2 years ago we planted a lime tree in our backyard. It was already about 5-6 feet tall when we planted it. There's a lemon tree next to it that is probably 50 years old and produces more fruit than we can use. We're constantly giving away lemons to our friends and neighbors, baking stuff with the ones we keep and we still too many left! But our lime tree barely produces anything. The first year it produced 3 limes, all of which were hard and almost juiceless. This year, so far it has produced a single fruit which doesn't yet look ripe. The thing is that it produces tons of buds that look like they're going to become limes, but they either die or are eaten by squirrels, I guess. I've heard a similar story from a coworker about her lime tree. Is there any secret to getting a lime tree to produce fruit?

I went to college in Massachusetts, and after awhile the winters began to get to me. A study-abroad trip to Paraguay helped me fall in love with palms. After I graduated, I explicitly looked for work in areas of the Southeast where I could grow palms, eventually settling in the Midlands of South Carolina (USDA Hardiness Zone 8a), which can grow a reasonable variety (our state tree is the cabbage palmetto, Sabal palmetto, and it is incredibly common in the area). I’ve currently got two potted palms: a European fan palm, Chamaerops humilis, and pygmy date palm, Phoenix roebelenii (the latter needs to be housed in the garage during the winter).

I recently went into my attic and pulled out my old 1990s 4-track Fostex X-26 tape recorder. I was hoping to transfer some of my old band tapes to the computer. Alas, it is dead. While it turns on, the motor appears frozen, and the device hums. (I don't mean there's line noise when you plug a speaker into it, I mean the device itself audibly hums, even when not using the tape controls.)

I have seen online that some people repair theirs. It's probably beyond my skill level to do so, though. (And I don't really want to do it myself.) I have contacted a few shops near me (Los Angeles), but have gotten no replies, unfortunately. I was wondering if anyone here knows of a good shop that would repair an older device like this.

I have also contacted some places that claim to do cassette to digital transfers, but none have replied to my questions about whether they can deal with a 4-track recording. Also, just looking at their prices, it seems like it would cost significantly more to have them convert my tapes than to get the recorder repaired. (And I'm not sure what's on all of the tapes, so I don't really want to hand over some embarrassing practice tape or tape containing some out-of-context banter between takes on it.)

I've looked online for a used one, but all the listings I've found have been "for parts only", which is what mine would be if I were to sell it. And knowing how these things go, they probably all have the same broken part. So any recommendations are appreciated!

Back when I was a kid, I had a radioshack 200-in-1 science fair electronics kit this one

I loved that thing, and it sparked an interest in tech that ultimately led me to a CS degree.

Id like to buy something similar for my much younger sister, but nowdays everything I can find is arduino or raspi based. Id love to get something like that eventually, but I think it might be better to get a kit that more focuses on individual components first... Does anyone know of one sold these days?

Alternatively, if anyone has one of these and would be willing to scan the book, Id love to build one of these as a breadboard-based system.

The following are ramblings from my garden. I would love to here the ramblings from other people's gardens.

It's spring where I am, and I absolutely love spring! The last full moon (the one in February) I call the Angry Goose Moon, because it's around that time that my male goose turns into a monster, and I need to pull out my shield (a garbage bin lid) to move around the yard while warding off his attacks. His change in demeanor signifies the onset of spring for me.

Some people divide spring into early spring and late spring, but I live in a cool, wet environment that has a very long spring which is why I prefer thinking about the garden in terms of the moon cycle. The beginning of spring is Angry Goose Moon. During this phase, the hummingbirds start visiting, waiting for our native red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) to bloom. Everyday it gets closer and closer (I expect it to be in full bloom any day now). My hated Burkwood Osmanthus (Osmanthus × burkwoodii) begins rapidly trying to turn into a tree, and I'm reminded that I still haven't figured out what to plant in its place as I trim it back down a manageable level. And OMG the freaking cranesbill geranium (Geranium sanguineum) has once again gotten into everything, but I loathe to get rid of it all because the bees love it so much. This year I am being way more ruthless than years pass and have filled several bins of it for the yard waste collectors.

