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.

  • GissaMittJobb@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    1 year ago

    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
      • withersailor@aussie.zone
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

        • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zone
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          1 year ago

          Also to add, the seat height should be adjusted such that your leg is just under full extension when on the pedal at its lowest point. Otherwise you are wasting a ton of power with every stroke, and will feel it in your knees much quicker.

      • Barzaria@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Wait a minute internet dude, did you make sure your seat was the right height? Having the seat at the right height I.e. fully extended legs, the down like an inch, really helped me out with the joint pain. I mention it because biking is generally considered a low impact activity. Knee surgery haver here, myself :')

    • beunice@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      I started cycling to commute about a year ago and it’s been such a wonderful thing for my mental and physical health, not to mention my bank account. Beware that you may get sucked down the Not Just Bikes rabbit hole if you’re not careful and end up becoming a walkable/bikable cities advocate as I have.

    • shice@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      I tried sign language on a whim in college and ended up loving it! It’s really unique and fun to use. It ended up being my secondary focus on my degree. Also, Deaf people are always super happy whenever there is someone to speak with, even if you stumble through it they are always patient and try to help

        • shice@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          I studied it for about 4 years doing a mix of learning and being a teaching assistant for the intro classes, but realistically I was conversational after 2 classes or about a year.

          Some tips if you want to learn. I learned American Sign so your mileage may vary for others:

          -Find out what sign language is primarily used in your country ASL (American Sign Language) in the US, BSL (British Sign Language) in England, I think some parts of Canada use FSL (French Sign Language) but I cant remember. Universal Sign exists, but is never used so dont learn that.

          -Use your dominant hand for all single handed signs

          -Learn the alphabet, there are not signs for every word that exists. Often times words are spelled out (fingerspelled) instead of having signs. So by learning your alphabet you can always default to spelling things out if you dont know the sign.

          -Facial expressions are super important. They feel really weird at first and often times are what beginners struggle with the most, but they are used to show tone in the conversation and without them you are missing a large building block of the language.

          -I found the best way to practice was to sign to myself instead of talking to myself. It helped me remember the main signs that I would use in conversation and helped me practice my finger spelling.

          If anyone has any questions, feel free to reach out. Im still very passionate about the language and culture.

    • ShySpark@lemmy.fmhy.mlOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      ive been wanting to get into game dev but it seems like alot of work and i suck at everything, also im limted with software and im not even sure what game engine or thing to use, if that makes sense. do you hav eany advice or something you want to share?

      • hoodedsockmonkey@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Take a look at Gadot 4. As a beginner you can think of it like an open source unity. But they just had a major update and seems to make a lot of the tedious aspects of game dev and streamlining them. Everything is an object which is really nice and they have a scripting language based on python. Easy to read and write

      • Balssh@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        Python with PyGame can be quite a good start. And if you’re just trying to build something for fun maybe use free assets from the internet.

        • rebul@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Taught myself python at 50 years of age. My God, being able to code is like a superpower. I started out doing some things to make my job easier, later developed an interest in web scraping and data analysis, now I am tinkering with machine learning. I regret listening to people who told me that a strong background in math is required for coding.

  • slacktoid@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Self-hosting. You learn how to use Linux, security, managing services, and after all that you have your own little ship on the internet. After all that you gain a massive understanding of how the internet and the technology you use daily work and run (to an extent).

  • Hovenko@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

      • Badabinski@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I’ve heard good things about Ender 3 printers and their clones if you’re willing to tinker. AFAIK, the experience right out of the box isn’t great, but they can be modded and upgraded over time and can be fairly capable.

        That being said, those might still be too expensive depending on your geo. I seem to recall reading about reprap projects designed to be built as cheaply as possible using harvested components from things like old scanners and shit.

      • BilboSwaggins@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        You might want to check out laser cutting. Same prize range and so much faster for board games. (basically works like a 2D lasercutter, most commonly used with wood or plexi glass).

  • thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    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
      • thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Sounds like you have the most important part of the hobby down already, at least!

        (see my reply to the other comment for various maybe-helpful links)

      • thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Well, I don’t want to be That Person but technically I made a (long) video for total crochet beginners that I know quite a few people have used to great success. It’s frontloaded with theory though and more for people like me who learn by understanding the “why” of what they’re doing.

        If you prefer to do it in shorter chunks or without all the tedious theory, which let’s face it most people do, I’ve heard really good things about this Bella Coco series which has, um, slightly more views than mine 😅

        There’s a fairly new (aren’t they all) crochet community over at !crochet@lemmy.ca (direct link) that seems very nice so far, I’m sure they’d love to help with your first attempts too!

    • Badabinski@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      1 year ago

      I like crochet, even though I’m really bad at it. It’s very peaceful (unless I’m counting stitches, then it’s a constant fight against my ADHD), and I have a bunch of cool scarves now.

      • thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        I think that’s part of why I suggested it over knitting, you can do the complex projects with the counting and the actual effort OR you can just mindlessly crochet a long scarf or a bunch of cotton washclothes and end up with something practical.

        Knitting is a lot slower and also less suitable for some of those small projects like washcloths so unless it’s basic garter stitch you pretty much know you’re gonna have to concentrate at least a little bit.

