Mine would be creating pen and paper ciphers for my made up secret communication needs.

  • Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works
    1842·
    1 year ago

    I try to make something that looks good (or at least doesn’t look like random static) by running pictures I’ve taken through audio editing software. There are some extra steps that go into it to “trick” the program into importing the picture as if it were a sound file, making sure the header (information that tells your computer that this is a picture) doesn’t get fucked with, and then exporting the data in a way that it will be saved as a picture and not an mp3 or something else.

    On the rare occasion I do bring it up, I can literally watch people’s eyes glaze over. Until I show them a picture

    Edit: internet is really bad right now, will reply with an image when I can

    Edit2: picture was too big at 7MB. Hopefully a screenshot of the picture doesn’t look too bad

    • Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone
      231·
      1 year ago

      Ok now that’s really cool

      I do a lot of photography and I’ve been trying to find something that I could do with some of my more experimental shots that makes them more… more‡. If that makes sense?

      You wouldn’t happen to have more details on how to do it would you?

      Edit: ‡ My more experimental shots are more done as like experimenting with how a shot is taken for like evoking a specific feeling or doing something strange in camera or really any number of reasons. Hell some of my experimental shots were accidentally taken pictures that are disorienting or confusing. I don’t share them often, because IDK it just seems like really personal sometimes. Those experimental shots feel less like photography and more like painting with photos.

      • Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works
        35·
        1 year ago

        Absolutely!

        I have a bookmark saved on my computer at home to an old forum with the instructions I followed when I started doing this, and I can send that link later.

        There are two programs that I use, and both are free.

        GIMP - image editing software

        Audacity - audio editing software

        Here is the basic process from that bookmarked forum post that I can remember off the top of my head. If something is wrong (especially the Audacity import settings, since I don’t ever change them), I will fix it later.

        1. In GIMP (or other software of your choice) convert the image to a bitmap (.bmp). This step is very important!

        2. Use the option to import raw data as A-law with “little endian” (I have no idea what those setting do, but I assume it’s for keeping the header intact)

        3. Change the timeline in Audacity from time to samples and select everything after the 34th sample to edit and add effects (samples 1-34 are the information that tells your computer that this is a picture CHANGING ANYTHING IN THE HEADER WILL STOP YOU FROM OPENING THE IMAGE AFTER THE EDIT)

        4. Export the audio using the raw data option, selecting A-law again. This should re-save the “audio” as a bitmap image as it will not add an audio file header to the data.

        I believe the blue parking garage image uses reverb, or maybe a phasor… possible both to get that effect? But there are a lot of setting to mess with for each audio effect that can dramatically change the outcome. The trees picture was made by putting the original picture in the left audio channel, and putting a horizontally flipped copy of the image in the right audio channel. Delete the header from the flipped copy, and exporting the data smashes them together in this really strange mirror effect. Afterward, I would use GIMP for any color correcting, changing saturation/hue, simple stuff

        Edit: spelling and formatting

    • Rozz@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
      14·
      1 year ago

      That’s pretty cool and definitely falls under the category of a hobby that you do because you can, although I’m sure there are people in the world who would pay for art like that (not suggesting that you do).

      • Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works
        9·
        1 year ago

        I have had the thought about trying to make money off of this, and some friends have joked that I should be making album art or something like that.

        However, I don’t want to feel like I have to meet a deadline or feel the pressure of making something that someone else wants/likes. I just want to make something I like

        • Rozz@lemmy.sdf.orgOP
          5·
          1 year ago

          I completely get that, adding a timeline or even someone else’s opinions changes things

    • PunnyName@lemmy.world
      14·
      1 year ago

      I just wanna know how people even came up with data moshing. It blows my mind that there’s a thought process that incorporates these steps, and ends with awesome (sometimes) results!

      • Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works
        9·
        1 year ago

        Most of the time I don’t have a plan of what I want out of something. Sometimes I can get something that looks interesting or cool right away, other times I have hundreds of files trashed over a couple of days and there’s not a single one that I personally liked

    • oce 🐆@jlai.lu
      4·
      1 year ago

      Considering it’s audio-software, I guess the changes are related to frequency changes. You should look up Fourier transform (the function that allows to see the sound frequencies of music, for example) applied to images and play with it. If you are not afraid to do a little bit of Python coding, you should be able to have much more control on the parameters responsible for the visual effects you’re looking for.
      The image equivalent of bass frequencies (long wavelength) are big details (ex: the trees) and high frequencies (short wavelength) are small details (ex: the leaves).

