I’ve always loved flashlights. Yes FLASHLIGHTS with an A!!! Anyway, apparently not many people share my rather niche interest.
So I ask you, fellow Lemmites, what are your hobbies and weird obsessions that you can ramble on about for hours?
Please feel free to ramble on about your passions here. Maybe you’ll find some likeminded individuals!
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Fiber arts: popular ones like knitting and crocheting, but I also have a spinning wheel and really enjoy spinning yarn. I used to have a loom, but I didn’t really enjoy weaving so I sold it. Lately I’ve been really in to darning socks and visible mending generally. Fortunately there are tons of fiber arts meetups and online communities so it’s easy to find other people who are into any niche area.
It always makes the hobby more enjoyable when you have others to share the joy with. I’m happy you have a large group to enjoy!
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Really? What is your favorite kind of balls? Have you ever considered doing it professionally? There is definitely a market for it.
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That’s not unique. The whole world sucks balls. Every millenial’s life sucks balls. Your mom sucks balls.
- Packing: backpacks, bags, organizers, compression sacks, all kinds of things like this. People loathe packing while I just love to play Tetris with my perfectly organized stuff. I have too many bags.
- Role-playing games: it is weird because I mostly collect them since there’s no time to play (nor to learn new rules).
- Automation: why spend 2 minutes manually something when I can spend 2 hours failing to automate it?
Hah yes. Packing.
We were allowed one trunk to take to school. Regardless of weight, you could take whatever you could fit in the trunk.
Needless to say, that when a family member complains they can’t fit any more into their bag, generally I’ll be able to repack it with loads of space left.
I too, have too many bags. And I managed to get my camping base weight down to about 8kg. Am not rich enough (or mad enough) to go full ultralight. This is with creature comforts.
Oh man do I feel that roleplaying one. That was me for like 8 years until I got a new play group again. We don’t meet as often as any of us would like but when we do meet up that’s when the shenanigans start. Now I could gush for hours about various DnD stories I’ve gotten with this group
Also the automation one is great too, I spent 2 hours setting up a spreadsheet that tracks my finances (mostly) automatically. It will even tally up totals for the whole year. It’s great.
Role-playing games: it is weird because I mostly collect them since there’s no time to play (nor to learn new rules).
Im the same, I love a good universe. Im not so enthralled with the game or the system, but the worlds they are in get me every time.
Yep. Frigging White Wolf sourcebooks are the worst for me. I’ll just read the whole thing as if it were a standard fiction book. The entire setting just gnaws at my mind. I wish there were long forms of the little blurbs you get in them.
So are you like just reading about the lore around it?
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Warframe. I’ve been with the game since it’s founding and find it to be a blast. The evolving story as they tried out new things and reworking core mechanics with huge improvements is just something I deeply enjoy.
Lately I’ve really been into making and integrating home automation devices.
Mostly I’m just trying to ensure my privacy in an increasingly non-private world, but it’s a fun medley of skills to deploy - 3d printing, soldering, electrical engineering, a bit of programming, and even some carpentry work.
Is it a lot of coding? Hardware? What about it do you find to he the most satisfying?
Regarding coding, it sort of depends - if you build lights driven by WLED, it can be as simple as getting the parts together and visiting a website. (There are now even plug in, no solder boards you can buy.) But there are some platforms such as HomeSpan, where you more or less configure the whole thing from the ground up and it can be involved.
The hardware requirements are sort of piecemeal, but all of my home automation stuff - microcontrollers, sensors, switches, etc, all fit into a relatively small toolbox (and a totally messy workbench). Most components (aside from tools) aren’t super expensive, but LED strips and power supplies can get spendy.
I’ve been doing smart home stuff for a while, and have a slew of systems that, well… many years ago I didn’t think about how they leaked my data, or really cared how easy it was to integrate things. I’d just install a new app, throw a new bridge onto my network, etc. After a while, the question of what device is on what app, or if this sensor can trigger that action/device is burdensome.
I get a lot of satisfaction out of reducing the complexity of my digital life, and knowing that there’s less vulnerable points within my network (and less data about me leaking out).
