Bodybuilding style Lifting. Wish I knew that science based influencers are just using science as a gimmick to make new videos and bold claims for short form content.
Lifting is hard when done right but its not super complex. The basics are the same they were decades ago:
- be consistant and stick to a routine at least 6 months.
- Learn the proper lift techniques
- learn how to train to failure (failure is not mandatory every set but you need to know where it is in order to train close to it for adaptations to occur)
- Keep progressing weights when you can without sacrificing technique. (Progressive overload is both the driver and the result of muscle growth, as long as your work sets are close to failure the growth stmilus is there)
The predatory FOMO nature of Games Workshop is real and harmful to the hobby as a whole. The editions of the games could last for years yet we’re on a 3 year cycle to adjust stats and change rules that don’t need changing. It creates a cycle of I liked this edition but everybody moved on so I’m forced to move up or give up on the game.
Luckily there’s a million other games but they’re micro in comparison. You’re stuck either creating a community on your own or hoping there’s a group within a reasonable distance that you can help with. If not… Sorry about your wasted investment.
If you do get sucked into it and you end up investing into every GW game system with multiple armies across every system, you’re gonna run out of space. Unless you live in a multi story house or have a shed with nothing in it, these things take up space.
Yes, tabletop gaming is so much bigger and more varied than GW’s games. I love 40k and Warhammer fantasy, but just as one part of the hobby.
The high pricing and FOMO churning is pretty perfected by GW. It is easy to fall into just thinking and buying GW products at MSRP. There are many ways to avoid it and play for much cheaper, but it means breaking out of the GW exclusive ecosystem. (I have many specific suggestions how to do this btw.)
I can’t stand the modern tournament culture which has this sort of e-sports stink on it.
As a mild piece of good news OnePageRules seems to have decent traction and isn’t too difficult to find groups who play in stores. It has its shortcomings, but at least the rules aren’t subject to the constant market driven churning updates.
Oh I know there’s so much more than GW. I got my start with Warmachine. I had a group of 6 that met bi weekly for years until the game imploded. Then we scattered. Infinity was the next big thing. That got two of us and another from the store I frequented that wasn’t apart of the Warmachine group. Then that dwindled and all that’s left is GW.
We tried converting some of the 40k players to Infinity. They all like the look, like the idea, see the elaborate tables we cook up, and show enthusiasm for the game. None of them pull the trigger. There’s never a right time. It’s like trying to pull Artax out of the mud.
I understand both sides because I had a friend try to get me into Otherside and iirc that game doesn’t even exist anymore.
3d printing, specifically FDM with PLA since I’m not down to mess with the chemicals for a resin printer. Keep printing until you’re out of an opened filament roll, otherwise your filament will absorb water and degrade. I often learn filament goes bad when a tiny piece breaks off in the feeder right above the heating element, requiring some annoying disassembly to diagnose and correct the problem. If you’re not sure what to build with the last bit of filament, a small square trash can/pencil holder is always useful.
Stick to a maintenance schedule. Putting off a lubrication or dusting can lead to debris getting stuck somewhere and ruining a print when you least expect it. Also learn about every component in your printer and how to get a replacement when it inevitably breaks. That way you can purchase a few of the more commonly broken parts to lower printer downtime.
Start off with a brand name printer that does auto leveling. That cheap CR10 you bought for a hundred dollars sounds like a bargain until you realize it can’t print a solid first layer, causing all sorts of other minor annoyances with your print quality. Trying and failing to fix the issues might eventually turn you off on pursuing the hobby.
I was already well versed in Solidworks, but learn how to use a CAD program. You can get a lot of use from the many publicly available models out there but you might eventually have an idea or require something that requires a custom design. Being able to physically manifest your own design ideas quickly was a big drawing point for me to get into the hobby.
PLA does not absorb moisture. You can submerge a roll in water overnight, dry it and print just fine after. It does become brittle eventually just being exposed to the elements though. Either vacuum seal your filament in bags with a desiccant and store in a dark place or use it within 3-6 months of opening a roll as a general rule of thumb. Shorter timespan if you keep it in the light and if your ambient room temperature fluctuates considerably.
