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Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

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Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#511

I've been working on trying to help fill out the MeshCore network in our area for off-grid communications. Some of us are setting up solar powered, battery backed MeshCore nodes, they have no connection to power or Internet. You can use a small device (like a credit card or a small walkie-talkie) with a phone, or a blackberry-like device, to send/receive encrypted messages, chat on channels, or communicate on BBS-lik…

Is this similar to meshtastic? I've heard about it for a while.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#512
Many niche sports that are great at making you spend less time sitting in front of a computer.

I want to try trials[1] (both bicycle and moto), but it might be hard to find local community for such niche activities (you can always be first!)

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_bike_trials

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#513
post #73

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…

Between the genuine weirdos, the autistic and/or the neuro-divergent, is there anyone left, really? Do the "normies" genuinely exist? Happy-go-lucky, knows a bit about everything but doesn't nerd out on anything, picks up every conversation subject and listens and holds their own in a manner that is just right? I am genuinely curious about the existence of these "superhumans".

The OGs in the group tend to be well adjusted normal people. ie the people that started the group

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#515
In my views, you don't need an unsolved filed- you need an unexplored angle. Most "crowded" hobbies still have some gaps who build tools, document deeply, or connect ideas across domains. The average isn't in the hobby itself, but it how you approach it.

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#516

I've been working on trying to help fill out the MeshCore network in our area for off-grid communications. Some of us are setting up solar powered, battery backed MeshCore nodes, they have no connection to power or Internet. You can use a small device (like a credit card or a small walkie-talkie) with a phone, or a blackberry-like device, to send/receive encrypted messages, chat on channels, or communicate on BBS-lik…

What does the battery setup on these things look like? Definitely could set one up but don’t want to change batteries weekly

Re: Ask HN: Any interesting niche hobbies?

#519
post #476

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Though funnily enough, you can make real 'structured water' at home in your freezer. Making your ice crystals hexagonal is theoretically possible, but it's really, really hard to grow monocrystaline water ice. That might be a really interesting niche hobby, though. See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA710QYxEu0 for the latter.

Well yes, that’s in a solid state. Lots of crystals have hexagonal structures since it’s the optimal packing distribution. If “structured water” just means that there are tiny ice crystals in water, sure that’s very plausible, but I doubt it would have much of an effect. PS: Trying to grow crystals of different challenging structures does sound like an awesome hobby.

Oh, the pseudo-science 'structured water' is absolutely bonkers. I just went off on a mildly interesting tangent.
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