Hope all are alright. Anyone picked up any cool new hobbies lately? Anyone play harp? I’m thinking of picking it up, I already play quite a few instruments, but harp has the highest initial investment of any I’ve done so far.
We’re all full of microplastics.
🎵 We all live in a micro plastic induction chamber!
We all live in a micro plastic induction chamber!
We all live in a micro plastic induction chamber! 🎶
Life in plastic, it’s fantastic.
Hahaha, no.
Well he might say yes but he might mean no.
I got into CPU design after I watched some Ben Eater videos on YouTube, though I just did mine in Logisim. After that I wanted to really challenge myself, so I designed a RISC CPU that’s 74% faster than the first design, then I learned Verilog and Verilator so I could test it even faster, up to 8 MHz instead of half a KHz. Lately I’ve been writing programs to test it out, but at some point I want to get these things on an FPGA and see how they perform on actual silicon.
WSL2 is fucking awesome, by the way.
That’s a great hobby and sounds very interesting!
Thank you, it’s really been a blast
Whaaatttt that’s the coolest thing I’ve read all week. Wow!
I challenge you to implement tomasulos algorithm.
Hey thanks for this. I’m definitely planning on doing out-of-order execution at some point, probably after changing over to memory mapped I/O and my Tetris game.
Computer architecture is a lot of fun! Got to make a MIPS microprocessor in a course with VHDL and enjoyed it a lot. Good luck with your projects!
they are all full of microplastic
I have been picking up hobbies at an alarming rate lately. Got into custom keyboards, crochet, bonsai, magic (card tricks) possibly something else I’ve forgotten, too. I think it’s probably a sign that something is wrong but let’s not worry about it.
Depending on how long you keep those hobbies up you just described adhd
Hey now, I said let’s not worry about that.
Want to learn to play the guitar -> buy a cheap, used guitar -> try to learn one song -> never touch it again
Want to start gaming -> build a decent-enough gaming computer -> only use it to browse the internet and play Minecraft sometimes
Want to start streaming -> download OBS -> never even open it
Want to get into parkour -> can’t find any spots that look good to a complete beginner within ten minutes -> yeah well maybe not
Want to learn calligraphy -> get a fancy pen -> learn the basics -> now I’m not interested in it any more
Want to get back into drawing -> start a rough sketch -> don’t look at it for a week -> start a new sketch -> lose interest in drawing again
Want to start photography -> get a low-end camera -> go out and take some nice photos -> maybe even edit them -> share a few of them on social media -> randomly stop
Want to get into woodworking -> plan a project -> buy wood -> build half ofI’m really glad that I started a few hobbies many years ago, before my mental health went down the drain, and those are the ones that stuck around. Except for photography, I just kinda lost interest in that after a handful of years.
Seems you’re like me. All your hobbies stop at the step “now here’s the part that actually requires effort”. 😅
I just wish I had the discipline to commit to literally anything. I know that I can put in the required effort because I’ve done it in the past, but it always feels like I’m a car stuck on ice, and no matter what I do, my tyres keep spinning out.
That’s where ADHD medication helped me! I can actually practice drums now rather than only playing along to songs randomly. And I can follow through on my plans to build things, like I’ve got a pretty barebones but fully functional DDR pad and that just wasn’t happening before medication.
tbh at this point, I kinda suspect that I have ADHD, but getting diagnosed costs money, and to get money, I need a job, but nobody is dumb enough to hire me lmao. Maybe I’ll get around to it later this year / next year because I’m currently waiting to hear back from a couple of companies. Randomly playing along to songs is relatable, I often do that on my bass and rarely learn to play songs properly. Your comment gives me some kind of hope that things can get better. Thank you for that :3
That is an apt metaphor. I still struggle with this myself, but what I have found that has helped me maintain my most recent hobbies longer than I typically do:
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Daily/Weekly Schedule and disciplined adherence to set schedule. For example, I study Chinese for at least one half hour a day, every day, no matter what. I just went to a music festival, and I still managed to find time to study every single day. It’s fucking hard at first, for sure. Once I got the habit set, I get anxiety if I don’t do my hobbies instead of the other way around, and they always leave me peaceful and calmed. A reliable part of my day that is for me and builds me up, but in no way takes from other people, is very good for my mental health also.
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Teachers, teachers, teachers. This can be hard, because you really do have to find a teacher that gels with you, but you also have to be willing to do what the teacher tells you, even when it seems boring or pointless towards what you want to accomplish. By remaining humble, we open ourselves to change, and through change progress.
