Maybe something you learned the hard way, or something you found out right before making a huge mistake.
E.g., for audiophiles: don’t buy subwoofers from speaker companies, and don’t buy speakers from subwoofer companies.
First rule of tape recording: don’t do it.
Second rule: it’s super damn fun so do it (and spend a lot of money)
I am really into tape recording and budget audiophile listening. Mostly all reel to reel, cassette is pretty crap tbh. I have 6 machines now. Something is so fun about the physicality of audio on tape that cannot exist anywhere else at that point unless you manually copy it.
Keep in mind this is for tape machines we can actually afford. Not 10,000 dollar Studers.
I always recommend starting with a used machine that’s been taken care of and fix it as you go. If you start with a broken one you may never get to have fun with it if you can’t fix it.
Kept note I mostly stick with 1/4" width tale machines as they are the most prevalent and affordable. Tape also a lot cheaper than 1/2 or especially 1" (studio quality, $400 per reel).
Brands to look for in my favorite order:
Otari Revox Akai TEAC/Tascam Sony (some bad, some good) Pioneer
learn the formats There are many different machine formats. The most common is 1/4" quarter track meaning 2 tracks, backwards and forward. Higher spec machines can do true 4 track forward only, or half track forward only (best quality). Pre recorded tapes need to be played on the machine fornat they are made for. Any 1/4" blank tape works on any machine.
Stay away from: Single motor units Units that have head wear (heads are not being made now. They can be refinished however if wear isn’t too high) Units that the owner knows nothing about Most Dokorder Most fostex Some sony
Look for: Knowledgeable owner Clean heads 3 motor Units Units with small defects that are probably user error (I see a lot of “wont play but will rewind” which is usually the tape being threaded improperly and not tripping the auto stop switch. )
Find a knowledgeable helper. That can be me if anyone ever wants to reach out.
Tape: i would not recommend buying used. You never know how it was stored.
Capture is a good new cheap brand of tape.
Don’t use ATR tape until you’re experienced and have a semi pro machine.You’ll definitely want a mixer with your tape machine. Any 12 channel or so mixer is fine but I prefer Allen Heath for quality and price. The GL series is excellent.
I’m mostly referring here to recording and playing your own tapes. For listening to prerecorded tapes, I’ll say it’s very small market and you can only get new recordings for the most part on half track 15 inch per second tapes.
EDIT: I added a few things… can anyone tell I have ADHD yet?
When keeping a plant alive, you need to look up how it likes to be in the wild, and try to EMULATE that best you can. Monstera deliciosa has root rot? Well in the wild their roots are very compacted, maybe that gallon sized pot needs to be downsized. They also grow on trees, give it some support, etc
Cast iron cookware: when seasoning the item you need to apply the thinnest layer of oil possible. It should look almost like you’re trying to wipe the oil away or clean it.
PC building: your local electronics recycler is an amazing place to get simple fundamental equipment. You won’t find a 5090 in the bin, but you’ll find cheap ram, any cable you need is 1$, hell, my NAS is a 22tb (after redundancy) raid array where I paid 7$ for each 2tb drive. Sure, it’s slower and clicks like hell sometimes, but it’s in a closet, and I can lose a few drives before I lose my data.
Car/motorcycle repairs: your local chain auto shop probably loans/rents specialty tools. (This is pretty well known but still) need a tool to compress your brake cylinders when changing pads? It’ll cost 10$ rather than like 80$.
Gardening: mulch. In my area the sun is an absolute killer in the day while I’m working, so laying mulch over the soil keeps it from drying as fast
Cooking: following recipes isn’t that hard for most things, the way you know that you’ve really leveled up is when you start to realize how certain flavors and textures interact, and come up with something new or, more often, start modifying and improving recipes
Terrariums: the most crucial aspect is the amount of water. It will easily make or break (or kill) your plants and design. A good drainage layer, followed by chunkyish soil, and a layer of peat moss is the way to go most times. Also, BUGS. springtails and isopods are a learning curve but are an insanely helpful group of fellas.
