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[–] [email protected] 5 points 23 hours ago

Im really good at doxxing people based off the useless skill they are proud of.

[–] stelelor 3 points 1 day ago

I can make two sounds that I haven't been able to locate in the IPA chart. They're a voiced and voiceless pair. I can only describe then as the sounds of a goose or duck.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

I learnt to whistle by whistling inwards first, so I can constantly whistle without needing to stop for breath, aswell as maintain the correct pitch and note for when it comes to tunes between breathing in and out. Dont know if that's much of a skill, but eh, I like whistling

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (2 children)

I can detect whether apples are "sandy" (or whatever the actual term is for when they have that fugly apple meat that feels like eating sand) or not.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mastered the melon slap technique to absolute perfection. I can pick the tastiest melon of the bunch, and I sometimes buy an extra melon so I can pass it along to friends who didn't master such technique.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago)

A fellow connoiseur! I too am a master of this delicate art and I have passed this gift on to my children.

After the selection has been made it is quite entertaining to look back the aisle and watch the other shoppers cautiously tap the remaining melons, trying to make sense of what they just saw.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I think most people can. Or do you mean without biting into it?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

Hah. Of course, just by the sound they make :P

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I took inspiration from the primitive technology youtube channel and managed to make a ceramic pot by extracting clay from mud. The pot looks a bit shit, but it holds water!

Tempted to try and make a bigger one sometime.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

would love to see some pictures

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

This is one that I started a few days ago, its still wet currently and as its winter I doubt it will dry very fast. Want to wait for it to dry a bit more before smoothing it and then leave to completely dry and at some point start a fire in the garden to finish it.

Used a slab of clay as a base and placed leaves around it so that it doesn't stick to the pot as I make it but to also give a bit of a sturdy platform I can pick up and rotate. From a previous attempt picking it up often caused the clay to flex and crack. Although that is probably also due to being pretty poor quality clay, this was done the next day with a different batch that has far better plasticity. Or it could just be that the first one needed more time for water to soak into the clay as it had been pretty much completely dry before.

Using leaves to prevent something sticking seems like it could be a useful method to mould clay against the object. Perhaps a way to make use of the lower quality clay that cracks very easily when trying to shape it normally.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yooo! Imagine eating soup from a bowl you made. That's so much cooler than it should be!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago

Soup might be difficult if I wanted to make everything myself, stew I could do though. Ideally would want to make a spoon which I tried with the first batch of clay but it cracked too much. Second batch might be good enough to make a spoon from. Plus getting better at working with the clay would probably help too.

Alternatively just cook the stew and use a pointy stick to get the solid bits and slurp from the side of the bowl to get the liquid.

Not sure on the legality of making crab traps here, line and open nets are ok but I think with a proper trap I think there is stuff about making sure it doesn't catch other things which something made from sticks is clearly not going to meet. Which is a shame as its a lot easier to make that than twisting enough fiber to make a net. Mussels are easy enough to find but I would probably avoid them being filter feeders and its not the cleanest water here, at least a crab you can scoop out its stomach and not eat that bit.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago

I can run any piece of machinery with an hour of goof around time. Doesn't matter what it is. Let me poke around it for an hour or so and I'll have all the controls and most quirks figured out.

Sadly it's useless because employers won't give me a chance to prove it.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

I can balance a soda can at a precarious looking angle. A modern soda can has two rims on the bottom, the major diameter and a minor diameter. With the right amount of soda in the can, it will balance on those two rims.

I actually found a use for this skill, it's good for teaching weight and balance in flight school.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

I have been told by multiple Korean, Chinese, and Japanese immigrants that I could make a decent living as an extra eating with chopsticks in the background of their TV/ movies. I use a pair of stainless steel chopsticks with no notching, so they are totally smooth, making them "master level" difficulty to use. Apparently the fact that I'm left handed is a bonus. Oh, I'm the whitest kid you know with sandy blonde almost brown hair.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'm a ridiculously good mimic - if I hear a sound I can often immediately repeat it; crow call, human voice, chickens. Anything in my limited vocal range. Not after the memory fades, but really so close right after. Once in the car one of my kids was whining and I so perfectly repeated it that all of them collapsed in laughter, whiner included.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I can sit down and calmly read an entire manual from front to back.

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I can do a spot-on impression of the standard deep, booming monster-truck rally advertising voice.

"This FRIDAY! (Friday... Friday...) Only at the Gigantodome! Beer Swiller Productions presents MONSTER TRUCK MAYHEM! You'll pay for the entire seat but you'll only need the EDGGGGGGGGE!"

Well... of course you can't hear it, but if you could, seriously, it's dead-on.

[–] [email protected] 40 points 2 days ago

No no, I heard it, it was good.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I can pick things up with my toes. Not completely useless, maybe, but not exactly the pinnacle of tricks!

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[–] [email protected] 31 points 2 days ago (4 children)

I'm a very large person (250lb/110kg, over 6'/1.8m) and I walk almost silently, unless I'm trying to be loud. I've learned to make some kind of noise when approaching people from behind, because otherwise it almost guarantees a jump scare

[–] [email protected] 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm the opposite. Petite 5'0" lady who sounds like an entire community of elephants when I walk.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

A group of elephants is called a parade.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago

I call it my "stealth field." I've had multiple people look directly at me, multiple times, and then jump scare when I move. I'm 6'3", and 240. The walking silently is just a bonus, though it sounds very loud to me.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I can hide my tongue behind my soft palate.

I've said to my kids, "Where's my tongue?", then opened my mouth and it's not there.

I can also make a mushy pile of skin on my knee by gathering skin inside the circle of my thumb and index finger (like an ok sign). It feels gross when you push it.

I'm a fun dad.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I can stop a microwave on zero. Not 1. 0.

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I can smell when it's going to snow.

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[–] [email protected] 15 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I know the frog mating calls for all species of frogs in my area and volunteer for the local DNR to survey frog populations in my county. It's a good indicator of water quality.

I took a random amphibian research class as an elective, loved it, and still do it 20+ years later.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Tuvan throat singing. Nobody knows I can do it. I perfected it during a 3hr commute to work each day for a decade.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Was that commute in solitude in your car or, like, public transport?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Please answer this.

Maybe your one of those local famous people everyone in town knows about, but nobody from out of town has ever heard about, you might be called, the red-line throat singer, the train seat growler...

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Hahaha solitude for sure. I'm sure I'd get kicked off of public transport. It can bother people like bagpipes can, especially for any length of time. For me it puts me into a mellow meditative state.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 days ago (2 children)

The only contests I ever won were an eating contest (6 large Pizzas) and one where I had to correctly identify 6 different brands of Cola in a blind test.
My other biggest strength is extreme long distance endurance. I'm not fast, but I can be "not slow" for 40 hours.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Taco Bell gave me a "golden" PS4 a few years ago.

I also have ridiculous endurance. I can honestly say that an Amish crew told me that "No Englishman has ever outworked us before!" I appreciated their help, but I wanted that tree dealt with before it got any colder. Tree blew down in Hurricane Irene, and I needed it racked and ranked to start drying.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 2 days ago (9 children)

I can read text in any orientation, even if mirrored, as easily as if it was right side up / not mirrored. Not sure why, and almost completely useless, but was surprised to discover that supposedly not everyone can do this?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I can read and write the standard galactic alphabet from commander keen

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I'm completely ambidextrous. It comes into "handy" when one hand gets tired doing a task, like writing for a long time, but no one has ever noticed and I don't think anyone would be impressed.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 days ago

That sounds amazing. I'd give my left arm to be ambidextrous.

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