- potpie ( @potpie@beehaw.org ) English41•1 year ago
I’ve been getting into primitive technology lately. It all started when I looked at my back yard and thought hey, if we call it red clay, then I should be able to make it into pottery. I take dirt from my yard, levigate it, add grog and wedge, hand-build pots, and fire them in my fire pit. Been making sharpening stones from river rocks. Crafting replicas of Roman machines. That sort of thing.
- caseinpoint ( @caseinpoint@reddthat.com ) English7•1 year ago
Okay, this sounds cool as hell. Please post photos of this.
- meyotch ( @meyotch@slrpnk.net ) English6•1 year ago
That is an epic niche. Primitive skills are awesome. Have you ever read The Toaster Project? It’s a story about the attempt to build a ‘simple’ modern appliance starting with raw materials and only using primitive methods. Very insightful look into how complex our built environment really is.
- kalfa ( @kafa@lemmy.ml ) English4•1 year ago
are there other people doing it?
would be cool to see what you do and the various techniques!
- Mugmoor ( @Mugmoor@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English2•1 year ago
Yessss. There’s somethig incredibly satisfying about understanding the raw materials around us.
- minorsecond ( @minorsecond@lemmy.ml ) English40•1 year ago
Ham radio! It’s relaxing. My favorite activity is to take my portable gear to parks and operate Parks on the Air.
- GreatWhiteBuffalo41 ( @greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net ) English11•1 year ago
My brother used to be really big into his ham radio. It got smashed in his move and he never bought another one =\
What do you think about the baofeng radios with ham? Pretty good to start out with?
- minorsecond ( @minorsecond@lemmy.ml ) English5•1 year ago
They are fine for starting out with, but you’ll probably want to upgrade soon. There are better radios for around $75 if you can afford it.
What would you recommend? Is there a good mega thread here?
- minorsecond ( @minorsecond@lemmy.ml ) English6•1 year ago
Most activity, I’ve seen here: !amateurradio@lemmy.ko4abp.com but there’s a lemmy bug that’s not showing a bunch of posts. That should be resolved soon.
These are good cheaper radios (The price has gone up a bit)
- RoadieRich ( @RoadieRich@midwest.social ) English4•1 year ago
There’s also !amateur_radio@lemmy.radio which is reasonably active.
- TheThinker ( @TheThinker@lemm.ee ) English4•1 year ago
Ima be honest with ya, I believe those cheaper yaesus are actually practically baofengs component wise. But, they are still a bit better due to some higher quality components and wayyyy better QC. Just wanted to throw this out there.
- minorsecond ( @minorsecond@lemmy.ml ) English3•1 year ago
They’re pretty much baofengs with much better filtering, so you don’t get front end overloading which can be frustrating.
- TheThinker ( @TheThinker@lemm.ee ) English1•1 year ago
yup
- caseinpoint ( @caseinpoint@reddthat.com ) English3•1 year ago
I had no idea about Parks on the Air. Thanks! I’ll be checking out.
- DiscoShrew ( @DiscoShrew@lemmy.sdf.org ) English38•1 year ago
This could be niche, but I’m a fountain pen nerd. I love stationary, different types of papers inks and nibs and how they all influence the writing experience.
- Nowyn ( @Nowyn@sopuli.xyz ) English13•1 year ago
Fountain pens are also for some people more disability friendly. Handwriting has sucked for me as long as I remember as it causes a lot of pain and cramping. Fountain pens glide easier and I can write longer with one than with any other type of pen.
- emberwit ( @emberwit@feddit.de ) English1•1 year ago
Handwriting has sucked for me as long as I remember
So fountain pens are not the default tool for getting into handwriting everywhere? What did you use to learn to write with as a child?
- Stormyfemme ( @Stormyfemme@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
In the US most kids learn with pencils. When I was a kid we used wooden pencils until mechanical ones were eventually allowed and ballpoint pen usage typically was discouraged until high school. I settled on smooth flow liquid ink ball point type pens for extensive handwriting nowadays.
- Nowyn ( @Nowyn@sopuli.xyz ) English1•1 year ago
I’m Finnish. We also start with wooden pencils and graduate to either ballpoint pens or some kind of fineliner marker. I am the only person I know with a fountain pen who actually uses it for normal writing. Mainly because it hurts so much less.
- Hizeh ( @Hizeh@hizeh.com ) English10•1 year ago
+1 for fountain pens!
