Nagorno Karabakh is a beautiful land with fascinating history. The Western media is ignoring the ongoing human rights abuses of ethnic Armenians in the region. Here is the latest on history repeating itself: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-visit-a-warzone-part-2
I’ve been to Metsovo once. Vlach stronghold in Greece, very good cheese and distinct architecture. Word etymology, especially place names that reveal older language substrates I’m pretty sure would count as a niche interest.
some of my obscure areas of interest: Lee Kuan Yew, Columbo character actors, Gulf War air campaign, yacht rock, and probably the biggest one (technically not obscure, though) is Stanley Kubrick
Apr 10, 2023·edited Apr 10, 2023Liked by Niccolo Soldo
Homeopathy.
The idea that miniscule amounts of minerals and poisons and other organic materials can heal us...it's astonishing to me. And it has healed me and my family and my pets, again and again over a decade.
It hints at the fact that our model of reality is completely wrong. Our world is much more mysterious and beautiful and miraculous than we can imagine.
I like planes and air travel, like any self-respecting autist. A system of machines and processes that enables you to not only go much faster and much higher than any living thing, but even be bored doing it!
I have a longstanding interest in golf course architecture. It is how I found Sailer of all things. I belong to golf course architecture clubs/societies. I go on about a trip a year to interesting/new/historic courses to meet other obsessives. Dozens of books.
Even other golfers look at us like we are nuts. One guy pours over steamship manifests to prove a point about which architect built which course (many highly debated and the origin of Merion ended decades-long friendships).
Etymology (a buttery has nothing to do with dairy but is a place for your butts, which are a kind of barrel; a bottle is a little butt; a butler takes care of your butts). Paleoanthropology/aDNA (just did a substack post on some of my favorite books on the topic). Richard Nixon (Frazerian sacrificial king for America).
Esoterica tends to attract those who are on a spiritual journey. Are you on a spiritual journey?
The proper term for someone who makes a living from studying a niche area of interest is scholar.
By comparison, I'm a professional dilettante. Jack of all trades, master of none. The closest I have to a niche interest is FreeBasic programming. In theory, an operating system could be written in FB.
If you want to explore some very trenchant critiques of metaphysical materialism, check out the contemporary Dutch philosopher/computer scientist Bernardo Kastrup.
I can also say, as a former scientific skeptic/cringe internet atheist, that the whole world of esotericism and occultism is if nothing else extremely and genuinely interesting; all the more so when you consider what a big part of the lives of many great geniuses from Bruno to Newton it was. If it’s something that interests you also, then I’d love to point you to some works of interest.
Apr 10, 2023·edited Apr 10, 2023Liked by Niccolo Soldo
I love the Marx Brothers, though it's hard for me to articulate why; you articulated your own reasons pretty well, and I pretty much agree with most of them. I had some indirect exposure to them growing up but really got into them after hearing Woody Allen say how heavily his own comedy was influenced by Groucho, which motivated me to rent what movies of theirs I could find from my local Blockbuster. Really love a Night at the Opera and a Day at the Races. And then it was fun to see how many traces of their influence ran through our culture, from the names of Queen albums to the character of Bugs Bunny, to the novelty glasses/mustache combo worn by kids, etc. I really like that so many of their movies are set in this timeless never-never land that seems made of the same stuff as Wind in the Willows, Narnia, fairy tales, etc., and as you noted, they showcase a fun combination of silly physical comedy with Groucho's more sophisticated wit and mannerisms. Hopefully their appeal outlives that 80-year time horizon!
Now I know why I like this Substack so much. Some of mine: mid-century Los Angeles, say the 1920’s to the 1960’s, geography, development, architecture, the criminal scene; the Austro-Hungarian Empire and associated Central European culture; the history of political repression.
"Energy" is something that seemed really abstract to me, until I saw a World Series baseball game in person - Jays v Braves. Crazy.
But my idea for Ontario Hellaproject is why not build a causeway from Port Dalhousie to Port Credit, and drain the entire western part of Lake Ontario? I don't know if this is practical (well, I do actually) but the result would be amazingly useful.
Apr 10, 2023·edited Apr 10, 2023Liked by Niccolo Soldo
Old-fashion race science, like when anthropologists were measuring people's cephalic index. At first glance it seems like the thing hakan would parody but the amount insight and eclectic sources(Linguistics, anthropology, history, archeology) they would use. A lot of them discovered things that are being confirmed by genetics in the modern day, despite using less technical methods. Makes you wonder how lazy modern day "intellectuals" have gotten when they have computers do everything for them. I got into it mainly to study the history of my own ethnic group. Surprisingly, I haven't seen anything that was considered hateful or prejudiced in them contrary to what most people think. Idk if it reflected the beliefs of the men who wrote it or if they tried to remain value-free. A lot of them wrote glowingly of my group so maybe I'm biased idk
The other would be Counter-Enlightenment/Anti-liberal thinkers, people like Burke, R.L Dabney, and especially Vico.
I also have to mention post-millennialism. I'm not really interested in the theology of it, rather how various theologians thought of the world around them and how it squared with their eschatology. Some even made predictions and tables, one person( a Scottish Covenanter forgot his name) predicted the fall of the Ottoman Empire and caliphate( he said a large scale conversion of Asia to Christianity would follow we shall see lel). Tbh it might be somewhat of way of whitepilling myself lol. They were are all so accurate about what happen in the modern world but they insisted what would follow would be a time of Christian prosperity, so my interest might be trying to convince myself of the veracity of their claims.
There are dozens more that I could have listed, but these will do for now.
