What is something like a hobby or skill that you belive almost anybody should give a try, and what makes your suggestion so good compared to other things?
i feel like this is a descent question i guess.
Baking - fresh warm bread is so good!
Sewing - it’s nice to add pockets to things 😁
And cooking! Being able to really master techniques and understand the interactions between flavours and ingredients is incredibly satisfying.
bread is good and sewing you get to make cool cosplays sometimes, so overall bread is good.
Baking - fresh warm bread is so good!
Second this! Just made bread a few days ago using the King Arthur easy bread recipe and sure enough it was super easy and came out really good!
3D printing. Suddenly you are able to fix small plastic shit in your house which would otherwise mean throwing out the whole goddamn thing. Best feeling ever to repair and save stuff.
i wish i could 3d print board games and such but printers are so pricey.
Public Speaking
You never know when you’ll have to say something in front of a crowd.
that is true.
I’m so sorry, but I have to reply to this, I misread this as public spanking, and have been giggling to myself for about 15 minutes.
Apologies.
How dare you, you dirty dirty child. You have a dirty, filthy mind. You should be…
Wait, what were we talking about?
Skill wise, though I believe this would apply to many here already, analyzing and critical thinking in regard to use of technology.
For instance, checking which apps and extensions you use on your devices and see if you need them. Likewise, look thoroughly when trying or testing software to prevent you from being part of a malicious extension campaign. Check which apps are connected to your SSO (single sign on) accounts like Google, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, etc.; doing this regularly especially if you’re one to try new apps and software, ensures that once you no longer use them, they can’t keep getting your data.
Critical thinking in regard to questioning if a company, person, or app is social engineering you in attempt for money or control your choices. Think Facebook with when you’re deleting an account, it’s showing the profile pics of people you talk to most and telling you “these friends will miss you” in an attempt to guilt-trip you not to using it. Same thing with software like VPNs or any security software telling you that you’re not safe without their software or a service trying to get you back by emailing you saying they miss you and trying to sway you to spend more money with coupons, marketing emails, etc.
Two things: chess and piano. I downloaded the chess.com app and play whenever I’m idling for more than a few minutes. Got to a very proficient respectable level in a few months, and it’s a ton of fun, endless combinations, no upper limit to how good you can get.
I also bought a cheap keyboard for under $300 and got proficient at it within a few months. Half hour here, twenty minutes there, an hour there. I’m not Chopin or anything and I can barely even play him but again, respectable.
So now if you ever go somewhere and see a chess set or a piano you can be like hey I know what to do with that!
Chopin does have pieces that aren’t too bad, though of course few if any for beginners.
I’ve had no formal piano training (and my main instrument is guitar) yet can play several pretty well. Nocturne Op 9 No 2 for example is both beautiful and not too difficult.Valse Op. 69 No 2 is harder but still doable.
Waltz Op 64 No 2 is probably harder still but with practice not as bad as it looks – but it is likely the most difficult piece that I can play without skipping any parts. Really fun to play since it’s at my edge at my ability and it feels amazing to pull it off when I feel it should be much too hard to my skill level.
Crochet
Pros
- Documented mental health benefits
- Cheap to start, can learn from online tutorials
- Easier than knitting
- Make cool toys, clothes, home accessories, whatever you want
- Get to smush yarn into your face on a regular basis
Cons
- Fibre crafts gateway drug
Biking.
Moving under your own power has so many benefits:
- It’s fun
- It’s cheap (or can be, to be fair)
- It’s good for your health
- It’s good for the planet
It’s fun
My knees disagree but each to their own ;)
I cringe watching someone struggling to turn the pedals when they are riding a multi geared bike.
Cycling is good for the knees, if you’re not staining to turn the pedals. That’s why gearing exists.
Use the gears to make the pedaling easier.
Sewing, at least to the level of basic mending. Helps one realize what well made clothes look and feel like.
For me it’s selfhosting/programming. I don’t even work in IT. It’s just such a great hobby that actually makes your life more productive.
This actually got me working in the IT.
Ditto. Like, I picked it up on the job, but I use it in my daily life all the time. I really like writing dumb little home automation shell scripts to turn lights off/on based on more specific conditions. I was also able to easily snipe an OG ergodox off of /r/mechmarket with praw back when those were all the rage. It’s fun, and the rush you get when you finally solve a tough problem is hard to beat.
- making bread
- brewing beer (or making wine or cider, as one prefers)
- repair sewing
I suspect I’d feel the same about welding or smithing, but I haven’t tried those (yet).
Cooking. So many people don’t even have the bare minimum ability to throw something together from raw ingredients that’s vaguely nutritious, palatable, and won’t give anyone food poisoning, so of course start there - it’s so much cheaper than ready meals and there are plenty of recipes that are fast if time constraints are why you use ready meals. In fact, a trick I’ve always used is to cook something that serves 4-6 people, divide the extra into tubs, and freeze it. That’s a few nights where making dinner is as quick and simple as defrosting something, maybe boiling some rice or pasta to go with. Do this with a half-dozen meals and you can alternate and not have to cook for weeks.
Beyond that though, learning a little more about flavour and technique, how to season a dish like a pro, some more unusual flavour combinations etc. can add real interest to your diet for very little extra effort, time, or cost. A few cheap herbs and spices can cost less than a single portion of what you’re cooking and give you enough to enhance months worth of meals.
Cooking yourself a treat is great therapy. Cooking something a bit fancy for someone makes for a cheap yet heartfelt date night. Cooking a meal your family enjoys is really satisfying. Everyone should learn to cook, just a little.
Learning a new language. You learn a bit about how languages work, understand other cultures a bit better, usually learn new vocabulary for your native language, understand the relationship between different languages, learn the roots of loan words and generally helps your brain stay healthy, even by only studying the basics.
what lauguage would you recommend for people who only know english?
Not OP, but I’ve asked myself this as well. I think it depends on where you live and what you want out of your language learning experience. If your goal is to learn something more useful in everyday life and you live in the southern US, Spanish is a great option. If you’re from Canada, French is probably the most useful. German and Mandarin are useful in the business world, but the latter is significantly harder to learn. If you’re not worried about maximizing the utility of what you learn, Norwegian is considered one of the easiest languages for English speakers, and let’s be real, Norway is awesome.
It’s more important that you stick with whatever you choose though. That’s the part I’ve struggled with.
Esperanto is reckoned an easy pickup, has speakers globally, and will improve your default in most romance languages. The community is also quite nice, in my experience.
Basic knitting. It’s a great way to relax in the evenings. And makes for good gifts.
At work, I have a reputation for being the guy who never shuts up about trying to get new people into scuba diving. If there are 2 or more divers at the lunch table I honestly feel a little bad for everybody else. The cost of getting trained and renting or buying all your gear can scare people away, but I would at least strongly recommend that anybody on an island vacation or cruise at least try a “discover Scuba” class. You’ll learn everything you need to know to not die by watching a quick video, and working in a pool, then you get to go have an amazing dive in the ocean with an instructor.
Cooking is a very nice, relaxing hobby and you also get to eat some good food!
It’s also very useful and an easy way to impress people.
It’s extremely difficult for me to cook regularly anymore, I just don’t have the energy. When I do choose to, though, I make it a fun event and it’s so satisfying. Put on some music, drink some beers and go to town.
I made Chinese noodles from scratch a while back and while they were SOOOOO GOOD, it was so labor intensive that I would only do it for fun and not to satiate myself lol. They were nice and bouncy noodles, cut a little smaller than chow fun.
noted
