, but if you ever want to find fun ways to injure a character and not kill them, check out Body Trauma: A Writer's Guide to Wounds and Injuries by David W. Page. It's really interesting. (Mine is well-thumbed, could you tell?)

Hello, Kate here, FionaLl8 on aim and I know

Greek, Latin, French and lots about the classical world
Strong knowledge of English Literature espcially if its before 1900
New Zealand, not sure if it'll ever come up, but hey I'm living here who knows it might be useful
Storytelling, and the history of oral tradition, mainly classical
Also about Southeastern Pennsylvania and other random trivia, mainly from books since I kind of read a bit of everything. There's probably more stuff I'm blanking on, but that's what I've got for now.

Vivien here, at Vivien529 on AIM.

My areas of knowledge focus around education, for both children and adults (early childhood teacher for eleven years, instructional designer for two), including theory, e-learning, esl, general child development, and other topics.

I'm also a genealogist.

This is an AWESOME idea.

Batya here, batyathetoon on AIM. Specialized knowledge includes:

* Jewish religious law, culture, and (to a degree) history
* New York City geography and ... um ... stuff
* Structured poetry (want to know how to write a villanelle?)
* The art of song and/or poem parody

Other things will probably occur to me. I'll be back.

Hott.

I'm Kyle, which is wires going in on AIM.

I'm rather good at...

*Er, anything Star Wars related...I'm a sponge for SW.
*Southern culture, especially in South Carolina
*FOOD. Especially British, Tex Mex, and Health Nut food.
*Literature...I have a huge file on all the books I read my Senior Year and I retain knowledge insanely on that.
*FrenchEducation, as I'm in training to be a teacher :)
*World War II, Vietnam War, Cold War, Gulf War...I have family members from a lot of war backgrounds.
*Really random information...I'm crazy.
*American politics
*the Indie "scene"...my mom usually tells me that I'd fit in great in either NYC or Japan...which means I don't fit in in SC? :P
*golf or baseball...
*Jewish weddings. Had to plan one for a pup.
*BABIES. HOLY CRAP DO I KNOW ABOUT PREGNANCY AND BIRTH. My mom AND aunt work in Labour and Delivery and I've had a total of TWO pregnant pups and research fanatically. O__O

Your best bet is to IM me and go "do you know something about blah blah?" and I'll say y/n. :P

I am Midge, and you can find me at kleptomarnie on AIM and kleptomarnie @ gmail . com on ye olde e-mail. I r "expert" on:

--Maryland! Specifically the Maryland that is close to DC, and I can maybe wing a bit of DC knowledge, too.
-- Coffee! I know how to make cappuccinos rite...I think.
-- Film! I'm a huge film buff! In fact, I work at a fancy type theater that plays a slew of classic and independent films, and work with a bunch of people who know about obscure filmmakers, so if I don't know something now I'm bound to pick up on it later. I was also a film major at some point in my life.
-- Specifying on the above: film scores? If in the unlikely event your pup has to know who write the score to The Day the Earth Stood Still, I can help you with that. I'm a huge huge huge film score buff.
-- And Hitchcock. Definitely Hitchcock.
-- I am, bit by bit, becoming somewhat knowledgeable on the James Bond franchise. Yes, yes, I do play him but I work under the assumption that someone out there can give you all the useless facts about this or that set and this or that prop, etc, and that ain't me. Luckily I work with a man who can quote verbatim large portions of the Bond films! So, of course, there are things I will pick up on when I'm not randomly researching.
-- Truman Capote. I played him once, so yeah, I had to do an assload of research about him in order to play him.
-- Same thing goes for Eva Peron.

And that's about all I can think of rite now.

I'm Adiva; contact info can be found in my userinfo.

Most usefully, I can contribute:

Theatrical supersitions, quirks, and mechanics. Blocking, tech stuff (s'long as it's not fly systems), acting, why we say "Break a leg," what a ghostlight is. . .

Shakespeare. I can analyze, theorize, and quote(. . . ize) with the best of them, both on the plays and the man.

Alaska. I've lived here all my life, and I can at least fake knowledge about life in most parts of the state.

I am by no means an expert on Hinduism, but I do know most of the major gods and their stories.

I'm also a black belt in Karate, specifically the shito-ryu style.

I also enjoy beta-ing fics, and sunsets, long walks on the b-- no, wait.