Usually this is also when I start seeds, but I'll be leaving for six weeks, so the seed catalogues will be collecting dust this year. Instead I'm checking out my propagation efforts from last year. I need to move a beautiful hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla) that gets way to big for the area it's in, but I've been afraid to move it case it dies, so last year I took 30 cuttings, which all rooted. It looks like 29 of those made it through the winter. I have no need for 29 more hydrangeas, but I now know I can move the mother plant, and if it dies, I'll have something to replace it with. In the mean time I'll plant the new ones in bigger pots to give away next year when they are more established.

Last fall I divided up some of the lemongrass (Cymbopogon citratus) I planted last year, plopped them into 10 pots, and brought them indoors to winter over. It looks like five of them made it. It won't be late enough for me to get them in the ground before I leave, but I will put them into bigger pots and get them under artificial light. Hopefully they will still be alive when I get back.

I'm not much of a rose fan, but outside my back window is a shrub rose (Rosa glauca) that has beautiful red tinged foliage and purple stems. It only flowers for a short time, and the flowers aren't anything to write home about, but they are followed by nice plump rose hips that I harvest for tea. It is absolutely in the wrong spot with its large growth and overly thorny stems. Last year I took a lot of cuttings of it and some natives roses that inhabit the same area, and it looks like most of them made it. Once they are large enough (another year or two) I'll plant them in a spot where their flesh ripping thorns won't be bothersome, remove all the large specimens, and replant the area with berries (I'm thinking about a mix of blueberry and honeyberry (Lonicera caerulea). Another potting up project before I go.

I enjoy plant medicine and started quite a few medicinal plants from seed last year. I started a bit late so nothing got in the ground, but it looks like most of them were able to winter over in the potting shed, but not all of them. I sowed 30 seeds of skullcap (Scutellaria baicalensis) of which only 6 germinated. I was going to move those six into the house to winter over, but I ended up with a spider mite problem in the house from having earlier brought in my toothache plants (Acmella oleraceae) and didn't want them to get infected. Unfortunately none of the skullcap survived. The toothache plants in the house didn't survive either, and I wish I had extracted their medicinal properties before their death, they were certainly large enough. But this paragraph started like it was going to be about wins. The biggest win, the one I'm most excited about, is that all of my mountain meadow arnica (Arnica chamissonis) made it! Their first leaves of spring are pushing through the soil, and their roots are pushing out of the holes of their pots. I don't believe there is a better plant for muscular aches and pains than arnica, and I am looking forward to harvesting it to make salves. I did seed way too many than my garden can hold, so as soon as I determine whether or not they they also are infested with spider mites, I will offer them up for other people to add to their gardens. I'm also excited that all the elecampane (Inula helenium) made it through the winter, though once again I seeded way too many. The added bonus is this plant can tend to be weedy in my locale, so I will only plant a couple down in the weedy medicinal area to let them compete with each other.

Side talk about garden pests. Besides slugs, which if I allow the ducks to move through the garden, don't damage too much of my garden, my gardens are fairly pest resistant. I spent a lot of time last year moving through it with a magnifier taking pictures and videos of the smaller insects that live among the plants. It's a whole other world living just out of reach of my normal vision! Of particular interest to me were a few of my phlox plants (Phlox paniculata) that had deformed leaves. On closer inspection I saw what I assume is spider mites. A few weeks later, taking video again, I saw what I assume are predatory spider mites, and a few weeks after that the phlox started growing correctly. There are so many predators out there doing "gods" work, and if any of you gardeners are ever bored, I suggest rabbit holing into garden predators.

I'm rambling, where was I?
Oh yeah.
I also use this time to severely prune stuff back that missed my list the year prior. In my culinary herb garden there is a bay tree (whether it's Laurus nobilis or Umbellularia californica I do not know). It's a monster that should not be planted where it is. I know I could hack it it back almost to the ground and it would come back, except that its branches cover my bathroom window in a way that gives me privacy from the cabin on the other side of the creek, while letting light in. It's this constant battle between keeping it small enough that wildlife can't use to get to the roof, yet large enough to afford me bathroom privacy. I just hacked a bunch of it off and I suspect I'll be doing the same again in the fall.

This place has a lot of problems, and I have to remain vigilant in celebrating the successes and not getting lost in lists of things to do. But there's a lot of beauty in our property, and I do enjoy experiencing it. Angry Goose Moon is the time of year when I am filled with the most hope for the future.

Is anyone else finding time for crafting these days? I'd love to see/hear about what you're working on!

