You might find yourself, dear Hackaday reader, attracted to some pretty strange corners of the tech world. Who knows when that knowledge of stenography, ancient retrocomputing, and floppy disk internals will all combine to get someone falsely accused out of jail? Go read this story and come on back, but the short version is that [Bloop Museum] helped recover some 40+ year old court evidence off of some floppies to right an old wrong.
If you looked at the combination of extremely geeky topics, you’d say it’s unlikely to find anyone well versed in any one of them, and you’d say that the chances of anyone knowing enough in each these fringe domains to be helpful is exceedingly low. But I’m absolutely sure that the folks at [Bloop Museum] had some more to throw into the mix if they were called for. Or better yet, they might know exactly the right geeks to call in.
And that’s the other heartwarming part of the story. When [Bloop Museum] didn’t know everything about old stenography formats, they knew the right people to reach out to – the Plover open stenography project. Who is going to know more? Nobody! Together, the nerd community is an unstoppable resource.
So remember, when you’re hanging out with your geek friends, to keep a running catalog of everyone’s interests. Because you never know when you’re going to need an expert in re-gilding frames, or relocating bee hives, or restoring 1930’s radio sets. Or decoding obscure data formats to get someone out of jail.
Hackaday Halloween
We’re running the 2023 Halloween Hackfest and it’s your chance to document your Halloween projects, and win fame, fortune, or at least one of three $150 DigiKey gift certificates, plus some Arduino schwag courtesy of the contest’s sponsors! You’ve got until the end of October, so get on it!
Tough luck, I don’t have any friends. In early 2022 I’ve decided to cut off all remaining contacts, move out of the city and become a lone wolf. Never been happier, working remotely and studying maths all day.
Very interesting, I’m facing a similar situation ,not that extreme of course, but I think loneliness is a common thing these days, specially in cities, do you have a plan B for when you get older? emergency contacts maybe? May I ask about what is your remote job? do you talk with other people on a daily basis or is more like a very very lone wolf in the middle of the mountains? You don’t have to answer this of course but is more like yay! I’m alone or more like damn! I’m alone now what?
I never decided to cut off contact with everyone, I just simply never was into socializing to begin with; I’m more of the quality-over-quantity kind of a gal. I really only have one friend and he lives on the other side of the planet, so I get zero face-to-face with anyone other than my husband.
Speaking of the husband, we moved to the boonies some years back and we’ve never been happier. We stick to our own company, we don’t go to any events, we avoid the buzz of the city whenever we can, we visit relatives approximately once or twice a year and that’s about it.
Live is so much less stressful when you just straight up reject all the things the society tries to tell you you should do or worry about.
The thing is ,as animals as we are ,we got something in our body, I dunno maybe in the ADN or genes or cells that is kicking and pushing like;hey go find someone, go find your tribe, go social,I asked cos it looks to me that life is turning like in those cyberpunk style movies high tech low life, and our gadgets are building a wall among us and the rest of the people, another good point to consider in the equation is age and money, will be still OK going solo when we are old?or we will run like chicken sh*t to find someone when get older? I read somewhere years ago : loneliness is good when you look for it, but is bad when you find it. Maybe this conversation will look off-topic, but I believe many of us as members of maker/hacker/devs/++ online communities are alone among others.So any idea is welcome!
I think the important point is realizing, that “no contacts” is better than “bad contacts”. The problem is finding (recognizing) the not-bad contacts, since they are pretty rare. It becomes easier when you go all the way to no-contact-at-all is best, and then meet the ones thinking the same at the places you go to avoid contacts. The problem of recognizing a not-bad contact remains, though.
Yes. It’s said that Einstein once said something like “The main reason for stress is daily contact with idiots”. Not sure if that’s true, but the statement as such surely is. For example, nothing is more exhausting than trying to help others understanding things if they are unwilling to open their mind.
So far so good,taking notes of our conversation brings me some important points to consider if you want to go lone wolf mode:
age
money/job
contacts
values
I would add health/illness too.
There is another thing this tiny girl Aurora brings to light(not sure if the link will work as spectated ,if not , just youtube: Aurora meeting people when I’m not in the box.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/FqOaHSuod0Q
So apparently there are some aspects of ourselves that won’t wake up until we meet new people /friends and we didn’t know we had and luckily those aspects would improve our well being.
Damn now I want to go meet people!
“loneliness is good when you look for it, but is bad when you find it.”
Not a bad saying, IMHO.
Thing is, if you’re living alone, you’re just alone.
But if you’re living with people that don’t care about you, you’re truly lonely.
Even that is workable, it becomes bad when two groups form, one destroying the things you value, and the other “improving” the things you value in a manner that fundamentally breaks them. Then both groups join in hating you for taking care for the things you value. Then you wish they wouldn’t care, but they do…
Okay, in agreement with [Elliot].
I love getting together with people of similar interests. That doesn’t mean that we are all the same, just that a common thread brings us together (the confluence). In those gatherings, it is the differences that spark further discussions.
I also like the idea of “taking note(s)” of individual strengths in the group without being “nosy”, but I would probably be too busy just enjoying the conversation to remember which individual said what.
Knowing who has particular strengths may come in handy if/when the SHTF.