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Ask HN: What is the newest hobby you have picked up?
I'm generally looking for new things to try and things to get into. I'm just curious what others do in their spare time.
- ravensley14 13y agoyou can try dancing,illustration or writing ,me i have always wanted to write my own comics now i'm trying to do just that,think of something you always wanted to do or learn and start from that.
- Todd 13y ago3D printing with my kids. We built a RepRap Prusi i3 and have had a lot of fun printing printer upgrades and other fun things. We've designed a few things ourselves but often someone else has already designed something that we can use on places like Thingiverse.
- dm2 13y agoPrinting 3D printer hardware upgrades from the same 3D printer is an incredibly cool concept. How much did it cost you to build? What kind of materials does it use? Does it heat up plastic or apply something to get the material to harden or how does it work? Are the input materials reasonably priced? I've found: http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3 http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3 which says ~$150, is that accurate from your experience? Also: https://github.com/josefprusa/Prusa3 https://github.com/josefprusa/Prusa3 http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Build_Manual http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Build_Manual http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Buyers_Guide http://reprap.org/wiki/Prusa_i3_Buyers_Guide http://www.ebay.com/bhp/prusa-i3 http://www.ebay.com/bhp/prusa-i3 Does anyone know of any similar or better types of open-source 3D printers?
- chris_wot 13y agoHacking LibreOffice.
- rainmaking 13y agoPlaying the banjo
- lazyfunctor 13y agoCurious, is it your first instrument?
- rainmaking 13y agoNo, I already play guitar and bass guitar.
- mattwritescode 13y agoAstronomy though its quite limited to the weather.
- CatsoCatsoCatso 13y agoBird watching. I'm no huge enthusiast but I've found it enjoyable to learn the names & calls of the wildlife around my house. It's nice to get away from anything technology related too. Otherwise, I'm tempted to purchase a short-wave radio. It would be great to hear a numbers station live rather than through poor internet recordings.
- kaoD 13y agoCheck out web software defined radios. There is a very good one at the University of Twente (Nederlands) http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ http://websdr.ewi.utwente.nl:8901/ which runs on a very fine piece of equipment and has a wide range of bands to listen to (probably much wider than you could install at home.) The only drawback is you're listening to signals somewhere else in the world instead of your very "own" RF spectrum, but it's very convenient where installing a gigantic antenna might not be feasible.
- CatsoCatsoCatso 13y agoOh fantastic! Thank you for sharing this.
- geekingfrog 13y agoI'm spending most of my time on ice, learning figure skating
- ende42 13y agoSwimming in the river Rhein before going to the office. I started last Summer. And just didn't stop as it got colder. I just wanted to know if I can pull this. This winter was pretty mild but still the water temperatur "peaked" at 4°C (39°F) in february. Now it's getting warmer again. Yay!
- kzisme 13y agoWhat made you want to do this? Exercise?
- ende42 13y agoNo, not exercise. It was just refreshing in august. Then for some time there was no reason to stop. Like "it's one degree less than last week. Why should I stop now?". At some point I just wanted to know if I could keep on doing it throughout the winter. When it was 4° I wasn't in the water for longer than 30 seconds. Just a few swim strokes, a dunk the head and out again. And it feels really good right after. A little bit like right after sauna.
- sriram_malhar 13y agoElectronics, building an FM transmitter and hooking it up to a Raspberry Pi to act as a base station for music.
- metachris 13y agoYou don't even need a FM transmitter for this: http://makezine.com/projects/make-38-cameras-and-av/raspberry-pirate-radio/ http://makezine.com/projects/make-38-cameras-and-av/raspberr...
- gadders 13y agoRaising poultry, specificall hens.
- lumpysnake 13y agoSpeed Cubing
- jeromesalimao 13y agoSailing. Small J24's. I live in Sydney. There's nothing quite like sailing in our harbour. Truly is breathtaking.
- cunninghamd 13y agoBrewing beer.
- alecszaharia 13y agoCarp Fishing.
- joaotorres 13y agoLindy Hop (swing dance) lessons! Great way to meet new people in a very diverse environment which often lacks guys, and also gets you active. Two things I think it's safe to assume most here (me included) miss during our regular routine.
- schoash 13y agoflying
- ryannevius 13y agoAirplanes? Helicopters? Gliders? Balloons? RC? Paragliding? Something else?