      • Console_Modder@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        1 year ago

        I haven’t had to think about Fouier since college, so thanks for bringing up that trauma lmao. I do realize that there are ways to reliably get certain effects or even learn how to do this in Photoshop or GIMP, but I like the shotgunning, spray-and-pray of not knowing what the outcome will look like

        I guess I find the process of going back to make small changes to the settings and then seeing how that affects the image more satisfying. Getting something that looks good is just a bonus

    • cubedsteaks@lemmy.today
      4·
      1 year ago

      This is so fucking cool. Where can I learn more about this??

      edit, I see your other post explaining!

    • Bob@feddit.nl
      3·
      1 year ago

      I used to do a similar thing where I saved photos as .txt files, but they were an awful lot glitchier, and usually split the RGB channels to look as if you had three eyes and were crossing them.

  • Kylamon1@lemmy.world
    138·
    1 year ago

    I’m a math teacher. I use my video game making knowledge from Godot to make little video games to review skills. Each takes a few weeks to make with game design, making all the art, programming, and making the worksheet.

    Here is my Disco Dj-Demo if you were curious what I mean.

    I think it’s fun, it’s not something I can really chat with others about.

    • donuts@kbin.social
      22·
      1 year ago

      If someone I knew made entire freaking games and didn’t tell me about it I’d be pissed! That’s really cool and you should wear it on your sleeve, imo.

    • PlexSheep@feddit.de
      8·
      1 year ago

      You are awesome. Thanks for being a good teacher and making math as interesting as it is for your students. And your hobby is fucking cool too.

      I am a programmer (as in it’s my job) and I can’t really program anything in Godot. I’ve done the dodge the creeps tutorial and did some more tries, but I don’t really get game dev. It’s definitely a unique skill.

  • atlasraven31@lemm.ee
    138·
    1 year ago

    I am learning lockpicking for fun. It helps me relax. I used a practice lock at first, then a cheap real lock. I’ve just learned that my firearms lock…yup, can be picked open in about 10 seconds. Equal parts cool and terrifying. Locks are waaay less secure than people think.

    It has the same “internet hacker” stigma so I avoid talking about it.

    • Tigwyk@lemmy.vrchat-dev.techEnglish
      35·
      1 year ago

      I miss lockpicking, it’s so cathartic. I used to have a small set of picks and folks near my desk at the office would often try to pop a padlock I kept around when we were bored. I liked how everyone seemed so interested in the ease with which you can pop many locks.

    • Erasmus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      17·
      1 year ago

      So got a question for you. I have wanted to get in to this - just as a curiosity. Is there an inexpensive set of picks a person can buy to get started with to play around with?

      I tried googling and ran across about a hundred different suggestions and Amazon was the usual (no help).

    • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      15·
      1 year ago

      I got into it a bit during COVID and practiced a bit on a practice lock that I could repin myself. After being able to regularly open it without too much trouble, I decided to try my front door lock - thinking it would be a much harder challenge since it was a real lock.

      Nope. Shit popped open almost instantly. It blew my mind! After watching Lock Picking Lawyer, I figured that a skilled attacker could get into most locks eventually, but I didn’t realize that most house locks require virtually no skill to open. And it’s literally easier (and significantly less attention grabbing) than breaking a window!

      • Valmond@lemmy.ml
        8·
        1 year ago

        Sorry police officer, but the door was open ajar so hrem I just wanted to check if everything was alright you see?

        Had a guy just being mind blown for the whole evening lock picking my way into my apartment, and then open some lock he had on his luggage (all very basic).

        Saw him a year later when I had forgot about it and he still was startled about the evening 😁😅

        • jballs@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          6·
          1 year ago

          Lol that just reminded me of something only vaguely related. Back in the day I used to play a lot of World of Warcraft with a friend. One day in the middle of a gaming session, he went “HOLY SHIT! There’s a naked guy sleeping on my couch!”

          A couple things to note:

          1. His couch and his gaming setup were both in his living room, barely 3 feet apart.
          2. We had been playing for at least 2 hours at this point.

