# What's your area of expertise? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 26, 2002, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007 "2002-12-26T19:07:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![honkytonkwillie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@honkytonkwillie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/honkytonkwillie)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/61 "2002-12-29T10:20:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tamerlane \* > **I suppose it is remotely conceivable I’m in the top .01% in the area of wastewater treament/water reclamation ( my job ), just because nobody in their right mind has much interest in it, including me most of the time ;).** Yeah, that’s me. I don’t actually work knee-deep in sludge like the operators do, rather, I work in the lab and tell them what a great job they’re doing. I figure I meet the 99.99% criteria since about 40 people in this town of 300,000 know more than I do about wastewater treatment. ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/62 "2002-12-29T11:49:16Z")
Equity derivative products, especially how to write up the blurbs that sell them. China, but that covers quite a lot of ground. To a much lesser extent, economics. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/63 "2002-12-29T13:42:21Z")
American cults (Ph.D. in Sociology of Religion). How to write a crossword puzzle (in the biz 10 years). Movie musicals (a lifetime of watching them). Gardening (well, not top .01% – but enough to bore a non-gardener to tears when I get together with another gadener). ---
**Author:** ![David\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@David\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_B)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/64 "2002-12-29T13:53:39Z")
Air pollution regulations and trading programs. Psychics, ESP, UFOs, and related crap. _Survivor_ and other reality TV shows. Now there’s an interesting list… ---
**Author:** ![The\_Face](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@The\_Face](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Face)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/65 "2002-12-29T14:42:20Z")
99.9%?..Don’t know that I’m that good at anything. 80-90% Narrow web flexographic printing, I’ve been a Pressman for 14 year and eating up all the info I can. 60-70% Ice fishing, Whitetail hunting, Chesapeake Bay Retrievers and practical GPS use. Funny this thread comes up, I’ve been trying to find a decent, intelligent message board for about 2 years and now that I’ve found it I feel pretty damn stupid. The wealth of knowledge here is a bit overwhelming.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/66 "2002-12-29T15:05:55Z")
\*\*The Face, \*\* darnit, don’t be so hard on yourself! I don’t even have any real comprehension of what narrow web flexographic printing is, let alone what it would mean to be among the best at it! I meant out of the general population, not out of the universe of people who do exactly that thing. Come to think of it, a lot of you are being awfully hard on yourselves… ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/67 "2002-12-29T15:46:53Z")
I probably know more about Elizabethan history plays than anyone else on the boards, and I’m not half-bad on medieval drama and fourteenth-century alliterative revival poetry. Can’t think of anything _useful_ I know about, though. ---
**Author:** ![TVGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TVGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TVGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/68 "2002-12-29T16:25:16Z")
I tend to be a generalist, so I don’t think I could pass the 99.9% test for anything. Being a broadcast engineer, however, I guess my main expertise would be in the areas of RF Transmitter engineering, antennas, tower sturctures, microwave and satellite links, and that sort of thing. But, being a broadcast engineer also has given me professional experience in everything from carpentry to plumbing to HVAC to electrical to driving forklifts and mobile work platforms, driving a vast array of trucks and so forth. Oddly enough, all of my knowledge of computer systems and networking has come from self-stumbling, even though I use it every day in my work. So I guess, I could say that I may know more about more stuff than a great deal of the population 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/69 "2002-12-29T18:21:29Z")
Ok, here’s a narrow field–clinical psychology within the population of those who have spinal cord injuries. I have been doing this work for about 5 years now. There aren’t that many of us, so I would bet that I qualify as an expert. ---
**Author:** ![\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b2d939/32.png) [@\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Sky)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/70 "2002-12-29T19:04:30Z")
I know far to much about Anxiety and Agoraphobia. It has consumed my life, and I know every aspect about its affect on myself and others. Therapy,Meds,Psyc-docs… all of it. Ya can quiz me if ya like 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/71 "2002-12-29T20:12:02Z")
Extended reach drilling. I dig out the stuff **Ringo** only dreams about. ---
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/72 "2002-12-29T20:52:42Z")
Yin-Yang, **Tap**. If I didn’t dream about it, you wouldn’t have anything to do. OTOH, if you ccouldn’t do it, the dreams would remain just that. ---
**Author:** ![ScorpioStem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@ScorpioStem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ScorpioStem)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/73 "2002-12-30T04:43:53Z")
I know a lot about my own astrology sign. [sub]Guess which one.[/sub] Other than that I would say that I know just about every pointless fact anyone would ever want to know about Kurt Cobain. This comes from a few years ago, not particularly something I am proud of now. ---
**Author:** ![Nihility\_Arise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nihility\_Arise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nihility_Arise)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/74 "2002-12-30T07:49:19Z")
I know the Brunswick A-2 Automatic Pinsetter, specifically. In general, I know bowling. ---
**Author:** ![LoN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@LoN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoN)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/75 "2002-12-30T08:02:14Z")
**The Barenaked Ladies** I’m a fan. I’ll freely admit that **Neil Gaiman** Mostly 'cause i’ve spent a ton of time on the messege board, and know many fans who are more hardcore then I… Comic books and graphic novels, especially the history history of rock and roll Dante Aligherhi. I took a course on him last year. Sure, it was one course, but it was once course devoted enterily to him and his works… so I think i know a fair amount more then general knowledge… ---
**Author:** ![auliya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/90db22/32.png) [@auliya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auliya)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/76 "2002-12-30T12:24:30Z")
Asperger’s syndrome. My youngest son was diagnosed with it 2.5yrs ago. Also know a bit about ‘giftedness’, he was diagnosed with that at the same time. I have since read everything I can lay my hands on about both. ---
**Author:** ![Snowcarpet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowcarpet/32/257_2.png) [@Snowcarpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowcarpet)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/77 "2002-12-30T16:41:07Z")
Well, my job is certainly cool and I think it puts me fairly high up in the % scale : pediatric consumer health librarian. I am the resource for finding information on just about anything that can happen to kids (healthwise.) I also teach classes on finding and evaluating Internet health information. So I know way too much about good (and really, really bad) health web sites. I also have many serious hobbies - reading, gardening, photography, et cetera. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/78 "2002-12-30T17:08:47Z")
Black and White photography DC comics Warner Bros. Cartoons Terry Pratchett books OCD general TV trivia Beatles ---
**Author:** ![Feynn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@Feynn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Feynn)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/79 "2002-12-30T17:32:41Z")
I am a proficient Rehabilitation Practitioner and a few of my peers think I’m brilliant when it comes to finding solutions to problems, designing programs, and teaching skills to our clients. Am I an expert? I don’t think so. I collect, restore, customize, and repair fountain pens (who doesn’t know this?) and think that I know more about this subject than your average person… this is probably due to many people not being old enough to remember when they were in common use and the fact most people don’t get too excited when they look at pens. There are people out there who make my knowledge on the subject look pathetic but thankfully, I know many of them and they are happy to share their wisdom and knowledge. ---
**Author:** ![krisolov](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krisolov/32/3724_2.png) [@krisolov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/krisolov)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007/80 "2002-12-30T17:33:46Z")
hmm… compressed gases (insert joke here), history of weapons and tactics , some networking and cabling, modern (post WWII) history and political science esp. about the Soviet Union. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-area-of-expertise/145007.md?page=5)