- HSL ( @hsl@wayfarershaven.eu ) English9•1 year ago
I’m starting to think fountain pens aren’t all that niche, especially given the lovely community at !fountainpens@wayfarershaven.eu
- DiscoShrew ( @DiscoShrew@lemmy.sdf.org ) English6•1 year ago
Oh nice, didn’t know that was a community. I’ll head on over.
- Kristho ( @Kristho@lemm.ee ) English2•1 year ago
It’s such a nice community!
- Chinzon ( @Chinzon@beehaw.org ) English2•1 year ago
Yes! +1 for fountain pens. They come in so many different styles and you can pick an even greater variety of inks
- raresbears ( @raresbears@iusearchlinux.fyi ) English24•1 year ago
I’m pretty into conlanging, which is basically making up languages. There are tons of different approaches and ways people can go about it, but like probably most (or at least a plurality of) other conlangers, I generally go for something as naturalistic as possible. I’m also into linguistics so it serves as kind of an interesting way to explore different features and grasp them better, as well as just an excuse to do more research to find out more about something.
- Wahots ( @Wahots@pawb.social ) English7•1 year ago
Oooh. Have you heard of that indigenous language that is the only one in the world that doesn’t have a grammar structure that requires words? So it can be spoken, or whistled with the same functionality. It’s stupid difficult to learn, but the thought of carrying entire conversations via whistling is incredibly intriguing to me.
I heard about it in an college anthropology class, and its been something I’ve marveled at occasionally ever since.
- Nyanix ( @Nyanix@lemmy.ca ) English6•1 year ago
Whoo! I’ve been spending the last year getting into Esperanto, and been slowly getting obsessed with how language works
- caseinpoint ( @caseinpoint@reddthat.com ) English3•1 year ago
Have you listened to this? It’s available on Audible and I found it mind blowing.
The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter, The Great Courses
- StringTheory ( @StringTheory@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
moku! sina pona!
- interolivary ( @interolivary@beehaw.org ) English23•1 year ago
I’ve been on a hiatus due to some medical stuff making it hard for me to concentrate, but I’m a lock nerd. I collect cool locks (“cool” being very subjective here 😅) and pick / manipulate them.
edit: here’s a tiny part of my collection. I’d upload more but I’m having a hard time with the mobile site and image uploads
- XmarkiertdenSpot ( @XmarkiertdenSpot@discuss.tchncs.de ) English3•1 year ago
These look so cool!
- interolivary ( @interolivary@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
Right?!
The coolest one I have is probably this weird prototype lock called the RKS or “RoboKey System”, which is sort of like a cross between a regular door lock (it’s in an Abloy body) and a safe combination lock. The idea behind it was that you’d have a small portable device (only slightly larger than a key fob) that would be used to dial open the lock, and that device would be remotely programmable, meaning access could be granted and revoked remotely (you’re just sending ). The prototype locks are cutaways so you can see what’s going on inside, but the “real” ones would have been completely sealed. Basically they’d have lots of the pros of electronic locks but without having to have powered and/or complicated locks that are sensitive to environmental conditions, so they would have been great in challenging environments where you’d want the upsides of electronic locks but can’t use the current ones (I think marine shipping was one thing they envisioned could benefit from them.) Unfortunately it didn’t take off, so some hundreds of prototypes are all that exist. They still make them on occasion, purely for us lock nerds 😄
- Alien Nathan Edward ( @reverendsteveii@lemm.ee ) English2•1 year ago
what’s up fellow locksport nerd?! I think people would be shocked how easy rudimentary picking is.
- interolivary ( @interolivary@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
A-ha, I knew there have to be lock nerds on Lemmy.
But yeah the basics are dead simple, you just need to have a light touch and listen to your fingers 😄
And so much of the stuff applies for the majority of lock mechanisms. A lot of it boils down to “apply tension, feel for pins / disks / sliders / wafers / whatever that don’t want to move and then you make them move, while leaving the other pins / etc. alone. Repeat until done”
- Yuki ( @Yuki@kutsuya.dev ) English22•1 year ago
Used to be sword fighting, but difficult after I got into an accident and can barely use my hand anymore…
- AlexWIWA ( @AlexWIWA@lemmy.ml ) English2•1 year ago
My condolences. I also lost a bunch of hobbies due to hand injuries. It’s depressing
- illi ( @illi@lemm.ee ) English2•1 year ago
What kind? Doing HEMA myself, though not as much as I’d like
- multicolorKnight ( @multicolorKnight@lemmy.ml ) English20•1 year ago
Roasting and brewing the best coffee I possibly can.
