Ask HN: What are some hobbies for a 72-year-old retiree? Maybe OSS?

My dad is retiring this year from his career of 48 years. For reference, he worked for the federal government and his job involved interpreting U.S. import tax laws and calculating the correct duties on imports. He loved working, especially for the social interaction with his coworkers, but also because he likes learning and solving complex and interesting problems.

He's 72 years old and has his wits. Unfortunately, he doesn't have any hobbies. I'm concerned he'll get bored/depressed/stressed after the initial novelty of being retired wears off. He'll now have an extra 40 hours a week to fill, nobody to talk to during the day (except my mom), and nothing to exercise his mind and keep him sharp as he gets older. Also, he was highly skilled at his job and his department depended on him to get their work done. I think he'll miss looking forward to waking up in the morning and working on something where he knows his work is needed and appreciated.

A lot of people have jobs that easily translate to a hobby, side business, or volunteer service, but the work he did isn't really hobby material. He's not interested in starting a business or working as a consultant either (Not even part time. I think he's done punching someone else's clock.)

In college he studied and excelled at math, science (physics, chemistry), and economics. He's always had an interest in computers, but never got involved in programming. One thing I thought of was open-source software development. I know if he was interested he'd be able to learn the language/tools easily, but I have no idea what projects to suggest to someone who is his age and completely new to software development.

Does anyone have any suggestions how a 72-year-old could get started with open-source software development? Does anyone think it would be a bad idea to get him involved in open-source software? Any other hobby suggestions?

Sound like software development might be a good opportunity for your dad to put his analytical skills to good use in his retirement. I'd suggest finding an existing open source project that relates to a field that he has particular interest in. That might be something related to his career or other interests throughout his life. Choosing a project that has an innate interest to him is more likely to be "sticky" and would make learning the new technologies and systems more achievable. By far the best place to start would be on Github of course, scan through the projects on there for something that jumps out and is looking for contribution.

physical fitness, mind-body connection, the greeks knew what they were talking about

forget jogging though -- heart attack waiting to happen

I'd encourage a club. Personality and family life make this more or less relevant but most people need others to hang around. Also good for other household members who are used to alone alone.

In Australia we have clubs called 'mens shed' which is basically a community hall full of tools and retired blokes get together to chat and make stuff. That's always sounded good to me.

Search for local communities and clubs near you. And consider something he can do in another 10 years ongoing so they can keep at it with the same community.

Olympic weightlifting. Seriously. Any physical exercise is going to be a great mood elevator, and weightlifting, due to its high skill requirements and relatively low volume, not as punishing on older athletes. Plus there's a lot of (socially distanced) camaraderie in the gym. As a novice, he could improve very quickly, but it's endlessly deep. And, bonus, the qualifying totals for competition are so low at his age that he could probably be competitive within a year. Saying this as a 57-year old who just got seriously into weightlifting.