OK, so clearly you’re seeing into my mind with the Monstera plant. That’s not fair and please help me save it.
Stopping down doesn’t always give you sharper images. You may run into diffraction softening.
Focusing and then stopping down may shift your focal plane. Try to focus at your chosen aperture.
Try to use the electronic shutter function for astro photography. Even the shutter moving across the sensor can cause vibrations.
The 500 rule is useful for astro, but with modern higher resolution sensors, the NPF rule is better suited.
Not getting amazing astro shots? You may need to modify or buy a camera that is sensitive to Hα (Hydrogen-alpha) removing the infrared/IR filter off your camera will allow you to shoot full spectrum. Although you will need something to only allow 450 to 520nm and from 640 to 690nm into your sensor.
Sensors will always have dead or stuck pixels. You can take 10-20 black frames to try to help your image processor find and erase them.
Optical vignetting is common when you shoot wide open. Stop down 2-3 stops from your max aperture to try and remove the effect.
Shooting expired film is fine, just make sure you over expose 1 stop per decade it’s expired. So a 20 year old film, shoot 2 stops over exposed.
To add to the film thing: if travelling with film, keep it in carry-on bags and ask for hand checks. Film gets exposed by the radiation from machines at checkpoints; the higher the ASA, the more it’ll get ruined. 400+ will for sure be destroyed by a scan or two.
I ruined 4 rolls of the best street photography I’ve ever done from a trip to chicago because I didn’t know about it.
Hiking/backpacking (not exactly niche?)
- Don’t buy a ton of stuff for day hikes. You need less than you think. If you carry enough for an overnight there is a good chance you’ll be so slowed down that you’ll end up staying overnight.
- Carry the ten essentials. GPS’ run out of battery and you can end up in areas without satellite reception. Always have a compass and paper map and visualize your route before going if you are backpacking in deep. Be aware where roads and bailouts are relative to your route.
- Occasionally look behind you to get an idea of what the route back will look like if you’ll be returning the same way.
- If it doesn’t look like a trail, stop, you need to backtrack to the last sure spot. Don’t plow ahead blindly thinking it will resolve itself.
- Winter hiking means less daylight and more stuff (slower). Plan accordingly.
- “Mountains generate their own weather”. Bring some light raingear and insulation even if it is warm at the trailhead. I’ve started in 80+ temps and gotten snow near summits.
- Carry hiking poles. They are invaluable for things like stream crossings. They saved me from breaking a leg stepping down boulders once.
- If the trail is blazed and you can’t see them look up and behind you for them, sometimes they are painted high up for snowpack.
- Carry traction (ice creepers) if going up into the mountains in spring/fall. Early/late snow and ice is common. In winter bring crampons.
- Always check the weather, especially for mountain hikes. Be ready to turn back or change your plans if the weather looks sketchy. Don’t get “summit fever” just because you made a special trip.
- If you are shopping for gear spend the most on boots. They will be the major deciding factor in how comfortable your hiking is. Make sure to break them in before a trip. I’ve been on a multiday mountain trip where a guy had brand new boots and his feet were bleeding by day 3.
- If winter hiking and there is a snow pack wear gaiters (or built in ones). Snow in boots = cold/wet feet = frostbite. I’ve seen too many people have to turn around because their boots were getting packed with snow and they were suffering.
On 11, I’d say you also need to decide if the type of terrain you are going on really even calls for boots. Plenty of people do long trips in trail running shoes, which is usually my preference on decent trails, but on really rugged backcountry (or snowy/mountaineering) conditions, you need boots.
Also, to an extent, you don’t really break boots in as much as you break your feet into the boots, so a pair you wore all summer last year and set down for 8 months could probably still use a little ramp up to a long trip.
