Ask Lemmy

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My friends would all tell you how tired they are of hearing me go on and on about urban planning and infrastructure.

The ways in which our communities are built have such a large and profound impact on our lives, yet most people give little thought to it. IMO a great deal of the social woes we're dealing with (at least in North America) are caused or made worse by our lack of sensible city-planning, from carbon emissions to social isolation.

There exists so many cool and interesting ways to build solid, sustainable communities! It's really exciting! Sadly I have to live that excitement by researching other countries. The only form of city-planning that seems to exist here in Canada is "highway going through a parking lot interspaced with strip malls and encircled by single-family housing suburbs".

Boardgames! I used to be more into trading card games like Magic, but got tired of the cost and constant churn, and then spent the last couple years delving deeper into boardgames, including hosting a weekly game night that regularly has 8-10 people :)

Mead. It's such a simple recipe: Honey, water, yeast. Thats all you need to make a basic mead. Its so easy. Once you start researching more though, good lord. Ph balances, Sparkeloid v. Bentonite, fruit addition before, during, or after fermentation, Primary fermentation, secondary, racking. Don't even get me started on the chemical additives for stabilization, and sanitation. My kitchen becomes sterile operating room every time I do a brew. I've also got this dope refractometer that makes me feel like a goddamn scientist every time I use it.

I am a computational chemist and biochemist. Ive been an insurance agent and worked in IT at the DOD, I am a masters Starcraft 2 player, Minecraft mod pack creator and Mod dev. Aside from English, there are 4 other languages that I understand well enough to be conversational. I have had some of my art featured in a museum. I am a mathemagician. I have tutored thousands of students in Math, chemistry, biology and physics. I built a spreadsheet that tracked 30+ parameters of 600+ foods that I used to help my mother with her kidney disease and me with diabetes. Her kidney disease has been stable for 5+ years and I dropped over 80 pounds in a year.

Take your pick.

I've fallen out of most of my hyperfixations (yay depression) but I used to be really into:

-Words, I loved the idea you could express entire and specific meanings with a single word

-Gemstones and their mythology. More around what people used to believe and cultures rather than current day "crystal" stuff. Also, they are mad pretty

-Chemistry, I used to do backyard chemistry and loved the feeling of alchemical-like hands on stuff. chemistry feels like magic!

-Plants/Toxins/Toxic animals, what more do I gotta say? Nature is metal AF and don't give AF. It's wild the solutions it generates and how humans use them or adapt them.

I am a bit nerdy about programming language and a lot less nerdy about hardware.

As someone with ADHD, there is no end to the number of things that fascinate me in life, and as such, I tend to obssess and nerd out on a lot of things. Probably my biggest nerd things are this:

Sonic the Hedgehog: I was gifted a SEGA Game Gear with Sonic 2 for my 9th birthday (30 years ago) and I loved everything about the world and characters. I've been a loyal fan ever since. I own every American comic book that's been released, I've seen all the various shows and movies, and I've played most of the games (minus the rare arcade games and games on consoles I never owned, e.g. the Nintendo DS). I even built a website to keep a logical reading order of all the main comic series that have been released. It's a few months out of date right now; my personal life got super busy these past few months, but I'm finally free to update it again. It's considered a valuable resource in the Sonic fandom, as the comics can get really confusing without a reading order to guide you. Especially the old "Archie Comics" Sonic series. They had so many miniseries and spinoff comics that it gets confusing really fast.

James Bond: I dunno why, but I really got into spies back in jr high school. Back then, I loved the movie Harriet the Spy and enjoyed the film GoldenEye. The video game GoldenEye 007 came out for the Nintendo 64 and my friends and I were obsessed with it. Then my dad bought me two VHS collections (yes, I'm old) of all the James Bond films and I spent my summer vacation nerding out over all the old films, from the '60s and onward. I learned James Bond was the origin of so many action/spy tropes I had seen parodied in cartoons and movies. The bald villain with a scar and a Persian kitty in his lap. The gadgets, the cars, the well-dressed gentleman spy, plots to rule the world, etc. All pay homage to James Bond films. I really got into it.

I especially loved learning about Ian Fleming, the original author of the James Bond books, and how he was a British Naval Commander during WWII and worked Intelligence for the allies. His work was more boring desk work than save-the-world action, and his original novel version of Bond definitely had more desk work than his movie counterpart. I actually did a whole James Bond movie marathon, including all the official and non-official films, and reviewed them in depth on my movie review blog. I even compared them a little to the books they're based on, where it was applicable. Most of the movies are completely independent of the books. Some only share a book title and nothing else, e.g. Moonraker. The books and movies are very different from each other.