PETG on the other hand will absorb moisture and will crackle like a bag of popcorn when it tries to print with wet filament as it gets superheated at the nozzle level.
Also cheap printers are absolutely asinine for proper workloads, but if you’re a tinkerer that learns “on the job” so to speak while troubleshooting the nonsense you’ll see your prints perform, then it’s usually a great starting point, otherwise yeah, quality and reliability costs extra.
I would go so far as to say, if you aren’t interested in learning CAD or some other 3D modeling software, forget a 3D printer. Because if you rely on Thingiverse and Printables, your 3D printer is a trinket machine. You’re going to print a few toys, a benchy or two, a paper towel holder that doesn’t work, a shop vac adapter that’s the wrong size, a phone stand the $200 Creality you bought just cannot get through, and then it’ll sit gathering dust.
Let’s say I learn CAD.
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What do I do to make it more than a trinket printer.
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Why should I get a printer.
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Should I skip the owning part and just use commercial 3d print shops?
- What do I do to make it more than a trinket printer.
CAD is just a tool. You can use it to make more trinkets yourself or create a special bed basket, custom camera bracket, etc. If you see something at work or home that could benefit from a product that doesn’t exist yet, you might be able to design and print a fixture for it.
- Why should I get a printer.
Unless you’re constantly coming up with things to print then you don’t. Plenty of libraries offer free 3d printing services but keep in mind you get what you pay for. If you’re lucky, some universities or hacker spaces might let you use their printers and are of generally higher quality.
- Should I skip the owning part and just use commercial 3d print shops?
It gets expensive very quickly. Most commercial places I’ve dealt with for work will rip you off because they’re targeting industries that have more money than common sense. I once needed to print a few simple boxes with ESD safe filament and they wanted over 400 dollars for just one. A lower end prusa costs the same as 3 of those prints so it made more sense for us to purchase our own printer and filament and make it ourselves. The cost of making additional fixtures plummeted too once we considered avoiding some traditionally machined parts in favor of printed ones.
I’m going to take these out of order.
Why should I get a printer?
If you have a continuous and frequent need or strong desire for small plastic objects. If you have a hobby like cosplaying, cosplayers find 3D printers quite useful for making costume parts or props, tabletop players like printing minifigures or playsets, if you’re an electronics hobbyist it can be useful to print cases and enclosures for projects, if you’re a woodworker you’ll never stop needing jigs, brackets, vacuum hose adapters.
Or, if you’re interested in 3D printing itself. There are folks doing like, 4-axis non-planar stuff that’s industry leading, for the fun of it. Hell and gone smarter than I am.
Should I skip the owning part and just use commercial 3D print shops?
If you have one project in mind, or “might occasionally find a use for it,” hire it done rather than buying a machine.
There’s kind of a trap for newbies to 3D printing: Inexpensive printers tend to be projects unto themselves. Which can be a good thing if you’re interested in the hobby of 3D printing itself. If you want to buy a machine, plug it in and it just works, expect to spend $1000. Because you’re either going to buy a Prusa, which start at about $1000 for an assembled MK4S, or a Bambu Labs machine for about $500 and then they’ll getcha somehow. Bambu Labs sketches the fuck out of me, they’re trying to be the HP of FDM.
Even then, if you have one of the “just works” machines, you still have things to learn. What plastic to choose for this model that needs to be outdoors? Do you use a textured or smooth sheet for PETG? Can you print ASA without a heated enclosure? Should you use glue stick for TPU? Can you print PC-CF with a brass nozzle? What do the eight pages of print settings in the slicer do? If you can envision the printer sitting turned off for months at a time, does all that seem worth learning?
What do I do to make it more than a trinket printer?
Mainly, have something you need to 3D print for.
I have found that Thingiverse and Printables are both full of idiots. They let literally anyone on there, and I’ve found the dumbest shit.
“It’s 7% shorter in the X axis because my printer prints 7% long in that direction so I squish all my parts to compensate. And then I upload them like that because my mom let me eat paint chips as a baby” has to be my favorite, right after “This design relies heavily on trapping hex nuts in hexagonal recesses, and I looked up the “diameter” of M3 nuts and modeled that as the across flats dimension because my mom is my dad’s mom!”
If you want to print anything other than flexible dragons and Bender Bhuddas, and then actually use them, you’re going to need to know how to alter things other people ruined through incompetence, or design things from scratch. The ability to design the thing YOU need is what really unlocks the power of a 3D printer.
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I’ve only ever modified files I’ve found online, never designed anything myself in Cad and I find plenty of real uses for my 3d printer. It probably paid for itself just printing organization bins and other things for the house. Just last week I bought some cheap shelves from IKEA clearance without any hardware, printed out some feet and now I have a new monitor stand. I regularly print accessories that I would otherwise have to pay extra for (like tripod mounting plates)
Plus there are some pretty amazing projects out there that get a lot cheaper if you have access to a printer. Personally I’ve printed a pair of astronomy binoculars https://www.analogsky.co/ and a custom mechanical keyboard fitted to my hand. https://ryanis.cool/cosmos/beta
IIT: lots of wisdom
I kinda wish I considered my social anxiety and picked a better solitairy instrument than drums. They’re super fun to play, but I was only ever in one band and I’m too anxious to play with strangers right now. I just jam by myself, but I suspect I’d have an easier time actually writing music if I had more experience with melody. I tried picking up guitar and violin later, but so far I haven’t had the energy to really devote the time needed to learn another instrument.
I definitely had similar issues with bass, it would have made more sense to me to start with guitar. Though either way, I do my best work when I’m programming synths.
I started with guitar, but quickly grew bored with it because I’d rather play bass. Never really seriously played any instrument after that, though I have two guitars and three accordions laying around, along with another guitar, a ukelele and two keyboards from my kids. I guess I’m more of a collector.
I was fairly obsessed with bass, too, when I started playing instruments. I guess guitar never would have worked for me back then.
drummer here as well! I’m very glad to play the drums and not guitar or anything else. Okay, you’re the loudest one, but you also have your own safe space. I really see my drums as a wall between me and the rest of the stage/the band. It’s a comfort zone, a protection. Let the drums do the talking and hide behind your kit (figure of speech, not literally as that would be hard to play)
Unless you’re Dave Grohl. Than you can jump right through that wall
Have you thought about an “mpc” type instrument like a Native Instruments Maschine? I feel like that might be a nice evolution for you as it would allow you to transition a love for percussion into a songwriting tool that is a blast to jam out with and make patterns with.
I mean, I really like nice finger drumming pads, but you could also just use a more traditional midi drum kit to record loops the point is that you can have a blast with an MPC all by yourself with headphones on and you can then choose to share that or not, it is perfect as a solo instrument.
Bonus points you could record loops of yourself playing drums and slice em up in an MPC, that would be super cool.
I had not thought about an mpc type instrument, but I’m going to look into it right now because that sounds cool lol
If you have a computer you can get a used/older NI Maschine for fairly cheap just make sure you get a software key. The pads feel really nice on those, but it is all down to preference.
A lot of people like the Ableton Push series of controllers but for me the pure playing feel of the Maschine is hard to beat and the ability to build loops into songs without looking at your computer screen while still having access to all the benefits of being connected to a computer (easy file access of samples for example) is really nice.
Go to Guitar Center or something and try out one, they are a blast I promise!
So I picked up a maschine+ because the standalone was important to me, and I’m absolutely loving it so far. Thanks again for the suggestion, this thing’s awesome.
Damn that puts a big ass smile on my face, congrats for getting a new awesome instrument and composition tool!
Guitar is difficult to learn, especially if you don’t know anything about music theory.
You might want to start with a basic digital piano, and learn basic keyboard skills, and music theory at the same time. As a drummer, you have good hand independence, and will probably pick up piano pretty quickly.
Music theory is a supremely elegant system, and you may find it soothing for your anxiety.
This is really intensely packed information, but EVERYTHING you need to know about music theory is on there, especially the basic stuff. You’ll find lots of great explanations on YouTube. It’s a lot like mathematics, one small thing leads to another, and it all develops into an elegant complex system built on logic at every step. Most of it becomes pretty intuitive once you figure out the basics.
When you get a keyboard, make sure to get one with weighted keys, so it feels like a real piano. I got a really nice Donner on sale, and it’s lasted for years.
And of course practice every day. Try to get 20-30 minutes a day, either when you first get up, or before you go to bed, or preferably both. Make it a habit, and you’ll get better quickly. Keep it up and you’ll get fluid at reading music, and then it gets fun. You can be there in a year. You can take up the guitar next year.
And don’t worry about playing with someone else, just learn to play keyboard and you can start making your own recordings on your computer, and you only have to play with yourself. That’s what I do, along with guitar and bass. I wish I played drums, I have to use pads and program drum grooves.
It’s a lifetime journey, have fun!
Can confirm, switch from drums to piano after trying the guitar.
I couldn’t stick with the guitar but the keyboard, aw man, that’s awesome.❤️
This resource is awesome, thanks for sharing!!
I should have been less willing to buy an electric bass that’s too heavy to me. I got a maple-bodies Jazz Bass ~10 years ago, back then it was kinda heavy but fine for me, today I’m quite a bit less fit than I was then and no amount of wide, cushioned straps are able to make this a good experience for me nowadays, and since I play lefty it’s a PITA to sell it. Until the shoulder and back pain kick in it does sound and play great, though.
IMO, Ibanez Soundgear has the best ergonomics as fair as relatively affordable basses go that aren’t headless - pretty lightweight and yet the opposite of top-heavy. I never liked their sound out of the box, though, and aftermarket pickups that fit the cavities without woodworking are kinda expensive.Ubass https://kalabrand.com/collections/new-ubass-arrivals
So much fun.
Cocaine can become addictive really quickly
I have a pretty addictive personality and I thank the stars that I’ve never enjoyed coke on the handful of occasions I’ve tried it. It just made me feel overly talkative to the point of being annoying.
I have done a fair share of coke and while it was nice to be able to party for two days straight I never really felt addicted. But that’s probably just me cause downers on the other hand my god that’s shits addictive.
A ex heroin addict once told me that when I talked about the downers I was using that I sounded like an heroin addict and that I shouldn’t ever try heroin. (Which I guess is great advice in general but the way she said it still stays with me)
Understandable, my brains already unfocussed jumping around, coke would just make me say all that shit out loud, downers would calm me down and make me feel normal
I’m basically coked out by default, it would simply keep me from blacking out or bring me out of one when I used to use it. Otherwise no change, it’s the same with alcohol, it takes a lot to actually bring on a change, most people usually think I’m still sober or barely drunk blacked out apparently. Never really felt addicted to either, weed on the other hand, apparently not addictive, but it forsure ruins my mood when I try to quit. (Haven’t drank in over 6 months, and had a fat gap before that, don’t think of it, haven’t used coke for over 2 years probably, don’t think of it either, weed + nicotine I still use daily) I’m not trying to quit them either, just not around fun ppl or things to do since moving back home after college, so I just never think to do it.
Skill issue
In cheaper and more fun to get parts from the junk yard.
Photosensitive polymer resin is nasty stuff, and stereolithography 3D printing requires a lot more safety considerations than FDM printing does! No regrets though, it’s still a lot of fun
My boss pushed us to research and acquire a resin printer a couple years ago. My coworker pushed the high-budget Form Labs direction due to his poor experience with resin printing in college. I had zero experience with resin (mostly only used Prusa FDM at that time) and pushed toward the relatively low budget Anycubic Photon direction, from the standpoint of “this is really not what we need to be doing with our budget, and this doesn’t make sense for our use case, so I’ll try to waste less money.”
Now that my coworker’s been gone for over a year, my boss thinks no one uses it because we don’t know how. I know how, but FDM is just so much more approachable. I can swap filaments, click print, and walk away in about two minutes and trust that I’ll come back to a usable part.
Changing out resin is its own special hell, and good luck if you have a print fail and have to clean off the bottom of the tray. I didn’t get to a point of trusting prints to finish. Even when it does finish, you still have to wash and cure, and every part I ever made in resin seemed to be dimensionally unstable. Even the sample parts a Form Labs rep sent us were badly warped in shipping. The Photon hasn’t been used in well over a year. CEO wants us to get rid of it, and I agree. Boss isn’t letting go.