On 12, I’d say gaiters are really nice even if you aren’t in snowy or wet conditions. I wear them even when it’s nice so I can keep rocks, dust, etc out of my shoes.
- Yah, “shoes/boots” would be better. On rough trails I also prefer boots because otherwise you will feel every rock through the bottom and your ankles are more vulnerable to being rolled.
If you burry a fresh carcass, you need to put big stones on the grave or something will dig it up.
It’s funnier without context.
Protection goggles when removing supports from your resin 3D prints. ALWAYS
Personal Protective Equipment is super important for many activities and are neglected far too often.
Code golf:
If you think there is no way
evalcan save bytes, there isBeing a DM is not about telling YOUR story, it’s about coming together with your players to create a story. So even if you are going off a pre-written campaign or story you created, you are incharge of the story. Let the rule of fun reign. If a battle is taking forever you can cut down the number of enemies or the enemy’s abilities. Your in charge and if done right your players don’t even know.
Thanks to the internet you also don’t even need much. Get your hands on a core book and a dice set used by all is all that you need to play. Sure maps and miniatures are fun but some systems don’t need them, some players are perfectly fine with the theatre of the mind play, or some small toys on a self drawn grid on sheet paper can work.
Sure maps and miniatures are fun but some systems don’t need them, some players are perfectly fine with the theatre of the mind play, or some small toys on a self drawn grid on sheet paper can work.
Some big streamers have done massive damage to she hobby by bringing the image that map and miniatures are necessary, and not at best a nice to have, at worst a distraction.
Sure I use sometimes a sketch on paper, but very rarely miniatures, and never accurate ones. Role-playing game isn’t about miniatures
Role-playing game isn’t about miniatures
I feel like miniatures is a separate and interrelated hobby. I don’t really enjoy it but its nice to have something physical for combat. That being said free VTTs do so to replace the need for that.
Best miniature I ever used was a thread spindle he was cloth knight cleric. So I 100% agree with this.
Observing groups is a very useful skill, in minutes you can tell who’s where in the hierarchy, what the cliques are, how well they coordinate, how information flows, and where influence springs from.
This let’s you not only insert yourself at the right moment, peg, and place for maximum efficacy, but also informs you of barriers, challenges to overcome, and next steps for the group to act better together.
Hobby/skill/interest in Group dynamics, useful for coaching, creating community, project organisation, and group coaching.
This does seem like a very niche hobby.
Useful subskill I’d call it, I use it for scout mastering, organising (in nonprofits), adult training, team projects, event organisation, coaching and consulting both nonprofit and for work.
Just buy a good 3d printer for your first. Sure, it’ll cost money, but the heartache of constant troubleshooting and tweaking can just suck the fun out of the hobby if you just need this print to succeed.
Prusa Mini+ (I think) Bambu A1 Mini (this would be my #1 starter printer before the security updates they done)
But if you get a cheap one you get a free crash course on everything that could possibly go wrong on a print and how to avoid it.
Ender 3 btw
Good one. I struggled for years with a monoprice printer I basically got for free because Rakuten marketplace was shutting down and I had to use my rewards. I recently got a Bambu printer as a gift and it’s so much better at the same tasks, plus the additional features make me regret spending time upgrading my MP10.
One of those hobbies where starting cheap actually makes it not worth it. Kind of like a cheap camera can make you feel discouraged once you get pretty good at photography. A $500 camera can get you started, but a $1500+ (or refurbished more expensive option) will unlock a whole new level of creative abilities (speaking from experience!)
What would you say the gap between the “this 3d printer will do the job but make you lose your mind” and “this is a reliable 3d printer that is reasonably priced for hobbies”?
I kinda disagree with this, in certain contexts. There is some value in learning how the machine works by self-assembling a kit (or buying off-the-shelf parts and assembling from an open-hardware guide). Identifying the things that can be upgraded, tinkering with firmwares and nozzles, printing parts to upgrade the machine itself… all are a fun aspect of the hobby, if you’re interested in the hardware side.
But if you just want to make figurines from squirty plastic, then yeah just buy a moderately-priced, well-supported turnkey printer (though probably not a Bambu, because they’re sliding toward enshittification).
Great point! It also depends on how much time you have for it. I built a 3D printer when I was younger because I had hours most days to work on it.
Now I would probably only have a few hours a week to tinker, so if I spent most of that time just working on the printer and couldn’t get stuff actually printed and printed well, that would feel like wasted time personally!
Would be kinda cool to buy a functioning printer and print parts for a diy printer. Then it’ll have children haha!
If not bambu, what do you recommend?
Current sovol sv07 plus user and facing this wall where I can’t decide if it’s a skills/knowledge issue or a hardware limit.
Sovol has been generally decent in my experience (SV08), but they’re kinda positioned between the “tinker” and “turnkey” markets. What wall are you running into?
Bambu would have been my recommendation before they tried to lock people into the cloud connection. They’ve reversed course (for now) due to the backlash, but they’ll do it again when they think they can get away with it.
At this point I’d probably say Prusa, but I don’t have firsthand experience with them so that’s based solely on what I’ve read. If you’re looking for something that will “just work” you’re going to need to search for what’s in your price range and then read everything you can about the models in question on support forums and reddit (ew). You can also learn a lot by watching YouTube videos but you have to be really careful to see past the “they gave me this for free/paid for the video so I’m going to minimize the negatives” crap.
Right now I have bunch of settings saved that results in a pretty decent PLA print, but it takes ages. (Layer of .15, print speed 50-100, gyroid infill 15%. Bed 60* nozzle 210). And I tried to print a tube to put coins in and it’s 5 hours. And the threads didn’t come out great.
Overhangs get me usually, but sometime later adhesion if I dare use the ultimate presets like “course”, even if I adjust the temp.
Also I tried updating utlimaker to the latest version, rather than the one it comes with, and then was a disaster that lead me down a rabbit hole to Orca.
Which was another rabbit hole that my partner had to emotionally support me through as the equivalents of “PCLOADLETTER” would trash my prints on a whim. Usually 3/4 of the way through.
I bought this printer to print dust collector fittings and adaptors for power tools (I lead a construction team and I’m pro-safety) and I can usually get a print strong enough for the job, if not pretty.
But I’d like pretty…I’d like to be able to fine tune a print so it’s sexy and strong and also didn’t take 16 hours… Boaty takes 20 minutes and o Looks good every time I print so I just don’t get why something not as complex and the same size takes over an hour and doesn’t come out as clean.
It’s possible that you’re going too slow. It sounds nuts, but I’ve seen degradation of print quality on my homebuilt ANET A8 by going with lower speeds and trying to play around with flow rates.
What I ended up doing with that machine was printing a series of temperature columns, flow rate columns, and speed columns to zero in on the smoothest print. I did all that with my most commonly used PLA and then PETG. I’ve had to make very small tweaks for some variants (for example, matte PLA requires about 4% more flow rate than my baseline).
It’s been years so I don’t remember exactly, but I think I went through three loops of the towers: Find best temp (five degree steps between 180-220C), use that temp to find best flow rate, use those two to test speed. Loop back and do each test again using the best result from the prior two and adjusting each floor of the tower in smaller increments. I think I only had to do temp twice. My profile for that machine and my bulk 3DMARS PLA filament is 208C at 105mm/s and 103% flow rate.
The SV08 that I’ve been using recently is a completely different animal (corexy vs bedslinger). I haven’t had to tweak much at all to get ridiculously fast and good quality prints. I’m actually about to install the enclosure kit and try out ABS for the first time. Since I set up this machine I haven’t even powered on the A8.
Also, have been using Orca exclusively without issue so I can’t really lend advice there.
Good luck!