          My friend woke naked guy up, who was very drunk and confused. Apparently my friend kept his apartment door unlocked and naked guy stumbled in at some point, thinking it was his apartment, stripped down, and then passed out on the couch. Still don’t know how long he was there for, but probably several hours before my friend noticed

          So yeah, lock your doors people. They might not keep out a thief, but at least you won’t have a random naked dude pass out on your furniture.

    • argv_minus_one@beehaw.org
      12·
      1 year ago

      This right here is why electronic locks could be way more secure than mechanical ones, if only their manufacturers would hire well-trained programmers and not boot camp graduates to write the firmware.

      • I Cast Fist@programming.dev
        5·
        1 year ago

        If the Lockpicking Lawyer has taught me anything, is that a number of electronic locks tend to be easy to bypass via hardware rather than software

    • Contramuffin@lemmy.world
      8·
      1 year ago

      I love lockpicking! It’s got a really nice tactile click when the lock opens. Too bad there’s not a lot of locks to practice on (legally, anyways)

      And yeah, I agree - locks are really more of a psychological hindrance rather than an actual hindrance. Although, for what it’s worth, I don’t know of that many people who can lockpick, so in that sense, a lock at least decreases the number of people who can get through

    • EremesZorn@beehaw.org
      3·
      1 year ago

      That’s forbidden knowledge among the mechanics in my union local, lol. One of the shop mechanics at my training center was teaching some of my peers how to pick locks when we had completed our training and were just killing time helping the shop guys out. Had some downtime and he brought out a couple sets and some locks.
      Apparently it’s sort of an unspoken tool of the mechanic trade when you work around machinery like that. Never know what you’ll have to get access to and you never know if anyone will have the right key. You’d think the ignition key would suffice to open, say, an access panel or storage cabinet, but some of these machines use a different key entirely for such a thing.

  • jellyka@lemmy.ca
    116·
    1 year ago

    I like learning about random ass hobbies without ever indulging in them.

    I watch an ungodly amount of aquarium / terrarium videos, lurk a ton of aquascaping communities. I owned a betta fish in an empty bowl when I was 12 and that’s it. (poor fish)

    I read all you could know about book binding fanfiction, never done it.

    I read a hundred pages long horse breeding guide for the game black desert online and I have no idea why. I only played the game for a month, spent most of it reading a google doc about horse. I’m not even sure I owned a horse in the game.

    Sometimes I try the hobby, for example mini painting, and don’t have the patience for it. But I still watch some random dudes on youtube paint for hours and sometimes they don’t even talk!

    No idea why I am like this

  • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
    109·
    1 year ago

    Model trains. I don’t bring it up because it’s obscure, but I’ve definitely found there’s a stigma. “Oh he’s the guy who plays with trains”. Screw the haters, I like to relax after work and do a bit of escapism. Eventually I got over it though and talk about it with friends, but it’s not the first thing I bring up either

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
        32·
        1 year ago

        Not quite ready unfortunately, still in the “lots of pink fiberboard and paper mache” phase, but oh I will when we’re done. We’re probably too small for a model trains community, but I’ll probably be hanging out in !trains@lemmy.ml

        • Gormadt@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          91·
          1 year ago

          Sounds silly but there’s definitely an audience for steps of the process as well as the final product

          So when you’re ready to share the final results I know (at least me) some people who would love to see progress shots too

    • NOT_RICK@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      1 year ago

      As a grown man who still likes Pokemon, I understand. I’m sure lots of people assume you’re in a state of arrested development.

    • jcit878@lemmy.world
      5·
      1 year ago

      this is a hobby I would absolutely love to get into but do not have the space (and renting a garage would probably not be realistic at this point for me). looks amazing dude I’m jealous of you! awesome hobby

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        It’s definitely a space eater, it’s currently taking up half of my bedroom as I build it. I probably should have waited for a bigger more dedicated space but then I’d be waiting another decade.

    • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
      5·
      1 year ago

      My dad has been into model trains since before I was born. We built a train layout in the early 2000s when I was in middle school or so. Working on that project helped get me into electronics as we made PCBs for signals and control circuits. Now, 20 some years later, I work in software engineering. My dad wanted to get back into working on the layout and I’m helping him with Arduino programming and Raspberry Pi stuff. He built a stepper motor controller for the turntable and then we built some turnout and light control boards that interface with DCC. We set up JMRI on a Raspberry Pi to drive trains from phones and automate stuff. I also got him into 3D printing and he’s printed a ton of new scenery for the layout after buying his own Ender 3 after using mine quite a bit. We’ve learned various CAD/modeling programs to make 3D prints.