Installing open source operating systems or firmware on every device I can.
What’s your coffee setup(s) like? Pour over, espresso, drip?
- multicolorKnight ( @multicolorKnight@lemmy.ml ) English2•1 year ago
Gene Cafe roaster, Hario hand grinder and brewer. I usually do pour over, I do own a French press. If I want espresso, I’ll go out for it.
- potpie ( @potpie@beehaw.org ) English3•1 year ago
Have you ever gotten GNU/Hurd running on hardware?
- multicolorKnight ( @multicolorKnight@lemmy.ml ) English1•1 year ago
Only on a VM. Like a lot of less common OSs, drivers are a problem.
- Wahots ( @Wahots@pawb.social ) English3•1 year ago
I’m pretty sure you’re a long lost mutal friend, haha. A lot of my friends like this sort of thing too :)
- multicolorKnight ( @multicolorKnight@lemmy.ml ) English3•1 year ago
Ask one what’s their favorite flashed device…
- Wahots ( @Wahots@pawb.social ) English1•1 year ago
I’ll have to!
- roux is a lib ( @roux@lemmy.ml ) English20•1 year ago
I build custom mechanical keyboards. Got into it because of the Pandemic and now I have built 6 of them. /r/mk and /r/emk used to be some of my most visited subs on the other site. I’m now known as the goto for keyboard questions in my circles of friends.
I started getting into fidgeting more lately and took a liking to magnetic sliders and now have a few that I pretty much always have with me.
And that extended into me learning about begleri beads somehow so now I am attempting to learn that. I can do slips and 2 finger wraps and occasiaonal one finger or thumb wraps but not much else yet. I accidentally learned a stall because I messed up. I need to really learn transfers since that is one of the main things you do a lot of.
I think I am also amongst the hyperfixator group in this thread. I was previously into speedsolving Rubik’s cubes and roasting coffee so I feel a lot of these answers lol.
- aesopjah ( @aesopjah@lemm.ee ) English3•1 year ago
Found any good lemmy communities similar to the old /r’s? Used to love g what people came up with, especially with the trackball integrations and all that jazz
- roux is a lib ( @roux@lemmy.ml ) English4•1 year ago
Obosob is one of the main mods from the ergo mech sub and they are running https://lemmy.ml/c/ergomechkeyboards@lemmy.world. (I don’t know crosslike communities on here yet) but that sub is picking up. There is also https://lemmy.ml/c/mechanicalkeyboards. Both are gonna be slower than what reddit was like of course but I kind of like that. I haven’t seen much trackball stuff yet but right now there is a Fingerpunch board on the first page with one. I saw a Cirque build the other day too. and a hand full of sub-40% boards including one of mine!
- thegiddystitcher ( @thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee ) English19•1 year ago
Some more niche than others but basically…making stuff. Cross stitch, yarn crafts, sewing, needle felting, dicemaking, 3d printing, very occasional cosplay, I’m about to try my first macrame kit and a friend is planning for us to learn punch needle together.
There’s something just so satisfying about making real stuff you can use, or wear, or wash yourself with or whatever (I also briefly got into soapmaking).
If you want to chat about basically any craft (or just lurk and look at pretty projects, that’s ok too), I’ve been keeping a megalist of relevant communities and magazines here https://lemm.ee/post/224890. And if anyone reading this runs a related one that should be on the list please DM me to be added!
Are you on matrix? It is not letting me DM for some reason.
- thegiddystitcher ( @thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee ) English2•1 year ago
Oh weird! Been chatting to plenty of people so it works in general but maybe our instances are having issues today. I am not on Matrix yet, should probably sort that out this weekend really. Just sent you a test DM see if it’s broken both ways
Dice making is cool! I’ve been wanting to get a 3d printer to print some components for my skates!
- thegiddystitcher ( @thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee ) English6•1 year ago
You’ll buy it to make one thing and suddenly you’re printing everything and your whole life is made of plastic. Totes worth it though lol.
- teawrecks ( @teawrecks@sopuli.xyz ) English18•1 year ago
I like to yoyo. The other site had a “throwers” community that I enjoyed lurking in. I haven’t seen one show up here yet.
