What is something like a hobby or skill that you belive almost anybody should give a try, and what makes your suggestion so good compared to other things?
i feel like this is a descent question i guess.
Biking.
Moving under your own power has so many benefits:
- It’s fun
- It’s cheap (or can be, to be fair)
- It’s good for your health
- It’s good for the planet
It’s fun
My knees disagree but each to their own ;)
I cringe watching someone struggling to turn the pedals when they are riding a multi geared bike.
Cycling is good for the knees, if you’re not staining to turn the pedals. That’s why gearing exists.
Use the gears to make the pedaling easier.
Also to add, the seat height should be adjusted such that your leg is just under full extension when on the pedal at its lowest point. Otherwise you are wasting a ton of power with every stroke, and will feel it in your knees much quicker.
O yes. If you have problems, shift down, pedal faster. Everything above 70 pedal turns per minute is good for your knees. Everything below is bad
Yep, switch to a low gear and cruise! I love going fast so I’ve always been a high gear guy, love mashing but after a while I could definitely feel it under my right kneecap. I try to take it a little bit easier nowadays and haven’t had that problem
Wait a minute internet dude, did you make sure your seat was the right height? Having the seat at the right height I.e. fully extended legs, the down like an inch, really helped me out with the joint pain. I mention it because biking is generally considered a low impact activity. Knee surgery haver here, myself :')
My Hemorrhoids also disagree
I started cycling to commute about a year ago and it’s been such a wonderful thing for my mental and physical health, not to mention my bank account. Beware that you may get sucked down the Not Just Bikes rabbit hole if you’re not careful and end up becoming a walkable/bikable cities advocate as I have.
epic!
Is there a bike you would suggest for a beginner to buy into that isn’t too expensive but also not junk? Budget of $300 or so, but can flex.
Buy second hand. A lot of people are trying to get rid of bikes that they are too afraid to ride.
Electra Cruiser 1. I was able to pick one up new for $300 and I’ve been dailying it for about 6 months or so.
There are so many different models for different use-cases that it’s hard to recommend a specific one. With that budget, I’d look for something used for sure. For my use-case, a city hybrid-styld bike is the best - fast, but with features that are convenient for commuting (rear rack, pedals that don’t require cycling shoes that clip in), but depending on what you want to do, you might want something different.
One good tip is to go talk to your local bike shop about your needs, they are usually really helpful when it comes to this type of thing.
UK weather says no
deleted by creator
ive been wanting to get into game dev but it seems like alot of work and i suck at everything, also im limted with software and im not even sure what game engine or thing to use, if that makes sense. do you hav eany advice or something you want to share?
Take a look at Gadot 4. As a beginner you can think of it like an open source unity. But they just had a major update and seems to make a lot of the tedious aspects of game dev and streamlining them. Everything is an object which is really nice and they have a scripting language based on python. Easy to read and write
Python with PyGame can be quite a good start. And if you’re just trying to build something for fun maybe use free assets from the internet.
I can only assume you got downvoted for this because people think you’re advocating stealing assets. So for anyone else reading this, there are actually whole websites devoted to providing free assets for use in games.
Maybe it’s a bug, but I don’t see any downvotes on my side (from kBin). Didn’t thought it was needed to specify that indeed, you should only use assets that are listed as free.
I’m treating votes as rough indicators at best anyway as they never seem to be the same depending where you’re looking at a post from. #FederatedWorldProblems
Taught myself python at 50 years of age. My God, being able to code is like a superpower. I started out doing some things to make my job easier, later developed an interest in web scraping and data analysis, now I am tinkering with machine learning. I regret listening to people who told me that a strong background in math is required for coding.
For most things code related you require minimal math skills (although a logic oriented mind can be hone by math). I’m glad you’re enjoying your time coding ❤️
I reccomend trying out GB studio. It makes gameboy games and comes as one binary file. Not too crazy to learn. I liked the music player thing.