      I also finally got to do something I always wanted to do as a kid, which is to drive the trains from a first-person view. We have gone through a bunch of different variations of putting a Raspberry Pi Zero and camera module on an HO scale railcar. We did some different designs. Our latest design uses an SG-90 micro servo to control the camera angle so you can look left and right. I also 3D printed an enclosure for a regulator, battery charger, and battery that takes track power and powers the Pi.

      It’s pretty fun to be able to sit on the couch with a phone, watching the view on the TV, and drive the train from the other room including operating turnouts. Haven’t yet tried to drive the trains over the Internet yet but I want to, since I live a state away from my parents where the layout is.

      Edit: Here’s a video of the camera car in action! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls-Rg1TlDOA

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
        2·
        1 year ago

        Very cool! Sounds pretty much like what I have started on mine, I went the full DCC++ route, have an arduino and rpi running the whole layout, with a few other boards helping along the way. At some point I’d love to do full automation of the setup but that’ll be a while. What camera did you use for the rpi and train? I’m running n scale so I’m assuming yours would be larger

        • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
          2·
          1 year ago

          We built the layout when DCC was first coming out after going to a train show. We ended up picking up one of Digitrax’s first systems (Empire Builder IIRC, with DB150 base station). That’s still what we use for DCC. I designed a LocoNet to serial adapter (MS100 compatible, but very cheap and simple) in college (2010 ish) and we’re using that to connect it up to a Pi 3 running JMRI. Our layout is HO scale. N scale is probably too small for even a Raspberry Pi Zero with camera module, as the setup barely fits on an HO scale car.

          I have set up a DCC++ Ex setup at my house for testing and experiments. Just got a loop of EZ Track on the floor with an Arduino as the base station and another Pi with JMRI that is configured similarly to the real layout.

          Here is an early picture of the camera car design with the servo. I’ve since condensed everything on to one car with a custom 3D printed design. I want to publish it eventually but haven’t had time. I even 3D printed trucks with power pickups in my latest design (just had to buy metal wheel sets to put in them). I also made a tiny Python webserver that has buttons for different servo positions so you can easily move the servo from a browser.

          https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/456/482/672/249/884/original/398d0e7f581517cf.jpg

          https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/110/456/483/176/756/180/original/3434f015434fb542.jpg

          https://mastodon.social/@CalcProgrammer1/110456485998532640

          For the DCC controlled turnouts, lights, and turntable, I built up an Arduino Nano based DCC decoder from a design I found online and a DCC decoder library that is available in Arduino. Since the layout spans multiple tables, instead of putting a DCC decoder for each table/PCB I just had the one decoder echo the DCC commands as serial messages over a serial bus that spans all the tables. The other boards (turnout controllers, light controllers, and turntable controller) all just have their RX pins wired to the decoder’s TX and can receive commands that way. Turnout controllers are a mix of SG90 micro servo based ones and L293D motor drivers for Tortoise switch machines. Light controllers use transistors to switch 12V outputs on and off to drive bulbs and LEDs. Turntable controller is an EasyDriver based stepper controller with some pre-programmed position offsets for each turntable track (each track position is mapped to a DCC function address).

    • PunnyName@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      If you can figure out how to relate model trains to the average person, then it becomes really interesting.

      Like if your experiences have showed to you about why a trip cross-country in 1 country is so long compared to another. Maybe city planning, or at-grade issues that need resolution are the culprit, etc.

      • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.techEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        I’ve found the Kato setups to be a bit more friendly on the wallet and have great reliability. I’d recommend that, a small oval with a kato starter set

  • shinysquirrel@lemmy.ml
    921·
    1 year ago

    For me it’s coffee. Most people see it as a daily need. When I say my hobby is coffee they always say things like “that’s not a hobby”.

    • PunnyName@lemmy.world
      491·
      1 year ago

      You’re being too broad. Gotta specify what you’re doing with coffee at that point, and a slight expansion.

      Basically, when bringing it up make it sound more interesting and mysterious, with the potential of a follow-up story.

