Apparently we're really educated people

December 18, 2010 11:22 AM

I'm astounded by the level of technical knowledge demonstrated by this AskMe answer. Scarabic's aside, when else have Mefites demonstrated really deep understanding of arcane knowledge?

I can't favorite Scarabic's answer because right now it has 666 favorites and I can't bring myself to ruin that.

Also, hope chatfilter doesn't exist on MeTa.

posted by d. z. wang to MetaFilter-Related at 11:22 AM (53 comments total)

One of the great things about AskMe is that every person in the world has a really deep understanding of some kind of arcane knowledge (whether you realize it about yourself or not, it's true). AskMe brings it out of people, in the best way possible.
posted by ErikaB at 11:34 AM on December 18, 2010 [8 favorites]

Problem is, for most people that really deep understanding and arcane knowledge only applies to their navel.
posted by carsonb at 12:11 PM on December 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

Every time Mitheral talks about refrigeration, I am astonished. We have a lot of niche experts.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 12:28 PM on December 18, 2010

The inventor of the Malcom Horizon answered a question about keeping your balance in the dark.
posted by mlis at 12:41 PM on December 18, 2010

so this is about arcane versus technical knowledge in askme?
carson what said b
posted by clavdivs at 12:47 PM on December 18, 2010

d. z. wang: Scarabic's aside

Currently that post has 666 favorites. Heh.
posted by paisley henosis at 12:48 PM on December 18, 2010

I can't mention my arcane knowledge. The words would burn through the back of your monitor, searing runes upon your wall. The drywall would crackle with a forgotten energy and the smell of sulfur would fill the room. The howl of spirits escaping from those forbidden shapes would drive the sight from your eyes. Your blood would boil in the veins, and if you were to survive, the mere memory of those word have been known to drive the sanest of men into the deepest of madness. Your nights would be filled with terrors, your very nightmares would overflow into your waking day. What was once a place you could rest, a place of comfort, would be no more. Your home would have to be burned and properly sealed beneath the earth. But those words I would type could stay free no more than can the beasts of the deepest hells. The surrounding city would be vacated. A sarcophagus would be built, made of lead and crystals unseen by mortal eyes. Upon the hill that buries your home, this sarcophagus would stand. And despite however many miles distance from those terrible words I had unleashed still your nightmares would never cease. So I stay silent, and do not answer those askmefi threads pertaining to my craft. No man can read upon the arcane knowledge that I hold, for I know SEO.
posted by TwelveTwo at 12:50 PM on December 18, 2010 [12 favorites]

this is technical and arcane.
posted by clavdivs at 1:08 PM on December 18, 2010

That post by RMALCOLM was one of the first wow moments on Metafilter for me, shortly after I joined. I had been looking for the post for a while so thanks for highlighting it MLIS.

The other memorable one for me was the level of knowledge on show here. Yeah just a few posts but come on, the guy gets some really useful advice 36 minutes after asking how to dismantle a freaking bowling alley.
posted by fire&wings at 1:14 PM on December 18, 2010

fire&wings: "The other memorable one for me was the level of knowledge on show here. Yeah just a few posts but come on, the guy gets some really useful advice 36 minutes after asking how to dismantle a freaking bowling alley."

We just don't see answers of that caliber anymore.
posted by gman at 1:20 PM on December 18, 2010

I'll take the 6502 Instruction Set for $1000, Alex.
I'll take lepidoptera of the US Northeast for $1000, Alex.

Seriously, most everyone who's had an intense interest in a hobby or done well in their career will have deep knowledge of SOMETHING.
posted by plinth at 1:29 PM on December 18, 2010

Currently that post has 666 favorites. Heh.

Completely unrelated to anything, i just got 666 points in Fruit Ninja, which is my current high score. I think i'm retiring from that game now.
posted by empath at 1:37 PM on December 18, 2010

jessamyn: "Every time Mitheral talks about refrigeration, I am astonished. We have a lot of niche experts."

Wow, you weren't kidding.
posted by yaymukund at 2:02 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

There were several extremely well-informed and thoughtful comments in this thread about the Cologne city archive disaster--notably sonascope talking about microfilming and jb's boyfriend talking about what a good way to digitize archives would be, and why unfortunately we're likely to get bad ones.
posted by lapsangsouchong at 2:26 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

every person in the world has a really deep understanding of some kind

I am a living and breathing refutation of this theory.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 2:47 PM on December 18, 2010 [8 favorites]

I am a living and breathing refutation of this theory.