Movies/TV shows: As you may have guessed from my last link, I also nerd out about movies and TV shows. I've watched thousands of films in my life and hundreds of TV shows. I still consider it a fun hobby; I haven't gotten to the point of learning about filmmaking techniques, obsessing over actors or directors, watching awards shows, etc. But I really enjoy getting lost in a good story for an hour or two, and I started a review blog to analyze and break down just what is so good (or bad) about the storytelling in movies and TV shows.

My last movie marathon (a Studio Ghibli marathon) was interrupted by an Internet outage and I haven't had time to pick it back up in a long while. But I finally find myself with loads of free time again, so I might finally complete that marathon in the coming months.

There are so many other things I'd consider myself a nerd of, but these are a sample of the larger nerdom topics I enjoy.

Honestly, I'm kinda afraid to think about it. There's a nonzero chance I have no in-depth nerdery. Aside from introspection, I'm not sure there's anything I really can consider myself knowledgable about. At least more than anyone who takes a cursory interest in anything.

Elasmobranch reproduction and embryology. It's just a topic that has always been interesting. Sharks, rays, and skates are all rather closely related. But we have skates- which lay eggs (oviparity); rays- which give live birth, via internal egg incubation (ovoviviparity); and sharks- which, depending on the species, lay eggs, incubate the eggs, or experience a more "mammalian" pregnancy known as vivparity. And then, there is the intrauterine cannibalism that is known in the species Carcharias taurus, where the fetal sharks are still developing, the yolk sacs have been depleted, so the fetal sharks eat the others within the uterus, resulting in the birth of two offspring (sharks have two uteri, so one from each).

And then there is the parthenogenesis phenomenon, that we only know about because of captivity. Certain sharks- notably bamboo sharks- if absent of a mate, can trigger a response that causes ova to mature and develop into a clone of the mother. This is also known to happen in lizards.

And a large number of female elasmobranchs can also store the sperm of males after copulation to fertilize their eggs for years.

It's just a fascinating topic all around.

Preaching the use of GNU/Linux & GPG. Only had one or two takers. Both I built and maintained for. I'm married to one and the other lives an hour drive away and I don't drive.

No one listens. No one ever listens bar my wife. I'm offering free computers in exchange for practicing the art of preaching. No one has even accepted it bar my wife. facepalm We're all gonna die very very soon now.

I'm a nerd about translation, translation choices, and differences in cultures. I find it fascinating that the tiniest details in your language choice are capable of changing the meaning entirely. I also happen to be a Russian, so maybe this example for the Russian-English language pair would be interesting to you:

Given: комната = room мальчик = boy одна из = a (one of) эта/этот = the (that) в = in вошел = walked

В одну из комнат вошел мальчик. A boy walked in a room.

Этот мальчик вошел в эту комнату. The boy walked in the room.

В эту комнату вошел мальчик. A boy walked in the room.

Этот мальчик вошел в одну из комнат. The boy walked in a room.

English uses a/the to define what's known/unknown, and Russian doesn't have a similar tool but it can change word order and add some extra words for more precision. Russian also uses a lot of cases to define who does what and when, and English just doesn't need that, the word order does it all.

Looking at all that makes me feel like I'm watching something beautiful. Like I find solace in the fact that there is more than one way to see things.

I maybe partial to some Lord of the Rings.

Rabbits. Had them as pets throughout my childhood and I was fascinated with their behavior. Sadly, some of my knowledge came from irresponsibleness as pet stores used to sell them willy nilly without good care instructions. This was also during the dial-up modem era so there wasn't much on the internet then either.

Here's some things to know:

1. You have to handle them a lot when they are young or they will not make great pets.
2. You can litter train them. They can't use cat litter though as clay dust is bad for their lungs.
3. If you don't get them fixed, especially the females, they can be predisposed to a lot of reproductive system cancers and be extremely aggressive.
4. They are highly social animals. It's especially cruel to keep one alone for its entire life.
5. They are somewhat opportunistic carnivores.

I'm a bit of a grammar/language nerd-- I think it's interesting to see the different structures of languages and the various ways concepts get communicated. Also by looking at what's on the level of single words you can get an idea about what's important culturally.

