What are you interested in that most people aren't?

[debm55]

I'm interested in old primary books that were used in schools. For example--Dick and Jane, US Geography when there were still teritories, etc. oh a kitchen gadgets

[if..fish..had..wings]

1. Apparently

this thread

[debm55]

6. I'm also interested in what gives people the desire to post snarky answers. Interesting study.

[if..fish..had..wings]

10. My apologies

Meant to be funny, not snarky.

I am interested in the migrations and interactions of early species of humans before the arrival of sapiens.

[debm55]

17. No need for apologies.I am sorry for coming down on your post. Your interest--is it a hobby or your

field of work?
Edited to add I was sorry.

[if..fish..had..wings]

23. Yes and No

The last five years have been quite busy in the early human world. We are up to 19 or 20 species of human in total and the very old hypothesis of Asian origin has been raised again. There are many studies, many youtube videos regarding these recent discoveries and it is hard to keep up but most interesting.

This all started for me with the realization that, at the height of the Roman Empire, the entire population of the world - the whole world - was less than the population of the United States right now. (In fact, the world population didn't reach ours until the 1400's!).
Thinking about what society would be like with so few people on the planet led me to wonder what it would have been like when the first humans left Africa, that would be Homo erectus and about 1.8 million years ago.

They would have spread into virgin land (in terms of humans) from the Atlantic to the Pacific and they would have been alone in a sense that we modern humans would not know. And so, the migrations and interactions fascinate me.

[debm55]

25. Very interesting study. Thank you for sharing.

[debm55]

30. Is that how you would explain Easter Islands and Stonehenge?

[if..fish..had..wings]

57. Not really

Those came much later than the time I am looking at.

[Foolacious]

37. You might be interested in the Neanderthal Parallax science fiction trilogy by Robert J. Sawyer

Very interesting story around an alternative universe in which Neanderthals came to dominate the planet.

[if..fish..had..wings]

58. Thanks

I read his WWW trilogy and liked it. I may look in to this series.

[NoRethugFriends]

12. It clearly was not snarky. There was no reason to think that. It was humorous.

[debm55]

15. Did you ever think my response was humorous?

[NoRethugFriends]

18. There was nothing that looked humorous in your post. It looked like a callout.

[debm55]

24. It wasn't. See my post above. I have a smiley with the original

Last edited Sun May 21, 2023, 12:54 PM - Edit history (1)

[NoRethugFriends]

29. OK

[Jack the Greater]

84. Snarky?

Turn down the gain on your sensitivity amp.

[debm55]

86. It was a mutual joke, that didn't go over on either parts. Go back and read--I had a

smiley face

[GreenWave]

2. Just about everything. It is sort of who I am.

e.g.
Did Gigantopithecus encroach on areas also inhabited by floriensis? Is that what caused the H. sapiens floriensis to become much smaller due to having most of the food around them munched away?

Why are we saying "uni" (one) in universe? Didn't we learn a lesson from 125 years ago when it was thought there was only one galaxy, the Milky Way?

[wryter2000]

4. I love physical anthropology

[wryter2000]

3. Personality testing

Got my PhD in that. Fascinating

[True Dough]

5. Can you tell me

why I'm such a jerk?

[wryter2000]

21. Not why

But a test could detect your jerkiness

[True Dough]

27. Is the test available online?

Got a link?

[ProfessorGAC]

46. You Need A Test?

Come on! You & both know that the two of us don't need no jerkiness test!

[True Dough]

49. Au contraire!

I would very much like to know which of us ranks higher on the jerkiness spectrum!

[wryter2000]

61. Someone will have to construct the Jerkiness Inventory

Why don’t you guys go for it? The world needs it.

[True Dough]

64. Listen, wryter2000

we're presenting you a golden opportunity right here. You have more expertise in creating such an inventory than Professor GAC or me. It could forever be known as the "wryter2000 Jerkiness Inventory." A true claim to fame! Don't let this pass you by, you'll surely regret it.

[wryter2000]

66. I'll get to work

Writing a grant proposal. I’ll get back to you.

[True Dough]

67. YES!!!!!

Keep us apprised as to your progress! Setting new standards for jerkiness the world over!

[ProfessorGAC]

81. OK, You Got Me!

However, I'm not sure if that makes you or me the bigger jerk!

[True Dough]

82. Let's put it this way,

Steve Martin blushes while in my company. Or he would if he were ever to find himself in my company!

[wryter2000]

59. I don't know

Mostly they’re used by professionals. I was most familiar with the California Psychological Inventory.

[Jack the Greater]

85. Jerkiness is part of the Ultimate Reality of Being

You might just as well ask, "Why am I such a wonderful human being."

[Upthevibe]

50. wryter2000.....

I LOVE the whole personality testing field!

I'm a substitute teacher at an awesome high school. I know this will sound very, very elementary to you, but I have the students take the Myers-Briggs assessment online to help give them some kind guidance regarding possible career choices.

I'm an ENFJ (The same as President Obama)!