I have spent the last month very slowly drafting a pattern for a skirt. After much time spent feeling apprehensive about cutting fabric (it's only an old bed sheet, but still) to test my first effort, last week I finally put scissors to cloth and sewed it together. I made several mistakes, but was so happy to have finally gotten that far, I didn't even feel bad about them.

I have a new basic block pattern drafted, and have even added a kick pleat so I can practice making that part. The new pattern has been cut and is ready to sew. 🤞 Here's hoping I did a better job this time!

I recently fixed my old wristwatch when I realized the need to know time is one of the causes for my smartphone addiction. It is nice to know the time from a device without WhatsApp, a web browser, or notifications.

Here it is, nothing fancy but extremely durable, about 15 years old: https://imgur.com/gallery/daDVelR

I’m looking into getting a Casio digital wristwatch with a simple alarm function and a light to see it in the dark. Again, nothing fancy. Just a piece of reliable, single purpose hardware. I love things like that.

They also look really nice.

Do you have and enjoy “dumb watches”? Why? Let’s talk about that :)

I do, and my personal go-to is the SOG Key Knife. Small, fits perfectly on my keychain, usable for most daily tasks, and not made in China, despite being inexpensive. I also tend to keep an old folding Buck my dad gave me in my bag for heavier duties.

Edit: added a photo of the SOG.

Second edit: Don’t get a knife for self-defense, they require significant training to properly use without getting hurt, and put you closer to your assailant. Learn situational awareness first and foremost, then if you still would like, pick up some pepper spray or a firearm.

I spent a lot of my youth training my dog for obedience and agility. I sorta-kinda got back into it about eight years ago when I got my first dog while living on my own. My trainer at the time stopped offering classes a few years ago. This was shortly after my dog and I competed in our first USDAA trial (which was a disaster, but that's to be expected).

I finally got around to ordering some new equipment (four jumps, a tunnel, and a set of weave poles), and I was reminded of how much fun it is! My dog (Loki, a 7 y/o Australian Shepherd) picked up right where we left off when I set up a super small course in the back yard at lunch today.

Does anybody else on Tildes compete or do any dog sports for fun? I'd love to hear what you're doing or any other stories about dog training people have. :)

I live in Colorado and I love cycling along twisty mountain roads. The experience of being on a bike rather than in a car is a completely different way of experiencing the state.

I'm always going like 40 mph slower than the cars that pass me though, and I can only go so far before I'm completely exhausted, so I'm considering getting a motorcycle (It seems like I'd actually be safer, since at least I'm going the same speed as the people trying to kill me now). I'm signed up for an MSF class next week to get my endorsement.

I'd love to hear people's opinions on first motorcycles if anyone has them. I don't think the type of motorcycles people normally recommend (Suzuki TU250X etc) will work for me because of the large amount of steep road riding I'm planning to do, so I think I need something with a bit more torque. Something like the Triumph Street Scrambler seems like a good idea!

I'm also looking for advice about whether it's completely insane to store such a bike outside. I don't have a garage, but I do have a driveway behind my house in an alley where mostly only the residents of the block ever go. I can also block my bike in with my car when I'm not using it. Is this situation plus a disc brake and a cover enough to keep my motorcycle safe-ish from theft?

So if there are any sailors or prespective sailors on here some questions. What region do you sail in? Captain or crew (I guess also own or crew)? What kind of boat? What level do you sail at?

This is a lot of questions I know, but I've gotten into sailing more and more over the last few years and I've found it's one of the main things that's kept me sane throughout the pandemic.

I’ve been wanting to get in to hobby electronics now that I have some free time, but I’m not sure what I want to start with. I am super interested in building an 8-bit computer but I’m curious what other types of things people have built or are building. Feel free to talk about any Raspberry Pi or Arduino projects as well even if they’re not strictly ‘hobby electronics’.

Being cooped up inside has made me realize how much time I spend in front of screens, for work and for play. I think it would be healthy for me to try to find something that's not screen related to do but remain socially distant, and I think learning to play an instrument would be a good candidate.

The problem is, I don't know which one to learn. When I was in middle/early high school I played the drum set, but having moved out on my own I certainly don't have the space for that anymore. I also thought about the recorder, since people play cool medieval music on it, but I'd rather not subject my neighbors to the shrill monstrosity that is someone learning to play recorder. I like the type of music that can be played on a guitar, but ideally I'd like something physically smaller, and perhaps a little more interesting. Also, for social distancing's sake, it would be ideal if it was an instrument where it is possible to teach oneself how to play.