...or so you'd want us to believe.
posted by digitalprimate at 3:03 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Wow, archivist smackdown in Cologne city archive disaster thread...
posted by marxchivist at 3:48 PM on December 18, 2010

Define arcane.
posted by chairface at 4:32 PM on December 18, 2010

Wasn't there a math problem that some people jumped in on? Sure seemed like arcane knowledge to me, but maybe that's because I'm no good at math.
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 6:15 PM on December 18, 2010

archivist smackdown

I would totally watch this show.
posted by grapesaresour at 6:34 PM on December 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

There was the guy who explained about being on a mine recovery team. I thought that answer was awesome. I'd link, but I don't have my glasses on, so even typing this was a bit too much.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:01 PM on December 18, 2010

I don't think this is any sort of arcane knowledge, but it is a very specific sort of knowledge. I had literally just finished running a 3 week long experiment on something, and an ask mefi question popped up the next day about exactly what I had been doing. Sometimes the hivemind scares me a bit, in a Jungian way.
posted by sanka at 7:30 PM on December 18, 2010 [5 favorites]

Mutant knows an incredible amount about banking and finance and is happy to share.

ColdChef knows lots about dead people. And... is also happy to share?
posted by elsietheeel at 8:23 PM on December 18, 2010 [3 favorites]

[Trigger Alert] "The degree of background investigations varies quite a bit, so the way you'd work your coldest revenge would be a few months after he were admitted (four years or so in the future). Since he likely would have neglected to disclose the lawsuit's existence at all, your complaint would reveal a material mistatement on a matter of critical importance in an application. High likelihood of disbarment."
posted by mlis at 8:35 PM on December 18, 2010

I don't contribute to AskMe, but ask me about sleep/dreaming sometime.
posted by Eideteker at 10:26 PM on December 18, 2010 [4 favorites]

biscotti and dogs! Fucking invaluable.
posted by PhoBWanKenobi at 10:39 PM on December 18, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah, I guess I know something about astrophysics, especially stellar fusion and lifecycles.

Just remember, the universe is gradually becoming iron.
posted by Eideteker at 11:11 PM on December 18, 2010

So there I was minding my own business and and walked smack into the question I was born to answer.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 11:29 PM on December 18, 2010

I imagine you can get useful answers on arbitarily detailed problems in linguistics if you flash the Languagehat-signal.
posted by rodgerd at 1:21 AM on December 19, 2010

One pipe steam heating and pathological narcissism.
posted by nickyskye at 3:56 AM on December 19, 2010

ANYTHING you want to know about Pagemaker, I'm your man!
posted by nomadicink at 5:50 AM on December 19, 2010

This was great: http://ask.metafilter.com/173531/What-is-Squishy-Honey#2496679.

I was astounded to see a saddle fitting question here a while ago, something in my particular area of experience. People really do ask about everything on AskMe, I suppose.
posted by galadriel at 6:47 AM on December 19, 2010

>> Scarabic's aside
>
> Currently that post has 666 favorites. Heh.
> posted by paisley henosis at 3:48 PM on December 18 [+] [!]

#666 appears to have been added by googlebombed on July 29, 2006. If I saw a comment with 665 favorites I'd really have to sit on my hands to keep from favoriting it just for numerological reasons. (Scarabic's famous answer especially, of course, 666 faves being beyond totally appropriate for that one.) On the other hand, if it already had 666 I don't think I could bring myself to add another.
posted by jfuller at 7:43 AM on December 19, 2010

kairab's responses on pain are excellent, see here
posted by Wilder at 7:54 AM on December 19, 2010

Is there a paleoanthropologist in the house?

This is the question of my dreams.
posted by bobobox at 7:59 AM on December 19, 2010

I hope someone asks a question about why watching musicals with your 10 month old son makes you cry. I'm totally an expert in that.
posted by Jofus at 9:42 AM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

Probably about 10% of the questions on AskMe require some specialized knowledge that is arcane to most of the population. For the people who are answering, though, it's just part of their job, or one of their hobbies, and doesn't seem arcane at all.

