What topic do you LOVE to talk about, but rarely get to?
What topic do you LOVE to talk about, but rarely get to?
Everyone has something they can't stop themselves from nerding out over - but often it's hard to find people to talk to about it. So go ahead, share your interests, and tell us about them!
At the risk of sounding edgy: Sex.
I live in the US. Sex, even just plain boring vanilla sex, is such a taboo topic. Everyone's uncomfortable about it, and that sucks. I think it's interesting, and fun, and there's so many things to talk about from actual activities to social constructs and more.
Whenever it comes up, I nerd out the same way I would when talking about a game I am currently obsessing over.
The idea of time. It’s insane to me to think about events happening at different times in different places. Or for the same event to take different amounts of time depending on your reference points.
The sun is 8 minutes away from us, so we are looking at it 8 minutes in the past. If it were to suddenly disappear, it would take 8 minutes for us to find out. That’s mine-blowing to me! It’s like the past, present, and future are all happening at the same time.
Nobody cares to humor me when I bring the topic up lol
I don't know if "rarely" is quite the right description, but I foster kittens. I meet lots of people who are excited to hear about it on a surface level and see pictures/videos/play with them, but it's been challenging to connect with other people who also foster. I'm desperate to trade stories, learn from, and teach other foster parents. I even started a community on Kbin and have posted there a few times, but haven't gotten any engagement (other than votes) so far.
In case anyone is curious, I'm still confused about how to properly link cross platform, but it's at fosteranimals@kbin.socialI have a few.
-
Linguistics/languages. It's what I majored in. Unfortunately, being a linguist on the Internet is a Sisyphean task—when you point out that language changes and doesn't always mean what you think it should mean, people get upset.
-
Related to the above, conlangs (constructed languages—e.g. Klingon, anything Tolkien, Sangheili (sp?) from Halo, Na'vi). It's a very niche hobby.
-
My Little Pony. I am a dude. I like the wholesomeness; it's a break from everything else being gritty and dark.
-
Music theory. Like, deep music theory. Meshuggah counting? Microtones? Obscure composers and releases? I love that shit.
-
Star Trek. nuq vIjatlh DaneH'a'?
-
Smacking children and how it literally has no benefit to the child whatsoever, and makes you a bad parent if you still do it.
I used to be a strong supporter of smacking kids, I even signed a government petition to revoke the NZ anti-smacking bill, but after studying it at uni and then keeping abreast of the research afterwards, it has only negative effects, and yet bad parents still defend it.
Hard to talk about because people get weirdly defensive even when there's NO evidence that smacking kids is either beneficial or effective.
I'm an American who has been living abroad for 7ish years now. I often read comments from people who say they would do it "but the taxes are brutal." Absolutely not the case. I dug deep into tax programs when I left and can comfortably say I am better off financially now than at any time I ever lived in the States.. A major part of that is my tax strategy.
I love talking about this but most people don't really care or realize how significantly it can change their lives.. Eyes just tend to glaze over.
benefits of ritual and separating them from superstition.
I think it's interesting to explore different frames of mind. I used to be christian, but then I read the bible. afterwards, I embraced paganism which has a more positive and welcoming community generally. eventually, the seeds of reason became rooted in my mind and I grew to be the atheist I am today. I still appreciate the experience of group ritual, as it feels good to explore different aspects of my personality. I guess the roleplaying is therapeutic. mixing that with my interests in mythology makes for plenty of content to examine. what encourages different rituals to develop? what are the notable effects of ritual in general? is superstition somehow beneficial to the community? I find that digging around to explore these questions can keep me busy for hours, which I enjoy thoroughly. unfortunately, no one I know shares the same interests. most folks seem to be superstitious about it, lol.
Lots of things I'm really interested in are looked down on by other adults I know. I love animation but it's seen as something for kids. I love video games, but that's for teens, incels and nerds. And I love birdwatching, but that's for boring old people. Oh and also whatever my ADHD is making me hyperfocus on at any given moment. I could talk about any of those topics for ages, but more often than not people aren't interested, so I keep it to myself.
