"I believe our future depends powerfully on how well we understand this Cosmos, in which we float like a mote of dust in the morning sky."
Useful notes on a variety of subjects, the purpose of which is threefold:
- To debunk common media stereotypes.
- To help you understand some media better.
- To inform (and sometimes entertain) about subjects common in storytelling.
Every specialized wiki will accumulate useful notes like these as it grows. Note, however, that this is not supposed to be an index of everything that exists in the real world — that is the purview of Wikipedia. We are a site about media and storytelling. As a rule of thumb, items to be added should either be commonly featured in media, or related to its creation and distribution in some way.
Useful Notes articles are not tropes and are not to be included in a work's trope list. Similarly, tropes are not to be used to describe the subject of a Useful Notes article directly. You may, however, list tropes that are commonly found in media portraying the subject.
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Arts, entertainment, mass media, and popular culture
Arts (painting, sculpting, photography, performance)
Audiovisual media (film and television)
General topics
- Film and television people:
- Cast and crew members:
- Film & TV Companies
- Media Classifications (for movies and TV shows)
Animation
- Animation (main topic)
- Anime & Manga
- History of Animation
- Supermarionation
Film
- Film (main topic)
- 3-D Movie
- American Film Institute
- Biker Media
- British Film Institute
- Dogme '95
- Film Formats
- French New Wave
- History of Hollywood
- Hollywood Accounting
- Home Video Distributors
- Mormon Cinema
- Short Film
- Visual Effects Artists
Television
- Television (main topic)
- Block Programming
- Casting Director
- Critics and Reviewers
- Deggans' Rule
- Mainstream Media
- Networks
- Network Executives
- Presenters
- Ratings
- Red Button Interactive
- The Rural Purge
- Segregated Commercial
- TV Licensing
- TV Strikes
- Tokusatsu
- State Broadcaster
- What Were They Thinking? The 100 Dumbest Events in Television History
Games and sports
General topics
Sports
- Sports (main topic)note
- Fantasy Sports
- Olympic Games
Tabletop games
- Tabletop Games (main topic)
- Battle Spirits
- BEER Engine
- Chess
- Dice
- Fate
- Forged in the Dark
- FUDGE
- Magic: The Gathering
- Mao
- Powered by the Apocalypse
- Random Number Generator
Video games
- Video Games (main topic)
- Console Wars
- Electronic Entertainment Expo
- Fighting Game
- Game Engine
- The History of Video Games
- How Video Game Specs Work
- Interactive Fiction Competition
- Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics (a.k.a. "the MDA model")
- Media Classifications (for video games)
- Mii
- PC vs. Console
- Professional Gaming
- Ren'Py
- Revenue-Enhancing Devices
- Swapnote
- Video Game A.I.
- Western RPG
- Xbox Avatars
Music
Print media (books and comics)
Human culture, social sciences, and world history
Culture and society (in general)
General topics
- Awards Index
- Funerals
- Graffiti
- Green Is Blue
- Hachikō
- Hat Shop
- Interacting with Persons Different Than Yourself
- Kawaisa
- Kimono
- Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
- Meditation
- Memetics
- Opera Gloves
- Real-Life People (lists of people from the real world)
Anthropology and ethnic/national/racial identity
- Africans
- Colorism
- Cultural Cringe
- German Russians
- Indigenous Australians
- The Irish Diaspora
- Mexican Americans
- Native Americans
- Turkic Peoples
Hobbies and subcultures
- Subcultures (main topic)
- Cyber Goth
- Furry Fandom
- Great Dickens Christmas Fair
- Juggalo
- Lolita Fashion
- Nudism
- Otherkin
- Skinheads
- Society for Creative Anachronism
- Whovians
Holidays:
Business and economics
- Economics (main topic)
- Bitcoin
- Business Organizations
- Companies (lists of notable businesses)
- Economic Theories
- Homelessness
- Inflation and Exchange Rates
Education
Folklore, legends, mythology, and religion
Folklore and mythology
- Folklore (main topic)
- Fables
- Fairy Tales
- Legends
- Mythology
- Urban Legends
Religion and theology
Food and drink
Food culture
- Culinary traditions around the world
- American Cuisine
- Australian Cuisine
- French Cuisine
- Medieval Food In Europe
- Mexican Cuisine
- National Drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks)
- Food and restaurant businesses
- Hunting
Specific types of food and drink
Gender and sexuality
General topics
- BDSM
- The Bechdel Test
- Erotica and Pornography (to understand the subject in an informative, non-titillating way)
- For the Love of Many (polyamory and polygamy)
- Westermarck Effect
Gender/romantic/sexual identity
- LGBT Community (in general)
- Lesbian/Gay
- Bisexual
- Transgender
- Sapphism (female bisexuality and lesbianism)
- Asexual
- Aromantic
- Homophobia
- Pride Parade
Geography and world history
Geography
- Lists of geographic locations:
- International Date Line
- The Seven Seas
- Seven Wonders of the World
- The West
- Third World
History
Language
General topics
- Linguistics (main topic)
- Commonly Misused Words
- Emojis
- Fonts
- Grammar in Foreign Languages
- Naming Conventions
- Separated by a Common Language
- Signed Language
- Tenses
Specific languages (and writing systems)
- Arabic Language
- Chinese Language
- Cyrillic Alphabet (multiple languages)
- Dutch Language
- English Language
