There’s an Aztec city building game called Tlatoani. It’s in early access, but has enough meat on the bone that it’s one of my goto games.
Out of curiosity I checked Steam DB for active player numbers. I have discovered at any given point I am 10% to 25% of the given player base BY MYSELF. I am 1 of 4 people playing this game right now in the world. With the prevalence of the internet I always assume whatever weird bullshit you’re into there’s at least a thousand people talking about it; making memes outsiders could never comprehend. It’s actually novel to fly under the radar for once.
What do you do that doesn’t have a community associated with it?
Earlier this year I tried out a Steam demo of a game called “That Time I Found a Box” and got hooked on it. It’s a very unique card game where you create and enhance the cards as you play. I played it for days and eventually beat the demo - the devs told me I was the first person to beat it.
The full version just came out on Steam - I’d recommend taking a look. It’s a bit janky and not for everybody, but it does something unique that really clicked for me.
Thermodynamics, specifically refrigeration cycles.
Its probably my autism showing but the fact that we can just move funny fluid around and make heat move is absolutely fascinating. I can spend a lot of time making theoretical refrigeration cycles with different fluids, thermoelectrics, heat capacities, repurposing car junkyard AC systems, etc.
Millions of people do it for work, sure. I doubt any of them are “into it”.
I bet you also enjoy Technology Connections.
:)
Ohh yeah! Though I do wonder: Why limit themselves to the guy who is evangelizing (and rightly so!) when he could also hang out with crazy swamp guy HyperspacePirate who not only thinks of the crazy cycles but actually builds some as well?
Gee, what gave it away?
I popped an edible and watched his entire catalytic converter video last night. Shit’s great.
The video or the edible?
Both in their respective departments :)
What’s your favorite refrigerant
I touch r134a the most in my day to day life, cuz i fix a lot of people’s car AC… But I have a soft spot for propane (R290) or propane/butane blends. Yes it’s flammable to a degree but it’s naturally provided, cheap as hell, zero ozone depletion and very low GWP. It has usable pressure/temperature curves that are easy for compressors to handle and can produce temperatures as low as -30C.
I’ve refilled old farm trucks with propane from a BBQ can and gotten good AC out of them. It’s kind of cool.
It’s kind of cool.
I’d say it’s objectively cool
Now that’s a proper special interest 🤌
You’d get along great with my dad. All he’s talked about for the last year is heat pumps.
I’m the only person I know IRL who uses lemmy (lol) and openstreetmap :)
I’ve tried telling a few friends about Lemmy but they give no fucks. Sad face yo
nobody knows what Lemmy is as far as I’m concerned you people aren’t even real
I recently switched to CoMaps, performs so much better than OSMAnd on cheap hardware
Lemmy is like internet jail. We got sent here for breaking the rules on Reddit, but now we’re institutionalised and it feels safe, even if there are some very odd people here with us - they’re mostly nice and just serving their time…
Not all of us…
I try to curate zines from around the world into local exhibitions, do hand translating alongside if need be, imitate the original paper best I can.
It’s kinda fun lol. That and kinda similarly, but I love♡ spending time on online software radio sites, just listening into different channels like I was there myself.
I like to contribute to various open-source implimentations of classic games from the 90s
It’s true that barely anyone is into actually contributing, but I assure you a fair amount of people are into the actual open source implementations and are thankful for your efforts!
Any game in particular you contributed to that you want to share?
Sorry, I use different accounts and hence nicknames for each project; letting one loose would dox me too much for my liking. Thanks, though!
Ah, no worries at all. Thank you for all you do anyway!
I’m addicted to buying crappy antique and vintage shotguns and restoring them. Have so many now I can hardly justify another. I know, I’m ruining the antique value by stripping the metal and wood, but they’re ~$150 items, not exactly rare.
Look at this $119 ($160 by the time I get it home) piece of crap!
https://www.guns.com/used-guns/p/companhia-brasileira-de-cartuchos-151?i=571883
Never even heard of that brand, let alone the model. Bet I could make it dance and sing for a week’s worth of evenings. It’s a single-shot, can’t be too fucked up. Probably.
This is the first thing I’ve seen here that feels like it meets the OP’s ask. What a cool hobby!
That’s pretty neat! Can you describe the restoration process more?
It’s a piece by piece thing. First I strip the wood down, assuming that’s needed or wanted. Hella work, many blisters, stain as appropriate. Wish I had pics, but one 60s ERA (Brazilian make) single-shot was stained in what I call Confederate Blue, sort of a blue/gray mix. Girlfriend’s eyes popped when she saw it. “You told me about it, but I didn’t imagine this!” I’d take a pic, but it’s in the shed at camp. :( The single-shot hanging over my door is from the 60s or 70s, deep red, silver metal, nickle sling swivels, $20 buffalo-leather sling from eBay. Took that pic just for you OP!