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What are your niche/obscure/arcane interests? Let us know in the comments.
Nagorno Karabakh is a beautiful land with fascinating history. The Western media is ignoring the ongoing human rights abuses of ethnic Armenians in the region. Here is the latest on history repeating itself: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/how-to-visit-a-warzone-part-2
I’ve been to Metsovo once. Vlach stronghold in Greece, very good cheese and distinct architecture. Word etymology, especially place names that reveal older language substrates I’m pretty sure would count as a niche interest.
some of my obscure areas of interest: Lee Kuan Yew, Columbo character actors, Gulf War air campaign, yacht rock, and probably the biggest one (technically not obscure, though) is Stanley Kubrick
Homeopathy.
The idea that miniscule amounts of minerals and poisons and other organic materials can heal us...it's astonishing to me. And it has healed me and my family and my pets, again and again over a decade.
It hints at the fact that our model of reality is completely wrong. Our world is much more mysterious and beautiful and miraculous than we can imagine.
I like planes and air travel, like any self-respecting autist. A system of machines and processes that enables you to not only go much faster and much higher than any living thing, but even be bored doing it!
I have a longstanding interest in golf course architecture. It is how I found Sailer of all things. I belong to golf course architecture clubs/societies. I go on about a trip a year to interesting/new/historic courses to meet other obsessives. Dozens of books.
Even other golfers look at us like we are nuts. One guy pours over steamship manifests to prove a point about which architect built which course (many highly debated and the origin of Merion ended decades-long friendships).
Hello fellow bumpkin.
Oh, I find it ridiculous that the nature of bumpkiness is so hotly contested. Just typical Balkan/East EU lunacy IMHO.
Etymology (a buttery has nothing to do with dairy but is a place for your butts, which are a kind of barrel; a bottle is a little butt; a butler takes care of your butts). Paleoanthropology/aDNA (just did a substack post on some of my favorite books on the topic). Richard Nixon (Frazerian sacrificial king for America).
Esoterica tends to attract those who are on a spiritual journey. Are you on a spiritual journey?
The proper term for someone who makes a living from studying a niche area of interest is scholar.
By comparison, I'm a professional dilettante. Jack of all trades, master of none. The closest I have to a niche interest is FreeBasic programming. In theory, an operating system could be written in FB.
If you want to explore some very trenchant critiques of metaphysical materialism, check out the contemporary Dutch philosopher/computer scientist Bernardo Kastrup.
I can also say, as a former scientific skeptic/cringe internet atheist, that the whole world of esotericism and occultism is if nothing else extremely and genuinely interesting; all the more so when you consider what a big part of the lives of many great geniuses from Bruno to Newton it was. If it’s something that interests you also, then I’d love to point you to some works of interest.
I love the Marx Brothers, though it's hard for me to articulate why; you articulated your own reasons pretty well, and I pretty much agree with most of them. I had some indirect exposure to them growing up but really got into them after hearing Woody Allen say how heavily his own comedy was influenced by Groucho, which motivated me to rent what movies of theirs I could find from my local Blockbuster. Really love a Night at the Opera and a Day at the Races. And then it was fun to see how many traces of their influence ran through our culture, from the names of Queen albums to the character of Bugs Bunny, to the novelty glasses/mustache combo worn by kids, etc. I really like that so many of their movies are set in this timeless never-never land that seems made of the same stuff as Wind in the Willows, Narnia, fairy tales, etc., and as you noted, they showcase a fun combination of silly physical comedy with Groucho's more sophisticated wit and mannerisms. Hopefully their appeal outlives that 80-year time horizon!
Now I know why I like this Substack so much. Some of mine: mid-century Los Angeles, say the 1920’s to the 1960’s, geography, development, architecture, the criminal scene; the Austro-Hungarian Empire and associated Central European culture; the history of political repression.
Several of these coincide with mine, somewhat.
"Energy" is something that seemed really abstract to me, until I saw a World Series baseball game in person - Jays v Braves. Crazy.
But my idea for Ontario Hellaproject is why not build a causeway from Port Dalhousie to Port Credit, and drain the entire western part of Lake Ontario? I don't know if this is practical (well, I do actually) but the result would be amazingly useful.
It is almost a curse to be interested in so many things, I believe, and astonishing that most others seem to have so few interests.
Old-fashion race science, like when anthropologists were measuring people's cephalic index. At first glance it seems like the thing hakan would parody but the amount insight and eclectic sources(Linguistics, anthropology, history, archeology) they would use. A lot of them discovered things that are being confirmed by genetics in the modern day, despite using less technical methods. Makes you wonder how lazy modern day "intellectuals" have gotten when they have computers do everything for them. I got into it mainly to study the history of my own ethnic group. Surprisingly, I haven't seen anything that was considered hateful or prejudiced in them contrary to what most people think. Idk if it reflected the beliefs of the men who wrote it or if they tried to remain value-free. A lot of them wrote glowingly of my group so maybe I'm biased idk
The other would be Counter-Enlightenment/Anti-liberal thinkers, people like Burke, R.L Dabney, and especially Vico.
I also have to mention post-millennialism. I'm not really interested in the theology of it, rather how various theologians thought of the world around them and how it squared with their eschatology. Some even made predictions and tables, one person( a Scottish Covenanter forgot his name) predicted the fall of the Ottoman Empire and caliphate( he said a large scale conversion of Asia to Christianity would follow we shall see lel). Tbh it might be somewhat of way of whitepilling myself lol. They were are all so accurate about what happen in the modern world but they insisted what would follow would be a time of Christian prosperity, so my interest might be trying to convince myself of the veracity of their claims.