Meanwhile we just got two P2S printers that are cranking out parts like a champ. I would rather take a leisurely stroll across Eastern Ukraine than print with resin ever again.
I absolutely hate gunk on my hands, so I stuck with FDM.
Make everything yourself, do it cheap, because I drop hobbies like a mutha fucker.
In tabletop roleplaying games:
- Some game features are not fun at all for me. For example, “this models real skill acquisition” in The Burning Wheel (sorry, Burning Wheel fans! I do like the intention, though!). Another feature thats not fun at all for me is “this accurately models the specific skills of all living beings in this game” in DnD 5e (sorry 5e fans!). Instead, what really matters when choosing a game is creating meaningful choice and especially having good ergonomics.
- As a GM, forget about planning plots and buying gimmicks. Get good at creating interesting scenarios and making rulings. Read The Alexandrian’s book on GMing.
What’s your go to game system?
Apocalypse World :)
If the table (including myself) wants another setting, Cypher. If we want minimal crunch, Maze Rats.
What about you?
I’ve heard good things about cypher but I’ve never really heard of Apocalypse World. Sounds cool!
I’ve been playing Pathfinder 2e, but I don’t play via pen and paper, so a lot of the annoying maths and granular things are automated via foundry, thank god
Meanwhile in Gamma World.
Losing Joann’s has made it really difficult to find fabric locally. Michael’s needs to step their game up.
Move to Chicago, we have good local stores for fabric.
It’s miserable. It was such a good store, Michael’s doesn’t compare for fabric yet. Hoping they get as much fabric as they’ve been sending me emails, might get a lot then lol
Yeah, there really hasn’t been a good alternative for fabric. Lots of people were quick to jump on the “lol join the 21st century and just buy it online” side of the argument, but buying fabric is an extremely tactile experience. You need to feel it to know that it will have the correct texture, weight, see it will hang, which direction(s) it will stretch, how much it will stretch, how easy is is to stretch, etc for what you’re trying to make, because all of those qualities will heavily impact the end product. Those things are difficult to quantify, and nearly impossible to judge purely from photos on an online listing. Two fabrics that look identical online can have vastly different weights, stretch, textures, etc…
Warhammer 40K is what some may call…MEGA EXPENSIVE.
To piggy back on this, don’t chase the fucking meta. By the time you get your Exaction Squad and paint it, GW will balance it into being a total waste of your time/money/points.
Come give Warmachine a shot, army sizes are usually smaller and the rules are less “my rule book was published more recently, that means I win” (Plus the models are slightly cheaper).
I thought that too. That’s why i bought a resin 3d printer and made it 1000x more expensive, toxic and time-consuming. yey me
Wait, you didn’t know this before getting into it? That’s the first thing I ever heard about it, and I’ve never owned any 40K anything.
I remember in college, when someone would get into MTG, we’d jokingly say coke’s cheaper.
Now, when someone I know gets into 40k, I much less jokingly say “MTG’s cheaper”
Then again, if you’re just playing for fun against friends, a $200 3d printer is cheaper than any army I’ve seen. Still costs more than a $45 booster draft, but at least the printer’s a one-time cost
Oh look, you just bought your way into a 3D printing hobby
I did that for unrelated reasons, I just 3d printed my way into a 40k hobby :P
I’m thanking my lucky stars I’ve newer really gotten along great with resin printing 😂
I only have an FDM printer xD You can still do a lot with it, though, especially if you’re willing to get a heat gun involved. Though after printing out the character in my profile pic, I did realize there’s a lot of small detail that gets lost with FDM.
Alas, though, small animals, a cat, and poor ventilation make resin printing a bad idea for me
If the suction is too strong, a vacuum can injure your penis.
So can a mini-M&Ms tube…
The correct number of guitars to own is n+1, with n being the number of currently owned guitars.
Dice. Definitely dice.
Same for cameras, axes and chainsaws…
axes and chainsaws…
Thnx mate! I owe you! Gonna Take this to my wife now !!
Lenses maybe, camera bodies, nah.
And bikes, and computers
And freeway lanes necessary to solve traffic
Civil engineering as a hobby, eh?
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
Tactical urbanism ftw!
Cats
There are moments when it can be n+2…
This is true for reptiles and snakes as well.