Life, and the business of living is really challenging. My wife and I have ADHD, and being able to reduce even minor burdens frees both of us up to focus more on just living. (And sometimes it’s just fun to have rainbow swirly lights!)
vacuums, why would I spend 100€ on a shopvac when I could do it myself for 200€ or even more?
Interesting. Do you design and 3d print them?
A true DIYer!
Though, sometimes you get lucky and despite it costing more… you end up with a better product, say worth £150 but also gained at least 50¥ in knowledge and entertainment/joy. A worthwhile investment. Sometimes.
- Photography. Analogue or digital.
- Computing.
- Electronics.
- Music, learning how to play and read sheet music.
- Bushcraft.
- Hockey.
- Pens, collecting stationery.
That’s photography with a hoto, not an orn!
What would analogue pornography be?
A magazine?
Edit: would it be a prostitute?
Of course it’s a magazine. Forgot about those. I’ve not done that kind of photography before tho.
A 900 number? I didn’t think this through.
Flashlights are an interesting one. I somehow ended up in [email protected] and it’s definitely a unique hobby. I’m not sure if I’m willing to really join all of you yet, but reading the posts can be pretty cool.
For me, it’s probably CRTs, other display technologies and old hardware in general. It’s fun to tinker around with stuff. And playing games, be it new or old, on CRTs is what I live for.
I highly suggest a Convoy or Sofirn flashlight if you ever get into flashlights. Both are very reliable for an extremely reasonable price.
As for CRTs, are there any advantages to CRT over other display types? Is it a personal preference?
Haha thanks for your suggestions, I’ll look into it :)
And with CRTs, yeah, they can be pretty good. Of course, a calibrated CRT has perfect black levels, but that’s not even the best part. OLED and Plasma can do that too, after all. What I love about CRTs is the motion clarity. During motion, every display except CRTs becomes blurry. That’s the most important part for me. It makes a night and day difference for games.
I made a post about a high end CRT monitor here. This monitor can go up to 1440p or up to 160hz (not both at the same time, though). I love it.
And of course, a standard definition CRT is awesome for any pre HD console. They look awesome.
So yeah, I think we definitely lost something with the transition to LCD and OLED. I hope I didn’t get into to much detail here, once I start with talking about the greatness of CRTs, it’s hard to stop :)
My brother loves o lights I think they’re called, apparently there’s like a whole community for just buying and selling this specific type of light so you aren’t alone XD for me I love Rubik’s cube type puzzles and lightsabers, I’ve made my own lightsabers and code in my own lights :) I feel like my friends are tired of hearing me talk about it XD
I’ve always heard that olights were known to lie about specs. I have also heard they have an ugly idea of customer service. Has he heard of sofirn or convoy? If you think he has enough lights, he needs more. From more companies!
I feel the pain of friends getting tired of hearing about your obsessions. That is kinds why I made the post. Lemmy is just a bunch of crazy nerds and geeks.
Oh and, do you have any photos of the lightsabers? Any favorites or stories about making them?
I’ve not heard of those, I’ll have to ask him if he knows about them! And true that lol. And I really like this one from sabertrio, and I think I’m just really enjoying the community and being a part of everyone’s enthusiasm for the hobby :)
I like socks. All kinds. Footie socks, ankle, calf length, knee high, thigh high, stockings… I’ve only just realized this in the last year or so but now I’m constantly wearing fun socks.
What is an example of a fun sock?
Well, currently I have on a pair of knit mid-thigh socks and they’re fun. But I also got a pack of socks recently that have designs celebrating Ichiraku Ramen from Naruto Shippuden, and my Christmas gift from a good friend was some toe-socks with rubber grips on the bottom - Quite unique and fun to wear.
I can ramble about a few things:
- AI - very new, unconventional, scary, interesting and fascinating in a lot of different ways, mostly in ways most ppl don’t really think about
- US Law - I’m european and I’m not a lawyer in any shape or form but Depp v Heard sucked me in and now I have so much knowledge about the US law that it’s flowing out of my brain every once in a while
- Computer Science - with varying degrees of proficiency, obv things like software dev, game Dev, stuff like 3d composition, music production, but also some more specific ones like pentesting, some cryptography or scripting.