- Jera 13y agohttp://jeravarna.com/math http://jeravarna.com/math
- stevekemp 13y agoGrowing plants, building furniture, and photography are all minor hobbies. Over previous years I used to tinker with repairing, building, and modifying small steam-engines, but I seem to have lost interest in that a fair bit. I've only got a couple of interesting and unusual examples in my home, and I rarely fire them up.
- collyw 13y agoWhitewater kayaking. I used to be damn good, had a spate of shoulder dislocations which basically prevented me from doing any for around 5 years. I am rediscovering it as a sport.
- japhyr 13y agoHow did you deal with your shoulder issues? I dislocated my shoulder learning to kayak a long time ago, and it popped out about once a year until I got surgery. I spend a good deal of time in the wilderness, and I am hoping I never have to deal with a remote dislocation that won't go back in.
- collyw 13y agoSurgery as well. So far so good.
- lazyfunctor 13y agoI plan to take up whitewater kayaking sometime soon. Looks like shoulder injury is common amongst paddlers. Any tips to avoid it? Also any idea if ACA courses are any good?
- collyw 13y agoGood technique, elbows low. http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showArticle.html?148 http://www.paddling.net/guidelines/showArticle.html?148 No idea about ACA as I am in Europe. In my experience, getting out with other good paddlers is better than any courses, but then I did learn the basics quite a while back. Most instructors in the UK seem to want a (teaching) qualification to prove they were good. Most good paddlers didn't need a qualification.
- lazyfunctor 13y agoMakes sense. Thanks.
- ddorian43 13y agokickboxing / muaythai
- robgering 13y agoWhat a great question. Other people's hobbies are always so diverse and interesting. I like to joke that once you have kids, they become your only hobby, but seriously, that's far from the truth. Right now I'm trying to get into wood turning (essentially making bowls and things by spinning wood really fast and then carving it). My father is a master wood turner so it's a great way to spend some time with the old man.
- kzisme 13y agoThat's really cool! I've only tried my hand at some small wood working tasks. The price of tools makes me stay away from it generally.
- lazyfunctor 13y agoPhotography and trying my hands at post processing. Bought Nikon D 3200 sometime back
- abhgh 13y agoArchery. But I have decided to take a break because of back problems (which originated at work)
- scottrb 13y agoWeight lifting specifically, but trying to be more healthy generally speaking. I'm addicted. I feel great, and am starting to change appearance. If anyone is interested, I use bodybuilding.com's excellent database of exercises and try to avoid injury with good form, low weight at first, and watching out for bad pain. Highly recommend it to all. Especially mostly sedentary knowledge workers like myself.
- cadalac 13y agochemistry
- rainmaking 13y agoConsumable?
- cadalac 13y agoNot sure what you mean. I'm mainly watching 2 Youtube channels for a refresher right now (CrashCourse and Periodic videos). I find it captivating like programming or startups. In fact, if it wasn't for the expensive cost of chemicals, lab equipment etc I bet a chemistry startup would be much more exciting then a web startup. :-)
- sevilo 13y agopiano improv, used to be a huge enthusiast of that, it's a great feeling getting to play just about anything that comes to mind. Considering recording and sharing them on a regular basis too. Then I never realized how this whole "wanting to be a real programmer" thing have dragged me away from it, or from any of my hobbies really. Never gained much other than putting more stress on myself and developed a more negative attitude towards everything. Now I've decided I should get back to doing things that I enjoy :)
- T-hawk 13y agoRubik's cube twisty puzzles. Far beyond the original 3x3x3 cube, which I've known for years. There's been a boom lately in newly designed puzzles of pretty much every polyhedral shape you can imagine. It feels amazing to deeply grasp the mathematics of them and see patterns in generalizing and applying techniques from one puzzle to new variations. Here's some recent examples: http://www.mefferts.com/products/details.php?lang=en&category=13&id=171 http://www.mefferts.com/products/details.php?lang=en&categor... http://www.mefferts.com/products/details.php?lang=en&category=13&id=327 http://www.mefferts.com/products/details.php?lang=en&categor... http://www.mefferts.com/products/details.php?lang=en&category=13&id=397 http://www.mefferts.com/products/details.php?lang=en&categor... Best community site: the forums on http://www.twistypuzzles.com/ http://www.twistypuzzles.com/
- suyash 13y agoPlaying Golf..what a way to relax and have a great game with friends.
- stephancoral 13y agoI started my own independent press. We have two books out with an anthology of poetry / prose / visual work on the way plus two more titles before the end of summer. It has been a lot of fun and a great way to meet new people as well as be exposed to a variety of works.