Maybe something you learned the hard way, or something you found out right before making a huge mistake.
E.g., for audiophiles: don’t buy subwoofers from speaker companies, and don’t buy speakers from subwoofer companies.
There’s two types of costume contests, cosplay contests that break things down by experience, and random Halloween contests that are basically reenactments of popularity contests in high school.
The former you’re gonna enter as a journeyman unless you built something so outrageous they gotta up the difficulty level. Make sure you have a TON of documentation and pics and explanations on how you did things. The judges are gonna wanna know how hard you worked on things and the amount of detail you put into it. If you spent 8 hours on the gold colored filigree on your bracers you damn well better mention it Typically unless you’re doing best performance, you get three poses and you’re off the stage. By the time you hit the stage the judges typically made their decisions so play to the crowd and do what looks good on film. If you are going for best performance, don’t feel pressured to use your full five minutes, or however long they give. Waaay to many people overstay their welcome, you wanna leave the people wanting more, not less. Hit your points, your high note, and if you’re still only halfway through your time, whatever. You’re not disqualified if you don’t use your time completely, and people will greatly appreciate someone moving the schedule faster than usual.
For the latter Halloween costume contests, effort means NOTHING. You could’ve thrown the damn thing together in five minutes and win, and if you spend 16 hours on it it will not improve your chances. The venue is looking for costumes that look great on the social media, is a character they love, makes them laugh, blows their mind, causes the venue to cheer, and (this is the most important bit) appears in front of whoever the hell is judging the competition. It’s 1 to 3 people who pick on the previously mentioned criteria. Each judge is gonna be a little different. Some judges listen to the crowd, some judges love horror films so every slasher villain goes on stage, some judges do NOT know what the hell a star wars is. The one thing that all judges have in common though, is that they exist in a 3 dimensional space and only have eyes in front of their head. If you’re a wall flower that doesn’t interact with people, you will not win the contest unless the judge is also sharing your wall. Build a dance circle, tip the bartender to figure out who’s judging tonight (they may or may not know) but if you wanna win, physics dictates that you appear in front of a judge as they wander the venue. That is more important than your costume.
If you are dungeon mastering I would recommend avoiding the Quantum Ogre as much as possible. The idea here is to use the same encounter depending on whatever decision the party chooses. This is tempting because this reduces prep work and can reuse information. However, if the decision doesn’t have any consequence why make the players make this decision? TTRPG are about collaborative story telling so decisions so matter and if they don’t why am I even playing. If you want to reduce your prep maybe have the same monsters but at least change the terrain or starting criteria.
If there is decision lead clues about what might be different between the options if it is important decision. These clues might not be obvious but that is what skills checks are for. Make decisions worthwhile so players feel engaged
Man, this one is loaded. I use variants on the quantum.ogre all the time, and am widely considered to be an excellent dm. It’s not about the ogre, it’s about whether choices have an impact on the story. They can still do that even if minor parts of the set dressing - like whether or not you’ll fight an ogre around the corner because you the DM spent ages prepping that encounter - are relatively constant
It’s not about the ogre, it’s about whether choices have an impact on the story.
This is exactly my point is that by relying on it constantly there is no actual real choice and its just lying about railroading the players. If I have the choice about going to clear out the undead in the forbidden temple or clear out the bandits on the outskirts of town and behind the scenes its the same dungeon map I will never know nor will I care. But if I go to kill the undead at the forbidden temple and end up at the bandit camp why make this choice? I love being able to re-use material like this, (In fact I had a dungeon that was an extra-dimensional space where the players got to choose between monsters and demons which used the same map). Same thing if a group of assassins is coming to attack the party and they are deciding between going shopping or the spa. The assassins will find them either way at whatever place they are doing. This is a great use. But if I heard rumor about these assassins and attempt to hide from them but no matter what I do they will always find me that is removing choice.
I think its more of an advanced technique that given as some beginner friendly advice. Its easy to use it all the time to reduce agency instead of using it sparingly.
The same basic encounter can have different effects in different contexts.
Maybe clearing the bandits is how you find a stolen artifact that helps you clear the forbidden temple. Fighting the same enemy in a back alley has different consequences from doing it in the busy street. The ogre down path A might be mechanically identical to the one down path B, but they’re from rival tribes.
