Daily Entertainment.

[muji]

Happy Monday all! Have a submission:

Hi, Steph!

I was talking with jothra today about stuff we've learned as a result of roleplay, and now I'm curious: what have people learned because of Milliways that they wouldn't have known otherwise? History, math, science, other - what do people know now because of their pups?

-- Cathryn (catslash)

Comments

[venusadept_2]

Hmm. Mostly I haven't picked up anything nonfictional from Milliways, although I've looked at a bit of folklore relative to Felix.

What I know for sure is that Milliways was the direct impetus behind my investigation of at least four fandoms - Discworld, Good Omens, Girl Genius, and Ghostbusters.

[muji]

I do that a fair amount too; I can pretty much guarantee I never would've picked up Good Omens if it hadn't been for GO/FF/DT crossover early days.

[pastrydeity]

Way more about squirrels than I would ever have expected (especially since, being from a parody canon, I've probably gotten more into pointless fiddly details than was involved in his original creation). Sqrls are awesome, though.

I was always into history and mythology, but wow, talk about a crash course in Norse mythology and Roman late-republic, early-empire history. Bit of naming customs and patterns over certain times and places, the fact that sometimes your canon can contradict both itself and reality in new and exciting ways--but yeah, mostly the sqrls.

*flees to work*

[coreenfennel.livejournal.com]

"Did you know that sqrls get start getting teeth at three weeks?" I think that's the last one we've talked about. And...I think I'm becoming a tiny bit paranoid that there's a few stalking me.

Doing more research on Rome due to Cleopatra and her uber-hot Antony...

Guys, this lady right here? Opens doors and enlightens minds. :D :D

This is just off the top of my head.

[saphyria.livejournal.com]

The development stages of cats.
The location of the National Library in Athens, Greece.
How to string/tune a violin.
I wouldn't know half the classical music I know without RP.
Um...
I went to Florence for spring break one year specifically to see where I had sent my pup visiting.

Probably more, but it's early and I'm heading off for work.

[naelwyn.livejournal.com]

I've learned a lot about the Civil War and possibly more than I wanted to know about pregnancies.

[prix-etoile.livejournal.com]

hahaha my bad. :(

[sdelmonte]

Ummmmm...a good number of technical things from all of Cam's pups - Ray is a font of useful and useless info, but all her others have some edutainment value. But not a lot else. Or at least anything that's really stuck with me.

[prix-etoile.livejournal.com]

I already knew a lot about babies, the Civil War and the workings of the military, but thanks to Milliways and other RPs, I know even more. I learned so much about pregnancy thanks to Samantha and Kira...it's ridiculous.

[prix-etoile.livejournal.com]

Oh and fashion. Thanks, Alice. I didn't know what a Manolo Blahnik was before her..

[prix-etoile.livejournal.com]

OH AND MORE. HOW TO CLEAN A GUN. HOW TO FLY AN X-WING. HOW TO PLAY SABACC. How to write sparring. The inner workings of a five year old. etc etc.


STEPH, ALLANA IS SEVEN NOW. OMFG WHAT.

[innerbrat]

Another one for pregnancy and baby development. Quite a bit about martial arts. Early feminism. Visual impaired archery, and the medicine behind eye removal. Floristry. Colonial history in the Caribbean.

And I'm pretty much fluent in American now, and think I know how the school system works, sort of.

[misslucyjane]

Drinkmaking! I know far too much about alcohol for someone who's never touched the stuff.

[agonistes]

Enough about western China to know background as to why this is really bad news. Thanks, 24-sters!

(This thread may have taken HOURS UPON HOURS of sketchy research, but it is proving useful!)

[minkhollow]

Gun maintenance leaps to mind, but still mostly as an awareness that it needs to happen.
Also, random details about New York and San Francisco; Los Angeles will probably be on that list soon enough.
Oh, and the logical extrapolations of places it'd be really, really bad to be vaguely damp all the time.

[camwyn]

The names and locations of at least three islands scarier than the one on Lost, and the reasons they're scary in the first place.

The names, locations, and approximate dates of several of the world's largest manmade explosions, sorted by nuclear, non-nuclear, deliberate, and accidental.

The exact process by which a solar-powered graphing calculator works.

The names, locations, and lead-ups to several of the worst nuclear disasters in human history, including both power plant incidents and simple disposal errors.

Several of the more esoteric and complicated aspects of the Cthulhu Mythos, including chunks written by people not actually HP Lovecraft but which did not suck anyway.

What the Wigner effect is and why it's scary.

I wish I could say I learned the effects of severe radiation poisoning because of Ellen, but to be honest I learned those back in college; mostly from Ellen I learned things like who the record holders were for 'human exposed to the most radiation ever' and 'survivor of highest radiation exposure'.

And more. Like the history of the Prison Ships during the Revolutionary War, for starters.

[bigfluffball.livejournal.com]

Masses and masses of baby stuff and some very obscure medicine.

(RP is totally the best form of revision)

[aberration]

I did a lot of research for a 24 fic I wrote a long time ago, and a lot of my playing Behrooz used that for back story.