I’m a hobbyist game dev also. Main advice would be that yes it is a lot of work and you may suck at everything, but the only way to get any better is to get started.
Pick an engine, it really doesn’t matter which for the most part (I used to use Unity and recently switched to Godot, the way people evangelise the latter can be a bit offputting but as an objective user of both I can say they’ve got pros and cons like anything else). The exception being if you want to make a very specific kind of game like visual novels for example, then you’d be best served learning Ren’Py since that’s what the engine is for.
Other than that, get something installed and hunt down some tutorials for it. Doesn’t matter if they’re irrelevant to what you hope you’ll one day make, you’re just trying to learn the basics here. Take what you learn in tutorials, and modify it in some way, that helps things sink in better and gives you more understanding about what your code (or your blender animation, or whatever) is actually doing and how it works.
TLDR: Just get stuck in!
p.s. there’s a few general “gamedev” communities on here so far but I think the most active one is !gamedev@lemmy.blahaj.zone (direct link). Check out the pinned post in there with links to neighbours like engine-specific communities etc. Someone is also organising a Fediverse game jam for next month so that could be a good way to join a team and get started doing small tasks on a game that you wouldn’t be able to make yourself yet.
deleted by creator
This actually got me working in the IT.
How hard would it be for a noob to host a Lemmy instance?
deleted by creator
The technical part is probably easier than the content moderation.
Ditto. Like, I picked it up on the job, but I use it in my daily life all the time. I really like writing dumb little home automation shell scripts to turn lights off/on based on more specific conditions. I was also able to easily snipe an OG ergodox off of /r/mechmarket with praw back when those were all the rage. It’s fun, and the rush you get when you finally solve a tough problem is hard to beat.
Baking - fresh warm bread is so good!
Sewing - it’s nice to add pockets to things 😁
Oh my god yes the lack of pockets! Changed my life when I learned to sew.
I do not know how to live without a handbag.
And cooking! Being able to really master techniques and understand the interactions between flavours and ingredients is incredibly satisfying.
bread is good and sewing you get to make cool cosplays sometimes, so overall bread is good.
Warm bread just out of the oven with real butter is rapture!
I hate sewing, and I’m so glad that I can do it.
Baking - fresh warm bread is so good!
Second this! Just made bread a few days ago using the King Arthur easy bread recipe and sure enough it was super easy and came out really good!
Here to second Sewing. I think understanding how to make simple repairs and understand clothing structure better is probably a skill that pays off a lot.
Hiking.
Getting up amongst the fells and mountains, mostly in isolation from noise and other people. Sure there’s touristy spots where alot head to but there’s still plenty of other, maybe slightly more difficult to hike places if you wanted pure zen.
Navigation is important, don’t just go up with Google maps expecting her to tell you when the next left is. Get some research done, and head out. Don’t overcomplicate things with buying loads of gear that youtubers “recommend”, don’t send it up a 3000ft hike either. A slight ascent, around a lake - start small, find your feet and grow from there.
The best thing I could ever have started for my mental health.
Agreed! Just some quick safety tips for people who might be getting into it:
- Always tell someone what trail you’ll be hiking and when you plan to get back. That way, if you get lost, they’ll notice you’re missing and can call for help on your behalf.
- Always bring water, a physical print-out of the trail map, and a waterproof jacket with you. Yes, even if it’s the middle of summer: weather can change quickly in the mountains, especially if you end up going above the tree line. You don’t want to get caught in freezing rain when you’re just wearing a t shirt and shorts because it was 90 degrees and sunny when you parked at the trailhead!
- If you’re in bear country and you’re hiking alone, tie a bell or some other kind of noisemaker to your backpack. Bears almost never want a fight, they’d much rather avoid you, so make it easy for them by giving them plenty of warning you’re coming.
I’d add that you should bring a flashlight if you’re out in the wilderness! Having a reasonably powerful dedicated light source could save your life if you do happen to get lost. No need to get some crazy expensive flashlight, but try to get something pretty bright. Keep it on the small side so you’re more likely to take it with you.