      For instance, people often ask me what brought me to Los Angeles. I tell them, “it’s lady Gaga’s fault”. Hooks 'em every time.

        • PunnyName@lemmy.world
          30·
          1 year ago

          This will have to be quick and ugly, because I’m on a phone:

          1. Learn about Lady Gaga on 4chan.
          2. Become obsessed fan.
          3. Help someone w/ lyrics, via voice recording.
          4. Many people tell me I should be in radio.
          5. Lose job in Texas.
          6. Move to LA to be in radio.
      • MashedTech@lemmy.world
        3·
        1 year ago

        I like the secondary aspect of coffee, finding niche roasteries and indie coffee shops, talking to the owners about their passion for coffee and to keep buying the expensive beans from them and then drinking them.

    • Pulptastic@midwest.socialEnglish
      3·
      1 year ago

      Coffee brings up associations with hot swill at diners. Craft coffee or coffee nerd brings up a barista image, so maybe that’s a good start.

  • PlexSheep@feddit.de
    78·
    1 year ago

    Working on my (private) servers is a hypnotic activity for me. It can be interesting or I can hate it and still want to do it. It can also be relaxing. Last time when I was sick in bed I played around with wireguard VPN configs all day to get a routed VPN for my VPS. I’m going to fix it today because something doesn’t work the way it should.

    Also, I learn Japanese. 日本語が大好き！

  • icybro@lemmy.world
    65·
    1 year ago

    I’ve spent a good chunk of the year making ebooks from out-of-print dead tree books. Proofing and formatting takes a ton of time. Nobody reads them but me.

  • jmbmkn@beehaw.org
    50·
    1 year ago

    Contributing to OpenStreetMap. I try to bring it up because it would be great to get more contributors to the project, but either I have to explain “It’s Wikipedia, but a map” or they come out with misunderstandings about the project that aren’t worth correcting. E.g not liking the icons used to display points on the map.

  • I Cast Fist@programming.devEnglish
    46·
    1 year ago

    In a way, my interest in internet privacy is almost always met with uninterested “ah” IRL. Even when I dont come off as preachy, when I just try to sell it as “watching YT without ads”, people often don’t care.

  • Sibbo@sopuli.xyz
    461·
    1 year ago

    Programming… Maybe not the most quirky, but just doesn’t make for good conversation

  • Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    462·
    1 year ago

    Downloading and occasionally playing games from the flip phone era (j2me games). They seem to be mostly forgotten. They’re basically the best alternative to the ad ridden, micro-transactions galore of today’s android games and there’s a surprisingly high amount of very high quality games.

  • cubedsteaks@lemmy.today
    43·
    1 year ago

    I have a hobby that I can’t even truly mention the name of it because the name is shared with the book Lolita.

    However the lolita fashion clothing I wear and collect from Japan and China has nothing to do with the book so I often have to refer to my hobby as “Japanese Street Fashion” and that actually covers the other J-Fashion I wear too, which includes lolita dresses.

    They’re just specific types of dresses with a certain cut, they are often described as cupcake dresses and were more popular in Japan during the Harajuku Girls craze, so like around 2010 to 2013ish. I actually picked up the hobby in 2015 and started building a wardrobe, learning how to use color theory to match pieces of clothing, learning about different fabric types and how to care for them, and even learning about how to import items from other countries like Japan where they have limits on what they want people in the US to be buying from them.

    I’m not as into it as I use to be because I have less of a disposable income now and it’s a very spendy hobby. Plus COVID made shipping more difficult and a lot of laws in other countries changed around shipping and prices increased for international shipments. I still buy a dress like every 6 months? I use to buy them more often and sadly I don’t fit some of them anymore. I only gained a bit of weight since 2015 but the dresses are tiny and its hard to get them altered without the right matching fabric.

    I’m currently trying to lose weight so I can get back into wearing more of my wardrobe again like I use to. Currently cycling as I write this.

    I also use to go to meet ups for lolita fashion specifically but that community is unfortunately full of toxic people and I finally gave up on going to the meets not long after COVID restrictions were lifted where I live.

  • ℕ𝕖𝕞𝕠@midwest.social
    41·
    1 year ago

    I’ve never let it stop me, but:

    • ethical philosophy

    • social dance, especially contra and square

    • chromosomal / genetic inheritance simulations