Am I overcomplicating things and should just learn guitar? Are there any instruments that hit inexpensive, self teachable, small, and can be used in music in ways similar to a guitar?

Sorry if this is frowned upon in these parts - but I was wondering if anyone would be interested in an exchange thing of the mugs Starbucks do? Due to coronavirus most of the fun traveling I do is cancelled for the foreseeable future. I figure it might be fun to find a few folks who'd be willing to do a trade for a new mug from somewhere else.

For what it's worth, I'm based in the northeast of the US, so I can likely trade a Boston, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, or Maine mug.

I love planted aquariums and lifting weights but because of the corona and personal problems I haven't done any of that in this year.

Lately, I am fixing old camera lenses and reselling them on eBay I almost don't make any money but it is a lot of fun.

And you guys? What are you doing besides eating, working and sleeping?

Hi everyone,

Recently I became interested in learning about wilderness survival for the first time since I was a Cub Scout. I like to camp, but I'm the type of person who pours a can of fire starter on the camp fire after setting it up tipi style and then goes around bragging about how good I am at fire-starting. (I would be completely lost without a lighter and starter fluid.) I am planning on taking a camping trip with a friend of mine who has a great deal of wilderness survival training after COVID-19 restrictions are loosened, and I would like to come prepared.

I have found outlines for several course syllabi on wilderness survival, but not resources for each of them. Here are two examples below:

Example 1

Lesson I: Introduction

Lesson II: The Psychology of Survival

Lesson III: Introduction to wilderness survival planning

Lesson IV: Fire

Lesson V: Clothing

Lesson VI: Shelters

Lesson VII: Sustenance (Food and Water)

Lesson VIII: Introduction to Signaling

Lesson IX: Introduction to map and compass

Lesson X: Survival Kits

Example 2

Lesson 1: Introduction to Wilderness Safety and Survival

Lesson 2: Survival Essentials for the Wilderness

Lesson 3: Selecting the Right Gear

Lesson 4: Health and Safety

Lesson 5: Treating Illness, Bites, and Stings in the Wilderness

Lesson 6: Traumatic Injuries and Environmental Illnesses

Lesson 7: Environmental Illnesses and Their Treatments

Lesson 8: Understanding the Importance of Your Clothing

Lesson 9: Procuring and Purifying Water

Lesson 10: Food and Nourishment: Plants, Fruits, and Bugs

Lesson 11: Food and Nourishment: Crustaceans, Birds, and Fish

Lesson 12: Food and Nourishment: Tracking and Acquiring Mammals

Lesson 13: Food and Nourishment: Preparing and Cooking Game

Lesson 14: Navigation

Lesson 15: Signaling

I was hoping that perhaps some Tilderinos could help me out in filling in the blanks with resources for wilderness survival topics, or even some anecdotes about learning wilderness survival yourselves.

Thanks for any help!
-gbbb

Got it last summer and been having and absolute blast with it, got a macro tube and a bigger 55-300 lens to play with. But time and time again I keep running into annoying little limitations.

This model doesn't have a shutter release input thing, so remote shutter is locked behind a falling apart android app>bluetooth connection. There's a tonne of small little things like this that I wish I looked into before making the purchase

Essentially - right now I'm thinking that I want to upgrade the actual dslr before investing any more into lenses, but I'm a bit too out of touch to know what the good models to go for 2nd hand or whatever.

Are there any tildoes out there that have some experience with older but capable bodies?

So, I'm currently working up 2 1 gallon apfelweing batches. For a while I was doing many 6 gallon batches, but took a break for a while, and getting back into it.

Any other homebrewers out there? Anything fermented, even kombucha :)

Hi, I wonder if there are people here likes to collect watches. If so, please share about the watch that you're wearing right now, or maybe your watch collection.

As for me, I own a few of Seiko mechanical watches (SNK809, SKX013, and the SARB017), and a couple of Casio digital watches (Casio Royale and W217H)

Lately I'm starting to appreciate quartz watches even more and I'm starting to look at vintage Seiko and Citizen quartz watches.

My question is exactly what it says on the title. For the past 12 years I've lived in a downtown area and all my workplaces have been metro accessible. I've gotten by with car shares and rentals and borrowing other people's cars when I really needed them. but I'm applying for a job that would have about 45min to 1 hour commutes each way and will need a car to get by. I'm also just looking forward to having one, both because I have a dog now and my wife and I will start trying for a kid soon and it just seems more convenient to get around than relying on lyfts.

Yet having been out of needing to care about cars for 12 years, the modern world of everything being electronic is new and scary to me. Apparently transmissions don't need to shift gears anymore, there are alerts and alarms and sensors everywhere. . . I'm lost. I need help folks.

So here's what I'm looking for, ordered by priority:

• Visibility! I live in a city with busy streets and am terrified of accidentally killing a cyclist or scooter. So visibility is important to me, both blind-spot visibility and visibility on turns. Every rental or car share I've used has had shit for rear visibility. This includes the Ford Fiesta, the Mercedes GLC, and the Mercedes GLA. The Chevy Cruze has been okay, but still pales in comparison to the faithful 1999 Sentra of my youth.
• Fun! I haven't owned a car in forever. I want to enjoy driving it. A manual is out as my wife will need to drive it too, but something that feels peppy and has a good drive feel is important to me. I really like to "feel" like I'm driving and want something with really responsive steering and an okay amount of pick-up. We don't need to be getting into racer level, but I also don't want it to feel like I'm struggling to merge onto the highway (as I often do in a rental Fiesta or Cruze).
• Easy to park. Again, I'm in a city and parallel parking can be a giant pain and I always feel guilty holding up the people behind me when I'm doing it. Some of these features to alert when you're close to the car behind you or the simulated overhead view that some cars can give you seem great. I'd probably just settle for a backup camera and proximity sensors though.
• Cost of ownership
• Roomy and easy to get in and out of, including loading dogs and car seats for kids. I want to be able to drive around 5 people comfortably, with decent shoulder room and not make people feel cramped on long drives.
• Not too "basic." As in, I value some level of novelty and originality and would prefer something unique that not everyone else has. This is the most childish of my requests, so I don't rank it too highly.

Price-wise I'm leaning towards around $30,000 and could maybe be persuaded to get to around $40,000 for something that's REALLY perfect and cheap to own long-term. I'm currently considering a Prius, the Mazda3, a VW Golf, and a Toyota Rav4. I generally prefer sedans because of the responsiveness and drive-feel.

My logical brain is leaning Prius, but my inner teenager is saying "DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO BEING A LAME OLD MAN!!" The Golf and the Rav4 Hybrid are kind of tied. The Rav4 is bigger and harder to park, but it is roomier and has a lower cost of ownership. The Golf seems easier to park and would be more fun to drive, but it's also kind of expensive if I opt for a GTI or sport version. Plus it has less room, seems less luxe, and. . .I don't know it just looks kinda bland. I'm definitely leaning towards a low-mileage certified pre-owned whichever way I go just to not have to pay for depreciation.

So, any advice? Any other suggestions? Anything, feature-wise, I should be paying particular attention to?

The Mazda3 hatch seems really nice, but I'm worried I will 100% kill a cyclist

I'm about to do my full motorbike licence here in the UK (direct access course) and currently looking at my first big bike, thinking about a 600cc Triumph at the moment. Wondered if there are any other riders here on tildes, what do you ride, what's your history with bikes etc.?

I've been trying to get back into photography and love seeing what other photographers are using.

My daily driver is a Nikon D5600 with the kit 18-55mm lens, as well as a 70-300mm lens. Nothing to spectacular, but it gets the job done. I'm just a hobbyist, so I don't have any real professional-grade equipment, but hopefully with time I'll get some more stuff as I get better with what I already have.

What are you using?

The home brew community is one of those groups I just love. Everyone's enthusiastic, helpful, and excited. So... what are you working on? Got something in the fermentor? Something planned for the weekend?

I think having a hobby, something outside of your work that you enjoy doing and/or are simply just good at, is kinda important, and fulfilling. And so, I wanted to make a topic in general about what hobbies you might have and why that particular hobby appeals to you (along with some tips as to how a newcomer might be able to introduce themselves to the hobby).

For myself, I have recently gotten into the Rubix Cube and have had a lot of enjoyment learning some different methods and improving the time it takes me to solve it.

Started out with a non-descript cube from a supermarket and have recently purchased a GTS3M which I am enjoying a lot so far (plenty of online stores in a variety of countires that will deiver quickly and cheaply). I was able to find a plethora of tutorials on youtube (jperm and brodythecuber in particular) that I found very helpful. For any other cubers: favourite perms, methods, do you compete, tips?

Something, something first post, may not be perfect, but I want to be more engaged.

Hey everyone

If you're a fellow sailor, post your favorite boat, current boat and location here.

I'll start -
Fav boat : Hunter 42ss
Current boat : Broke college kid :(
Location : Great lakes

Also who was hyped for the Mackinac race last weekend ?

Anyone in here interesting in plants (growing, propagating, maintaining, etc). Figure we can get a forum started to exchange tips.

On a side note, some of the side categories seem overly broad. Hobbies for example is going to get pretty bonkers.

Here in 2019 the overwhelming majority of all currency is virtual and commerce on any appreciable scale occurs electronically. But consider a sci-fi/space opera setting where reasonably fast FTL is commonplace, but FTL communications are not possible. Obviously one could still "communicate" at FTL with a courier, but you would still be limited to the speed of the courier ship. You certainly wouldn't have instantaneous communication between star systems, meaning there can be no interstellar electronic banking: transactions would take years to complete.

The Traveller tabletop RPG uses exactly this setup: FTL travel is common, FTL communication does not exist. In Traveller you have the Third Imperium minting currency that is accepted essentially everywhere, the currency is Imperial Credits and they're printed on polymer bills. The result is an effectively cash-only economy.

But what if your setting has no centralized government? Do people revert to using gold? Are there fleets of merchant ships schlepping precious metals around the cosmos, as if the American Old West has been transplanted into space? Would they come up with a cryptographic solution? Could something like a blockchain work without instantaneous communication cross the entire network that accepts the cryptocurrency?

What if quantum computing is widespread in your setting, rendering most forms of encryption obsolete? That would seem to eliminate the blockchain based option, FTL comms or not, and once again send us back to needing a fiat currency, or a gold standard.

So, I am far from the most experienced, or the most knowledgeable, or the most active amateur radio operator out there, but it is something that has piqued my interest none the less. Before I got into the hobby, I always assumed that the FCC just game amateurs a small bucket of useless spectrum and that was it. Maybe you could fly an RC plane, but surely that is about as cool as it gets.

It turns out I was dead wrong. Amateurs are allocated bands all across the RF spectrum - more or less. Bands from way below the AM broadcast frequency to way above the microwave frequencies used by our cell phones and wireless routers. Also, you are allowed to legally transmit at up to 1.5 kilowatts of power! That's 3,000 times as much power as your average walkie talkie! :) Also, importantly, the license exam only costs $15.

At many of the lower frequencies, the signals bounce off the ionosphere and you can make contact with people all over the world (propagation gods permitting). At the higher frequencies, you lose that "skip propagation," but more bandwidth is available. There are analog voice repeater networks, digital packet networks, mesh networks running on modified commercial WiFi gear, and even a handful of old school packet BBSes. There are some LEO satellites which run voice repeaters which allow you make international contacts, and sometimes even the International Space Station will participate in events. Lots of cool stuff going on. This hobby is kind of a bottomless rabbit hole of possibilities.

I got my technician license about a year ago, and I have been most interested in the data networking end of the hobby. Despite being a pile of hacks, APRS is still very cool, and sometime soon I hope to set up an AREDN node of my own. Every once in a while I'll call into the local repeaters and shoot the breeze.

So there's my story. Are there any other hams out there?

I've been a self taught guitarist for about 10 years, but it turns out I'm not a fantastic teacher, so I've been taking jazz guitar lessons this year to fill in some of the blanks. It's forced me to sit down and actually practice specific skills, rather than just noodle around, play songs I know, and not stretch myself.
So I knocked together a pretty basic practice routine, and I was wondering if anyone else has a specific routine that they follow when practising?