Where my throwers at?
- counselwolf ( @counselwolf@lemmy.fmhy.ml ) English7•1 year ago
maybe it’s time for you to make one
- teawrecks ( @teawrecks@sopuli.xyz ) English6•1 year ago
Yeah, I’ve considered it, I just don’t think I could commit to moderating it.
- caseinpoint ( @caseinpoint@reddthat.com ) English3•1 year ago
I feel the same way about so many topics
- Wahots ( @Wahots@pawb.social ) English2•1 year ago
Sub rehab might have it!
- teawrecks ( @teawrecks@sopuli.xyz ) English4•1 year ago
Already checked :/
- Wahots ( @Wahots@pawb.social ) English2•1 year ago
Damn. Lemmy is still pretty new.
- derekvof ( @derekvof@beehaw.org ) English16•1 year ago
Old Time Radio (OTR) - amazing to learn history by listening to the radio programs of the day
- icanmakesound ( @icanmakesound@beehaw.org ) English5•1 year ago
How would one get into this? Any websites you recommend?
- caseinpoint ( @caseinpoint@reddthat.com ) English8•1 year ago
On an app called Podcast Addict there are old time radio channels available. They even do old comedy and sci-fi shows.
I like falling asleep to them at night.
- Mugmoor ( @Mugmoor@lemmy.dbzer0.com ) English2•1 year ago
YouTube has a ton of them, as does Archive.org. Old Gameshows from the 50’s are a great time too.
- derekvof ( @derekvof@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
You bet your life with Groucho Marx is great - https://archive.org/details/you-bet-your-life-1952-02-20-160-secret-word-heart
- derekvof ( @derekvof@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
A great way to get started IMO is to listing to Command Performance. During WWII, all of Hollywood came together to put together radio shows that were recorded and send to radio stations throughout the world. They were a combination of Hollywood stars, comics and great musicians coming together - here’s a link to over 200 episodes - https://archive.org/details/command-performance-1948-12-25-xx-christmas-1948
- Eggs ( @EggsCurrently@lemmy.ml ) English16•1 year ago
I like traditional slavic folk music and leatherworking (which is misleading what I do is more like crafting rather basic things out of leather, I don’t tan or work the leather myself)
- thegiddystitcher ( @thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee ) English3•1 year ago
Ooh one of my fave small YouTubers is big into her leathercrafts, I’ve been living vicariously through her and !leathercraft@lemmy.ca (Lemmy / Kbin) for a while but not quite taken the plunge yet myself. It’s only a matter of time though 😅
- Shurf116 ( @Shurf116@lemmy.ml ) English15•1 year ago
Really like most of the hobbies from comments, you guys are interesting!
Mine are (I’m not sure if they are niche but):
Fountain pens. Writing with them feels very nice and smooth and it’s a little piece of “retro” even though I don’t have time for any other kind of “retro”
Lucid dreaming. It’s an exercise of control over your dreams and a chance of doing something you like when you sleep. Or experience something new. There are forums with quests like “go to an art gallery in a dream and explore what your brain can give you as a painting” or “build yourself a dream homebase with all your favorite pieces of dreams from childhood” or “jump into a chalk painting and describe your experience”
- CraizzUK ( @CraizzUK@lemmy.zip ) English6•1 year ago
As someone who writes left handed, I’ve always been envious of calligraphers and fountain pen enjoyers
- Shurf116 ( @Shurf116@lemmy.ml ) English1•1 year ago
I’m a leftie too, also as I understand my grip is wrong, I’m a sidewriter. Writing with a fountain pen is still easier for me, you just have to use smaller nibs to avoid smudging. But yeah, calligraphy and pretty handwriting is not my strongest suite. You don’t have to write nice though to use FPs. Just write :3
- WidowersWife ( @WidowersWife@feddit.de ) English4•1 year ago
I practiced lucid dreaming a long time ago, I still have my old dream diary somewhere. But that thing was why I quit. To get better you need to write everything down after waking up. And with better rememberence you also know more details and at some point Inwas sitting 20-30 minutes in my bed writing, and that’s not my favorite thing to do after waking up Ingottansay haha. How’d you motivate me to start with it again? Do you mind sharing you favorite forum on that topic?