        • Badabinski@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          1 year ago

          My girlfriend does both, and it’s definitely amazing how much faster crochet is! Like, “oh, here’s a giant amigurumi dragon I whipped up in a week,” or “here’s a poncho made over the weekend for our vacation,” with crochet, versus “I have to frog 4 weeks of work because I slipped a stitch and didn’t notice.” Granted, she’s much better at crochet (by her admission), but knitting seems tough. Love the stuff you can make with it though.

          • thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            Haha, yep that sounds about right! I do love being able to do both, some things you can do with knitting you just can’t do in crochet especially if you need to create a nice drapey fabric. Being bistitchual is the best of both worlds!

  • sjh@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Baking - fresh warm bread is so good!

    Sewing - it’s nice to add pockets to things 😁

  • kani@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    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.

      • The_Empty_Tuple@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

        • kani@sopuli.xyz
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          1 year ago

          To be honest I’m not a native English speaker so your advice is probably more useful anyway. My husband is British and has studied plenty of languages, finding Swedish and Norwegian definitely the easiest to pick up. Romance languages have more complicated grammar but you’ll find a lot more TV and movies to watch to casually pick up a bit more of the language, which I find useful because I only speak English as well as I do from watching a lot of TV (first with subs) when I was younger.

          • wafflez@lemmy.blahaj.zone
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            1 year ago

            do you have any swedish tv shows or movies you could recommend? the more the merrier please, or any resources for it at all?

            • kani@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              1
              ·
              1 year ago

              Some from recent memory:

              • Real Humans (Äkta Människor) tv show, I liked the UK version a bit more
              • Young Royals, tv show about a young gay prince
              • Don’t Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, a heartbreaking miniseries dealing with Aids epidemic
              • Raspberry Boat Refugee, a movie about a Finnish man who believes he should’ve been born Swedish
              • Glowing Stars, a movie about a girl looking after her mom who has cancer
              • Stormkärs Maja, a miniseries on the hard life on a tiny island
              • Roy Andersson Also has a lot of fun absurdist comedies
              • Also movies/miniseries based on Astrid Lindgren books are sweet and nostalgic and despite being aimed for children

              I think those might be easy enough to find online depending on where you look.

      • HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        1 year ago

        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.

        • randomperson@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          1 year ago

          Esperanto seems to be pretty useless to invest so much time into learning it. Wouldn’t be learning “normal” language more beneficial anyway?

          • HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            1 year ago

            Depends on your goals. If you’re going somewhere with one language to spend time, or especially value a particular language, studying that language makes sense. If you want access to a global network of the sort of people who would pick up a conlang intended to be a universal second language, one speakers of can be found anywhere, Esperanto’s your pick.

            Mi lernis Esperanton ĉar mi volas havi amikojn en ĉiaj la landoj de la mondo.

            • randomperson@kbin.social
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              1 year ago

              I am Polish native that can easily read Ukrainian, English and also some German and I have no clue what that sentence means in Esperanto :D. I can only guess that “lernis” is probably something like “learning” and “mondo” refers to “world” (guess based purely on ‘Le Monde’ - French newspaper). Rest looks like some random Lithuanian stuff. I don’t think knowledge of Esperanto could give me any advantage when traveling across Europe. Idea is cool but to be honest English is the new lingua franca and I think that’s good because it’s easy to pick up and already widespread.

              • HopeOfTheGunblade@kbin.social
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                1 year ago

                what lauguage would you recommend for people who only know english?

                You weren’t the target audience for my initial comment.

                “I learned Esperanto because I want to have friends in all the countries of the world.”

    • Ratboy@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      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.

  • Badabinski@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    Some form of metal working, and specifically machining. I really enjoy machining, and I’ve been able to make some genuinely useful things. The tools are actually really quiet and stateful, unlike woodworking power tools which SCREAM at you like horrible demons. Seeing people look at their first top, or pen, or miniature cannon is great. Plus, things made in metal are at least slightly shiny.

    For example, you could make dumbbell handles and plates like this: a photo of dumbbell handles and weight plates

    Or a metal yarn winder like this: a photo of an all-metal yarn winder

    The major downside is that it’s not cheap (not as expensive as boats, possibly more expensive than photography), and it requires at least a bit of space that you wouldn’t mind getting dirty. Luckily, I feel like makerspaces are starting to have more and more metalworking equipment.

  • freebrick@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Running. Fairly cheap. Can set your own schedule. Improves physical and mental health, increases self confidence, can help with sleep and weight loss.

  • voluntaryexilecat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Indoor gardening/hydroponics. Even in the smallest flat you can grow your own salad, peppers, radish, tomatoes, microgreens, etc.

    Like a tiny stardew valley at home.

  • CynAq@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Juggling!

    • It can be done dirt cheap

    • It’s really therapeutic

    • You can practice it almost anywhere but especially alone in your room

    • If you git gud at it, you have a cool skill to show off

  • alex [they/them]@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    2
    ·
    1 year ago

    Sewing is useful and satisfying. I’d like to say it’s also easy but I have never figured it out myself (which doesn’t say much, anything that involves using my hands is… questionable)