For example in Japanese, there's not really a word for brother or sister, you always have to say olderbrother or youngerbrother. That's because the hierarchy of ages was important enough culturally to get codified into the language.

Paramotoring and Home Assistant consume much of my free time

I’m a software engineer who, for whatever reason, has trouble getting into sci fi and fantasy. I geek out about physics and history and my colleagues have frequently tried to get me into sci fi and fantasy things but unless it’s like Asimov or Vonnegut level, I get bored.

With history, I love non-military history. I will read anything about how normal people (or oppressed people) lived during times of peace but I find military history a little boring unless it’s really a turning point.

With physics, I’m very into cosmology and particle physics (to the point where I have fridge magnets of the standard model particles and a pillow with the CMB on it) but the practical side isn’t my thing. I would be a terrible civil engineer.

I used to be a huge nerd about the Elder Scrolls universe but I admit it's been a hot minute since I've played Skyrim so my overall interest has waned a bit.

DJing, crypto, sports cars with manual transmissions, and building PCs. It's a damn shame that I still have to occasionally visit reddit, cause Lemmy doesn't have any active communities for any of my hobbies. Hell, this place is actively hostile towards two of them. I understand why, but damn.

Birds, photography and running

I like me some Tolkien. Not just the LOTR stuff, though that’s the bulk of it, but I’ve read some of his other books as well as the unfinished works as well. I really enjoy his worldbuilding and the old school storytelling where the hero doesn’t always do so well, mythical creatures aren’t so kind and cute, and dangerous thing lurk, waiting for you off the beaten path.

I love IoT and home automation stuff. A lot of folks think it’s still to have everything connected, but I like the fact that I can walk around the house like I’m on the Enterprise. If I could replicate food my life would be complete.

I always think I'm a nerd about video games until I come across someone who's played more than me. But I'll go on and on about certain games and franchises if someone lets me.

Baseball - its' history, I can go off on teams and players from a century ago.

Music - rock of nearly all genres, electronic, soul, jazz, blues, some classical and contemporary.

Cinema - I used to screen films for a local cultural center, everything from gritty psychedelic British crime thrillers like Performance to French new wave gems like Pickpocket, from classic Hindu cinema like Pather Panchali to twisted Japanese horror like Suicide Club, and anything in between.

Cosmology and Physics - a lifelong passion, I have some astronomer friends (there's an institute in my city) and can hold my own in conversation with them. Lately I've been getting a handle on things like Lorentz Transformations and Bell's Inequality Experiment (aka Quantum Entanglement).

Painting - the history of the medium, and although I prefer Modern Art, starting in the mid-19th century onwards, I can now navigate and appreciate the styles that have appeared through the centuries, say the differences between Renaissance, Baroque and Rococo.

EDIT: How did I forget Science Fiction?
I've read all of Isaac Asimov's stories on Foundation and the Galactic Empire, including some of the more obscure ones like "The Stars, Like Dust", "The Currents Of Space" and "Pebble In The Sky". Also, many of his standalone stories, such as "Nightfall" and "The Gods Themselves".
Hands down, Asimov is my favorite Sci Fi author, and I love the original "Foundation" trilogy like no other.

The first four books of Frank Herbert's "Dune" saga.
A whole bunch of Harlan Ellison's short stories.
Several of Philip K Dick's novels.
Throw some JG Ballard and William Gibson in there, for good measure.

I don't know if it counts: but, despite not knowing how to read chords, read musical sheets or play any instrument, I'm a music addicted. Like... I know a lot of musical styles, enjoy obscure genres and oddities and watch videos of people peculiar instruments while etc... My newest obsession is lostwave. I kinda find intriguing about how many unknown songs still unidentified for more than a decade. And, when a lostwave that I enjoy to listen is finally identified, it's enough to make me happy for days! It's crazy, I know.

Among other things I have gone a little overboard on: DIY electronics, robotics; jeep SJs (former), fountain pens and ink, watches, typewriters, vintage audio and media, rc cars and planes, four wheeling, firearms, espresso, photography, gardening. I have other hobbies I'm less nerdy about.

Firearms history and engineering. Interestingly the American companies Remington and New England Westing House made Russian contract Mosin Nagants rifles for military service with the tsarist Russian army.

Which is facially kind of odd when Russia and America have been at each other's throats for most of living memory.