Lost in Lualand

What's the most niche museum you've ever been to?

(derived from a delightful lunch conversation, in which we discussed some tribal-black-magic museum so obscure Google could not summon it, and a telecommunications museum that apparently is like church: only open Sundays, and a couple very niche artists' museums, etc)

My own answer is probably either the National Ainu Museum in Sapporo, or the Fillmore County Historical Society Museum in Fountain, Minnesota, which punches SHOCKINGLY far above its weight—I was there mostly because I happened to be in the area, and I found myself totally enthralled with all these old musical instruments you were allowed to just... play? and old Civil War diaries you could read with your own two hands? and just so much totally random Americana stuff in a giant room for you to sift through? Delightful.

(Also, while I don't think this makes the cut because it's technically not niche enough, it's so cool I always have to mention it: the Living Computer Museum is an absolute delight; it's packed with a bajillion old computers and you are allowed to play with ALL OF THEM; it's so fun and god I hope they come back post-covid and such...!)

Feel free to answer here, if you so choose! or just save it in your back pocket next time you need entertaining cocktail party discussion-starters :P

ETA (Sept 28, 2022): someone made a Twitter thread to this effect & the replies are great

What's a recent trend in your field (or topic of study, or art form, or whatever) that you think is nonsense?

I was thinking about this while reminiscing over an old job I had—I worked closely with a dude who'd been a DC-area public school teacher for several years before becoming a programmer, and he was comparing the latest nonsense javascript framework to the weird, cyclical trendiness of various trends in education. (i.e., there was a trend in the 1970s where people tried to do classes with no rooms, with the idea kiddos could freely drift to whatever teacher was teaching stuff most relevant to their skill level, instead of having to stick with just their age-grade. This led to building a lot of schools with very open rooms, and those rooms were partitioned via awkward cardboard-ish barricades shortly after everyone realized this is total chaos and not helpful to anyone. Apparently that trend made a brief comeback in the 2000's!)

I asked a literature PhD student this, and he pointed to thing theory. Medical resident friend said medical science probably suppresses more avenues than it should, leading to a bit less of such trendiness, which is an interesting alternative spectrum.

I could... write a book about everything I think is a dumb trend in software, of course :P

suppose you were a super-duper-bajillionaire, to the tune of Warren Buffet or Bill Gates levels of money. what kind of super-duper-bajillionaire would you be?

some rich-people archetypes, for the sake of illustration:

* Bill Gates. Start your own philanthropic organization. Make it The Best at what it does. Wipe out bad shit in third world countries, etc.

* Paul Allen. Basically made Seattle his town, in a good way. Buys old historic buildings/theaters/etc in order to preserve them, funds museums and art galleries and sci-fi museums and nerd shit, owns a football team, all that good stuff.

* Koch Brothers. Silently influence the great political powers to do your bidding with your giant, giant wads o' cash! (Hopefully for slightly less evil ends than what they're aiming for...)

note that the question isn't meant to be a "would you be a selfish jerk, spending all your money on yourself, or would you be Good (TM) and work for Good Things (TM)"—e.g., Paul Allen still gives away half his wealth to charitable causes. he's just a little more passionate and active on the "making Seattle rad" side of things, and turns out at that level of wealth you can give away billions and own a football team.

anyway, contemplate & discuss at will :P