- Esperanto, the Universal Language
- French Language
- German Language
- Greek Language
- Indian Languages (multiple languages of South Asia)
- Japanese Language
- Latin Alphabet (multiple languages)
- Latin Language
- Norwegian Language
- Portuguese Language
- Russian Language
- Spanish Language
- Toki Pona
Law and crime
Codes of law
- Indian Laws
- Intellectual Property
- The Laws and Customs of War
- United States Constitution:
Crime and criminality
- Criminals (main topic)
- Columbine High School Massacre
- Organized crime:
- The Mafia
- Metro-Specific Underworld (criminal gangs around the world)
Crime investigation and law enforcement
- IC Number (British police code for ethnicity)
- Identification by Dental Records
- Police Forces (by country)
- Reading Your Rights
- Sus Law
Judicial and penal systems
- Court Systems
- Jails and prisons
- Staying Out of Legal Trouble (staying out of jail and court)
Military and warfare
General topics
Military organizations and personnel
- Big Brother Is Watching This Index (national intelligence agencies, both civilian and military)
- Forces with Firepower (national militaries around the world)
- Common Military Ranks
- Common Military Units
- The Modern-Day Rambo (special forces units)
- Military Personnel (individual soldiers)
Military vehicles and transportation
- Armored Fighting Vehicles
- Military Animals (animals for transportation and other uses)
- Mounted Combat (horses and equestrianism in warfare)
- Naval Gazing (naval ships and aquatic combat)
- History of Naval Warfare
- Naval Weapons
- Types of Naval Ships
- Naval Aviation (flying aircraft off ships)
- Plane Spotting (military aircraft and aerial combat)
Military weapons and other technology
- When You Need Something Dead (weapons in general)
- Air-Launched Weapons
- Archery
- Firearms
- Swords
- Weapons of mass destruction:
- Atomic Hate (nuclear weapons)
- The Poor Man's Atomic Bomb (biological, chemical, and radiological weapons)
Philosophy
Politics
General topics
- Big International Clubs
- Misplaced Nationalism
- Political people
Political movements
Politics by country
- American Political System
- Australian Politics
- British Political System
- Canadian Politics
- French Political System
- German Political System
- Irish Political System
- Israeli Political System (the parts that don't deal with the Arab–Israeli Conflict)
- Japanese Political System
- Mexican Politics
- Russian Political System (modern, not Soviet)
- Singapore Politics
- Standard European Political Landscape
Psychology
- Psychology (main topic)
- Abuse
- Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse
- Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
- Autism
- Big Five Personality Traits
- Bipolar Disorder
- Cults
- Depression
- Dyslexia
- The Enneagram
- Holmes & Rahe Stress Scale
- Id, Superego, & Ego
- IQ Testing
- Lack of Empathy
- Logical Fallacies
- Mensa
- Myers–Briggs
- Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
- Oedipus Complex
- Passive Aggressive
- Personality Disorders
- Relational Models Theory
- Stockholm Syndrome
- Suicide
- Trigger
- Victim-Blaming
Technology (non-military)
Computer hardware/software and information technology
- Acorn Archimedes
- Alice and Bob
- Amiga
- Android
- Apple ][
- Apple Macintosh
- Application Programming Interface
- Artificial Intelligence
- Assistive Technology
- Automated Dialogue Recording
- Backwards Compatibility
- BB Code
- BBC Micro
- Beta Test
- Blue Screen of Death
- Blu-ray
- British Postal and Telephone System
- CED
- The C Language
- Commodore 64
- Compact Disc
- Computer Wars
- The Deep Web
- Digital Rights Management
- DIVX
- DOS4GW
- DVD
- Encryption
- Eternal September
- Flash Memory
- Free/Libre Open Source Software
- Going Mobile
- High Definition
- Java
- Kickstarter
- LaserDisc
- Live2D
- Lua
- macOS
- Magnetic Disk
- Mass Storage
- Microsoft Office Assistant
- Microsoft Windows
- MikuMikuDance
- MP3
- Mozilla Firefox
- MS Paint
- North American Numbering Plan (phone numbers in the US, Canada, and several other countries)
- 555 – originated in the NANP
- 900 Number – ditto
- Operating System
- Optical Disc
- Python
- Raspberry Pi
- Region Coding
- Ruby
- Rust
- ScummVM
- SD Card
- Two-Way Radio
- UNIX
- Usenet
- User Operation Prohibit Flag
- VCR — includes Betamax and VHS
- Web 2.0
- Wine
Vehicles and transportation systems
- Airships
- Amtrak
- Deutsche Bahn
- Electric Vehicles
- High Speed Rail
- Long Island Railroad
- Motorcycle Safety
- National Rail
- New Jersey Transit
- Rockets and Propulsion Methods
- The Space Race
- World Subways
Other technology
Natural and physical sciences
Natural sciences (in general)
General topics
- Science (main topic)
- The Scientific Method
Astronomy and outer space
Chemistry and physics
- Chemistry and material substances
- Fire and Explosive Safety
- Quantum Physics
- Relativity
- Schrödinger's Cat
- Energy
Earth sciences
- Climate, weather, and meteorology
- Physical geography and geology
Mathematics
Biology and life sciences
General topics
Animals and zoology
Human physiology, health and medicine
- Back Pain and How to Prevent It
- The Balmis Expedition
- Corrective Lenses
- CPR
- Defibrillators
- Epilepsy
- Identification by Dental Records
- Infectious disease outbreaks
- The Black Death (bubonic plague)
- COVID-19 Pandemic (coronavirus disease 2019)
- The Spanish Flu (H1N1 influenza)
- Puberty
- The Red Cross
- Triage
