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Comment by brainless | Hacker News Reader

Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about myself here. I am still an absolute curious fellow. I just started learning woodworking, I am 37 years old now. I start learning something new each year.

I meant the current trend of digital products which are, in my opinion, more like a TV than "computers".

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I have also been disillusioned of late with the computing hobbies that have fueled me most of my life. I'm still heavily involved with computing for my employment, but there's just something that doesn't spark my curiosity as much as it used to.

Interesting that you mentioned you've moved to woodworking, as I found a way to rekindle my curiosity be exploring older technology as well. I've dived head first into antique clock and watch repair.

I took up to painting as Im involved too in computers as my day job. The contrast is wonderful, there is freedom in it, there is a sense of limitless possibilities and no pressure or hard deadlines. I’ve often said to myself if I went to art school I’d probably have been interested in computers now. I have also become disillusioned a while ago with computers and I think there is a limit to any interest without taking a break. But recently about an hour a year ago I started to become interested in programming again and one was using racket/lisp/scheme and second was Linux. I’m a new Linux user I am very stoked about it.

What, if any, resources did you use to learn woodworking? In-person courses and hackerspaces are not available in my area right now and I wonder if there are any good online classes. And by that I'm not talking about those quick-cut YouTube videos where you need a workshop worth 50k in machinery and tools to properly follow "this one easy trick" ;-)

If you have any resources you can share/recommend, I'd be very curious also ;-)

Sounds like you might like Wood Working for Mere Mortals (https://woodworkingformeremortals.com/). I haven't taken any of the courses Steve offers but I'm a huge fan of his YouTube videos.

Rex Krueger has the most budget-conscious channel I know of (https://www.youtube.com/c/RexKrueger). His "Woodworking for Humans" series starts out with just needing three tools and bootstrapping your way to more.

Personally I started with restoring discarded and thrifted furniture. The initial outlay was just for some glue, varnish, and sandpaper.

> I meant the current trend of digital products which are, in my opinion, more like a TV than "computers".

That is true. But I really wonder if the hacker/consumer ratio has shifted over the years or not.

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