Removed from under the example about using emergency vehicles to get through traffic when not on emergency business:
Because (1) they're not ALL hot, (2) not ALL people who can see them are women or gay men (no offense intended, but female firefighters generally aren't included in the "they're all hot" stereotype), (3) not all women and gay men are mollified by hotness when confronted with rude behavior, (4) there actually ARE attractive cops and medics too, and most importantly (5) it has nothing to do with the trope, at best a Justifying Edit.
Some spoilers for "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" are in this. Be warned.
Joseph Curwen used his necromancy for obtaining obscure historical facts, among other things that were more important. As far as I can tell, not all of these historical facts were useful in any of his plans. It seemed as though Joseph Curwen may have had a hobby of obtaining obscure trivia. If the last sentence is accurate, should we had Joseph Curwen as an example?
Moved the Chieftain tank example to Disproportionate Retribution's real life section.
Masami Phoenix: I removed the following, because using your assassin skills to stop assassinations is not a mundane use.
- Super-competent assassin teams used for crimefighting and bodyguard detail. This is The Open Door. "It takes a thief to know a thief" comes to mind. Assassins are trained to know how to best assassinate people, so they would know best on how to guard against assassinations, simply by knowing what they would do in that situation.
It probably was included because of the Ankh-Morporkh Assassin's College line. Thing is, the AM Assassin's College is included because you can learn history and philosophy as much as you can how to avoid getting a dagger in the ribs.
Linking to a past Trope Repair Shop thread that dealt with this page: Rename, started by thatother1dude on Nov 16th 2010 at 2:32:51 AM
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman