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.
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.
One of the biggest things that most amateur filmmakers or video makers make is not getting sufficient tone.
Before shooting, record a fairly long stretch of just the ambient sound in the area where you’re filming so that when you are editing, it can be laid under the audio tracks and help to smooth out the jumps in audio from different clips.
Hobby: Chess
Tips: Ill state a few mistakes here that I see beginners do a lot (mistakes that I also made as a beginner and had to learn to not do and why not to do them).
-
Don’t give check just because you can give check. Beginners love to just check you with zero follow up. Its like it creates a sense of purpose for their moves but without a proper follow up it is a waste of a move.
-
Consider the fact that I can make moves and formulate my own plans. Half the game is what you play and the other half is what your opponent plays. If you only consider your moves/plans, I, and any chess player beyond a beginner, will easily beat you.
-
Every move has a purpose. If you make a move and I ask you why you made that move and you cannot provide a reasonable reason, then you either wasted a move or got lucky and just happened to guess a good move.
-
Dont try to learn opening theory as a beginner. You should learn the three main opening principiles (develop you pieces, get your king to safety, and control the center of the board) and some very common lines to play but after that you should move on to the middle game and end game. Revisit opening theory once you understand the game at a deeper level. It will make it easier for you.
-
You paid money and spent time travelling to tournament. You have over an hour on the clock and you oppenent just made a move. Stop and think for a moment. Dont rush your moves and try to play instantly all the time. You waste time, money, and the day since you played like shit (whats the point?).
-
(Last) Do NOT have an ego or underestimate your opponent. Especially of they are a little kid. There are two types of kid chess players: the ones who learned how to play 5 minutes ago and the ones that humble you. Very little in between there. There are two types of (non-kid) chess players: those who think a 10yr old kid by default sucks at chess, and those who have played enough kids to realize what the fuck is up. It is funny to watch the former turn into the ladder. Those kids at tournaments are such wild cards
-
Why wouldn’t you buy a sub from a speaker company? Here’s one for audiophiles: if you want real good sound look at studio equipment rather than expensive hifi stuff. A high end studio interface plus a pair of full range studio monitors will sound more accurate than any hifi setup.
And another one: listening experience is 95% acoustics. Don’t bother with speakers above say 2k if you’re not willing to invest money and space into proper acoustic treatment.
First, I agree with your comment about the room. It’s the most important part of how good a system sounds, neck and neck with speakers.
Second, while I don’t have a wide variety of experience with studio gear or a variety of audiophile speakers I can say this: I have been a Magnepan guy for decades and currently have the 1.7i’s. But I recently got some Yamaha HS7s for my computer and I have really been enjoying them.
Maggies are legendary for how well they reproduce female vocals (and they deserve that reputation) but I was listening to Cowboy Junkies this morning and just really enjoyed how Margo Timmins voice sounded as well as the imaging (and they aren’t set up really well for imaging given I have three monitors on my desk).
So, yeah, try studio monitors if you are looking for powered speakers.
I wouldn’t consider myself an audiophile, but I lean more in that direction than the average. I’ve had the pleasure of working in a sound studio, and as such I learned to appreciate the quality that comes with the gear.
In general, professional hardware is miles beyond consumer hardware. And enthusiast hardware is more akin to consumer hardware with extra fluff.
Subwoofers are an afterthought for the industry.
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.
Buying a cheap 2nd hand E-bike (right now) means the same as buying any other broken bike: You need to know how to switch a chain and adjust brakes. The electronics themselves however are surprisingly resilient.
If you have to use more than 3 adapters, stop and reevaluate what you’re doing.
As someone who enjoys growing and studying about many many different kinds of carnivorous plants, don’t worry too much about feeding them, instead make sure you get them enough lighting and good water supply through good quality substrate (not something that’s been decomposing for 3+ years and turning into mulch) with adequate aeration. The need for metabolic energy always comes first before nutrition (which is what these plants get from eating meat), same concept to how not having access to oxygen to breath is a lot more dangerous to a human or animal than being malnourished.
Happy growing! :D
Hobbyist race car builder/mechanic, sometimes you need cheap tools to break, bend, grind or cut to do one job.
I have a spanner that has been lovingly butchered to remove one sensor on a steering rack on one model of car. Its a common failure point and replacing it either means custom specialty tool or complete steering rack removal and wheel allignment.
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.
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!
Boardgames
Its easier to make gamers into friends than it is to make friends into gamers
If you have to count beats in your head, you’re already failing as a DJ. Knowing when to drop the next tune should come naturally.
Read some music theory if you have to, and definitely spend time listening more closely to your tunes. Try to think about how your music is structured as you’re listening to it. Identify the intro, chorus, verses, bridge(s), etc.
With enough critical listening (and practice on the decks), you’ll no longer have to count beats to know where you are in the song and when to start the mix. It’ll eventually become second nature for you.
There’s two types of costume contests, cosplay contests that break things down by experience, and random Halloween contests that are basically reenactments of popularity contests in high school.
The former you’re gonna enter as a journeyman unless you built something so outrageous they gotta up the difficulty level. Make sure you have a TON of documentation and pics and explanations on how you did things. The judges are gonna wanna know how hard you worked on things and the amount of detail you put into it. If you spent 8 hours on the gold colored filigree on your bracers you damn well better mention it Typically unless you’re doing best performance, you get three poses and you’re off the stage. By the time you hit the stage the judges typically made their decisions so play to the crowd and do what looks good on film. If you are going for best performance, don’t feel pressured to use your full five minutes, or however long they give. Waaay to many people overstay their welcome, you wanna leave the people wanting more, not less. Hit your points, your high note, and if you’re still only halfway through your time, whatever. You’re not disqualified if you don’t use your time completely, and people will greatly appreciate someone moving the schedule faster than usual.
For the latter Halloween costume contests, effort means NOTHING. You could’ve thrown the damn thing together in five minutes and win, and if you spend 16 hours on it it will not improve your chances. The venue is looking for costumes that look great on the social media, is a character they love, makes them laugh, blows their mind, causes the venue to cheer, and (this is the most important bit) appears in front of whoever the hell is judging the competition. It’s 1 to 3 people who pick on the previously mentioned criteria. Each judge is gonna be a little different. Some judges listen to the crowd, some judges love horror films so every slasher villain goes on stage, some judges do NOT know what the hell a star wars is. The one thing that all judges have in common though, is that they exist in a 3 dimensional space and only have eyes in front of their head. If you’re a wall flower that doesn’t interact with people, you will not win the contest unless the judge is also sharing your wall. Build a dance circle, tip the bartender to figure out who’s judging tonight (they may or may not know) but if you wanna win, physics dictates that you appear in front of a judge as they wander the venue. That is more important than your costume.
Foraging! Don’t eat things unless you are 100% sure.
Mushrooms
I read they think the guy in “Into the Wild” died because he was eating a plant that interfered with vitamin absorption.
If it has gills, flaky skin, and bleeds blue, then put down the knife and walk away - you’ve just killed a member of the scottish nobility
Or you could be in Arkham.
Well then
Woodworking
Measure twice cut once is rookie numbers. Measure 10 times, cut a test piece 5 times, measure twice after each, then do your real cut.
This is a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea.
Also, measure after each operation to check your work as you go so you can spot mistakes as early as possible. This includes checking for square, doing test fits, and all manner of sanity checks to ensure that your operations are achieving the desired results before you repeat them on other pieces or move on to do more work on those same pieces that may already be ruined or need fixing.
For glue up, always always always dry fit first. Then plan ahead. Put all your clamps on and have them adjusted before you add glue. Once the glue is on the time is short and you need to have everything ready and waiting.
If you use a table saw, take it seriously. Always use your riving knife when possible, be mindful of the control you have over the pieces, use push sticks and sleds and jigs to improve stability and safety, always wear ppe. Check that your blade is aligned to your miter slots and your fence. Having a slight relief angle on your fence can be good, but never have it canted towards the blade. That can be dangerous. Also make a crosscut sled, they’re amazing.
Beware of dust. It causes cancer and it lingers in the air. Wear a respirator and use ventilation when possible.
Make or buy a workbench with a vise and some hold down capabilities. Being able to hold your work easily is a huge benefit.
If you are looking to improve your accuracy and precision, buy a nice hand plane and learn how set it up, sharpen it, and how to use it. They are absolute game changers. Also make or buy a shooting board for it. Also, buy a machinist’s square, a set of feeler gauges, and a nice 36in aluminum straight edge and learn to use them.
Etc
Obviously that’s a lot, and a lot of it it depends on what you’re actually trying to do, but those are all things that have helped me a lot in my journey towards making furniture, picture frames, cutting boards, etc
Me, “Measures 50 times and it still doesn’t fit just right” “WTF!!!??”
Lol. Been there for sure.
Another woodworker:
Huge +1 for a bench plane and a shooting board. Even in a mainly power tool shop, you can make things much more precisely square or mitered if you shoot them.
For marking cuts, use a knife not a pencil. When you use a pencil to mark your cuts, you limit yourself to guiding your tools with only your vision, not unlike a Tesla. When you score the line with a knife, you create a reference surface (one of the two sides of the cut, hopefully the one against your square) that has no thickness, and you can feel when a knife or chisel clicks against that surface. For saw cuts, you can use a chisel to pare away a little bit from the waste side to form a knife wall, which forms a little ramp that will guide a saw against your reference surface.
Wax literally everything. Wax your work surfaces, tablesaw top, jointer beds, planer bed, fences, plane soles, bikini lines, saw plates, screw threads…wax literally everything.
Learn how to do most common operations by hand. Square some rough lumber by hand with a bench plane. Chop a mortise with a chisel. Cut a tenon with a backsaw. Make dovetails by hand. Even if you’re a power tool woodworker and you’ve got a jointer and a thickness planer and a table saw and a rapidly growing number of routers, knowing how to do things by hand will help you understand just what it is you’re doing.
Do not suffer a dull tool to live. If your tool is getting dull, sharpen it. Sharpening is kinda personal, I think if cilantro tastes like soap to you you’ll prefer oilstones, if you have that tendon in your wrist you’ll like waterstones, if you can roll your tongue you’ll prefer diamond plates and if you have more money than god you’ll buy a Tormach. They’ll all sharpen a blade. Find the system you like and use it. If your tool is dull, sharpen it. Put it away sharp, don’t put it away dull.
Use your ears. You can tell a lot about what’s going on with a tool by listening to it.
Great additions! Using a marking knife is a big upgrade.
Dull tools are the death of accuracy and enjoyment alike.
Cheers
Dull tools are the death of accuracy and enjoyment alike.
Same in cooking. A sharp knife is a safe knife. If you are pushing to cut you will have an accident.
If you use a table saw, take it seriously.
I’d like to add: don’t wear gloves, especially ones that are a little to big for your hands.
I was going to add to tablesaw too. Safety is like security: use layers. Machines have switches and their own safeties. But you know what’s better? Put that behind another switch. And unplug it when you leave the room. You shouldn’t be able to turn it on until you are ready to use it. Again like security, it always pays to be a little paranoid
My original plan was to ask for top 5 tips, so you went ways above the brief after you read my mind.
Lol, yeah I got a bit carried away there.