Thanks for the advice. I’ll go back and do some more tower tests, but (and again, this could be a skill/understanding issue) I don’t really understand how to get a print to change temp mid print, without using the touchscreen and staring at it waiting…
You know when you’re walking around town at night and see those neon shop signs saying they’re open? Well *warm smiles*, that’s me.
If I see a shop without a neon sign, I happily walk in and offer to sell them one for a £1000. If they refuse, I threaten to smash in their windows and burn down the shop with them in it. I then leave with a happy customer and add a little more neon magic into the world.
You’re welcome, world.
Edit: For Context
Are they still neon? I would’ve thought led was more common. Either way thank you for the work you do.
It’s funny how many people say that, but LED just doesn’t have the same diffuse glow, and doesn’t stand up well to repeated blows with a pipe.
And of course, you’re welcome!
Lots are LED since it’s way more energy efficient.
For Rpg : let the player take the initiative and bring their plot to the table. If they preptge game for you, it’s les work as aGM (also no doodle scheduling, use fix dates)
For paragliding : if there is nobody on a flight site do not take off. Most likely you misunderstood something, and the site isn’t flyable. Sure if you re very experienced, do hike and fly or do fly on a week day on a small site, it may not apply, but you’re able to analyse by yourself
Don’t use Sharpies on cheap acrylic paints. They will dry out immediately and be ruined.
Sharpies are made with alcohol-based ink, and alcohol happens to be the perfect solvent for cleaning up dried acrylic paints. So what’s really happening is the tip is getting gunked up with re-wetted paint.
I’d bet you could give the tips of those sharpies a brief soak in some isopropyl alcohol, and/or a firm wipe with a wash cloth or paper towel soaked in the isopropyl, and they could be somewhat recovered (assuming they have plenty of ink in the tank)
That being said, I still would not recommend this practice. Better off with a paint based marker or something.
Thanks for the tip!
I usually learn through trial and error and have found other markers/pens that do work.
Servers: it doesn’t have to be built for the purpose. In a pinch, any PC will do.
Chess: Fried liver attack doesn’t work above 700 ELO and is easily countered with a possibility for a smothered mate.
Guitar: Playing 5 minutes every day is better than playing an hour once a week.
These are great and the guitar one is relevant to me right now. Thanks for answering!
For camping, in cold weather switching from being active to resting can be miserably cold. To combat this you can fill a heat tolerant water bottle with some boiled water, wrap it in a shirt or sweater to prevent burning, and put it into your sleeping bag to warm it up quickly. You can also sort of do the reverse for when you wake up. You can put your clothes for the next day in a small bag and sleep with them in your sleeping bag. That way they won’t be frigid when you’re trying to dress.
I used to drag my clothes into bed with me in winter when I was a kid. No central heating, no double glazing, no insulation, no carpets. Might as well have been living in a tent.
Better yet understand that none of your gear makes heat, you do. Think of your sleeping bag and clothes as batteries that need to be recharged periodically and your body is a generator. When you shiver that is your body trying to burn calories to produce heat. You can stay much warmer by keeping busy and moving around than you will by standing around a fire. When you wake up cold in the middle of the night, move your legs like you’re riding a bicycle while laying on your side. It won’t take long to warm up. Also keep an isolating layer between you and the ground like a foam sleeping pad. It also works for when standing on frozen ground.
To combat this you can fill a heat tolerant water bottle with some boiled water, wrap it in a shirt or sweater to prevent burning, and put it into your sleeping bag to warm it up quickly.
The first time I did this I ended up so hot that I had to take it out. Its a wonderful trick and I have woken up spooning the cool water bottle in the morning
I have an old school got water bottle that I use like this… In my house.
There’s also the somewhat counterintuitive idea of “be bold; start cold”. Basically, once you get hiking, you’ll get a lot warmer, so you might as well start a little chilly and save yourself getting sweaty 20 minutes in and having to take off a layer.
