Ask Lemmy

For those who jump around too much like I do, remember:

Does raising and training ducks count? I'm really good at it. I have care down to a science and I've done quite a bit medically because there aren't any vets that treat ducks around me. I've rehabilitated crazy injuries, performed minor surgery, treated severe malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies.

I have trained all of my birds to listen to basic commands and they know their names and respond to them.

Retro gaming, data preservation, and open-source software. I'm a maintainer of several open-source retro gaming data preservation projects so go figure lol

I just become "good" compared to someone who never tried and then lose interest and try something else.

I grow bonsai trees.

Puzzles.
And everything is a puzzle to a degree. I love to collect information in my head and use it to solve other things. I used to try to solve them for the cosmos or for the world but I didn't get paid very well to do that and I'd rather just solve little ones.

Be it literal puzzles, trivia, cooking is often a puzzle of balancing flavors and combining them in unique ways. Software and computers are just puzzles on finding how the functions work and solving through it until you find that part that doesn't solve right.

I make my own furniture pieces occasionally or garden. All of it is just puzzle solving for what my soil can grow, what do I need for the household or what can be done with the odds and end items I have left.

It's fun to repurpose items, fix broken things and build new stuff and I bet it's how lots of other people who can't focus on things feel as well. It's just another puzzle.

Low level coding and free open source software for me mostly.

I've met some people who like to map areas on OpenStreetMap and I'd be interested in trying it myself but like with contributing to anything I'm new to I'm scared of doing something wrong. I understand that with OpenStreetMap there's a sort of discussion of changes like on Wikipedia?

When you started what resources helped you, did a friend show you? Is there a tutorial you recommend for starting off? (If you explained some of this somewhere else please feel free to link to it or tell me, I haven't read through all the comments here yet.)

What is involved with town mapping - do you have some kind of Google type camera rig on your car or a GPS device that automates the process and just drive through street, or what?

3d design & printing, electronics, cooking, in-person RPGs, woodworking, old time radio, sci fi, bookbinding, comedy... I got a million of 'em.

Trying to learn languages, Linux, gaming, and music.

Urban planning and old architecture. I could spend an entire evening just walking around older neighbourhoods looking at the level of detail put into the buildings

I am a spring of knowledge about all of the domestic Real Housewives franchises (though I did just pick up Dubai recently).

I know all the lore behind all their relationships/alliances/enemies and off season shenanigans.

Its legitimately stupid how much I can talk about rich women who flaunt their wealth and then do trashy shit like throw wine in one another's faces or flip tables (or scam the elderly out of their retirement funds to fund their own lifestyle).

Well thank you very much Emerald for the mapping and the great question.
For me, it's something much more modest:

• Amiga, or retro-computing in general. Not just for gaming. There's something deeply inspiring about browsing the web or creating spreadsheets with entirely different hardware and software. Hoping to get an Alpha CPU and/ or an Atari soon.
• Dreaming of a better world.

Low level C programming.

And also I know a lot about breaking video DRM.

Philosophy and some sciences, but I'm not very knowledgeable. I know people say you don't need to be an expert in order to enjoy things, and I agree, but then those aren't special interests either, right? I love my music, but I know few bands. I love singing, but I lack technique. I like horror stuff, but I'm pretty picky. I'd like to be fit and practice sports, but my health is an issue. I like some beauty topics, but I'm not interested in applying them. I enjoy eating, simple food though. Some games are fun, but I mostly repeat the same ones. I like mountains and forests, but just for a day or two. I'd like to read more...

I'm really a master of none.

Hobbies, I have many interests each more important than the last.

I'm not good at it, but I like geocaching.

For awhile there it was light sport aviation. I'm a CFI-SP and an LSRM-A. I'm a walking flight school, just add airplane. Been out of the game awhile but that was my specialty for much of my 20's.

How do you map

Is there any liability? NSA, angry exes, employer, anybody finding out that you mapped your own town?

Gotten real good st troubleshooting fuel injection systems on vintage Italian cars (not the expensive kind)