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Accountability. If you can get someone to do it with you, and hold each order to doing it on schedule, even if it’s just while you establish a schedule, it can be very helpful. Not possible for everyone, as same as teachers, it relies upon access to the necessary resources. Any way you can hold yourself accountable for maintaining the habit is good though, outside of negative punishment or shame. Those can have the effect of associating the hobby with negative emotions.
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Usefulness: use it or lose it. If you’re learning to play guitar, play with other people who are better than you are, constantly. Tell them you’re terrible and you just want to jam, and accept any advice they give. Go to open mic nights with your guitar and watch a few times until you feel confident enough to get on stage. If you’re learning a language, find native speakers and try to talk to them as often and as much as possible. Put your newfound skills to work, so that they don’t just become more random Wikipedia style facts in your head, but a tool which you can use effectively when the opportunity or need arises.
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what’s your favorite switch? i’ve been recommended the holy pandas. i’m looking to switch from gateron g reds, because the spring weight is way too low.
For me, personally, I’ve discovered I love Kailh Cremes. A gentle but full thock with mild tactility. Honestly, it really depends on what kind of typing experience you’re going for. You might like Cherry Blacks if you’re looking for a stiffer linear switch.
Are Logitech switches actually bad, or people hates them just because they’re “not cherry”?
Most switches in prebuilt keyboards are generally worse then custom switches, but it’s also completely preference. If you enjoy your Logitech switches, don’t worry about comparisons with something else.
There’s a lot of other things that impact how keyboards sound/feel as well, like the material the case is made from and how much foam/dampening material is behind the PCB. When you factor in preference with all of that, it is generally pretty hard to say that the switches in particular are making the difference
I haven’t gotten to try too many yet, but I like tactiles. I got some Akko lavender ones which I’ve been enjoying and some boba U4T’s for work which I also quite like. Other than those I’ve just tried mx browns and reds, The browns aren’t as nice as the others. I don’t mind the reds but I miss the tactile bump.
Switches are all preference. You have to try out different styles to actually figure out what you prefer. Personally I like lighter lubed linears and I’m poor so Akko CS Wine Red are my choice.
Bonsai is a really neat one I’ve always been fascinated by. I have trouble keeping an air plant alive though, so I figure I’ve got some work to do on my green thumb before I dive that deep. It sounds like you’re doing a great job keeping busy!
I think some of them are pretty low maintenance, just keep them outside all the time and give 'em a water every day, twice if it’s hot and dry. I was initially sad because I wanted it inside but it’s not so bad, I go outside to water and talk to them. That said I haven’t had to do any pruning or repotting yet so I suppose it does get a bit trickier eventually.
next future generations full of space rays radiations
Space Ray’s Radiations feels like some kind of snack sold in Idiocracy
I’m currently trying to pick up Godot, the game engine. I’ve always wanted to make video games and figured it was time I actually sit down and learn the nuts and bolts of how that happens. Currently making my way through an instructional playlist while working on a design document on the side.
Lemmy got me into putting together a homelab. I started with just a NAS but now I’m upgrading it and setting up a whole stack of docker services. I’ll probably eventually set up a personal lemmy instance for fun. It’s frustrating at times, but its very rewarding hosting fun little services for myself and my friends!
having your own jellyfin streaming server definetely fucks. especially if you’ve got fast internet so you can stream from anywhere without quality loss.
Myself, full of all of the above because my house was built 100 years ago ^^
I’ve been playing Kalimba. It’s a really nice instrument for people like me who are not great musicians. Really easy to pick up as a beginner, and you can still play “real” songs with it. Sounds good even if you’re bad. Even if you already play music, it’s still great. Portable too.
I have a kalimba also! I used to be really good with it, but I stopped playing for a while and lost my thumb callouses. Such a beautiful instrument. I’ve long wanted to experiment with retuning it, but I didn’t want to risk making it unplayable.
I’ve tuned mine once because it got out of tune and it was fairly easy. I never tried to retune it, but as far as I know it’s pretty much the same process and you can’t really fuck this up. Don’t worry too much. All you need is a little hammer and a tuner.
I play video games mostly. And also boxing, it makes you work the whole body and training with people can be so fun.
Boxing is awesome and so hardcore! I do traditional chinese martial arts, and I have no illusions about being able to take on even a moderately skilled boxer. Even just the training is more hardcore than anything I’ve done!
16 years in Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, and Kenpo here. My absolute favorite sparring partner I’ve had was a traditional boxer. He hit like a freight train and getting through his guard required some serious creativity. Boxers are nuts and I really miss that dude.
