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Sep. 4th, 2012 08:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynI have said a number of times in the past that I believe my purpose in life is to get data from where it is now to where it needs to be. I first realized this the day I had to comfort a woman whose car had been overwhelmed by Hurricane Floyd and was able to tell her, thanks to my own experience after a car accident, that insurance agencies and rental agencies would often do accident replacement rental rates for much less than the normal amount and that she could probably ask for one if she had evidence of what Floyd had done. This is not something I object to. I'm good with being the person who either knows the thing, or knows where to find the knowledge of the thing, or can put someone in touch with the source of the knowledge of the thing. When people need to know something in order for their lives to be better, or in order for someone else's lives to be better, I'm good with being the one who makes that possible.
However, like any other job or destiny or what have you, this one has a little bit of a dark side, and that's the fact that I get questions like the following from friends and family:
"What are the possible effects of radioactive iodine exposure on a first trimester pregnancy?"
"How would an EOD technician recognize a device as nuclear if he found one in a shipping container?"
"What are the chances of a second miscarriage after one that was the result of trisomy 14?"
"Would a one kiloton warhead be enough to take out an entire city, or just the port area?"
Etc.
More importantly, I can not only answer them, but I have to ask for further specifications because I know enough to know there are more variables at work. ("When in the first trimester?" "Did you mean something that just causes radiological contamination or are we talking actual nuclear detonation here?" etc.) And if I don't know the answer after clarification I can generally find it within about five to ten minutes.
Pretty sure that qualifies me for "Lore: Disturbing" in most gaming systems. I'm not complaining, you understand, I'm kind of proud of having that knowledge. I'm just saying.
And I promise to use it only for good.
However, like any other job or destiny or what have you, this one has a little bit of a dark side, and that's the fact that I get questions like the following from friends and family:
"What are the possible effects of radioactive iodine exposure on a first trimester pregnancy?"
"How would an EOD technician recognize a device as nuclear if he found one in a shipping container?"
"What are the chances of a second miscarriage after one that was the result of trisomy 14?"
"Would a one kiloton warhead be enough to take out an entire city, or just the port area?"
Etc.
More importantly, I can not only answer them, but I have to ask for further specifications because I know enough to know there are more variables at work. ("When in the first trimester?" "Did you mean something that just causes radiological contamination or are we talking actual nuclear detonation here?" etc.) And if I don't know the answer after clarification I can generally find it within about five to ten minutes.
Pretty sure that qualifies me for "Lore: Disturbing" in most gaming systems. I'm not complaining, you understand, I'm kind of proud of having that knowledge. I'm just saying.
And I promise to use it only for good.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 12:19 am (UTC)Here, icons suffice, I suppose.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 12:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 12:45 am (UTC)Let me know if you ever need any major cataclysm info, by the way. There's a really nicely disturbing scale of volcanic eruption power that tops out with "the last time we had one of these, it was winter for about fifteen years, and the human race may very well have been reduced to a population small enough to fit in Tigers Stadium in Detroit".