Also, if you get lost, try to stay in one place. It makes S&R much easier if they’re not chasing you around all over the place. There are exceptions to this (e.g. you need to run from something actively dangerous), but this was the general rule I was always taught.
Yep even going to a local park is a great start! All you need to really bring is water. Add other amenities (including first aid) as you get further and further away from civilization.
I agree, don’t bother with the YouTube recs, unless they are about essentials.
An instrument. It’s soul food and extremely therapeutic. Even if you suck, just learn to let it go. I find it’s really good for my mental health. I dunno, it’s music ya know? Lol
I’m really grateful my parents pushed me to start playing the violin at 5, because it massively enriched my life. Even when I was bullied, abused, and miserable, playing my violin would help pick me up just a bit.
I agree, singing does that for me as well. Could be having a shit day but after choir things always seem a bit better
Absolutely, im grateful every day I can pick up and play. One day my bones will be to weak to do much of anything yknow.
music is pretty epic and cool.
This is the one I was looking for. Everyone should learn an instrument. The struggle is so rewarding. Music is such a natural means of expression; if you’re happy, depressed, in a mood, annoyed… all of that can be put into music. It can be the purest joy or the most intimate therapy.
I know, there really is no barrier to music. And it’s SO tactile or something, like there’s no middle man to your own expression and emotion. You can play music with anything anywhere. And it feels so good, on a biological level, music is engraved into our DNA. It’s the most fulfilling thing in my life and I think it’s made me a better person. I’m sure the same can be said for many hobbies, music is just the one I chose I guess (:
Crochet
Pros
- Documented mental health benefits
- Cheap to start, can learn from online tutorials
- Easier than knitting
- Make cool toys, clothes, home accessories, whatever you want
- Get to smush yarn into your face on a regular basis
Cons
- Fibre crafts gateway drug
I like crochet, even though I’m really bad at it. It’s very peaceful (unless I’m counting stitches, then it’s a constant fight against my ADHD), and I have a bunch of cool scarves now.
I think that’s part of why I suggested it over knitting, you can do the complex projects with the counting and the actual effort OR you can just mindlessly crochet a long scarf or a bunch of cotton washclothes and end up with something practical.
Knitting is a lot slower and also less suitable for some of those small projects like washcloths so unless it’s basic garter stitch you pretty much know you’re gonna have to concentrate at least a little bit.
My girlfriend does both, and it’s definitely amazing how much faster crochet is! Like, “oh, here’s a giant amigurumi dragon I whipped up in a week,” or “here’s a poncho made over the weekend for our vacation,” with crochet, versus “I have to frog 4 weeks of work because I slipped a stitch and didn’t notice.” Granted, she’s much better at crochet (by her admission), but knitting seems tough. Love the stuff you can make with it though.
Haha, yep that sounds about right! I do love being able to do both, some things you can do with knitting you just can’t do in crochet especially if you need to create a nice drapey fabric. Being bistitchual is the best of both worlds!
Any online tutorial that could help me get started you recommend?
Well, I don’t want to be That Person but technically I made a (long) video for total crochet beginners that I know quite a few people have used to great success. It’s frontloaded with theory though and more for people like me who learn by understanding the “why” of what they’re doing.
If you prefer to do it in shorter chunks or without all the tedious theory, which let’s face it most people do, I’ve heard really good things about this Bella Coco series which has, um, slightly more views than mine 😅
There’s a fairly new (aren’t they all) crochet community over at !crochet@lemmy.ca (direct link) that seems very nice so far, I’m sure they’d love to help with your first attempts too!
I love the smushing! Find it so hard to learn though
Sounds like you have the most important part of the hobby down already, at least!
(see my reply to the other comment for various maybe-helpful links)
Self-hosting. You learn how to use Linux, security, managing services, and after all that you have your own little ship on the internet. After all that you gain a massive understanding of how the internet and the technology you use daily work and run (to an extent).
Public Speaking
You never know when you’ll have to say something in front of a crowd.
