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Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

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Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#311

Post by nathan_douglas »

deviation wrote: post #127

I've been pretty obsessed with FSRS in general (tldr: https://github.com/open-spaced-repetition/awesome-fsrs/wiki/... ) It's a fantastic new-ish scheduler for spaced repetition - basically a machine learning model which adapts to you, and schedules flash (or anything, really, it's an algorithm) cards according to how well you are personally performing - surfacing data like retention, stability, recall, etc. It's a ma…

FSRS is really cool. I'm trying to use it and a modified flashcard system to learn more abstract computer science and higher math. I hadn't considered it as a way of learning Chess - that's really interesting. I'm thinking about expanding my system to cover ear-training, birdsong recognition, a few other things like that.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#312

Post by koliber »

A while back, at a company I used to work at, we did intros of new hires. This was one of the questions. One person shared that they do composting and worm farming. That was memorable. Sharing here since it's about as interesting and niche as I can imagine.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#313

Post by sanjayjc »

jcims wrote: post #253
functional_dev wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really cool, data pipeline alone sounds like fun challenge

Yeah there's quite a bit of opportunity to reduce processing time along the way. Couple cool things I've learned about bats. - They are *extremely* loud in the ultrasound range, 130db echolocation calls from something the size of a mouse. - On an average recording, the ultrasonic range is almost exclusively filled with sound from wildlife (bugs, birds, etc). I'd expected to see lots of harmonics and whatnot from huma…

Thanks jcims for sharing this amazing info! However, I wonder how these very loud bats, all in close proximity, don't get confused by each others' calls? Is the answer their frequency sweeping? Or does each have something analogous to a unique "voice"?

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#314

Post by germinalphrase »

I started hand carving and painting fishing lures a few years back, mostly from gathered or gleaned materials.

It started as something to keep my hands busy in the Minnesota winter evenings, but there is actually quite a lot of depth to the materials/buoyancy/fluid dynamics that dictate how the lure moves in different water conditions. Each one is also a little work of art which is nice.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#315

Post by ribice »

Two things, but mostly revolves around sports. As my job in software engineering is very sedentary, I try to remain active in my hobbies.

First is gym - I go every morning before work, do a 2-mile run or 5k, depending on my mood, and then power lifting.

On weekends I hike or climb. I find it very liberating when visiting places without any kind of network and it's me, nature and socialising. I've recently also started an outdoor agency (it's local to my place) - for when AI takes over my job completely: https://boa.ba/

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#316

Post by vjvjvjvjghv »

I set up trail cameras in remote areas to watch bears, mountain lions and other critters. Getting there is very hard so it keeps me in shape and I am always fascinated when I can watch new footage.

once I have more time I will try classifying and trimming the videos with AI so there is a tech component too. And maybe in the long run do my own cameras that have better detection than the usual PIR sensors that trigger a lot for moving branches or leaves.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#317

Post by jedberg »

rationalist wrote: post #302
jedberg wrote: post #149

I make holiday light shows with an open source program called XLights[0]. I'm sure you've seen the videos[1] of what people[2] can do. Usually the top comment is "man that is cool but I wouldn't want to be their neighbor!" followed by "my neighbors love my light shows". Creating the sequences is time consuming, and lot of people end up buying them or sharing them, but those are rarely as good as the ones you make for…

Warning: Do NOT click on [1] unless you have 25 minutes to spend transfixed on a video. Holy cow...

It takes about 10 hours per minute of song to make a sequence like that. Imagine if AI could help speed that up!

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#318

Post by zgougou123 »

My niche hobbies is carving wooden spoons and I think it balance very well with any work behind a computer.

It’s surprisingly deep for something that looks so simple. You can start with almost nothing: a small axe to split the wood and a knife to shape it. That’s enough to make your first spoon. From there, it can become as technical or as artistic as you want, depending on how far you go.

There’s also a whole international community around it. People organize small gatherings and larger meetups where they carve together, share techniques, compare tools, and pass down very specific bits of knowledge. There is a whole series of videos about this on youtube on a channel named "zed outdoors". This hobby also had me look around for wood everywhere, when walking or driving and you can do it almost everywhere as long as you have a small knife with you.

Also, using a spoon you made yourself is genuinely satisfying in a way that’s hard to explain. It changes the relationship you have with a very ordinary object.

It looks like a quiet craft, but you can go very far with it.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#319

Post by microscoper »

I think a really underrated hobby is amateur Microscopy, I don't know why its not more popular.

Looking at moss, pond water, microbes, tardigrades, paramecia, cells, plants, crystals, stuff around the house

You can get a decent microscope for like $250 and just get a smartphone mount to take high quality pictures/videos.

I feel like with astronomy/telescopes you spend a ton of money just to see a blurry blob whereas microscopes are way more bang-for-buck in terms of how much cool science stuff you can see for cheap.

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