Antkeeping, rockhounding, and flint knapping are things I've gotten into recently. Antkeeping and rockhounding in particular have a ton of room for citizen science. Lots of undiscovered stuff out there.
Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
681–690 of 769 posts
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#682Just a suggestion as this isn't my hobby, but look into gem cutting. There are some tools for designing new cuts, but I think I lot more is possible than is commonly accomplished. And every gem material is different so that adds to things. Plus, the more precise the cut the better the result. And it's very math and loop driven.
This sounds really interesting! How does one get started? Is it expensive?
I think lapidary and faceting often have guilds or clubs that let you use shared equipment. I think in terms of materials gem rough material is cheap for some gemstones and expensive for others. Obviously synthetic and quartz are cheaper than natural sapphire, but there's a whole range. In terms of equipment I think the faceting machines come in different kinds with different features and are maybe circa okayish laptop prices for a used one but get much more expensive for new ones or specialty ones. I know there are at least two kinds - traditional faceting and concave. I don't know that much about how designing new cuts works, but it's definitely its own niche thing and if you look into groups that do it they'll talk about facet designs and who designed them. I think there are some books and software that folks use, but I don't know a whole lot about it.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#683What I rarely read about as hobby but I really enjoy is touch ! Taking massage/therapy classes, like lomi-lomi, craniosacral, acupressure, shiatsu, etc. -- plenty of great courses available. They're typically aimed at professionals since it is "under-explored" as a hobby, but well worth it as self experience. Not only the receiving but also the giving during the training(s), plus all the chances to give nice touch ex…
I hadn't even considered massage as a potential hobby. I love getting massages, but they're not cheap. Taking a course might be a good hack to get cheap massages..
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#684Earlier quoted context omitted.
Would love to see this in action. Anything you can share? Also, what gear is used for this? Having recently been in charge of a scoreboard made by Daktronics for high school games, I was intimidated by the UX.
You can use it here: https://scoreboardmax.com/ All features are included in the free version, just some usage limits. If you decide to use it, send a message using the “Contact Us” from with the account and I’ll send you the details on the analytics / charts as they are at unpublished URLs.
Thank you!
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#685Consider 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…
Since I was a kid I was fascinated by computer math, such as a projectile in Scorched Earth (wind, angle, velocity, gravity). I turned 50 this week and I STILL haven’t dug into how even the basics work.
Can still remember the sound of the Funky Bomb firing in Scorched Earth. Thanks fot reminding me of that.
If you're interested in this sort of stuff, the book Nature Of Code is great for exploring this topic by creating simulations. There's a Javascript version and Java based version (using the Processing framework). It isn't actually all that difficult, and I found it very satisfying to work through.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#686amateur liquid bi-prop rocket engines for the High Power Rocketry hobby are gaining momentum. There's lot of opportunity there for performance profiling and even more if you have access to a machine tools like CNC lathes. There's also interest in active stabilization of amateur rockets using engine gimbaling which would put so much more performance in reach. These guys are legit and actually flying airframes instead…
I was at a High powered Rocketry event and saw these guys and their rocket. Talked to them a while. Very interesting.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#687I build weird experimental instruments and then play them at the local electronic music open mic nights. My main instrument is the electroduochord, a stereo two-stringed instrument played with a drone motor rotary magnetic bow. https://youtu.be/G1ftvw-Y6pk I've also hooked up audio jacks to small solar panels to convert vibrations in light into sound. https://youtu.be/ZF2Rn5YfBC8 Now I'm working on cybernetic drummin…
I dig the electroduotone. Congrats! Have you heard of electronicos fantasticos? It's this band from Japan who make incredible music with instruments they made themselves. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0VYsiMtrNE
Yup, I've seen some of their stuff. They mostly make conventional music with unconventional instruments which is cute but doesn't quite interest me. I prefer music that is a bit more experimental and works with the texture of the sound more than melodic structure.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#688Earlier quoted context omitted.
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"?
Good question! Yes they definitely have unique voices and call signatures. A single string of calls from a single bat will have variation between calls as well (especially in search phase).
It'd imagine there's a lot of neurophysical adaptation involved as well, just like listening to a single conversation in a crowded room.
That said, hunting in an area filled with bats is probably not as effective as being in a quiet place.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#689Earlier quoted context omitted.
Curious how that character 変 made it in there. Is that a typo for 2?
it's a Japanese word for "weird". I'm guessing that OP is a bit of an Otaku (aka "obsessed with Japan") -- which is either ironic or completely appropriate.
I thought it would be weird to replace (b) with something, so I decided to search for characters from other languages.
Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?
#690Put 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…
any particular microphones you can recommend? or did you buy one and it was "good enough" ever since?
Microphone selection is super important and can get extremely spendy very quickly. The AudioMoth device I use comes with a simple mems ultrasonic mic and it's perfectly adequate for what I'm using it for, but loud signals can cause artifacts that wouldn't be present on more expensive ones.
I believe my version is using a Knowles mic:
https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/syntiant/SPU0410L...