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Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

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Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#631

Post by hopinhopout »

biotinker wrote: post #181

I got myself involved with a nonprofit local group preserving local pioneer era apple trees. They've been DNA testing and cataloging the trees, and had all the info stashed away in google drive and onedrive folders. The founder was looking to step back so they asked me if I wanted to step up as project lead, which I did. I took the info and organized it into a nice wiki-style site with maps and descriptions so everyo…

I have to ask, how often is tissue culture used? I'm not sure of it's exact usecases like respawning old tree samples but it does seem very related.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#632

Post by xarope »

joncrocks wrote: post #617
xarope wrote: post #495

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ditto. I don't have great numbers, my bench is terrible, not even 1.5x BW, but I did manage to get my DL to ~2.5x in a competition, then tweaked my back and now only double overhand, which means my grip tends to go when I get to ~2x BW (my gym doesn't allow chalk, and I don't use straps, so it is what it is).

Do you mind if I ask what you did which restricts your ability to mixed grip? In terms of loading, I would expect your back to be loaded in a similar manner irrespective of the hand position. I assume you've considered/use hook grip?

somehow mixed grip makes me twist slightly which caused me back problems; after a few tweaks to the lower back, I decided that mixed wasn't worth it (I don't compete anymore). Yes, you are right, I do use the hook grip, since I also do some weightlifting.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#633

Post by unsupp0rted »

komali2 wrote: post #552
trick-or-treat wrote: post #505

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? I have zero stubbed toe anxiety. If it happens it happens. But knowing that I'm being classified by event organizers (and that there's a 10% chance I will be labeled "complete weirdo")? That will keep me from participating in events. Which is too bad because I already have enough reasons not to participate in events without adding neuroses on top of them.

I'm pretty sure the OP didn't mean they literally put a note in an excel document next to your name. So to explore the issue, is your anxiety around the fact that some people will think some aspects of your personality or behavior or weird? Because I could drop you into the middle of Vietnam (or whatever, pick some country you've never been to) and like 90% of people would think you're a bit weird. It's not really a…

It's not necessary to literally put an asterisk in an Excel doc: we all know off-hand who the weirdos of concern are.

"Do violence" from a meetup event is rarely a concern in most countries, but never 0.

Mainly the people I'm concerned about are the ones who make others want to leave and never come back.

E.g. by asking uncomfortable and/or sexual questions (which is mostly fine) but not having the EQ after a few iterations to let the person politely weasel out of answering and change the subject. If they really press people, or monopolize the conversation to the point the person wonders why they would show up just to be lectured at, then that's a no-go.

We can all tolerate people who mean well and are mostly easy-going but not good at hangouts. Whereas the ones who are actively repelling newbies from being able to join and enjoy the event are the main challenge.

For example, at other meetups I go to, we've got a fellow who can't take feedback. He knows he made a newbie uncomfortable to the point of standing up and going home, but he makes a joke out of it when he's told what happened and why. Every time... and so the pattern repeats.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#634

Post by moralestapia »

shivekkhurana wrote: post #27

I started designing my own clothes. The insight was that I spend 80% money on suits that I wear 2 times a year, and the rest was low quality clothing I actually wore. I flipped it, and made suits and pants that I could wear everyday. The fast fashion stores were crap quality, my body is not a template size and I care about fabric and comfort. The process was to learn how to sketch, to determine fabrics, colors and fi…

Hey, I looked you up online and ... you dress real well! Congratulations!

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#635

Post by cheese_curds »

zimpenfish wrote: post #556
jcims wrote: post #62

Put it down over winter but just picking it back up. Bat detection/identification with ultrasonic recordings. It's been fun building the data pipeline to manage the ~30GB+ of WAV files generated every night, run through some identification processes (currently using https://github.com/rdz-oss/BattyBirdNET-Analyzer ) and build a UI (mostly vibe coded lol) to help with replay, cataloging, etc. I'm using an AudioMoth cu…

Oh, I didn't know about the BattyBirdNET - thanks. I'll have to slap my bat-mode AudioMoth back on the balcony. (I've already got a BirdNET pipeline for my non-bat AudioMoths which should make the bat path easy to add.)

