Mine is mapping. I am a big OpenStreetMap contributor and I have mapped many towns near me that were previously completely unmapped.

  • stinky@redlemmy.com
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    24 minutes ago

    How do you map

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

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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    3 hours ago

    I have a weird obsession with fonts. I love a good, well designed font. How it looks on the screen, how it looks in print. Nothing too gaudy or showy, but a really good League Spartan or Lato Light. (Not a fan of serifs)

    Other than that, normal stuff; 3D modelling, writing, etc…

    My other interest that might fall “outside the norm” is that in University, if I had continued beyond my bachelors my primary focus would have been studying the Bronze Age Collapse, and that topic still fascinates me to this day.

    Edit: Oh…and spreadsheets. There’s no problem in the world that can’t be fixed with a well designed spreadsheet. All problems come down to data sorting.

  • whotookkarl@lemmy.world
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    2 hours ago

    Metal guitar, comic books, epistemologies. A lot of people write off metal as just distortion and shouting but it’s a huge genre like jazz or classical without as long a history. Comics interest I stopped for awhile but got back into it and helped me learn drawing and story writing to better appreciate the artistry. Epistemologies from an interest in reading philosophy books and that was just the subtopic that always held my interest most.

  • Apytele
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    4 hours ago

    I’ve had several multi-year long ones:

    • As a child: Stargate SG1
    • Adolescent: paraphilias
    • Young adult: the care of high violence risk and cluster b psychiatric inpatients
    • As I’m entering middle-adulthood: western esoteric spiritual tradition and philosophy
  • RacerX@lemm.ee
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    6 hours ago

    Picking up new hobbies, investing in them far beyond what would be considered a casual interest, then getting bored or disillusioned with the community after 6-24 months.

    See

    • Foam dart blasters
    • yo yos
    • magic the gathering (This was like 15 years)
    • coin collecting
    • juggling
    • pocket knives
    • archery
    • running
    • Currently working on 3D printing, though that’s been more of a means to get back into foam blasters because it’s far cheaper to print your own blasters and mod parts.
  • fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com
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    6 hours ago

    What are you doing with your time this week then? 😬

    We love OSM for finding gravel routes for our bikes. However, since no bike maps ever say the state of the gravel, and mark many as paved, we’ve been pre-driving and contributing. It’s fun!

    In any event, my interest is serial hobbying. I’m a maker, so my site is full of random projects. I’m in a techy phase right now, so just released some Steam Deck accessories, the Only Sensor, and am now working on a DIY solder extractor and building a Voron.

    • Emerald@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 hour ago

      What are you doing with your time this week then? 😬

      This week I mapped one small town in full (took only 2 days lol). I also mapped various cemetery roads and did a few other assorted things. I also had a couple days off since OSM was down.

  • Elaine@lemm.ee
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    6 hours ago

    I love learning about Chinese culture both real and mythological. I am learning some mandarin on the side and hope to take a trip to mainland China someday.

    • Aksamit@slrpnk.net
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      5 hours ago

      Do you have any favourite facts or stories?

      Learning about Chinese culture is lowkey a little hobby of mine too, I’m mainly into it for the cuisines and food side of things though.

      • Elaine@lemm.ee
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        4 hours ago

        Journey to The West was my gateway into Chinese mythology. It has been retold many times in many different ways and languages. It was an introduction to a fascinating world very different than (for me) worn out western tropes.

  • klemptor@startrek.website
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    6 hours ago

    I’ve been pretty into four things lately:

    1. Healthy cooking, from scratch as much as possible. I got into a rut trying to maximize protein intake, so now I’m trying to find different recipes that don’t compromise on macros but still offer variety in flavors and textures and won’t bother my IBS.
    2. Nail polish and nail art. I have probably about 300 polishes at this point, which sounds like a lot to most people, but it’s a tiny collection compared to some I’ve seen! Last year I got really into nail stamping, which lets you create neat little designs, and you can get really creative with it.
    3. Working out. I recently moved, and designed a power rack for my basement which is pretty fully featured. My goal was to be able to do all the exercises I could do at my previous fitness club (within reason - no way I’m buying a tank sled and a billion 45 lb plates!). I’m pretty happy with how it turned out, and so is my husband, which I’m glad about because he’s a tall dude and working around the low-ish basement ceiling was a challenge.
    4. Indie makeup! Holy Moses I love makeup, and indie brands are killing it. My most recent favorite palette is the Cosmic Brushes Winter Wonderland palette (which came out last year, but is new in my collection). Just look at her!:

    Gorgeous, right? No way I’m ever going back to boring neutrals.

    • Aksamit@slrpnk.net
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      5 hours ago

      Are there any good nail art or makeup communities on the fediverse yet? I love seeing how creative people get with these art forms.

      Those iridescent shadows! The teal/purple shift is so pretty!

      • klemptor@startrek.website
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        4 hours ago

        I wish! Every now and again I search “polish” and “lacquer” hoping a new community will have been made, but so far no luck, though it’s been maybe a month since I checked. I keep trying to talk myself into starting one, but I don’t know if I have the patience for modding.

        • Aksamit@slrpnk.net
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          2 hours ago

          I keep trying to talk myself into starting one, but I don’t know if I have the patience for modding.

          Ugh, same. I want to see all the pretty nerds showing off their pretty skills here but most days my brain won’t even type words coherently, I would be an utterly useless mod.

          We need one of those hyper energetic t-girls full of all that post puberty energy and optimism, to swoop in and be queen mod of all the pretties of the fediverse for us. I really miss having all that energy, haha.

  • drosophila@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    7 hours ago

    My most stereotypical special interest (in that it’s something really random that you might assume there’s not a lot of depth to) is artificial lighting technology.

    But I have a lot of stuff I could infodump about: computers, video games, TTRPGs, world building, neurology, etc.

    • DontNoodles@discuss.tchncs.de
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      25 minutes ago

      I have a question for you that I’ve not been able to get answer to by normal googling or asking the GPTs.

      I need to focus light from cinema projectors using camera lenses. As you might be aware, projectors may use lamp or LED as their primary light source. The former used more wattage for producing same lumens of light.

      My question is: if I choose two projectors of each type that give out same lumens of light and I focus all of it with my lens, will one of them heat up my lens more than the other? I’m other words I’m just talking about the heat perception of light of equal intensity from the two sources and not how much heat is generated in creating them, if that makes any sense.

      Thanks!

    • Emerald@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 hour ago

      artificial lighting technology

      Have you seen the technology connections videos on lighting? The one about the Balafire is interesting, and he also recently discovered some excellent Christmas lights.

    • Aksamit@slrpnk.net
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      5 hours ago

      Could you tell me some cool stuff about artificial lighting technologies? That sounds interesting!

  • WeeneyTodd@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    Hedge laying. It’s a technique where you almost cut through the stems of the plants in a hedgerow in order to bend them down. This promotes the growth of new shoots and results in a very dense hedge, which historically was done to make sure animals didn’t escape or enter pastures and fields.

    • ivanafterall ☑️@lemmy.world
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      10 minutes ago

      Is a hedgerow more economically feasible than, say, a chain-link fence or any other kind of fence, really (fences are expensive)? About the same? More expensive? What about comparative difficulty? Is it the kind of thing that takes years to grow out?

    • picnicolas@slrpnk.net
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      4 hours ago

      Wonderful! I’ve been hoping to learn to do this to replace my neighbor’s vinyl fence. What’s your preferred style? Do you recommend any resources for learning the skill?