Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#381

Post by BLKNSLVR » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:05 AM UTC

Rollerskating as an exercise in a zen state of mind.

In a crowded rink, you have to put everything else out of your mind, lest you damage yourself or others. When I've had tough weeks at work, which I've had plenty of this year, rollerskating at a rink running a popular roller disco on a Friday night has provided a clean-room level of buffer between my stressed-out work state-of-mind and my happy-go-lucky-parent weekend state of mind.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but if you need it, and you're yet to find a satisfactory "thing", give it a go. Seriously, you need to have all of your faculties applied to the job at hand, there's no room for the rest of the world, and so it melts away.

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#382

Post by djmips » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:06 AM UTC

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #360

heynowheynow wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck, naïve foreigner: I don't think you realize or appreciate how violent and unsafe most of Oakland is. You're likely to be robbed at gun- or knife-point by multiple assailants. At least in some other states you're allowed to defend your own life, but not in California. #12 https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-most-dangerous-cities-i... I have a 4kW standing scooter that I use in another city that goes 50 mph…

You could have worded this with kind concern but you chose to open by insulting me instead. I only moved here from the other side of the bay. I’ve lived in this area my whole life. Somehow all my friends in Oakland do just fine. If I get robbed, so be it, but I’m not going to hide in my car. I’ve been a cyclist my whole life and I would never ride without a helmet. This isn’t the Netherlands. My bike goes 30 MPH and…

Hey, they were trying to help. ;-) Clearly just a culture clash.

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#383

Post by mongol » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:07 AM UTC

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #360

heynowheynow wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck, naïve foreigner: I don't think you realize or appreciate how violent and unsafe most of Oakland is. You're likely to be robbed at gun- or knife-point by multiple assailants. At least in some other states you're allowed to defend your own life, but not in California. #12 https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-most-dangerous-cities-i... I have a 4kW standing scooter that I use in another city that goes 50 mph…

You could have worded this with kind concern but you chose to open by insulting me instead. I only moved here from the other side of the bay. I’ve lived in this area my whole life. Somehow all my friends in Oakland do just fine. If I get robbed, so be it, but I’m not going to hide in my car. I’ve been a cyclist my whole life and I would never ride without a helmet. This isn’t the Netherlands. My bike goes 30 MPH and…

I am not parent but I agree with you. Thanks for sharing your e-bike conversion experience. It made me look into the same!

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#384

Post by tgv » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:07 AM UTC

Making and listening to music, and in particular playing (classical music on) the organ. I learned to play in my youth, but no longer had access to an organ once I left for university. As soon as I could, I did buy a synthesizer, and once I got a paid job, it grew until I had a complete in-the-box studio, but during Covid, nostalgia or some other bug got me, and I bought a (second-hand, digital) classical organ and started playing that. Discovering the literature is great, and playing it by myself is very fulfilling.

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#385

Post by rcarmo » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:08 AM UTC

Books. Music. Hacking a cheap 3D printer to improve it so I do something physical. In general, anything but the quasi-management role I now have at work and that keeps sapping my motivation and creativity.

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#386

Post by nhoven » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:10 AM UTC

Great post! At this moment, I'm passionate about childhood education. There are plenty of challenges in education to be tackled, but the one that I feel needs more attention and isn't getting it is seeing high-achieving students bored to death thanks to education policies that hold them back from their potential.

Rather than policies that prioritize equal outcomes, I think we should be encouraging every child to explore their full potential. I've begun working on a startup so I can be part of the solution. It's too early to say if our plan will work, but I'm excited to be trying!

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#387

Post by seb1204 » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:12 AM UTC

rikschennink wrote: post #262

Hi! What a fantastic post, a good day to you too. I recently found out my bone density isn’t great. Never broke a bone in my life but the doctor advises to start an activity that impacts bones. I’m not a sports person but last Thursday I went to a boulder gym. I was already coming up with excuses not to go, but decided to hop in the car and just do it, which felt like quite the power move. I’ve never been “in shape”…

Glad you went, keep it up. Find a buddy to go with or pull yourselves along. All The best

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#388

Post by benbo » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:12 AM UTC

I still remember that early internet feeling, in my case, it was actually how I got in touch with "the world" back in the days, I created an account just to be able to reply, after years of reading HN without ever commenting!

Lately I'm passionate about prototyping tools and mash-up of different tools to facilitate OSINT work.

I have spent the last 8 months putting together a system to DeepL translate Russian and Ukrainian telegram ecosystem back in the open web. (osintukraine.com) it has been a crazy ride to work with existing open source code to produce something that works but now I want to polish it and learn how to create a new front-end from the content and terabytes of war videos I'v been collecting.

I'm not a developer, just a wanna be devops but this project has helped me to consolidate knowledge and keep learning new parts that I'm less confident or comfortable with and this is the way I like to learn, by doing! Hope someone find it useful and maybe join?

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#389

Post by heynowheynow » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:13 AM UTC

TaylorAlexander wrote: post #360

heynowheynow wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck, naïve foreigner: I don't think you realize or appreciate how violent and unsafe most of Oakland is. You're likely to be robbed at gun- or knife-point by multiple assailants. At least in some other states you're allowed to defend your own life, but not in California. #12 https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-most-dangerous-cities-i... I have a 4kW standing scooter that I use in another city that goes 50 mph…

You could have worded this with kind concern but you chose to open by insulting me instead. I only moved here from the other side of the bay. I’ve lived in this area my whole life. Somehow all my friends in Oakland do just fine. If I get robbed, so be it, but I’m not going to hide in my car. I’ve been a cyclist my whole life and I would never ride without a helmet. This isn’t the Netherlands. My bike goes 30 MPH and…

Millennial... zzz...

Re: Ask HN: Comment here about whatever you're passionate about at the moment

#390

Post by MrVandemar » Sun, Nov 06, 2022, 9:14 AM UTC

Hello from Redmond, Western Australia. It's rural, close to the South Coast of WA. We live in a straw-bale house on a farm where we run a small number of cattle, horses and donkeys, and we grow a lot (but not yet all) of our own fruit and vegetables. We steward of 50ha area of pretty pristine Australian bush in a biodiversity hotspot, and we've replanted the roadside and house area and put in some windbreaks with native trees and understory.

I split my attention in far too many directions, but I'm writing audio-description for film and television as a hobby; biodiversity and conservation and hiking (we live in a biodiversity hotspot); and tinkering with code (roguelikes!). I also irrationally love HTML as a markup language.

But I am terrified of the increasingly bleak looking future, and despite putting a lot of effort into conservation and living with as small a footprint as possible, I don't see much hope for our broken civilisation, much less our species.