I’ve always loved flashlights. Yes FLASHLIGHTS with an A!!! Anyway, apparently not many people share my rather niche interest.
So I ask you, fellow Lemmites, what are your hobbies and weird obsessions that you can ramble on about for hours?
Please feel free to ramble on about your passions here. Maybe you’ll find some likeminded individuals!
Is your flashlight molded after anyone though?
Leather working. I inherited my grandfather’s old hatchet and knife from when he was a boy scout, these 80+ year old relics had their original leather sheathes that were totally disintegrating and stiff. After looking fruitlessly for replacement sheathes I decided it couldn’t be that hard to make my own, and now I’m hooked. I have leather cases for all of my devices, leather bags for different traveling needs, and leather wallets and trinkets make the absolute best gifts. People are always blown away by hand made leather products.
Got any pics? That sounds cool!
I second this request
My latest obsession is sashiko, a Japanese form of embroidery with beautiful repeating geometric patterns. It’s a folk art that evolved to strengthen cloth, extend its lifespan, and repair torn clothes. Rather uniquely it’s also intended to be stitched with the fabric in your hands rather than in a hoop.
One thing I really love about it from a technical sewing standpoint is that traditionally you don’t use knots at all, but it’s still a strong stitch. Quilters do something similar with what’s called a waste knot that gets snipped away, but this skips the knot step entirely.
There are specific paths you follow while stitching these patterns so that you don’t waste thread. They vary in complexity from simple lines, triangles, and curves, all the way up to tiny repeating patterns that practically replace the cloth with thread.
I don’t have nearly enough patience to do the complex ones like that, but the more simple stitches are so relaxing.
I’m so looking this up. I love crafty stuff but it’s ages since I’ve done anything.
Info dump incoming:
It does require a bit of speciality equipment compared to regular embroidery, I thought I could get away without the sashiko thimble but it kills your fingers after a while. It’s a ring that you wear at the base of your middle finger with sort of a shield that the needle is braced on. Sashiko needles are longer and thicker than a typical sewing needle as well, because sashiko thread is fairly thick. You can get away with substituting sashiko thread with size 8 perle thread or something similar in size if you can’t find sashiko thread locally. But I like using the sashiko thread because it’s wound so that you can make a single cut in the skein through all the threads, and then they’re all a good size for stitching! It’s super convenient, just yank and go.
I definitely recommend watching some people on YouTube do it, it’s very different from what I think of as a typical embroidery technique. You sort of pleat the fabric onto the needle and then pull the needle through when you can’t really fit more fabric on the needle. I found this video pretty useful when I was figuring everything out.
There are also a lot of cloth kits with preprinted designs that wash out after you’re done. There are a few good companies but Olympus seems to be the most popular. Coaster kits or hana-fukin/handkerchief kits are great to dip your toes in.
If you try it out I hope you enjoy it!
But the specialized equipment can be obtained for less than $20 and then you’re set for a while! I love sashiko, for all the reasons you listed. I have a pair of project jeans, but now I’ve mended all the holes in my clothes and need to make more I guess.
This is the first hobby in here I’ve come across that I haven’t tried. Looks really neat! Along the same lines of Japanese repair arts, have you tried kintsugi? It’s really really rewarding as well.
I’ve seen kintsugi videos before, it’s very beautiful! I haven’t tried my hand at it, but if I had any broken ceramics I’d love to try it.
bought myself a magnet for magnet fishing, hopefully that’s fun
Remember to tie the other end of the rope to your belt loop or something.
the rope is 20m so hopefully it doesn’t all go in the water
I think the main worry is losing it to a place that is simply inaccessible. Better safe than sorry.
oh that would be awful, hopefully doesn’t happen
And risk getting dragged off a bridge? Naaaah tie that shit to a handrail
Oh man I did this and thought I caught the mother load. Me and my friends labored so hard to pull it up onto the end of the pier. It was so heavy. Ended up being a park bench lol
I mean that’s a hell of a thing to throw in the garage
Haha it was super gross. Just left it leaning on the pier. Thought the park people would want it back haha
What magnets do you recommend?
don’t know yet, I still haven’t tried it out
Magnet fishing is basically litter collection, isn’t it? What is the best thing you’d hope to find?
A gun?
big metal bar could be useful. pulling out a shopping trolley would be funny but idk what I’d do with it after
Apparently it’s pretty common to find guns. There was a video floating around a while ago of some guys that pulled up a gun and called the cops to report it and turn it in. The cops were mostly annoyed about the whole thing though.
pulling out a gun would be kinda exciting
A safe!
Just make sure to post about it on an Internet forum and then never show anyone what’s inside the damn thing
True, it could be fun to find some stolen goods!
someone fished out a stolen motorbike in Dublin a couple years ago and there was an article about that
Idk how you exercise caution when doing this…. But find out and do.
You know, you got me wondering… why do fleshlights have no lights? They should do rgb or something.
You could even gamify it. Have pulsing rings of light to set a healthy pace and collect metrics, or switch it to game mode where you need to follow the pattern like “dance, dance revolution “
lol, adult bop it.