I’m working on a friendlier version of BirdNET-Pi with support of the latest BirdNET 3.0 model, also planning to add the BattyBirdNET later. https://github.com/Suncuss/BirdNET-PiPy

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#636

Post by dennis_jeeves2 »

oersted wrote: post #474
pkghost wrote: post #462

Get a microscope and help me explore the role of structured water in rouleaux formation. Rouleaux formations are clumps of red blood cells, and they're bad because 90% of our circulatory system is I did an n=5 study on sauna and rouleaux (positive result; draft report: https://thespacebetween.xyz/p/sangre-y-sauna/ ), and some n=1 observations of myself with grounding and wifi. Blog post: https://thespacebetweenx.subs…

> it could offer the simplest and most encompassing explanation for biological harm from EMF Frankly this is a bit of a red flag for me in terms of scientific rigour. It sounds like you want the conclusion to be true, or you already believe it to be true, that EMFs are harmful, and you are searching for ways to justify it. Careful with confirmation bias. > would also make the benefits of sauna, red light therapy, gro…

>It sounds like you want the conclusion to be true, or you already believe it to be true, that EMFs are harmful, and

Wouldn't it be more accurate to hypothesize for a start, that man-made EMFs are likely to be harmful than safe. We co-existed with nature for eons and our bodies will be tuned to deal with the 'natural' EMFs, magnetic fields etc. Anything that is not 'natural' has to be viewed with more suspicion than something natural. Note that I'm not claiming that everything natural is good and everything 'artificial' is bad. Also the distinction between natural/artificial can be blurred.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#637

Post by GJim »

unsupp0rted wrote: post #3

My hobby is organizing in-person meetups for random people to get together, chat and make friends. Barely structured, if at all. I've found this rewarding and ended up making friends this way. You have to accept that 5-15% of the people who would show up to something like this are genuine weirdos you probably don't want to be around. And another 10% at any given meetup are autistic or neuro-divergent but well-meaning…

> My hobby is organizing in-person meetups for random people to get together, chat and make friends. Barely structured, if at all.

My hobby is also going to the pub.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#639

Post by futune »

elevation wrote: post #240

Consider mathematics. If you already know enough math to derive the quadratic equation, you might make a small change, like adding X^3 or X^4. See where your own techniques take you before looking up the answer. With just a few pen strokes, you will be playing with an equation for which there is no general solution, or no known solution. In mathematics it will take you very little time to start playing at the boundar…

It might be interesting to try your idea, to see for yourself where the difficulty lies, but be warned that finding general solution formulas for degree 3 and 4 equations is kind of brutally difficult. I'd link to the historical developments but it would spoil it for those that nevertheless want to give it a shot. Degree 5 requires some serious far out of the box ideas, if you want to understand what's going on.

But in general the idea of making small changes to solved problems and seeing if you can tackle them is an excellent approach to recreational mathematics! I think I'd start somewhere other than higher degree equations though, that would be a rough start.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#640

Post by mh2753 »

nanna wrote: post #627
mh2753 wrote: post #541

My niche hobby is exploring patterns in Islamic Geometry and trying to re create them. It is an art of creating pleasing and aesthetic geometric patterns (from intersecting circles mostly). The art form is very popular in decorating Mosques and other Islamic monuments as human/animal representation is forbidden. [Edit] The thing that I find the most fascinating is that all the complex design you see, are done with on…

This is something I wanted to get into after vising Alhambra, which really is the "mirror of paradise" that it purported to be. You say that the complex designs are done by hand, but given how mathematical they are it left me wondering if there is a thriving scene of computer-generated patterns?

The floral designs (arabesque) are done by hand and the geometric tiling is ruler/compass based. I focus mostly on the geometric part of it, since I dont have the dexterity to do the arabesque by hand.

To your point of Computer generated Imagery, I think it would be too easy, but that would definitely take the fun away

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