Null models for weighted bipartite networks, and why people choose dumb network summary stats because they are lazy
Linguistics and the prescriptive bias of assuming a word’s meaning based on its blatant etymology
How skill makes games less fun and we need to embrace more chance in board games and video games
How cool it would be if we wrapped copper wire around the moon and used the earth-moon system as a huge electrical generator
Trains are awesome and we should have more of them
The theory of relativity (special and general).
It is more that 100 years now, and it is perfectly true according to all current physicists, but still hardly anybody (outside of physicists) knows it. What a shame.
For example, GPS wouldn't work without it - your position would be wrong by a few miles all the time.
Old radio shows! I've been listening back through episodes of Suspense (about 400 so far) and there's some great stuff in there. There's some stuff that doesn't age too well, but there's also some surprisingly relatable stories. It's also fascinating to hear ads and snippets of news segments of the time, and to get a window of what people were worried about at that time. Not to mention that some of the episodes are just plain good thrillers that can be genuinely chilling. I can't wait to get through these and move on to The Twilight Zone.
One of my favorites has been "Please Believe Me" (https://youtu.be/J8kbEL1332A?si=ro-K9VK3X3Zi5DMI), the performances are so good.
Cryptography, because it's not fleshed out enough in many peoples' minds for them to have the same interest.
Fighting Fantasy gamebooks and the original edition of the Advanced Fighting Fantasy RPG - the lore, the artwork and tracking down the books missing from my collection!
Psychology and physiology.
I swear my neuroendocrine system’s a lemon. I’ve had to learn basic and not so basic maintenance just to get the thing to run well enough to keep a job. I’ve struggled my entire adult life, and along the way I’ve learned a lot about trauma, stress, energy metabolism, brain parts, neurotransmitters, hormones, nutrition, inflammation, healing, spiritual work, things that alter the Big Five more than the literature says it will alter, etc.
Astronomy
I'm currently watching Cosmos : A space time odyssey for my weekend
The difference between town, zip code, school district, village, hamlet, and city where I live. I pay taxes to town A, by zip code is named after a hamlet in town B, our school district is named after town C. If you ask people where they live they will answer any one of these things.
In my opinion the town you pay taxes to is the best answer. The zip code, or location on your address, is deceptive because they are often named after small hamlets where the post office is. This small hamlet is a very distinct place where you probably don't actually live. School Districts are often named after the biggest town they pull from so if you are not from that town it's not really accurate. If you happen to be in a city or village that's a good answer. However hamlets are so small and local that anyone not from the immediate vicinity will have no idea what you're taking about if you say you are from there.
Time Team. It's one of my all-time favorite TV shows. It was (and sort of is) a British archaeology TV show where real archaeologists have three days to uncover information about a site, usually in Britain. It was on for over 20 years. Most of the episodes are on YouTube.
AND YET I CAN'T FIND ANYONE TO TALK ABOUT IT WITH!
I wish any of my friends were into fantasy /Science fiction. I can't sit down and have coffee with a friend to gush about the latest Brandon Sanderson book or talk build orders in Homeworld
Quantum entanglement and string theory, but only when im super stoned.
Currently? GURPS. It's such a fascinating TTRPG. On one hand, it's extremely simple (roll 3d6 ≤ skill level + modifiers). On the other hand, it has an encyclopedic catalogue of skills and modifiers to accommodate anything from cavemen to reality-warping future civilizations. If you want, it can be extremely gritty and detailed, more than whatever you're thinking of right now; or dead simple and narrative driven
The ridiculous breadth of options make it look really complicated, so people get intimidated. I think I'm it's hard for people to wrap their head around just how optional all the granular rules are.
Late 90s early 2000s Japanese mixed martial arts and kickboxing. Pride, pancrase, k1. People still talk about the UFC today, i just think "you don't even know..."
Major League Baseball history. Old time teams, players and stats, the broader historical context with its' events, attitudes and quirks... the whole thing.
I guess giving advice on job hunting and interviewing. I've done it so much and learned a lot, I can literally SEE how absolutely NOT confident ppl are about job hunting. ( which I get. More precisely they don't see their value)
More importantly, they are blind to their value on the market and believe a toxic work environment is normal and hating their life because they hate their job making them miserable is just a part of working.
When really, when you see and acknowledge your worth, you don't take that shit. You have a CHOICE. Employment isn't a one way street. And employers realize that and treat you with respect.
Idk it's a whole thing.