I’m so sorry, but I have to reply to this, I misread this as public spanking, and have been giggling to myself for about 15 minutes.
Apologies.
How dare you, you dirty dirty child. You have a dirty, filthy mind. You should be…
Wait, what were we talking about?
that is true.
It really is a skill. I struggle with it, but it just takes practice, outside of extreme cases where severe anxiety are involved, but in those cases it’s a great resource for mindfulness and cbt.
Cooking is a very nice, relaxing hobby and you also get to eat some good food!
It’s also very useful and an easy way to impress people.
It’s extremely difficult for me to cook regularly anymore, I just don’t have the energy. When I do choose to, though, I make it a fun event and it’s so satisfying. Put on some music, drink some beers and go to town.
I made Chinese noodles from scratch a while back and while they were SOOOOO GOOD, it was so labor intensive that I would only do it for fun and not to satiate myself lol. They were nice and bouncy noodles, cut a little smaller than chow fun.
noted
Learning to cook can save you money, and make you more healthy. (It can also do the opposite, but thats on you.)
Learning a new language. You learn a bit about how languages work, understand other cultures a bit better, usually learn new vocabulary for your native language, understand the relationship between different languages, learn the roots of loan words and generally helps your brain stay healthy, even by only studying the basics.
what lauguage would you recommend for people who only know english?
Not OP, but I’ve asked myself this as well. I think it depends on where you live and what you want out of your language learning experience. If your goal is to learn something more useful in everyday life and you live in the southern US, Spanish is a great option. If you’re from Canada, French is probably the most useful. German and Mandarin are useful in the business world, but the latter is significantly harder to learn. If you’re not worried about maximizing the utility of what you learn, Norwegian is considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers, and let’s be real, Norway is awesome.
It’s more important that you stick with whatever you choose though. That’s the part I’ve struggled with.
To be honest I’m not a native English speaker so your advice is probably more useful anyway. My husband is British and has studied plenty of languages, finding Swedish and Norwegian definitely the easiest to pick up. Romance languages have more complicated grammar but you’ll find a lot more TV and movies to watch to casually pick up a bit more of the language, which I find useful because I only speak English as well as I do from watching a lot of TV (first with subs) when I was younger.
deleted by creator
Some from recent memory:
- Real Humans (Äkta Människor) tv show, I liked the UK version a bit more
- Young Royals, tv show about a young gay prince
- Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, a heartbreaking miniseries dealing with Aids epidemic
- Raspberry Boat Refugee, a movie about a Finnish man who believes he should’ve been born Swedish
- Glowing Stars, a movie about a girl looking after her mom who has cancer
- Stormkärs Maja, a miniseries on the hard life on a tiny island
- Roy Andersson Also has a lot of fun absurdist comedies
- Also movies/miniseries based on Astrid Lindgren books are sweet and nostalgic and despite being aimed for children
I think those might be easy enough to find online depending on where you look.
Italian! Really close and easy to learn. It sounds so pleasant to hear.
Esperanto is reckoned an easy pickup, has speakers globally, and will improve your default in most romance languages. The community is also quite nice, in my experience.
Esperanto seems to be pretty useless to invest so much time into learning it. Wouldn’t be learning “normal” language more beneficial anyway?
Depends on your goals. If you’re going somewhere with one language to spend time, or especially value a particular language, studying that language makes sense. If you want access to a global network of the sort of people who would pick up a conlang intended to be a universal second language, one speakers of can be found anywhere, Esperanto’s your pick.
Mi lernis Esperanton ĉar mi volas havi amikojn en ĉiaj la landoj de la mondo.
I am Polish native that can easily read Ukrainian, English and also some German and I have no clue what that sentence means in Esperanto :D. I can only guess that “lernis” is probably something like “learning” and “mondo” refers to “world” (guess based purely on ‘Le Monde’ - French newspaper). Rest looks like some random Lithuanian stuff. I don’t think knowledge of Esperanto could give me any advantage when traveling across Europe. Idea is cool but to be honest English is the new lingua franca and I think that’s good because it’s easy to pick up and already widespread.