TWIST IT
I remember a company making sex toys with actuators that could communicate across a network, so that two people masturbating with linked toys could interact with each other. This article includes the word “teledildonics.” The problem is latency.
Because they’re not made by Razer
Yet.
Knight rider lights down the sides and powered by kinetic energy.
I will only accept that if it also plays clips of Mr Feeney talking dirty to me.
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I don’t know that it’s unique, but I never actually stop modding Skyrim. Wife always asks, “Still modding Skyrim?”, and I always answer with some lie like, “Yeah, but I’m finally on the home stretch here.”
I see this as an absolute win! You get to keep life flowing through a game you love. That can’t be said about a lot of things.
Collecting snail shells. Turns out there are hundreds of land and freshwater snail species, many that are easily identifiable by even as an amateur. Some are common but many are in narrow habitats or restricted ranges, making collecting an adventure. The microsnails might be the coolest. They’re insanely small but under a hand lens they can have very intricate shells and they are everywhere! It’s like pokemon but irl.
Lately I’ve really been into making and integrating home automation devices.
Mostly I’m just trying to ensure my privacy in an increasingly non-private world, but it’s a fun medley of skills to deploy - 3d printing, soldering, electrical engineering, a bit of programming, and even some carpentry work.
Is it a lot of coding? Hardware? What about it do you find to he the most satisfying?
Regarding coding, it sort of depends - if you build lights driven by WLED, it can be as simple as getting the parts together and visiting a website. (There are now even plug in, no solder boards you can buy.) But there are some platforms such as HomeSpan, where you more or less configure the whole thing from the ground up and it can be involved.
The hardware requirements are sort of piecemeal, but all of my home automation stuff - microcontrollers, sensors, switches, etc, all fit into a relatively small toolbox (and a totally messy workbench). Most components (aside from tools) aren’t super expensive, but LED strips and power supplies can get spendy.
I’ve been doing smart home stuff for a while, and have a slew of systems that, well… many years ago I didn’t think about how they leaked my data, or really cared how easy it was to integrate things. I’d just install a new app, throw a new bridge onto my network, etc. After a while, the question of what device is on what app, or if this sensor can trigger that action/device is burdensome.
I get a lot of satisfaction out of reducing the complexity of my digital life, and knowing that there’s less vulnerable points within my network (and less data about me leaking out).
Life, and the business of living is really challenging. My wife and I have ADHD, and being able to reduce even minor burdens frees both of us up to focus more on just living. (And sometimes it’s just fun to have rainbow swirly lights!)
I’ve been out of it for a while now, but I spent a number of years Nerfsmithing. Which is to say, I modified Nerf blasters. I upgraded the internals to get longer range and higher rates of fire. My real fun, though, was modifying the exteriors to see just how silly I could get. I made a lot of different designs, but below is my masterpiece.
I attached a real red dot sight, after carefully painting it to look like a Nerf accessory. I attached a real laser sight and tactical light, after mounting them inside the case of what had been an official Nerf light. The 10-round straight magazine was replaced with a 35-round drum magazine. A rifle strap (in bright yellow) and a Nerf bipod finished off the main unit (a Nerf Stampede).
Then I attached a Nerf Magnus pistol, still fully functional, as a front grip. And I attached a Nerf Zombie Strike Machete under that as a bayonet.
It looks overbuilt and ridiculous, which is what I was trying for, but it was also an absolute terror in the office Nerf wars. I had a lot of fun building it.
I have this weird art medium I came up with where I take things in the fridge and cabinet that are past the date and turn them into art materials. It began because people I know always debated over what to do once something in the fridge lived its lifespan. Throwing it away always seemed wasteful, and throwing it outside for the animals to eat sounds generous to nature, but you end up poisoning the ecosystem.
The hobby began as I was cleaning out the fridge and wondered if a certain sauce that was forgotten about in the very back of the fridge would make a good paint. It then kicked off from there. In our world where we never know where what we eat comes from or is made of, sometimes something makes a surprisingly good paint when expired, sometimes it makes a good texture builder, sometimes an aroma enhancer, sometimes a good clay substitute, etc. I then find a way to make it last as long as possible, or at least long enough to show people. It sounds weird, but I have created some of my best masterpieces this way.
- Packing: backpacks, bags, organizers, compression sacks, all kinds of things like this. People loathe packing while I just love to play Tetris with my perfectly organized stuff. I have too many bags.
- Role-playing games: it is weird because I mostly collect them since there’s no time to play (nor to learn new rules).
- Automation: why spend 2 minutes manually something when I can spend 2 hours failing to automate it?
Hah yes. Packing.
We were allowed one trunk to take to school. Regardless of weight, you could take whatever you could fit in the trunk.
Needless to say, that when a family member complains they can’t fit any more into their bag, generally I’ll be able to repack it with loads of space left.
I too, have too many bags. And I managed to get my camping base weight down to about 8kg. Am not rich enough (or mad enough) to go full ultralight. This is with creature comforts.
Role-playing games: it is weird because I mostly collect them since there’s no time to play (nor to learn new rules).
Im the same, I love a good universe. Im not so enthralled with the game or the system, but the worlds they are in get me every time.
