comment: >
  
  You’re correct, it’s pretty clear from the article as well. It’s saying he’s not an academic or expert
context: Cool that this dude found a receptive audience for his ideas and was listened to >
  
  Good thing he didn’t try to bring it to Reddit. >
  
  Finding an authority in subject matter will always yield better results than shouting into the aether. >
  
  but but but...according to redditors they are THE authority on EVERYTHING! >
  
  Strange dots indicate animal reproductive cycles based off of the lunar cycle. An amateur discovered the correlation. >
  
  It's a very interesting article.  I wonder if it applies to both human and Neanderthal paintings. >
  
  I'm sometimes embarrassed by the arrogance of my fellow Brits.
  'Despite him being a person off the street'.
  Fuck off... >
  
  from phrases.org.uk:
  "Off the streets
  Posted by Smokey Stover on August 29, 2008 at 13:56
  In Reply to: Off the streets posted by Mike on August 29, 2008 at 11:02:
  : What does the phrase "off the streets" imply? Used in the context of a new person coming into a place with no prior knowledge of the person.
  Mike, are you quite sure you mean "off the streets" as opposed to "off the street"? It makes a good deal of difference. Someone in your office may say something like, "John? Oh, I think the boss just hired him off the street. He doesn't seem to have any training, and doesn't seem to know what he's doing." Or possibly, "Janice just hired him off the street, as he looked like a potentially good model." I don't know if this fits what you had in mind, but it seems possible. In this sense, "off the street" is not too far distant from "out of nowhere."
  On the other hand, "off the streets" is where you try to get someone whose manner of living is dangerous to himself or to others, who lives too close to the seamy side of life. We try to get criminals off the streets and into detention, for the most part. We try to get friends and relatives who have become junkies or prostitutes or drunken bums off the streets and into rehabilitation.
  The distinction I have made is probably not rigidly adhered to, but seems to me to be generally observed.
  SS
  "
  So I think it is an idiom meaning a random person as you would find when picking someone at random from the street, not necessarily a vagabond, bum or vagrant.
  (I may be wrong,  not a Brit) >
  
  You’re correct, it’s not an often-used phrase but it’s not limited to British English, it’s also in American English. >
  
  I would have thought he meant it as a way to tell the audience that he wasn’t a known figure in that field. Just someone who had a curiosity and willingness to find out what those dots/dashes meant. 
  It’s like someone contacting Albert Einstein about a math equation he’s working on..and Albert being like..”hmm, well keep at it! And then him telling his friend that he’s just some guy trying to solve this equation.”