[wryter2000]

60. I've forgotten what I am :)

I took that test ages ago. It’s a great test.

[Sneederbunk]

7. Panamanian lint.

[debm55]

77. Could you explain what that is? I am making different dog breeds from my polymer clay. The

bichon and poodle need fluffy hair. I was wondering if I could use. Thank you.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. The needle arts. So much is being lost today.

[FalloutShelter]

19. Me too.

An art handed down from my great grandmother, to my grandmother to my mon, to me. My nieces have picked up crochet and needlepoint, but my granddaughters have no interest.
One cannot practice needle craft with a cellphone in hand.

[wryter2000]

22. Me too

Knitting and crocheting here

[electric_blue68]

72. You might be interested to know that at Makers Fairs with all the tech stuff around they also teach.

crochet, knitting, and even drop spindle yarn making. 👍


They do have other non tech stuff as well.

(sigh, haven't been to one since ?2017, 2018 (they haven't had one since Covid unless last summer).

Fabulous, and fascinating event!

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Deductive Logic

[Aristus]

11. The intricacies of law and government during the Roman Republic.

One of the reasons this period can be so difficult to understand is that when people hear the term “Senate of Rome”, they tend to think of something like the U.S. Senate. When the truth is the Roman Senate was basically a glorified city council.

[Pinback]

48. I learned a lot from Mary Beard's "SPQR."

I was a Latin student in my youth as well, and always found the society fascinating.

[WheelWalker]

13. The ancient knowledge. More specifically, the fruit of the tree of knowledge.

[True Dough]

28. That tree is fallow

on the Republican side of the ledger.

[WheelWalker]

39. You can lead Republicans to knowledge, but you can't make them think.

[True Dough]

40. That should have been the original adage

Leave the horses and water out of it!

[Ocelot II]

14. Music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance,

opera before the 19th century, Scandinavian languages.

[sanatanadharma]

16. Advaita Vedanta

Advaita Vedanta as a means of knowledge and the fruit of that knowledge.

[WheelWalker]

41. May your path reveal nourishing fruit.

[Funtatlaguy]

20. Justice.

[Ptah]

26. Screw thread systems

[electric_blue68]

74. Heh! Someone(s) had to experiment on which angle(s), and spacing would give....

the best results!

[Ptah]

94. There are two main types of screw threads.

Coarse and fine.

[highplainsdem]

31. I'm interested in pretty much everything. Always have been.

And that includes interest in people who have unusual interests, because they can be fascinating to talk to.

I might not stay intensely interested in anything very long, though, since there are always new and distracting subjects...

[Floyd R. Turbo]

32. Myself! 😁

[malthaussen]

34. That's interesting! n/t

[debm55]

35. -----

[malthaussen]

33. Well, just about *everything* I'm interested in, "most" people aren't...

... and the reverse also applies: there are few things most people are interested in that interest me.

But that is, after all, a non-response response. So, to offer a few examples:

Military history, particularly of the US Civil War and WW2 pre-1944.
Intellectual history, particularly the Enlightenment and Moral Philosophy.
Entertainment as sociology: how do music, games, sports, drama, etc reflect and inform society? Does Art imitate Life, or Life Art?

-- Mal

[Kali]

36. natural history

biology, ecology, evolution, animal behavior...life sciences. mostly just poking stuff with sticks

[Foolacious]

38. Constructed languages,

especially auxiliary languages and engineered languages.

[Emile]

42. Shocking up worms to go fishing.

[Conjuay]

43. quiet /solitude

Ain’t none no more.


oh, and good grammar.

[Danascot]

44. Consciousness, perception, mind and brain

Utterly fascinating. There's so much we don't know. What we're discovering is mind-blowing. The things we will discover in the future will be even more so.

[Upthevibe]

53. Danascot..............

I share your fascination regarding consciousness, perception, mind and brain.

Have you read the book, The Body Keeps The Score? It's really, really intense but it's amazing.

[Danascot]

63. Thanks, I'll check it out

[Tikki]

45. Swag lamps...

Mid-Century or earlier...not chandeliers.

We have half a dozen throughout the home.


We have one similar to this fluted velvet swag lamp only ours is in green velvet.

The Tikkis

[Skittles]

47. exercise

[UniqueUserName]

51. Reward cards

Specializing in grocery store reward cards, but any company that issued reward cards or bonus cards or whatever you want to call those voluntary membership cards.

Well, technically it wasn't my interest. My husband collected these cards. There have to be at least 250 of them. His favorites were the grocery store reward cards, but he would also get all of the drugstore reward cards, and the cards from restaurants that offered reward cards.

Also, wherever we traveled we had to go to all of the local grocery stores and local grocery store chains. I never would have thought of that. But it is interesting. The stuff that's featured in New Mexico grocery stores is different than the stuff that is featured in Alabama grocery stores which is different from rural Oregon grocery stores.

The stuff that I'm interested in is esoteric, but not particularly unusual ---- Musical instruments, programming languages.

[debm55]

68. that's interesting --never heard of that before

[Upthevibe]

52. debm55..........

I love your post! Thank you......

I'm interested in the genesis of some of my favorite songs (especially the heartbreaking ones). I'll google the writer (oftentimes it's not the singer) and find out all I can about what happened to cause these particular songs to be written.

I write on the side so I guess it's no surprise that this is one of my passions. It's really, really interesting how sometimes the songs have a life of their own and aren't at all what was really going on with the writer and their intent....

[debm55]

55. Thank you.-----

[yellowdogintexas]

54. reading series novels. I love a good long series

whether detective, historical, general fiction or other.

Obsessive about reading them in order, too

[Iggo]

56. Centuries old guitar tablature.

Turns out they wrote guitar notation in basically the same way as modern guitar tablature. It wasn’t until around the 1800’s that they started writing guitar music in standard musical notation. So yeah, I’m learning centuries old music from centuries old notes. Kinda awesome.


Here’s where I learned about it:

[Kaleva]

62. Learning to raise chickens without having to buy feed.

[debm55]

69. Do you self grown corn? My neighbor uses cabbage also.

[Kaleva]

75. A link to some of the things I'll try

https://www.newlifeonahomestead.com/free-chickens-feed-ideas/

A large compost pile in the chicken run would be primary.

[debm55]

76. Good luck. His hens are always roaming around the yard for various bugs.

[sarge43]

65. Heraldry, properly called armory

Got into it because it's rightly called the shorthand of history.

[debm55]

70. Do you do Renaissance Faires?

[sarge43]

71. No, Highland games were the cosplay for my husband and myself.

He played the pipes in a band, so dress up.

Heraldry came in handy identifying countries, time periods, etc in pictures and films which 90% of the time were done wrong. Sneering and nitpicking rights.

[debm55]

73. We use to go to the Highland Games in the Laural Highlands in PA. I always enjoyed it.

[sarge43]

80. Yeah, they are fun, especially the crafts people. Miss those days. n/t

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

78. Amateur/ham radio.

Lots of operators get bent out of shape if you call it ham radio, I couldn't care less.

[debm55]

79. My friends knew where the local fires and fires were? Can you talk to other people?

[Axelrods_Typewriter]

83. Yep, one time I talked from Pennsylvania to the Czech Republic.

And there's all kinds of digital communications you can do too. Can even send images. It's dramatically advanced in the past 30 years.

[mvd]

87. Cool thread, deb

Most people just watch baseball, and I certainly do that. But I also have an interest in the quirkiness of the individual MLB ballparks. Unlike with other sports, no two ballparks are the same. There is a site that tracks in how many stadiums a hit would be a home run. I like to look at that.

[debm55]

88. Oh yeah, I read a site with that information. Alot of parks were built to up the HR average of their

players. Same as with hockey. Depending on the style the team plays, the area around the goals are different. However, it does have a certain amount of stop, so teams can't go overboard. Yes, when I open my computer in the morning, I have all this stuff on my board, and like a moth to a light I drawn to all this "useless " information.

[mvd]

89. Great minds think alike

The Phillies play in Citizens Bank Park, which is HR friendly at least to the power alleys. Then you have older parks like Fenway which have very unique dimensions. And you have more pitcher friendly parks like Comerica Park in Detroit.

[LudwigPastorius]

90. Jazz and classical music...

They hold a 0.5% and 1% share of global Spotify streams respectively.

...and of course, politics.

[debm55]

95. My tablet has a list of all genres of music--Jazz and classical are included. Like to listen to

classical to relax. Thanks

[Solly Mack]

91. Probably not anything. I mean, I don't think myself the only or even one of the few

who enjoys or is interested in any particular thing or subject.

I'm curious about, therefore I read/study about, the social changes that arise just before, during, and after societal upheavals, such as war, epidemics, and pivotal political/social movements/events.

This includes laws that come about, norms that change, music, art, fashion, literature, new words and concepts, advances in science and technology. Land boundaries, as well. Cultural, political, etc..

Course, have to read/study about the intervening years to better grasp the changes.

Not so much history, though it most certainly is history, as it is about how societies/people/cultures change - or didn't - and the how and why of it. Cultural anthropology, more or less.

I also study lies/lying/liars. I won't elaborate on this.

I see war as a failure of humans but I'm damn good at war games.

I track/study/break down word usage.

I'm interested in everything to one degree or another.

I approach the world as an unknown and no matter how much I learn, I still won't live long enough to know much of anything.

So, really, it's all new to me and I am interested in the new, the different, the unexpected.

[debm55]

96. Great post, Solly Mack. I find your interests very intriguing to our past, present and future. Thank

you for sharing.

[zanana1]

92. Historical novels

[debm55]

97. Me too. Reading a book on Lincoln. Thanks.

[zanana1]

99. What's the name of the book?

[debm55]

100. Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin

[Sanity Claws]

93. Permaculture / regenerative farming

I don't have any land now but my dream is to have a cottage with some land which I could bring back to health and grow some basic food crops, as well as help local fauna.

[debm55]

98. Very interesting Sanity Claws. Thank you.