5 ms·

Ask HN: What are you interested in that the fewest others are interested in?

8 points by elsewhen 6y ago

rshnotsecure 6y ago
Collating a list of mysteriously murdered CEOs and high ranking engineers since 1998. The death of this engineer for EarthLink at 18 (while he also studied at MIT) and which allegedly involved a religious cult based in Oregon, is a good place to start. Only about 2.5% of suicides are jumping to ones death also (although the percentage is double for women, and this number is US suicides in 2018 keep in mind). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Gale https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Gale
- mod 6y ago
  Barely related, when I was a kid we used to share Earthlink accounts ("ELNs"). We'd dial into those, then login to AOL, instead of dialing it directly. This allowed for some nice things, like getting "punted" didn't ruin your downloads and make you start over...if you weren't using a download manager. Those were some fun times as a teenager.
- superdeeda 6y ago
  Really enjoyed this Darknet Diaries episode about Costas Tsalikides' apparent suicide: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/64/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/64/.
the_only_law 6y ago
Not really sure, because my bubbles prevent me from understanding how many other people are interested in certain things outside them. I guess the closest thing I could thing of is my interest / work in certain subsets of retro computing that I don’t typically see from other hobbyists. I play around with retro telecom and networking stuff and designed (but haven’t yet built sadly) a user mode X.25 stack (along with a kernel version on Windows) and am working on a plan for some ISDN stuff for a custom “PBX” to bridge some old H.320 phones with modern WebRTC stuff. If I ever finish those, there’s a few other “retro” stuff I’d like to look into. I also play with more modern stuff, mostly imagining implementing an 802.11 controller (hopefully a 802.11bb one when released) and a custom DOCSIS modem. Part of my problem with a lot of this stuff (and why I imagine I don’t see a lot of people doing it) is 1. I generally need a lot of expensive equipment to be able to designed labs for this stuff that I can’t always immediately (or ever) afford and 2. It requires knowledge from several separate and often complex fields. Also it’s a lot of work and time to invest in a niche interest solely out of curiosity.
ksaj 6y ago
I love neoclassical shred guitar, a la Yngwie Malmsteen, and it's many offshoots in the prog metal direction with bands like Sonata Arctica et al. The more classical influence, the better. Pretty much my entire life was filled with friends who do not share my appreciation for it, and even the ones who did like it gave only a passing glance and only ever listened to it when I was around.
- SubGenius 6y ago
  I love Yngwie. His music got me into classical music, just like jazz fusion guitarists like Holdsworth got me into more traditional jazz. Don't see a lot of new guitarists playing neoclassical guitar anymore, but that's okay I guess. Maybe someday Michael Romeo will release a half decent Symphony X record with some neoclassical licks, but I'm not holding my breath.
  - ksaj 6y ago
    Have you heard his Angels Of Love album? It has lots of what you'd expect from Yngwie, but it is nearly entirely acoustic and très romantique. It's actually one of the most intensely relaxing albums I own. You don't usually expect to hear that in re an 80's shredder. I usually play stuff like this when people who dislike metal (gasp!) are visiting. PS: Symphony X is pretty great, too. Reminds me of 80's thrash with a neo-classical accent, and has all the prog elements that make the genre great.
    - SubGenius 6y ago
      Yes I have. I did go through a heavy Yngiwe phase in my teens when I was trying to learn most of his music. I expect that you play the guitar too?
      - ksaj 6y ago
        I do. I bet you can guess what style.
stevesearer 6y ago
I hike off-trail, up creeks to see how far I can get and how close to the source I can get. In general I find that each one is quite different and the activity reminds me of being a kid and exploring in such a way that everything is a new experience.
culopatin 6y ago
Fine tuning old and irrelevant carburetors that no one makes parts for anymore and having to ream little holes in brass tubes to get the mixture I want at different loads. I don't know why I put myself through this, but I can say I'm one of the best Solex carburetor tuners in my area. I don't even have a shop, or work in the field at all.

