The thread about narrow interests got me wondering if we have people here who are way past “specialist” status in something.
Take what to me is an extreme example:
– I can usually identify a carrot in the produce section at the Kroger I shop at.
– If I wanted to grow my own carrots I would go to a place that sells carrot seeds.
– Odds are there will be at least one brand name for vegetable (and flower) seeds.
– Odds are there will be at least two varieties of carrots I’ll have to choose from.
– By selecting one of those seed packets I will be come an “extra specialist” in the realm of carrot growers.
– I suspect there are some who are even more “extra specialist” than that.
Fields of endeavor that I might have been marginally “extra specialist” in at one time or another might include:
– Bowie knife collecting
– Jaques Staunton Chess Set collecting
– “Cool School” jazz record collecting
Apparently I’m a math expert. I was at the grocery store, and I bought a 6-pack of Lipton White Tea with Raspberry for $1.25. The clerk said “You should buy a case - it’s cheaper that way.” I told her that a case for $5.00 is no cheaper than $1.25 each. She said I must be a math whiz to be able to figure that out. Plus the fact that I knew that a 12-can case of 3/$1.00 green beans comes to $4.00 without having to put it in the register. The mind boggles.
I can. Take 10% (surely you can do that) and add half of that. Piece of cake. When I buy flats of cherry tomatoes, it is always Sweet 100s. I haven’t yet found a good beef tomato, though. I buy at least four varieties of lettuce: Red sails, red oak leaf, green oak leaf. and a fourth that varies.
A friend of mine who lives in a small hamlet (about 50 families) in central Mass. told me the following story. He bought some stamps whose price totaled $1.99 in the local PO. He gave the clerk $2.00. She looked terrified. Finally, she took out a pencil and paper and wrote 2.00 and under that 1.99. She then proceeded to subtract. Let’s see, 9 from 0, have to borrow a 1 from that 0 in the tens column which means borrowing from that 2 is the hundreds column. Hmm. After a painful minute, she finally got .01, looked at it suspiciously and then checked by adding the cent to $1.99 to get $2.00. Finally, she gave him his penny change.
I am studying the molecular biology of three species of native plants that are rare and endemic to extremely specialized habitat types. To my knowledge, no one has ever cared enough to study these species in depth, on a molecular level.
I have a 9th degree black belt in snark-fu. I used to give classes on various bbs’ in how to recognize, defend, and attack rhetorical slight of hand. I retired a few years ago when I started to realize my best snark totally whooshed 90% of readers.
Human trafficking in the Philippines. I’ve done original research on the topic (in a small group, it wasn’t just me) that, as far as we could tell, no one else has ever bothered to write about.
So far, this has yet to get me a job. If you need someone who’s an expert on human trafficking in the Philippines, though, I’m your woman.
Yes, I am an extra-specialist. I propagate seed of rare/endangered species. Many of them have very specific requirements for germination and growth. (The reason I do this is to perpetuate the species) I also photograph adult plants to add to the international efforts to collect photos and other data on all living species.
Take a look at ARKive.org to see examples of photos and the international effort to document earth’s living species.
Right! Usually when I’m tipping 20%, I just divide by five, but sometimes the number is just weird enough, or more likely I’m too drunk, for me to figure it quickly, so I take 10% and double it. People often think I have some sort of crazy math skills.
My specialty is falling asleep at inappropriate times.
As a swordsman, I specialize in Florentine style (wielding two equal-length swords simultaneously). I favor a pair of wakizashi, which are similar to katana, but shorter.
I further specialize in adapting Filipino martial arts to Florentine-style fighting. In particular, most Florentine stylists primarily defend with one weapon while attacking with the other; I attack and defend more-or-less evenly with both due to my stick-fighting background.
Well I’ve got this little “ranch” I need filling so maybe we should talk…
Me, I play the Jew’s harp better than anyone else I’ve ever met, and better than anyone I’ve yet seen on YouTube. Sadly, I don’t give a shit about this ability, and nor does my potential audience want to hear it. And now I don’t even own one. So my light is under a bushel and shall always remain there.
I’m really good…like really really good and flinging rubber bands. The person I lived with in college and I spent A LOT of time flinging rubber bands around the room. We can hit a 1 inch by 1 inch object* at about 15 feet without a problem. Various illegal substances greatly contributed to this incredible skill, and I still have an 11.5 pound rubber band ball to show for it.
*We used those little four packs of Chicks Gum sitting on a picture frame hanging over the TV as targets. There were literally thousands and thousands of rubber bands scattered around the house.
