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[kphoger]

This is not true for me personally, but a lot of people in Wichita are experts on aircraft.  The city has been a center of aviation since the earliest days, and it is home to an Air Force base, a flight school, Textron/Beechcraft/Cessna manufacturing, Spirit manufacturing, and numerous ancillary businesses.  Practically everyone here is works in aviation, is related to someone who works in aviation, or has friends who work in aviation—either in manufacturing or as an engineer.  Offhand, I can think of four of my own friends who do, and I'm surely forgetting a couple.

For this reason, it's quite common to be out at the park or walking down the street or chatting in the driveway—and then a plane flies overhead and one person says to the other, That's a KC-135, and the other replies, Yep, and it's the most normal thing ever.  Or if they can't quite determine the model, they'll start talking about design differences to help figure it out—and again, it's the most normal thing ever.

Me?  I look up in the sky and think, That's an airplane.

[hbelkins]

If we're going to go beyond local or regional knowledge, then classic rock music, college basketball, and NASCAR would be things that I keep up with.

[Roadgeekteen]

I think that the point of this thread would be to talk about what areas you are kowledgable about based on region. So HB, the only one that would qualify really for you is College Basketball due to Kentucky being a mecca of the sport. If I was just talking about things I keep up with I could just mention the NFL, NBA, NCAA football and basketball, and politics as things I keep up with, but I don't think that that's the point of the thread.

[hbelkins]

I think that the point of this thread would be to talk about what areas you are kowledgable about based on region. So HB, the only one that would qualify really for you is College Basketball due to Kentucky being a mecca of the sport. If I was just talking about things I keep up with I could just mention the NFL, NBA, NCAA football and basketball, and politics as things I keep up with, but I don't think that that's the point of the thread.

Well, what prompted me to comment on non-regional items were these two posts that seem to address issues at large not relating to local subjects:

If you want to test yourself on this, I recommend finding a bar near you that does a trivia night. Bring a couple friends and see how it goes.  After a few nights, you'll start to get a feel for how much expertise you have in a variety of topics.

Of course, I maybe only bring that up because that's something I am objectively good at: "Useless" trivia.

Apart from all this road shit, though, I consider myself strong in categories like...
geology
history
geography in general (not just road shit)
evolutionary biology
I could probably be your fishing guide for the upper Mississippi/Western Great Lakes/southern Hudson Bay drainages.
My pop culture expertise slants toward the sci-fi, Next Generation-era Star Trek in particular, and then just a random shot gun blast of shit heavily influenced by references in prime time animation like The Simpsons, South Park, Rick & Morty, Family Guy, etc.  Like for example, I saw a huge number of references to Citizen Kane through the lens of Springfield before I ever saw the movie itself.

I will also claim above average competence in some elements of human psychology, especially as it relates to how we delude ourselves or misinterpret the world around us.  SectorZ mentions the Dunning-Kruger Effect, and that's just one of the many cognitive biases and shortcomings I am well-versed in.  Not enough to always not fall into them myself, mind you, but enough to recognize when groups of people are being deluded by them, most of the time.  And when it's obvious, it's super frustrating.  Like how do you not call people "stupid" when they are so obviously falling the most basic logical tests for what comes out of their mouths or fingers?  But that's a huge digression that only applies to this community on rare occasions.   

Foreign Geography/Travel
Colorado State Highways
Liquor/Beer/Wine

[JayhawkCO]

Then I misread the original OP.

Updated version:
Colorado State Highways
Climbing 14ers
Hammock Camping
Breweries/Distilleries
Flannels and Trucker Hats
Red Rocks Concerts
Bluegrass

[epzik8]

Crabs and crab accessories, estuaries, lighthouses, and crazy weather patterns

See profile picture

[zachary_amaryllis]

Crabs and crab accessories, estuaries, lighthouses, and crazy weather patterns

See profile picture

Looonnnggg time ago, when I was a healthy lad of 16, we lived in the Hampton Roads area (Smithfield, to be exact), and I worked about 150 crab pots for someone. Great work for a 16 year old, and I got to play around with the skiff on my off days.

Crab cakes tho. OMG. You guys got that nailed down tight. If it doesn't come from Maryland, it's not a crab cake.

[Scott5114]

This is not true for me personally, but a lot of people in Wichita are experts on aircraft. [...]

For this reason, it's quite common to be out at the park or walking down the street or chatting in the driveway—and then a plane flies overhead and one person says to the other, That's a KC-135, and the other replies, Yep, and it's the most normal thing ever.  Or if they can't quite determine the model, they'll start talking about design differences to help figure it out—and again, it's the most normal thing ever.

Me?  I look up in the sky and think, That's an airplane.

This describes my life experiences to a tee, since my dad is in aviation and hangs out with a bunch of pilots. At one point, he was trying to relocate to McConnell AFB in Wichita, but his transfer to Tinker went through first. Sounds like he would have had more of "his people" around if he had been assigned to McConnell. Sometimes I wonder whether my life would have played out differently if I were born a Kansan instead of an Oklahoman.

[mgk920]

It also sort of baffles me that most computing terms are either derivatives of English (which may have derived from Latin, as well), but "network" is red en Español.

"Red" was a physical net long before it was a network.

La Red National - The National Net

Mike

[Sctvhound]

Living in the Charleston, SC metro area there are a lot of things people like me are more knowledgeable about than the rest of the country.

Barbecue (mustard in our area, most natives can name at least a couple favorite mustard-based places and dislike any other type)

Hurricanes (given we have threats almost every year, people know way more than the average). They can go into things like the right-front quadrant being the most dangerous part of a storm without batting an eye.

College baseball (very casual interest most places, but sports fans here get heavily into it, even for non-SC teams)

Boeing (with the Boeing plant here, a large percentage of the population either works or knows somebody who works there)

Which places to go and which to avoid in a tourist city. Locals know to avoid downtown during the busy times of year, like this upcoming weekend with the Bridge Run and when Spoleto happens. We also know which restaurants are overhyped and which are really good.



SM-G998U

[zzcarp]

Then I misread the original OP.

Updated version:
Colorado State Highways
Climbing 14ers
Hammock Camping
Breweries/Distilleries
Flannels and Trucker Hats
Red Rocks Concerts
Bluegrass

But for the hammock camping and Trucker hats, this could be my list. Though I should add Westminster land use regulations to that list after 12+ years on the city planning commission. I'd also add dog-friendly places as my cocker spaniel Lincoln is my co-pilot on nearly all my adventures.