Here's my routine:

7th Chords & Arpeggios
With root on the E, A, and D strings: Maj7, min7, Dom7, dim7 chords
With root on the E, A, and D strings: Maj7, min7, Dom7, dim7 arpeggios (1 octave)
With root on the E and A strings: Maj7, min7, Dom7, dim7 arpeggios (2 octaves)

Scales
Stepwise; 3rds; 4ths; 1-4-3-2 clusters; adding a chromatic note: Major, Dorian, and Mixolydian scales

Chord scales
(Not sure what this is called properly, but it's just learning the chords that apply to each note in a scale)
With root on E, A, D: 1 octave of chords and arpeggios
Staying in a major scale position: 1 octave of chords and arpeggios

ii, V, Is
7th chords around a ii, V, I
Alternate voicings around a ii, V, I
"Single note" riffing over a ii, V, I
Scale riffing over a ii, V, I
Arpeggio riffing over a ii, V, I
Unrestricted riffing over a ii, V, I

Standards
Pick a couple of jazz standards and have a play around with them. No need to get them perfect, just become comfortable looking at chord sheets and semi-sight-reading the songs.

Now that it's legal in Canada to grow cannabis, I decided to try my hand at growing a few plants indoors. I started with a simple setup and a couple of seeds in a closet. As I did more research, I slowly started upgrading my equipment and methods. There is so much more to growing good cannabis indoors than I originally thought, and it's become a very interesting hobby for me. There is also a lot of misinformation and pseudoscience out there, which can make it difficult for new growers.

Anyone else into this hobby? What's your setup like? Anyone thinking of getting into it?

For almost a year now I have been playing D&D, loving every moment we get together and have a session. Because of life and stuff it's been a once a month meet up and the current campaign is coming to an end.

For the better part of all that time I've sat staring at an un-painted mini, I finally took the next step and got a stater kit of paints and went at it. I wish I had done this sooner! So far they are rough as hell but honestly it's such an enjoyable little hobby. I plan on expanding my paints out to more technical washes and shades and with that buying any mini that looks fun to paint.

I know a few folks play table top games. How many of you paint as well?

I've been semi into this for a short while. I've done a few brews over the last year or so, three single gallon mead brews (one being a joam), one 5 gal cider brew and I've just started 3 different single gallon brews, with two being wine and one cider. From here on out I'll be starting a new batch each week to create something I really enjoy, most likely ciders.

I would enjoy talking to anyone that is also interested in this subject.

Example: I'd like to learn more about wine¹, but it seems very complicated and its hard to tell what's "real" and what's just stuff people have made up to be pretentious.

1. I recognize this isn't a "hobby" per se but I think it fits best in this group

I've enjoyed the challenges of gardening in zone 5 -6 and zone 10 - 11, and am wondering about others' experience.

Climate change, with migrating pests/diseases and more erratic weather, are definitely noticeable trends.

While it's interesting to grow ornamentals and food crops that wouldn't ordinarily be available, it's also disturbing to find falling yields and utter collapses of formerly successful "easy" plants like basil and temperate climate tomato varieties.

There are limits on how much can be accomplished with purely "organic" controls - I've had to experiment with soil ecology (MycoStop for fungal infections, etc.). Allergenic plants are an increasing problem. There are brand new animal pests where I live as well - iguanas, pythons, and other hot-climate reptiles.

I'm curious about others' gardening results, and suggestions for improving adaptability.

I built a basic panel out of some boards left over from another project. I'd like to use this as a desktop surface just laid on top of some filing cabinets. I'm wondering what the best way to finish this would be? I don't think I want to paint and I'm ok with some light staining but I don't have any experience with sealing or whatever I would want to do to help preserve the surface. It would have typical office items on it (keyboard, mouse, monitor, paper, pens, etc.).

I wouldn't really consider it a hobby, but couldn't think of where else to try and have this discussion.

How many of you have ever heard of, or even considered the idea of alternative keyboard layouts!? As unanimous as it is, why are the letters of the alphabet even placed that way on our keyboards anyway? Alternative keyboard layouts attempt to optimize the layout by placing letters in such a way as to make typing more ergonomic. Often ideas include focusing on the home row, rolling fingers, alternating hands, high frequency letters on index and middle etc.

Some examples to look into if you've never heard of the concept:

• Dvorak, the most well known alternative keyboard layout. Prioritizes alternating hands by separating vowels and consonants by hand.

• Colemak. As opposed to Dvorak, prioritizes rolling the fingers rather than alternating hands and attempts to limit same-finger bigrams.

• BÉPO, a layout optimized for the French language!

• Others include Carpalx, Workman, MTGAP, Norman and many, many more. Creating rather than using layouts has sort of become a hobby for some...

So what do you think? Supposed ergonomics vs standardization. Would you ever consider switching or do you think it's a bunch of hocus pocus? Perhaps you have switched or tried to switch and would like to share your experience.