Though there are a high proportion of tech-types here, most of the programming or computer questions would be gibberish to most of the population. Ditto for anything involving science or math. (especially probability. Why do people have such a hard time with probability?)

Myself, I'm out of touch with pop culture, so when people can name 10 obscure indie bands that sound like another obscure indie band, I'm pretty amazed. The same with people that can name that one actor from that one movie from 35 years ago.

This diversity of experiences is one of the things that makes AskMe so gosh-darn useful.
posted by chrisamiller at 9:58 AM on December 19, 2010

Also, hit me up if you want to know something about The Uncanny X-Men#191-229.
posted by nomadicink at 10:59 AM on December 19, 2010 [3 favorites]

Well, it's not all that uncommon or arcane, but oxyacetylene torch safety is something I know something about. I even have a piece of paper to prove it!
posted by cmoj at 12:05 PM on December 19, 2010

No one knows more about THOMAS than I do.
posted by MrMoonPie at 12:22 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I've said this in MeMail before, but the best thing about scarabic's answer is that it proves 679 (and counting) people don't really know how to dispose of a body, and don't have the ability to evaluate a proposal to do so.

GOOD. I am glad that people can't do that.

So I find his answer cheery and uplifting and I honestly feel better about the world every time it gets more favorites.
posted by Uniformitarianism Now! at 12:59 PM on December 19, 2010

Every time Mitheral talks about refrigeration,

That's cool.
posted by jonmc at 2:53 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

I still remember this.
posted by raisingsand at 4:14 PM on December 19, 2010

If I saw a comment with 665 favorites I'd really have to sit on my hands to keep from favoriting it

yea, I know just what you mean!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 4:21 PM on December 19, 2010 [2 favorites]

No one knows more about THOMAS than I do said the fat controller.
posted by TedW at 5:37 PM on December 19, 2010 [1 favorite]

No one knows more about THOMAS than I do.

Oh really? Because I'm a gov docs librarian at an FDLP library and I'd like to have a nice loooooong chat with you!
posted by librarylis at 6:07 PM on December 19, 2010

Things I could be on the Global Frequency for:

- Tabletop rpg design, theory, publishing
- Identifying white privilege and oppression based tactics
- Ifa, and related African Traditional Religions

Things I know a good amount about, that seem rare on Metafilter:

- Bodywork and physical therapy
- Traditional Chinese Medicine
- R&B during the 80's & 90's
- Penjak Silat
- Asian American hiphop & spoken word scene
- The I Ching
- Sufi imagery and symbolism
posted by yeloson at 11:30 PM on December 19, 2010

I am an expert in writing overly lengthy, flowery prose about myself that oh-so-slightly derails from the original thread. But never mind, for those twenty paragraphs are bound to be worthy of hundreds of favorites.
posted by Xere at 12:19 AM on December 20, 2010

I've said this in MeMail before, but the best thing about scarabic's answer is that it proves 679 (and counting) people don't really know how to dispose of a body, and don't have the ability to evaluate a proposal to do so.

Are you saying that scarabic's method wouldn't work? Hmph. Excuse me while I delete the bookmark.
posted by jokeefe at 5:09 AM on December 20, 2010

Not to toot my own horn too much, but I once posted a really detailed explanation on DIY time travel, unfortunately, I then tried to use this knowledge to go back in the past and kill Hitler, which apparently is a bit of a no-no. So as a disciplinary measure, I was sent back the moment right before I made the comment, and I had to hit myself in the head till I forgot how the whole distortion-of-the-fabric-of-space thing worked, thus preventing me from actually getting any kind of credit for the now-nonexistent comment.

The only reason I even know any of this is that I left a note taunting myself. Apparently my future-self has a kind of screwed up sense of humor and is a bit of an asshole.
posted by quin at 8:17 AM on December 20, 2010 [3 favorites]

Have you seen this thread? There's all kinds of MeFite expertise in there.
posted by vytae at 2:38 PM on December 20, 2010

ThatCanadianGirl: "Wasn't there a math problem that some people jumped in on? "

I know I personally geeked out really hard on this one. I wasn't alone.
posted by chairface at 3:06 PM on December 20, 2010

I'm always here for your plastic army men questions and inquiries about public records laws.
posted by marxchivist at 6:38 PM on December 20, 2010