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This really made me anxious when I was younger. Someone would say to me “what do you even DO in your spare time?” and my first instinct would be to lie. These

This really made me anxious when I was younger. Someone would say to me “what do you even DO in your spare time?” and my first instinct would be to lie. These days I try to be as honest as possible. Mostly I still get raised eyebrows and weird looks when I say that I spend a lot of my time learning new things and getting better at this or that, but every now and then I find people who don’t recoil or laugh, and they’re usually the ones I most enjoy talking to. I think people would be more understanding if it was more widely known that a) it’s possible to teach yourself new things, and b) it’s one of the most satisfying things you can do for yourself. Or maybe most people just wouldn’t find it that satisfying, but I find that hard to believe.

fujiters 9y ago
What have you been learning about? Do you dabble in various things or are you continually learning more about something in particular? I'm a dabbler by nature, and while it feels rewarding to get to that high-novice stage each time, I've got a nagging disappointment in not making it much past that in anything.
- ravenstine 9y ago
  I can tell you about what I learn about. It's hard for me to pin down whether it's dabbling because it's not as if I become disinterested once a spat of study has run its course. Here's are some examples of how I've used my spare time: - I once was taking math lessons through Khan Academy from the ground up. Yes, this meant going all the way from arithmetic to at least college algebra. I wish I could have gone a lot further, but I had to devote my time back to programming and other topics. I did this because I have always been absolutely terrible at math, and as I got older I didn't feel good about it. - For a while, and still off and on, I became fascinated with player pianos, music boxes, nickelodeons, and orchestrions. More specifically, I was very interested in understanding how self-playing instruments could function without electronics. I spent many nights reading through patents and Mechanical Music Digest trying to understand the basic inner workings of self-playing instruments, and even got in contact with a retired player piano repairman. What I learned was that a lot of the basic concepts in electronics existed in pneumatics before electronics took off. - I have a casual interest in my local botany, edible plants, mushrooms, etc. I'm actually pretty good at plant identification and remember the scientific names better than the colloquial ones. It's a very interesting experience to forage for your own food in the wild. - One of my interests of the last ~5 months is learning the mechanics of nuclear explosions, radiation, fallout, etc. Of course I have recent events involving North Korea to thank for that. Since I live in a likely target for an ICBM, I wanted to learn just what it can take to survive such an attack. I've learned that most preppers are woefully underprepared. - There's a nearly unlimited supply of lectures on YouTube about human psychology, theoretical physics, etc. I usually pop one up on my Chromecast while I'm doing work on something else.
  - fapjacks 9y ago
    You and I should go bowling sometime (or actually maybe just watch a YT video about professional bowling and not go anywhere). There are some real treasure channels on Youtube. Here's a curated list of some of my favorites: 3 Brown 1 Blue and Numberphile (phenomenal math topics), EEVblog (electronics and electrical engineering), AvE ("shop" stuff and mechanical engineering), Louis Rossmann (electronics repair), SeamlessR (music/EDM production), 628DirtRooster and Jeff Horchoff (beekeeping), Gavin Webber (cheese making), Corning Museum of Glass (glassblowing), Chess Network (chess), Exploring Abandoned Mines (self-explanatory), Alpha Investments (Magic the Gathering), Cody's Lab (science experiments), Chubbyemu (interesting medical stories), Youtuber Law (internet lawyer), Isaac Arthur (futurist ideas).
    - Grimm665 9y ago
      Great list, saving for later!

fujiters 9y ago

What have you been learning about? Do you dabble in various things or are you continually learning more about something in particular? I'm a dabbler by nature, and while it feels rewarding to get to that high-novice stage each time, I've got a nagging disappointment in not making it much past that in anything.

ravenstine 9y ago
I can tell you about what I learn about. It's hard for me to pin down whether it's dabbling because it's not as if I become disinterested once a spat of study has run its course. Here's are some examples of how I've used my spare time: - I once was taking math lessons through Khan Academy from the ground up. Yes, this meant going all the way from arithmetic to at least college algebra. I wish I could have gone a lot further, but I had to devote my time back to programming and other topics. I did this because I have always been absolutely terrible at math, and as I got older I didn't feel good about it. - For a while, and still off and on, I became fascinated with player pianos, music boxes, nickelodeons, and orchestrions. More specifically, I was very interested in understanding how self-playing instruments could function without electronics. I spent many nights reading through patents and Mechanical Music Digest trying to understand the basic inner workings of self-playing instruments, and even got in contact with a retired player piano repairman. What I learned was that a lot of the basic concepts in electronics existed in pneumatics before electronics took off. - I have a casual interest in my local botany, edible plants, mushrooms, etc. I'm actually pretty good at plant identification and remember the scientific names better than the colloquial ones. It's a very interesting experience to forage for your own food in the wild. - One of my interests of the last ~5 months is learning the mechanics of nuclear explosions, radiation, fallout, etc. Of course I have recent events involving North Korea to thank for that. Since I live in a likely target for an ICBM, I wanted to learn just what it can take to survive such an attack. I've learned that most preppers are woefully underprepared. - There's a nearly unlimited supply of lectures on YouTube about human psychology, theoretical physics, etc. I usually pop one up on my Chromecast while I'm doing work on something else.
- fapjacks 9y ago
  You and I should go bowling sometime (or actually maybe just watch a YT video about professional bowling and not go anywhere). There are some real treasure channels on Youtube. Here's a curated list of some of my favorites: 3 Brown 1 Blue and Numberphile (phenomenal math topics), EEVblog (electronics and electrical engineering), AvE ("shop" stuff and mechanical engineering), Louis Rossmann (electronics repair), SeamlessR (music/EDM production), 628DirtRooster and Jeff Horchoff (beekeeping), Gavin Webber (cheese making), Corning Museum of Glass (glassblowing), Chess Network (chess), Exploring Abandoned Mines (self-explanatory), Alpha Investments (Magic the Gathering), Cody's Lab (science experiments), Chubbyemu (interesting medical stories), Youtuber Law (internet lawyer), Isaac Arthur (futurist ideas).
  - Grimm665 9y ago
    Great list, saving for later!