If you’re curious…
“Mi” - pronoun meaning I/me
“lernis” - learned (The root is “lern-”. The following rules apply to all verbs: “-i” is the infinitive form, “-is” is past tense, “-as” is present tense, “-os” is future tense, “-us” is conditional tense (kind of like could/would), and “-u” is imperative/command form.)
“Esperanton” - obviously Esperanto, but the “-n” suffix denotes a direct object.
“ĉar” - because
“volas” - (verb, present tense) want
“havi” - (verb, infinitive) to have
“amikojn” - (noun, direct object, plural) - root is “amik-”, the “-o” suffix denotes a noun, “-j” makes it plural, and then the “-n” for direct object again
“en” - in
“ĉiaj” - all
“la” - the (this is the only article in the language; incidentally, there is no indefinite article)
“landoj”- countries (“-o” is noun, “-j” is plural)
“de” - of (there are actually multiple words that can mean “of” but that’s another topic entirely)
“mondo” - worldThe letter “ĉ” is pronounced like “ch”; Esperanto doesn’t do two-letter phonemes because one of its foundational principles is one letter = one sound.
what lauguage would you recommend for people who only know english?
You weren’t the target audience for my initial comment.
“I learned Esperanto because I want to have friends in all the countries of the world.”
Spanish: it’s the most return per effort.
Bit of an off-the-wall suggestion but I was having real trouble learning other languages mostly due to all the cases (and sometimes genders). So I started learning Esperanto, which admittedly is not the most practical language to know BUT it really helped me understand languages more in general. It’s very simple to learn and easy for an English-speaker to pronounce, as well as having lots of recognisable words (the Esperanto for “yes” is “jes”, which is pronounced “yes” lol)
Now that I’ve gone back to learning German I’m feeling much more confident about learning in general just because I got some of the grammar concepts from a much easier language. Might be worth a look if you’ve struggled before.
deleted by creator
Thinking of learning sign language…
that would be useful.
*That would be handy
I tried sign language on a whim in college and ended up loving it! It’s really unique and fun to use. It ended up being my secondary focus on my degree. Also, Deaf people are always super happy whenever there is someone to speak with, even if you stumble through it they are always patient and try to help
Do you get to use it often? I’d imagine it’s easy to forget how to sign if you don’t keep practising, just like languages. Would be cool to learn it though!
Not nearly as much as I would like, luckily my partner knows it too though. So we are able to have some side conversations with it!
how long did it take you to learn it?
I studied it for about 4 years doing a mix of learning and being a teaching assistant for the intro classes, but realistically I was conversational after 2 classes or about a year.
Some tips if you want to learn. I learned American Sign so your mileage may vary for others:
-Find out what sign language is primarily used in your country ASL (American Sign Language) in the US, BSL (British Sign Language) in England, I think some parts of Canada use FSL (French Sign Language) but I cant remember. Universal Sign exists, but is never used so dont learn that.
-Use your dominant hand for all single handed signs
-Learn the alphabet, there are not signs for every word that exists. Often times words are spelled out (fingerspelled) instead of having signs. So by learning your alphabet you can always default to spelling things out if you dont know the sign.
-Facial expressions are super important. They feel really weird at first and often times are what beginners struggle with the most, but they are used to show tone in the conversation and without them you are missing a large building block of the language.
-I found the best way to practice was to sign to myself instead of talking to myself. It helped me remember the main signs that I would use in conversation and helped me practice my finger spelling.
If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out. Im still very passionate about the language and culture.
Thank you for all the tips and everything!! South Africa use their own sign language - went on their website and they offer a course! I enrolled for it.
Interesting what you say about facial expressions - it makes sense!
Can’t wait to start with it.
I only know the tiniest bit (learned some as a kid, I don’t remember why) but even if it never comes in useful I can confirm it’s a great party act.
