Pat's Call for Research Assistants

[Goodlun]

I've also got five years of Judo expertise if you have any questions about that.

Excellent another Judoka. 

[ironpeanut]

I'm a cook by trade. My personal interest in the topic of food extends beyond simply a professional one:

• Preparing food, by which I mean assembling a meal, either for home use or in the context of a working kitchen.
• The restaurant and hospitality industry, the way it operates, and the kinds of people that operate it. I also know a bit about the history of the industry in general stretching back to maybe 500 BC, and some of the trends and fads within it.
• Food production, and the processes that take individual ingredient from farm or pasture to the table.
• Culinary anthropology - a general study of the way that a culture's cuisine reflects their values and priorities, and the ways that producing that cuisine affects their development as a culture.

I've always thought that Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential was exaggerated, but the longer I work in this field, the more I believe that book.

That's a great book about how generally sketchy the industry is! I'm fond of saying that the restaurant business is a very marginal industry (a friend of mine who works in sales was shocked to discover that 6% is considered an excellent profit margin for a restaurant) and as a result it tends to attract marginal personalities. Anyone I've worked with who wasn't a convicted felon, illegal immigrant, or borderline insane has been just plain weird.
That's part of the appeal of the job though - you work for ten hours with nothing but a five-minute smoke break inside of what is basically a sauna, you get burns from fire, from hot fat, from steam, you inhale caustic chemical vapors from cleaning supplies, you get cut, scraped, bruised and beaten, you got the other cooks blasting heavy metal and the servers yelling about how come the food's not out yet and the chef yelling at you about how come the food looks like crap, and none of the prep guys know how to spell. You walk into the fridge and you see three different ways to spell the word "celery."
At the end of the night, it's 2AM, and you go home and sleep in your bed and thank God that you don't work at a desk, because that would be unpleasant.

[MedullaOblongata]

Wow, I really wish I would have found Crafty Games years ago! This thread is years old, hope I'm not too late. I'm a little intimidated by how different and knowledgeable everyone is in here, but it's so awesome! 

I don't know if this will help, but I consider myself knowledgeable about:

Art
-Techniques of traditional (non-digital) art, including oil painting, pastels, colored pencils, and markers.
-Fields of study, such as sequential art illustration and portraiture.

Metaphysics
-Alternative religions, philosophies, and traditions such as Wicca, Discordianism, Chaoism, Hellenic Polytheism, other Pagan/Heathen traditions, etc. I have been a practicing Christian, Wiccan, and then a Chaoist - in that order.
-History in regards to occult groups such as the Order of the Golden Dawn, Temple ov Psychick Youth, foundings of alternative practices, etc.
-Non-religious occult/psychic info, such as Nazi psychic extermination and conspiracies, Russian telekinetic experimentation, asceticism, government remote viewing, etc.
-Occult / Psychic practices, such as basic telepathy and telekinetic training, astral travel, gnosis, rituals and spells, scrying, omens, and lots more!

Weird fringe stuff that doesn't fit into other categories, mostly unpleasant 
-"Urban survival". PM only please, I'd like not to discuss this publicly.
-Religious cults, their structure, operation, practices, mentality.

All of the above I know from either personal experience or dedicated study. I know people who are knowledgeable or experts in the following:

-Crime, the criminal legal system, and jail
-Foreign languages and cultures
-Military covert operations, procedures, training, etc. <---no classified stuff, sorry 
-Hacking & Cracking
-Hard living in a 3rd World Country
-Martial Arts (I know quite a few martial artists who have trained in or mastered a wide variety of styles)
-Metaphysics
-Nursing
-Physics
-U.S. Military (and soon, Singapore military) tech, operations, procedures, SIGINT, etc. <---no classified stuff, sorry 
-Web Development

I haven't traveled extensively. I've lived most of my life in the USA, though I have traveled to Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Mexico. I plan on traveling more in the future. I have friends who either live in or have traveled to Asia, Europe, and Australia/New Zealand.

I am not afraid of learning new things, even if it means I'm considered a weirdo. Knowledge is power and information is a weapon 

I hope this helps!

[Catodon]

Welcome to the boards. Sounds like there is a lot of stuff useful to spycraft types there.

[MedullaOblongata]

Welcome to the boards. Sounds like there is a lot of stuff useful to spycraft types there.

Thanks for the welcome! 

[saiyanslayer]

While it may not be much, I could provide info regarding medical technology:

• Defibrilators
• IV Pumps
• Physiotherapy Equipment
• CT Scanners
• X-Ray Machines
• MRIs
• Clinical Linear Accelerators
• Electrosurgical Units
• Vital Signs Monitors (Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, ECG, Temperature)

I've repaired all but the MRI, thus I could give some pretty detailed explanations on how they operate.  I also work with Medical Physicists and they're used to my odd interests :p

[KChan]

I'm fairly knowledgeable about period fashions from the early 1800s to the early 1900s thanks to my time volunteering at a museum, and would be happy to do more research on the subject as needed. I'm also a linguistics major and a certified Chief Instructor of Choi Kwang Do.

I also enjoy a healthy amount of exploring the web and learning about new things, so unless there's a steep learning curve filled with tons of jargon I would already have to know, I'll happily research pretty much anything you want me to - particularly if it's related to arts, humanities, history, literature, etc.

Let me know if I can help!

[Crafty_Pat]

Awesome everyone! Thanks again for throwing your hats into the ring!

[Pheonyx]

I want to add some skills I have been learning:

Network Security (both how to create and circumvent to find flaws); I went back to college and am working on my IT Network Administration degree with training in the A+ and CCNA certifications.

Ashes to ashes,
Pheonyx

[Verbal]

I know some stuff about Belgium, Netherlands, France ... travelled around europe (both for work and fun) so I can talk intelligently (?) about most countries here...

btw. great reception for free WIFI on Helsinki airport...

apart from that mostly usesless stuff
- some software development / design
- consulting
- chemicals/chemical sector
- resource/budget planning
- negociation/diplomacy (consultant  )
- random useless facts 
- cars! especially european cars from the 50's and 60' (later as well but mainly european), the only exception to the european are american muscle....
- some knowledge about beer/wine and food (hey I like good food... who doesn't?)

I have absolutely no knowledge about military / guns /... apart from police vehicles my knowledge about police and their procedures is reasonably low...

you see! mostly useless unless you ask me why "french fries" are called that strange name.... hint: they're not from France!  or how you make mayonaise... also a good ice breaker...

V for Vanity

[Viperion]

Very interesting topic! I had assumed this was a "I need someone who knows about <x>" thread and skipped over it - although after nine pages I hope you've got them summarised somewhere for easy reference

As to my knowledges:

I'm reasonably proficient in the general "history of Martial Arts"
I have a computer programming background
I have a degree in Marketing and Communications
I work in Information Management for a Local Body Government
I've played in a lot of different roleplaying systems, have rolled up characters but never played in a bunch more, own even more that I've read through, have designed one or two myself (although never to publication stage), and can talk game mechanics all day long
I worked in a pharmacy for a while and have a fair bit of "casual" knowledge about pharmaceuticals from there
I'm a bit of a sports nut, especially when it comes to Rugby, Cricket, Baseball (primarily Yankees), American Football (49ers) and Soccer.