That last one took over 2-months! Broke a piece fucking with it. Ordered. Waited. Tried again. Lost a spring. Ordered. Waited. Found the original spring, now have two. Refinished the wood after the first clear coat peeled off, dumb mistake, took a week of sanding, staining, drying, coating. Just about my favorite. Long barrel for full force and accuracy, tight pattern, kicks like god’s own mule. Too broke to buy more low-power shells, stuck with the monsters another gun required, bruisers, not fun. But still fun. :)
Back up. First I make sure everything is mechanically safe and sound, actually works, no “oops”, and not interested in “wall hangers”. Parts are an adventure, but Numrich gun parts has loads of old parts for cheap, diagrams for reference. “WTF is this part even called?!” Need a weird spring or piece of metal? They got it. LOL, I’ve used a ball-point pen spring!
Once it’s mechanically sound and the wood is done, time for accessories! That usually means a matching strap and some way to affix shells, maybe a sight or a new bead on the end. I like the “grab and go” way of the gun. Got a solid source for leather wraps if anyone cares, Polish outfit on eBay. I will scream to the heavens about their quality, service and pricing. Got about 6 of those, want more, too broke. When they say “20-gauge”, it ain’t a loose 12-gauge that sorta fits. Left-handed merchandise as well! :)
Not many pics, but here’s a single-shot 20-gauge I gave a dear friend for (FINALLY) graduating high school. He’s now happily married and moving up in the US Air Force! Got to hold it again at his house warming party. Gods I miss that one, want another to fix up.
This one’s new, not exciting, but I wanted a cheap, light, 12-gauge for hiking. Sawed off (legally!), stained, upside down flag nailed on. But ain’t my AR cool!
Not my work, except for adding the shell carrier and rough grip, but very much my style. 1900s (?), double-barreled, side-by-side, 12-gauge, sawed off (legally!). They stripped the blueing (blackening) off all the metal, chopped it, sanded and stained, wonderful. Can’t use modern loads, and both barrels trip at once if cocked, still fun as hell.
Wish I had more pics! Got a 90s Remington, made in Russia. You read that right. A tiny 410 with the most beautiful wood furniture I own. When my FFL handed me the box, and he usually doesn’t comment much on my purchases, “Wait till you see the wood grain.” It shines like amber in the sun.
Anyway, I better go pay attention to my wife, but your triggered my trap card! Be glad to say more!
EDIT: Stumbled on a pic! Confederate Blue shotgun on top. The colors really pop IRL! Next one is a Revelations brand from 70s/80s Western Auto Stores, first thing I ever gunsmithed, got me on this road. It’s a common Remington 500, simply rebranded. Yes, you could buy guns in auto parts stores in the day, no ID. Two Turkish POSes. First one works fine, second one’s going in the swamp. Next up is a Remington 1895, same year as the make, didn’t do much of anything to that one but clean up the wood. And the aforementioned “red”. Love that thing.
And no joke, the bug blaster on the bottom works. It’s a salt shotgun for flies. It works.
EDIT2: Found the Russian 410! Looks better in the sunlight, but you might get the idea.
That’s so cool! I’m not at all into guns, but I love seeing other people’s expertise and the before and after of trashed to treasure, would be amazing to see.
I’ve not done much before and after, and so wish I had. Turned some real junkers into art. My kinda art anyway.
Here’s my comment on the shotguns.
I like to analyse stickers stuck on traffic lights and road signs.
I plan on making an app someday where people can contribute to a database of stickers and compare the sticker culture of different regions.
look into infoe! dude posts literally everywhere I had to track him down on insta and ask the meaning lol. He’s from Miami but he goes all over the US (i think the world too)
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Ok, I’ll bite. Which one’s your favorite?
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Yes, absolutely, 100% yes. Using Orion + Kagi is absolutely the best change I’ve ever made to my browsing experience on Mac.
FoundryVTT, baby! Somewhere north of 70,000 downloads for a very feature rich virtual tabletop that you’d think more D&D / Computer Nerds would be into.
If you want to get even more bespoke, I’m the proud owner of a version 2 box of “Kingdom Death”, a $400 boardgame designed in the spirit of Monster Hunter or Dark Souls. You play a primitive band of survivalists, hunting horrifying monsters for their body parts, in order to slowly claw your civilization’s way out of a Lovecraftian dark age.
I thin my friend group is on our 6th run of Kingdom Death. Such a great game
There’s a lot of Robotech/Macross stuff out there, but I rarely see anyone post online about it, and I’ve never met anyone in person who even knows what it is.
Man, the gamecube version of it was a lot of fun. Definitely not the most polished game, but it got me into the actual show.
Never hear it spoken of, nor any online comments. We teens were hooked. A serious animated series about young adults?! We called it “japanimation”, maybe we just made that up, never heard the word elsewhere, but we had never heard the word “anime”.
Haven’t revisited as I’m afraid I’d be deeply disappointed.
Yeah, I called it Japanimation, too.
Oh you’re that old. I’m that old.
Ever watched Votoms ?
I don’t recognize the name. I’ll have to watch it and see if it ignites ancient memories.