Sewing, at least to the level of basic mending. Helps one realize what well made clothes look and feel like.
3D printing. Suddenly you are able to fix small plastic shit in your house which would otherwise mean throwing out the whole goddamn thing. Best feeling ever to repair and save stuff.
i wish i could 3d print board games and such but printers are so pricey.
Check your local public library!
You might want to check out laser cutting. Same prize range and so much faster for board games. (basically works like a 2D lasercutter, most commonly used with wood or plexi glass).
I’ve heard good things about Ender 3 printers and their clones if you’re willing to tinker. AFAIK, the experience right out of the box isn’t great, but they can be modded and upgraded over time and can be fairly capable.
That being said, those might still be too expensive depending on your geo. I seem to recall reading about reprap projects designed to be built as cheaply as possible using harvested components from things like old scanners and shit.
At work, I have a reputation for being the guy who never shuts up about trying to get new people into scuba diving. If there are 2 or more divers at the lunch table I honestly feel a little bad for everybody else. The cost of getting trained and renting or buying all your gear can scare people away, but I would at least strongly recommend that anybody on an island vacation or cruise at least try a “discover Scuba” class. You’ll learn everything you need to know to not die by watching a quick video, and working in a pool, then you get to go have an amazing dive in the ocean with an instructor.
Two things: chess and piano. I downloaded the chess.com app and play whenever I’m idling for more than a few minutes. Got to a very proficient respectable level in a few months, and it’s a ton of fun, endless combinations, no upper limit to how good you can get.
I also bought a cheap keyboard for under $300 and got proficient at it within a few months. Half hour here, twenty minutes there, an hour there. I’m not Chopin or anything and I can barely even play him but again, respectable.
So now if you ever go somewhere and see a chess set or a piano you can be like hey I know what to do with that!
cheap keyboard for under $300
for a second I thought I was on /c/mechanicalkeyboards and thought “omg i wouldn’t say that’s cheap”
Oh I just meant cheap relative to like a grand piano or something. I don’t mean to be insensitive, I’m doing pretty well financially, so to me $300 for decent quality but still entry level equipment isn’t really a huge investment, especially for something I could return if it doesn’t go well.
Also thinking about buying a 6" telescope like this bad boy right here
Again in the $300 range, entry level but still good value.
Chess is such a great game that really makes you think critically about your thinking, I enjoy playing it anytime I am feeling brain fog from antidepressants as it keeps me in the real world.
One lesson I’ve taken away from it is that playing good chess is much less about coming up with astonishing brilliant moves than I thought. It’s more about making good decisions, positioning yourself well, and continuously applying pressure. If you keep doing that you will have good results most of the time. Great life lesson, hit me in the face like a ton of metaphors when I realized that.
Absolutely. I’d argue it’s one of the best games to teach kids, siblings, etc.
I plan on teaching my nephew when he turns 10 as a way to help him think about things critically in which he can apply to the real world.
You should! My grandfather figure taught me how to play chess, I look back on the time we spent together fondly
Brain fog is real, definitely not talked about enough! One of the worst things to come out of being depressed and then being on SSRIs is that I struggle to read these days. I love reading but I don’t have much brainpower left to take things in anymore
Hey dude hope I’m not stepping your toes but if you are here on Lemmy you may be interested in lichess.
It is a free and open source alternative to play some good chess. It is also very active and there are all kinds of levels of players so you wouldn’t be losing anything from switching :)
Chopin does have pieces that aren’t too bad, though of course few if any for beginners.
I’ve had no formal piano training (and my main instrument is guitar) yet can play several pretty well. Nocturne Op 9 No 2 for example is both beautiful and not too difficult.Valse Op. 69 No 2 is harder but still doable.
Waltz Op 64 No 2 is probably harder still but with practice not as bad as it looks – but it is likely the most difficult piece that I can play without skipping any parts. Really fun to play since it’s at my edge at my ability and it feels amazing to pull it off when I feel it should be much too hard to my skill level.
