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Source: Kplx on Mastodon
Everyone should learn new things as often as they can. Pick up a new hobby or skill, become very proficient at it, incorporate it into your life, repeat. This active mental engagement is the best way to prevent dementia and keep your mind sharp.
This active mental engagement is the best way to prevent dementia and keep your mind sharp.
It's also... you know... fun
Relevant to many of us on here, this approach also lets you lean in to your ADHD powers to better your life instead of resisting them and stressing out.
Is a gravel bike something specific or just like, a regular bike?
It's something in between a road bike and a mountain bike.
Okay yeah, so exactly what it sounds like. Wasn't sure if it was a brand maybe or something.
Used to call those "touring bikes", no?
No, we used to call them Cyclocross.
Do you mean the ol' dandy horse?
no gravel bike at 40? A deeply disturbed individual
I might take up the tumbak.
Dude seems like he could use a hobby
Also bialetti coffee makers are really simple little cook top devices that give you some amazing espresso for the change you've got in your couch. Fantastic little appliance.
40something, gravel bike, training for a half century, use a French press.
Wow, someone real mad about a French press?
I'm in that age bracket and I've turned to spunking the little amount of disposable income on amateur radio kit and equipment.
I wish I'd picked up a debilitating cocaine habit instead. It'd be cheaper.
Oh hey that's something I've been vaguely interested in for a while!!! You enjoying it? What do you do?
A debilitating coke habit?
Unfortunately, I've done my time with that hobby already 🫡
Very little 😂
No I got into it to learn the theory of it more than anything. I've been faffing about with a VHF setup to see if I could establish a little station that could be heard anywhere in the town I'm in. That's inexpensive to do and you can probably knock together a basic station with decent range for £100 and the time and effort needed up a ladder.
The next step is to look further afield and build a station that operates in the 20m band, but I'm yet to be able to convince Chief Girlfriend that an end fed antenna dangling across the back garden, or a fiver metre whip mounted to the roof is a good idea. HF transceivers are exponentially more expensive, and require some support devices too.
Otherwise, I go "hilltopping" and head up elevated positions with a quarter-wave antenna and a cheap handheld radio to listen out on what's happening. It's good for the geek in me; it's good for the mind being at such pretty viewpoints; and it's good for the body walking or running up hillsides.
Alternatively, I'll sit in the garden while the kids play around with FlightRadar24 open on a device and a handheld radio tuned to the local airport approach frequency, and talk about what an aircraft is or may be doing while listening to the chatter.
So yeah, I don't do a lot really. I live quite close to the coast so getting into marine frequencies is something on my list to do; and speaking to folk worldwide would be a laugh!
That's fascinating. I was worried it was going to be closer to £300! Thank you for sharing!!
The FlightRadar and hilltopping sound great, and I'd love to see if I could catch some pirate radio around 👀
Honestly, I didn't have a scooby about amateur radio until I watched a few videos by Ringway Manchester - he's a really knowledgeable amateur. He's a bit of a wanker to people in his comments who dare to offer dissenting opinions, but his videos are generally presented with a classic no-bullshit British vibe.
The point of this is that he pushed me in the direction of the Baofeng UV-5RH, which is a handheld that operates on the VHF bands but is very versatile. The company gets grief for producing hamstrung cheap shit, but honestly being a so-called Baofeng Warrior has provided me with the inexpensive entry point into the world of Ham Radio - and it even has a function for listening to FM radio for the... lesser-legitimate audio broadcaster needs 😊
My advice would be to get a UV-5RH (around £25), get a quarter-wave magmount antenna for the car (around (£15 for a cheap one), and check out Essex Ham's videos on Foundation-level radio guidance (free with a recommended donation).
If you like it, brilliant - get your chequebook out and go wild. If you don't, then you've invested forty-odd quid and you can get half of that back on various internet auction sites.
Have fun!
edit: but yeah if you want beyond line-of-sight communication then £300 would be well under a lowball estimate 😢
I don't have a clue about amateur radio, so thank you for the tips!! Might have to see if Santa brings me a UV-5RH this year... See you on the airwaves soon 👀😂
I'm not sure how a midlife crisis would look for me because I've basically kept the same weird interests I had as a teen.
I have really enjoyed my midlife crisis (which looks a little different as a woman): lost 30 lbs, began dressing like a scary executive, got rid of the imposter syndrome, and give very few fucks. It has been delightful.
God forbid people pick up new hobbies as they grow older, we should all make as much money as humanly possible and then die i guess.
I've been finally realizing my dream of having a home studio filled with all sorts of synthesizers, samplers, drum machines, effects, mixers, etc. Pretty frustrating since now that electronic music has been incorporated into mostly every genre and there are also a lot of collectors all the now vintage pieces that my favorite artists used back in the day are priced insanely out of reach. Upside is there is a ton of cool new stuff coming out, too much cool new stuff.
Damn it. So it seems like I am prototypical 40-something.
Life can be fun, so trying to make the best of it.
Brewing decent coffee however is fine (or tea, or caffeine pill it & hydrate) but dang nothing like having a bike that can get into some hills! Until the ski mountains open for winter but can be too far, too expensive
Are we still on for historical wargaming at 40? Or has that moved to 50 now?