I can't really say I do as much as I probably should to have Elle's ability to conform to anything approaching reality, but then... I usually just point to canon and say "If they don't have to, I don't have to." I might as well get something out of that canon, anyway. I have... vaguely made attempts to read stuff on wikipedia that helps at least communicate very basic things, but there's no avoiding the skience aspect of it, anyway, so. At least, thank God, she never talks about evolution.

And... the only thing I can remember looking up (at least, when it comes to non-fiction) for Caprica was how a computer boot up works. Er. Though I'm probably going to have to read up more to highlight her religious subtext stuff in the future. And I've purposefully avoided having Carla talk too much about the technicalities of her work because I know if I try to talk about medicine I will faaaail. A lot. Though I did look up some Chicago demographics for her. Whee.


>.>
*slips back to school*

[genarti]

What little I know about trapeze and tightrope. The care and training of lions. Lots of details about swords and the making and use thereof. Bits of physics and math, some of which I used to know but had scrubbed from my brain and had to relearn. How to clean a gun, as others have said, plus a lot more details than I used to know about how guns work. Assorted ballet trivia. A really vague overview of Sikhism.

...Um lots of other stuff I am blanking on. *sheepish* I tend to research more by googling than by getting out seven non-fiction books as I app a character, so it's in haphazard bits and pieces more than giant chunks of learning. But there is lots of stuff. Oh, RP!

[bcgphoenix]

Watchmaking. I have a whole passel of bookmarks hiding away in Sylar's journal, and a few weekends ago I almost bought a dictionary of watch parts at a used bookstore before realizing, "Didn't I say I was going to stop buying books for a while, dammit?" Thanks to m_m, I'm also slowly beginning to delve into amputations, including post-surgery symptoms, different kinds of prostheses (and the basics of wearing one), and physical therapy options. I have a ridiculously long way to go yet, but. Yes.

(Sadly, though, despite playing Mac for as long as I have, I still know next to nothing about computer programming. Woe.)

[ceitfianna]

Archery, I have learned so much about archery though honestly most of it came about by me asking Cam lots and lots of questions.

Also I've delved more into the Greek myths and plants, so much more about plants which makes me happy.

I know I've learned more but those are the first things that pop up for me since a lot of it is more scattered and wait did Will or Jane know about that?

Oh and a rather strange thing to me is that I've learned I'm good at thinking and explaining the Classical world to other people which I never expected to be able to do.

[cupenny.livejournal.com]

Norse mythology and Viking culture! Age of Sail and the Napoleonic War. Sailing and ship building (maybe not in depth but I've picked up quite a few books!). Regency England. More English history in general.

... I remember looking up when waffles were invented, to see if Archie knew about them to explain them to Svava. *snicker*

[curedrainydays.livejournal.com]

...A lot of stuff that would probably give my parents seizures if they happened to glance at my web history.

YEP.

(Ignore this journal, y'all know who I am.)

[nocarename]

More than I've ever bothered to keep track of before on the topics of recent history. Thank you Wikipedia!

And Japanese school girl behavior patterns. *twitch*

The spaceshifter from a different dimension is way easier to play, honestly.

[venusadept_2]

Y'know, I can very easily believe that last line. When you do stuff from completely outside our experience no one can say "That's not how it works!" unless you're actually contradicting canon. So much more room for handwaving and so on.

[vivien]

I've learned a lot about magic in different cultures (and different canons), as well as much having to do with snake lore. I know more about subways, and have sought them out on visits to cities that have them. I know a lot more about the London Underground than I ever thought I would.

I've also become more familiar with the geography of New York City! And, oh man, how could I forget all the fabulous psychology - especially in regards to long term effects of child maltreatment. FUN STUFF!

I have not, however, done well with specifics on either fighting or grifting. I should do better with both. Vagueness and Latin, baby, vagueness and Latin. It's what's gotten me through five years.

(But researching magic and places is way more fun.)

[muji]

COMPLETELY UNRELATED TO ANYTHING: Thank you for the CDs!

[aeons_crackshot]

The two things I can think of off the top of my head are how to throw a knife and the Victorian Language of Flowers.

The Victorian Language of Flowers amuses me, because you can send what is essentially a flame with flowers. (I also find it funny that grass, in what I presume is a play on words, stands for homosexual love.)

[whisper2ascream.livejournal.com]

Psychology, archery, physics, engineering. Some politics, but also that was from school and chat. Also medieval culture and history. (tried to answer this earlier but LJ et my post :( ) Persian and Egyptian history and culture for a trip Draco did with Salazar some time back.

The weirdest thing? Was the source of the items for the original basket Venkman sent to Malcolm and Demeter. Hands down. 0.o

[remindmeofthe.livejournal.com]

I suppose I should actually answer this myself even if I am superlate (nnnngh work), so.

Mostly, I have learned about Soviet Russia. Cal decided that he needed to know more about it because of his friendship with Esfir, so that meant I needed to know. And now I've developed an interest above and beyond RP needs.

And in future, as I move Javert through canon, I will learn more than I ever wanted to know about 1820s Paris.

[mercuriazs.livejournal.com]

The more I think about this question, the more I realize that I typically opt to invent rather than learn.





Uh.


:D?