For me: I am one of the foremost experts on Team Fortress 2 video recording/editing and automated clip gathering within tf2 specifically. Even more specifically within the context of competitive play but the knowledge applies to casual play as well.
Learning from others mistakes.
I can’t even learn from my own mistakes.
I’ve shit my own pants more times than anyone I know
Wow that’s crazy! I also dont know anyone who has shit my pants!
Wanna set new records for each other?
I would expect as much from @fartographer@lemmy.world
I am the lone expert at putting my underwear on myself as I have yet to see anyone else put my underwear on me. And if they tried, I’d wiggle so I could keep the top spot.
That sounds like a challenge! a/s/l?
Repairing espresso machines. I’ve reached the point where I modify them and the parts can come from whatever is laying around. I’m pretty sure I’m done with it though, it’s boring after doing something for over a decade.
Modding Bethesda’s Gamebryo engine games, especially Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas, and especially doing so using only the built-in functions, i.e. no FOSE/NVSE. Not that I’m averse to using them, but I prefer to do what I can without them before I do. Thanks to that approach I had little trouble making Fallout 4 mods that could run on console editions of the game.
I build liquid rocket engines, and their fuel refinement systems; in a manner thats totally legal for normal (US) civilians.
for instance, did you know that your house’s natural gas line is usually ~80% (varies by municipality, lowest I’ve seen is 74%) methane by volume, and is actually shockingly easy to purify and pressurize into usable methane for a methalox cycle engine?
its even easier to make LOX (liquid oxygen), all you need is: air (in vast supply here on lovely Terra) literally any cooler design that gets down to -183C…( the Glifford McMahon cycle works; and you can build that at home), a fractionating column, (you can buy them off the internet, you’ll want metal, but glassware is still fine-ish as long as you account for thermal shrinkage…and never ever let it heat back up to room temp), a cryo-rated compressor (sold on ebay), and a dewar (also on eBay)?
This is exactly the type of incredibly niche answer I was hoping for! Its also super interesting! How did you even get into this?
Are you this guy?
haha; alas, no, I am not.
He did give me several ideas though. I’d be glad to call him a friend; were we ever to meet.
Haha was hoping your link would go there!
I train and deploy search and rescue dogs.
wow, that’s interesting!
Have you trained dogs generally prior to this? How much of it is pretend scenarios (I’m curious how the dogs ‘get it’)
Yes. I trained dogs before, but only personal dogs, not professionally. I got lucky that my prior training techniques were very similar to the industry standard, so it was a relatively easy transition.
We probably run about 50 training scenarios for every 1 deployment per dog.
Ideally you’d be training from a 3 month old puppy until they are 18 months before they can test, which would include at least a couple training scenarios a week from in that window, so you’d probably have 150+ training scenarios before you even test. Additionally you would be doing daily behavioral training, similar to what you’d do if you want a very well behaved pet.
After they are certified, you’d still run 1-2 scenarios a week, 3-5 day seminars a few times a year, plus other related cross training if you want a high level dog.
Every region across the world has it’s own standard of what they consider a deploy-able dog. Some are highly paid, expert dog trainers that deploy in extreme situations. Some are casual retired bored rich people that want to take fluffy to something exciting, and just show up to random emergencies saying they can help, and have no actual formal training.
Most are highly dedicated volunteers that spend an extreme amount of time and money to ensure they meet the highest standards just in case they are called on to help out with people’s worst days.that’s amazing. do dogs forget things if they’re not using the knowledge like we do - is that why the scenarios are still re-run each week?
I’m an incredibly good riichi mahjong teacher! I also teach go, shogi, and koi-koi too. It’s nice landing gigs when an anime convention pays me to go out and run panels about this stuff, helps round out the monthly income nicely, plus I get to travel and take good art pictures while I’m out!
Oooooo!!! I am a big fan of playing Go! I wish I had more opportunities to actually play with people in person. Everyone I play against these days is someone I also taught how to play.
I am also a big fan of playing Go — but I’m quite bad at it considering how much time I spent trying. The game I’m actually good at is NetHack.
No one is good at Go, no one. Even the ones sitting in the Nihon Ki’in playing for a Honinbo title wouldn’t say they’re good, and they’re the ones being televised.
If I recall correctly, we share a city!
Ooh, perhaps you have heard of Hikaru No Go?
A lot of people have mentioned it to me, so I flipped through it for a bit and was pleasantly surprised to see that the manga uses actual go consultants to make sure that the material presented in the books is accurate and useful!
I’m not really an anime and manga enjoyer in my day-to-day though, but I’m glad those people exist.
Sorry, I’m a generalist.
Generalism is my niche.
🫡
I’m told almost every week that I’m excellent at teaching archery to complete beginners. Young, old, missing an arm, don’t care, I’m always profusely thanked.
I’m a mile wide and an inch deep, baby.
Foremost expert is pretty vague. Here’s a couple of the more unusual and rare things I’m an expert in. I’m going to define it as less than 10 people globally know more than I do. Less than 100,000 people know anything beyond the absolute basics.
Applied plant breeding of cucurbits.
International marketing and sales of agricultural seed.
Map modding of ThinkTanks a 2004 game by Bravetree.
https://www.planetthinktanks2.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=5544Idk if I’d go as far as an “expert”, but I listen to an obscene amount of thrash metal, and plenty of other extreme metal genres. I’m also a moderator for the !thrashmetal@lemmy.world and !heavymetal@lemmy.world communities where myself and a few others used to post daily for a couple years, no repeats.
Give me your one, singular best recomendation.
Hmm, that is a tough one… There’s so many amazing songs out there, I could never pick a favourite. Besides, there is a difference between my favourites and the “best” recommendations. That being said, one of the most underappreciated albums, truly an exercise in top notch quality thrash, technical, superb song writing, some of the best riffs I’ve heard: Dreamweaver by Sabbat. Every thrash fan should be made aware of this release. Here is my favourite song off the record: Do Dark Horses Dream of Nightmares .
subscribed, thanks for the tip!
Cheers dude, enjoy! Plenty of content to last you a while haha ;).
not an expert per se, but i am very good at identifying manzanita species. Manzanitas are a genus of shrubs and small trees in the blueberry family mainly found in Western North America, especially California. There are a little over 100 species and subspecies, and the visual differences are often subtle. Many botanists in California don’t even bother trying to ID them.
I am not a botanist, but i can reliably ID most NorCal, Sierra Nevada, and central coast varieties from memory, and with a key handy i feel confident i could ID any manzanita plant to currently accepted species or subspecies in person or with sufficiently detailed photos and gps.
The most striking feature of manzanitas is their bright red, smooth bark. They are locally called “refrigerator bushes” or “refrigerator trees” when large because even in the heat of summer the bark is always cool to the touch

Not an expert, but I used to religiously and obsessively play the niche sport of Gaelic/American handball, specifically the 4-wall variation.
It’s essentially racquetball, but with a much smaller, much harder ball, played only with gloved hands (gloves do not pad hands, just used to keep the ball dry).
Technically the 1-wall variation might have been the first ball sport to ever exist and is certainly the predecessor to modern tennis.
Awesome game, insane workout, and one of the few sports that is truly ambidextrous (handball absolutely requires use of both hands/arms).
I had to step away when I got into the tech sector and needed to dedicate most of my time to studying and working, but I played like it was a job for 8 years. Loved it.