- Shurf116 ( @Shurf116@lemmy.ml ) English2•1 year ago
Yeah writing down my dreams is hard for me too especially when you just woke up in the middle of the night. But i found that it helps if you don’t write it down in every last detail. I only jot down a few keywords when I wake up and that usually works, then I can flesh it out it later in the same day when I have time. Takes less effort. If you don’t remember - guess, that’s a good exercise too! Don’t do it tomorrow though, never works :'D Also it can help if you’re forced out of the bed somehow for a couple of mins (drank too much water and have to go to the bathroom, for example), then just take your journal/phone with you. It also helps with WBTB (wake back to bed) by the way.
I don’t know is links are allowed but here’s the forum with fun dream tasks I mentioned: https://www.dreamviews.com/tasks-month-year/
I don’t read a lot of forums but this one motivates me because users create this witty unexpected tasks I could never think of myself. And you get to feel accomplished when you finish them XD
- WidowersWife ( @WidowersWife@feddit.de ) English2•1 year ago
thanks alot, seems like it’s time to dust of my dream diary then
- Shurf116 ( @Shurf116@lemmy.ml ) English1•1 year ago
Glad it helped <3
- meyotch ( @meyotch@slrpnk.net ) English15•1 year ago
I’m really into electronics and plants. Together. I grew up on a farm with greenhouses so my interest in control systems, electricity and plants developed all together. I’ve built growth chambers, plant lights, automated waterers and yet none of that was for weed.
- s_s ( @s_s@lemmy.one ) English7•1 year ago
If I ever settle down, I want to set up a backyard greenhouse w/ aquaponics. Using arduino to automate everything is the dream.
- meyotch ( @meyotch@slrpnk.net ) English1•1 year ago
Two things:
-
Never settle!
-
I’ve found the Wemos D1 mini to be a better tool for automating larger numbers of things. They operate on similar principles but are actually internet capable, so they can have a simple web interface and keep accurate time. Software like Tasmota makes all that pretty easy. They can use a communication protocol MQTT to speak to each other and create really complex scenarios.
For instance, say your porch light is connected to one. You can have it announce to the network that the porch light just came on and have the other exterior lights listen for that announcement and then change their behavior accordingly.
It’s a lovely and attainable dream! I’m stuck in an urban apartment right now but I’ve automated my balcony garden to keep the plants healthy and watered even when I have to leave town.
-
- atlasraven31 ( @atlasraven31@lemm.ee ) English14•1 year ago
I ride electric scooters for fun and plan to learn lockpicking. I’m a sucker for cryptographic puzzles but not really good at it.
- linuxduck ( @linuxduck@nerdly.dev ) English5•1 year ago
I made a replacement cipher for my friend. I sent him a very short story and he was able to decipher it! Made me happy!
- Haatveit ( @Haatveit@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
I made a Caesar ciphered birthday greeting card for the daughter of a friend of mine, for her 10th birthday, along with a “key” made of two rotatable concentric paper strips with the alphabet on them. No instructions or anything. She deciphered it in like 30 minutes. She was super excited about it once she figured out what to do!
Somehow one of the most fulfilling things I’ve done in years.
- Rozz ( @Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org ) English4•1 year ago
Same, I love the idea of cryptography and breaking it but I’m not that good and don’t really have the time, so I dabble a bit and mostly enjoy from afar. I’ve made a few pen and paper ciphers but don’t know how to have anyone test them.
- atlasraven31 ( @atlasraven31@lemm.ee ) English2•1 year ago
There’s got to be Internet people that will!
- Rozz ( @Rozz@lemmy.sdf.org ) English1•1 year ago
Yeah I thought so, but I feel weird asking people to solve my random cipher (I feel like a Reddit sub had a rule against asking that). I don’t actually know if it’s good or bad or ridiculous. I barely know the terms. I will have to look around more I guess. I’m sure there people who are the opposite and want to break random ciphers.
- SecretPancake ( @SecretPancake@feddit.de ) English3•1 year ago
I love puzzles like the ones from Huzzle. I should get more but have trouble sitting down and concentrating for longer periods of time if there is no screen in my face.
- Nyanix ( @Nyanix@lemmy.ca ) English3•1 year ago
Lockpicking is a blast, you’ve inspired me to bring my kit back out
- Juno ( @Juno@beehaw.org ) English1•1 year ago
If you want to learn lock picking, get a job at an escape room. People destroy and abuse locks regularly and you’re expected to fix them or unlock them before the next person comes in. Also lockpickinglawyer