8 points by elsewhen 6y ago

Collating a list of mysteriously murdered CEOs and high ranking engineers since 1998. The death of this engineer for EarthLink at 18 (while he also studied at MIT) and which allegedly involved a religious cult based in Oregon, is a good place to start. Only about 2.5% of suicides are jumping to ones death also (although the percentage is double for women, and this number is US suicides in 2018 keep in mind). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Gale https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Gale

mod 6y ago
Barely related, when I was a kid we used to share Earthlink accounts ("ELNs"). We'd dial into those, then login to AOL, instead of dialing it directly. This allowed for some nice things, like getting "punted" didn't ruin your downloads and make you start over...if you weren't using a download manager. Those were some fun times as a teenager.
superdeeda 6y ago
Really enjoyed this Darknet Diaries episode about Costas Tsalikides' apparent suicide: https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/64/ https://darknetdiaries.com/episode/64/.

the_only_law 6y ago

Not really sure, because my bubbles prevent me from understanding how many other people are interested in certain things outside them. I guess the closest thing I could thing of is my interest / work in certain subsets of retro computing that I don’t typically see from other hobbyists. I play around with retro telecom and networking stuff and designed (but haven’t yet built sadly) a user mode X.25 stack (along with a kernel version on Windows) and am working on a plan for some ISDN stuff for a custom “PBX” to bridge some old H.320 phones with modern WebRTC stuff. If I ever finish those, there’s a few other “retro” stuff I’d like to look into. I also play with more modern stuff, mostly imagining implementing an 802.11 controller (hopefully a 802.11bb one when released) and a custom DOCSIS modem. Part of my problem with a lot of this stuff (and why I imagine I don’t see a lot of people doing it) is 1. I generally need a lot of expensive equipment to be able to designed labs for this stuff that I can’t always immediately (or ever) afford and 2. It requires knowledge from several separate and often complex fields. Also it’s a lot of work and time to invest in a niche interest solely out of curiosity.

ksaj 6y ago

I love neoclassical shred guitar, a la Yngwie Malmsteen, and it's many offshoots in the prog metal direction with bands like Sonata Arctica et al. The more classical influence, the better. Pretty much my entire life was filled with friends who do not share my appreciation for it, and even the ones who did like it gave only a passing glance and only ever listened to it when I was around.

SubGenius 6y ago
I love Yngwie. His music got me into classical music, just like jazz fusion guitarists like Holdsworth got me into more traditional jazz. Don't see a lot of new guitarists playing neoclassical guitar anymore, but that's okay I guess. Maybe someday Michael Romeo will release a half decent Symphony X record with some neoclassical licks, but I'm not holding my breath.
- ksaj 6y ago
  Have you heard his Angels Of Love album? It has lots of what you'd expect from Yngwie, but it is nearly entirely acoustic and très romantique. It's actually one of the most intensely relaxing albums I own. You don't usually expect to hear that in re an 80's shredder. I usually play stuff like this when people who dislike metal (gasp!) are visiting. PS: Symphony X is pretty great, too. Reminds me of 80's thrash with a neo-classical accent, and has all the prog elements that make the genre great.
  - SubGenius 6y ago
    Yes I have. I did go through a heavy Yngiwe phase in my teens when I was trying to learn most of his music. I expect that you play the guitar too?
    - ksaj 6y ago
      I do. I bet you can guess what style.

stevesearer 6y ago

I hike off-trail, up creeks to see how far I can get and how close to the source I can get. In general I find that each one is quite different and the activity reminds me of being a kid and exploring in such a way that everything is a new experience.

culopatin 6y ago

Fine tuning old and irrelevant carburetors that no one makes parts for anymore and having to ream little holes in brass tubes to get the mixture I want at different loads. I don't know why I put myself through this, but I can say I'm one of the best Solex carburetor tuners in my area. I don't even have a shop, or work in the field at all.