Death metal. I’m pretty clean cut and tat free so people are really taken aback when I tell them one of my favorite acts is called Cattle Decapitation.
My wife discovered “Powerwolf” recently. Not death metal, per say, but I’ve yet to meet anyone else whose heard of it. Worse still, this lead her down a rabbit hole to Dwarf Metal and the accursed song Diggy Diggy Hole which has bored its way into my brain.
Ah yes power metal is quite a thing in and of itself! Feel free to do whatever you want with this knowledge, but there’s also Goblin Metal, my most favorite being a band called Necrogoblikon. There’s no doubt some band singing in Tolkien Elvish to round out the trinity.
Lol, an ex introduced me to necrogoblikon. I was playing it for everybody who would listen for a few weeks afterwards.
Blind Guardian is another good one that makes songs inspired by fantasy. Their Wheel of Time album is pretty great. My personal favorite is Ride Into Obsession, which is sung from the point of view of one of the series’ main antagonists, though the last section of the eponymous “Wheel of Time” is also a banger.
Blind Guardian was in an older PC action RPG Sacred 2. There was a whole quest to find their lost “weapons” (wand was a microphone, axe was a guitar, etc) and then there was a full in game video of them playing in front of orcs. I am not a particular fan of theirs, but it was so awesome.
Depending on what she’s into, there’s tons of fun power metal bands that I feel are kinda like Powerwolf. Gloryhammer and aramanthe are two that I really like that are in the same genre
I don’t know if I’ve heard one or both. Wife’s real love is for Ghost, but that’s hardly a “nobody else is into this” kind of band. I’ve definitely seen one of these in the Recommended For You feed
I gave my son some of my old CDs last year. In them was a mix metal cd I got somewhere, and there is a powerwolf song on there. I wish I could remember which song, but for nearly a year he’d put that song on repeat and fall asleep to it every night. It was absurdly amusing
I love singing powerwolf at dive bar karaoke. Resurrection by erection always gets people going.
My husband doesn’t have tattoos, but a beard. He loves all metal but definitely death metal.
There was a woman at my work, she was in the office side pretty high up. I always played my music, she soon found out I was (at least in part) a metal head. One time we found ourselves in a meeting room just a few of us, and shared she is massively a metal head, even citing death metal. I was so taken aback. She is highly professional always, and become the coolest lady in the office to me that day.
My dentist’s favorite band is Led Zeppelin. My son asked, that answer surprised me too. For an older woman, close enough lol
I really like killing invasive plants. I think that’s probably my most niche passion. Like when I have some free time I’ll just go into the woods behind my house and cut down wisteria, ivy, Chinese holly… I just find it extremely satisfying idk. I love the idea that I’m clearing out space for native plants (and in turn native animals) to grow.
As a native plant lover and invasive plant hater, I support this and please don’t stop.
at what point do the invasive species exist for so long that they become an integral part of the ecosystem and can be considered native
invasive species = non-native. But, non-native doesn’t always mean it’s an invasive species.
Invasive Species: Any species that has been introduced to an environment where it is not native, and that has since become a nuisance through rapid spread and increase in numbers, often to the detriment of native species.
I don’t think having a non-native title is necessarily bad, just that it didn’t originate/evolve in that area.
edit: taking this opportunity to promote https://www.crimepaysbutbotanydoesnt.com/, found his videos a while back and have enjoyed the content.
Are you anywhere near Connecticut? I have a 50-60 foot tree in my yard that’s been completely incased by a kudzu vine.
sharpens machete eagerly
I do calligraphy. Sometimes i meet someone who knows someone who does calligraphy. But I’ve never met another person IRL that does calligraphy. And the particular style I like makes it even more rare.
I love calligraphy, it was my pandemic hobby and I still do it now!
Which style? I’ve dabbled in it but I don’t have a good place to do it.
I mostly do ornamental penmanship, which is like a fancy version of American cursive
Very nice! That’s really cool. I mostly just did simple blackletter but was working towards 1800s Kurrent as I love the style.
I work in a technology field and I’m interested in “not AI” stuff. It’s a wild ride.
I’m right there with you. Unfortunately I’m looking for work so I might HAVE to do A.I. something.
Bash scripting, firewall config, vpn tunnelling, and containerization ( rootless Podman ).
I’m into combining these in interesting ways.
While it could be argued that there are tons of communities for these, combining them to run secure apps or automate their setups don’t seem to be as popular.
It’s a hot topic at social events, as you can imagine.
hmmm… I’m having some issues with VPN tunneling in my docker config. I wonder if you might have some advice?
That sounds a bit ambiguous, though I should have prefaced my previous comment with the fact that I am still very much learning about this stuff myself.
More recently, I am trying to wrap my head around containerized VPN connections through WireGuard using gluetun. The idea sounds great, in theory. Figuring out how to make it work will probably be less so.
If you mean just accessing a service through VPN from the outside world, then I might be able to help.
I’ve done it successfully a few times. Most of the issues I have ever had were usually with misconfigured firewall rules around NAT.