So are you like just reading about the lore around it?
Yep. Frigging White Wolf sourcebooks are the worst for me. I’ll just read the whole thing as if it were a standard fiction book. The entire setting just gnaws at my mind. I wish there were long forms of the little blurbs you get in them.
Oh man do I feel that roleplaying one. That was me for like 8 years until I got a new play group again. We don’t meet as often as any of us would like but when we do meet up that’s when the shenanigans start. Now I could gush for hours about various DnD stories I’ve gotten with this group
Also the automation one is great too, I spent 2 hours setting up a spreadsheet that tracks my finances (mostly) automatically. It will even tally up totals for the whole year. It’s great.
Let’s see, I got adhd and up until well… next month when I get my first post-college paycheck… been pretty limited on funding. With that in mind
- home automation
- home server w automated media acquisition, and a random assortment of other services
- Fixing things, started out of need to save money… but now I just enjoy doing it. From phones to cars, and soon clothes (just got a sewing machine)
- Scripting/automating random tasks, like clipping all the digital coupons for my grocery store. Or auto booking vaccines back when they weren’t so easy to get.
- I like a good sounding audio system / headphones… but idk if my small collection really constitutes a hobby.
- wife’s got me birding a bit, she’s way more excited about it than I, but I always at least enjoy the walks, and occasionally see something neat.
- oh yeah, photography, mostly to capture moments and places for myself… but I’m venturing into trying to get a bit more artsy to try and convey whatever it was that intrigued me to take the photo to others who weren’t there.
- board games, but I like the social aspect, and I have a hard time finding people who aren’t like… idk what to call them, but people that seem to be autistic and have board games as a special interest. At least that’s who mostly goes to boardgame meetups around here.
- I guess I like collecting useful tools, for the above fixing
- VR intrigues me, and I’m starting a job soon where I’ll get to spend more time working in and developing for VR/AR/XR, and with the money from said job I’ll probably invest in some better home vr gear
- in college, I really liked being a tech consultant for our student org, learned about and implemented everything from event live-streaming to documentation management systems to web hosting hackathon judging platforms.
So yeah, idk… a little bit of everything
🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓🤓
I’m a geek, not a nerd. And I have 20/20 vision.
Several of those (1: homebridge, 2: Plex/sonarr/haugene)can run in containers on a raspberry pi, just use an external USB Hard drive (not just memory card or thumb drive). So you can do that for a pittance . For board games, Tabletop Simulator or BoardGameArena will help you do it online with real people.
I got an intel 12100 running the server, its a solid efficiency chip and allows me to also transcode as necessary. Also, I’ve got a bunch of drives totally up to 24TB right now, I’m sure I could find a way to connect that to a Pi, but my build is efficient enough for me, especially with the price of power in the US. The price isnt super clear from the bill from our apartment, but the local rates are around $.16 / kwh
As for Tabletop Sim, I realy do need to give that one a shot. I think I even already bought it, just haven’t played.
Table top Sim with vr is a guilty pleasure of mind. I highly recommend if you ever get the chance. A friendly reminder that you don’t need a new VR headset to play. Just go on Ebay and save yourself $100 on a used headset, because with new headsets always coming into the market, someone is always looking to sell.
Ah! Okay, I misunderstood. Sounded like you were wanting to get into it with a limited budget, not that you were already into it.
Ah, I was just trying and failing to point out that I’ve managed quite a few hobbies in spite of limited funds. I might go a little nuts with the new checks I’ll be getting. :-)
Gotcha! In that case, go crazy! :)
TTS is good, it’s just better with a controller - honestly, I might buy a used Quest (fuck Zuck) , for a better experience. But Board Game Arena and Tabletopia both offer (for a fairly reasonable fee) a ton of people to play against.
I’ve been into vr for a few years. If you’ve kept up with vr drama, what is your opinion of Meta?
And to your tools point, any favorite tools or multitools? I’ve been looking into multitools for a while but am very hesitant to pull the trigger on a leatherman.
As someone who also watches it: the Quest 3 looks good, but it’s a dumpster fire of a company, the pass through looks usable. So I’m glad to see the Nreal (or whatever they’re called this week) getting close. And if you don’t mind being tied to a computer, every review of the bigscreen beyond loves it. But the $3t gorilla entering the room is either going to show that VR/AR/MR is good and here to stay, or that it will remain a niche for the foreseeable future.
I race RC cars. 1/10 scale outdoor and 1/28 scale indoor. Both on-road.
I also help run the club that sets up the races.
How fast would you say a hobbyist RC goes? I’ve only ever seen the $20 walmart RC cars and am curious about any differences, as I imagine there are.
Depends on the class. Most of the 1/10 that I race are between 20-30mph.
I’ve run some classes that hit 60-65mph. My club doesn’t have any classes hitting those speeds but a local outdoor club does.
My 1/28 can hit 20mph depending amount of upgrades. The one I race hits maybe 15mph, but to scale that’s faster than the 1/10 I race. Some of the very highly modified 1/28 cars can supposedly hit 60+mph, but no one locally races those particular cars and I’ve never seen it.
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