Check out the blf forums. Reddit also used to have a great flashlight community but I avoid that site now. There are flashlight communities on Lemmy and kbin. Cheule is a good YouTube channel to check out.
Thank you for the recommendations, I actually made a BLF account soon after the reddit affairs. I think I mentioned this somewhere else in the thread, but I’ve been pretty deep in flashlights for some time (don’t say a word) and have known about BLF since forever ago!
I’ve never seen Cheule though. I’ll be sure to check them out.
Falconry. It’s really more of a lifestyle than a hobby now though. I’ve been doing it for a little over 10 years now and am currently flying a cast (group of birds flown together) of 3 Harris’s Hawks.
Quick faqs:
- I use the glove and everything
- It’s a hunting sport, we catch rabbits 3-5 times a week
- We all go out together, I flush they catch
- No, they do not bring what they catch back to me, I go to them
- They don’t eat the whole rabbit, I trade them a small reward
- They are completely free flighted when doing this
- I’ve trained them just enough to get them back and work with me, they know how to do bird things naturally
- They don’t really go for your eyes, and getting bit hurts 50x less than getting footed
- They are not rescues and are perfectly healthy
- Mine are captive bred, but some are wild trapped
- Wild trapping has 0 effect on native populations, 50-90% of raptors don’t make it through their first year
- Even though mine are captive bred they are still wild animals, they are just tamed.
- This is the most regulated sport in the US
Birbs:
Amazing!!!
Thanks for paying the bird tax!
Do you like owls? How smart are the birds? Are they as smart as a talking raven?
I like owls but they are not used for Falconry because they have poor lateral thinking (Owl knows how to jump to the glove inside, take them outside owl knows nothing) and because we have to follow all hunting laws (can’t hunt after dark). But for people who can hunt after dark, using an owl sucks because it’s dark and you can’t see anything that happens. Most falconers just love to watch their birds fly and it’s hard to see them fly in the dark!
Harris’s hawks are one of the smartest hawk species but I’m sure ravens are smarter. I think they’ve gotten HHs to use a simple tool but they are not as proficient as ravens. But in my observations it only takes one single bad experience for most raptors to never want that experience to happen again. And on the flip side, if they get rewarded doing something once they will remember that for a long time
Owls sound a bit dumb. Though they’re still cute. I plan on training a local starling population to fetch me money and attack my enemies. I’m training them with Gregg’s. They’re already taking food from my hands.
You may like c/superbowl
Look at dose birbs!!
Who owns the birds? Are you tired of eating rabbit? It’s a really cool hobby!
Technically the US government owns the birds, but two of these are mine and one is my wife’s who is also a licensed falconer. We purchased them from licensed breeders. They are from, left to right, Nevada, Washington, Louisiana. They were shipped to us on an airplane and we picked them up at the airport.
Most of the rabbit goes back into feeding them over the summer when they are molting their feathers. I do make 2-3 rabbit dishes a year though. Last year I made sausage which was pretty good.
Does the government own ALL raptors, or are yours part of something like an airport bird removal project?
Idk if own is the correct term but the US regulates most native birds through the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and Falconry has a special exclusion from that act. But it’s along the same lines as just because a deer is in your yard it doesn’t mean you own that deer. You need permission from the government to take it.
Looked into this for a hobby. Was amazed at how well regulated it is and such a big commitment.
Leather working. I inherited my grandfather’s old hatchet and knife from when he was a boy scout, these 80+ year old relics had their original leather sheathes that were totally disintegrating and stiff. After looking fruitlessly for replacement sheathes I decided it couldn’t be that hard to make my own, and now I’m hooked. I have leather cases for all of my devices, leather bags for different traveling needs, and leather wallets and trinkets make the absolute best gifts. People are always blown away by hand made leather products.
Got any pics? That sounds cool!
I second this request