It can definitely be used incorrectly, but there are lots of ways for that non-choice to really be a meaningful choice.
When doing snot techniques, 2 studs = 5 plates.
Oh, I didn’t know that conversion, helpful.
If you have to count beats in your head, you’re already failing as a DJ. Knowing when to drop the next tune should come naturally.
Read some music theory if you have to, and definitely spend time listening more closely to your tunes. Try to think about how your music is structured as you’re listening to it. Identify the intro, chorus, verses, bridge(s), etc.
With enough critical listening (and practice on the decks), you’ll no longer have to count beats to know where you are in the song and when to start the mix. It’ll eventually become second nature for you.
Get a heart rate sensor (wrist or chest) and train by heart rate. Most of your cardio should be heart rate zone 2 on the 5 zone scale. This builds your aerobic capacity with minimal damage and can be done almost indefinitely. Harder efforts do more damage and add recovery time so should be limited to about two a week.
If you’re going slow you’re doing it right, it will suck less, and you’re more likely to continue. Your slow speed will get faster over time.
How do I work out my personal heart rate zone boundaries?
Many apps will estimate them for you. The general formula for max heart rate is 220-age (if you’re 30, your max is probably around 190 bpm).
From there, the zones are usually calculated as % of max HR. Zone 5 is 90-100, 4 is 80-90, 3 is 70-80, 2 is 60-70, 1 is 50-60.
For our 30yo above, zone 2 would be around 114-133 bpm. That will feel super slow but that is the point, this is something you could do for a while and it should account for about 80% of your total exercise time in a week.
Edit: if you determine through training that your max is different, adjust it accordingly.
I feel like if one wants to truly train based on heart rate, then I wouldn’t recommend going by an estimate like that, but just go out and do a workout designed to push the heart rate to its limit.
It’s a good starting point at least. Some folks are lower or higher. If you regularly exercise your max is probably higher than estimated. You can definitely test it with an all out workout such as Tabata intervals and use your real max. The formulas will get you close enough until you’ve tested it. You will also find different max HR for different sports; I found I can get an extra 2bpm running vs cycling, either because biking uses fewer muscles or because I was better at it that running.
If you regularly exercise your max is probably higher than estimated.
I was under the impression that the maximum heart rate is something that can not be trained. This source suggests that if anything training regularly would lower a persons max heart rate.
I just think that either one is serious enough about trying to optimize ones training efficiency, at which point the formula wouldn’t be accurate enough for me. Or one takes a more causal approach at which point doing most runs at “conversational pace” is a good enough rule of thumb.
I have read sources in the past that suggest endurance exercise can slow the decline in max HR. If I find them again I will share here.
In my own experience, I have not lost a single bpm in a decade of tracking.
If you ever start playing Warhammer 40k the miniature game and plan on building your own miniatures use magnets on the weapons. A lot of models come with 2 or 3 different weapons that are good for different situations IE better anti tank, fly, infantry ect. Instead of buying the same model 3 times building and painting it you can buy one, attach small magnets to the weapons and the part of the body they attach to, then you can switch them out on the fly. I didn’t do that when I started and it gave me a lot of issues with some of the armies I played against.
I learned the hard way when jogging and meeting some friends at the bar that even if it’s plus 20 you should bring a sweater with you, because once you’re done jogging and it gets dark you will be cold from the sweat. I did this one time and everyone else in the bar was just fine with their T shirts and I was SHIVERING with my wife beater on. Kind of embarrassing.
flyfishing
be quieter than you think you should
And if you want to fish for trout, research the waters you intend to fish. I booked a cabin for a long fall weekend only to find out the creeks weren’t going to be stocked until the following weekend. Trout don’t survive the warm summers there and there’s no natural reproduction
Don’t use thick lube for unresponsive yoyos and vice versa. Thick lube will make an unresponsive yoyo more responsive which you don’t want.
And don’t stress about playing a soulslike a certain way and don’t listen to gatekeeping haters. Play whatever way you want - it’s a game after all and you bought it for your pleasure
I was very concerned reading those first few words
:^]
Trumpet playing: The room you’re playing in really affects the sound you hear. So does your position in that room. If you are having weird issues with pieces you know you can play, try playing in the corner of the rooms, so your playing into the largest physical space possible.
The best way to write a good story, for me, is to write a story I want to read. That seems obvious but bear with me. If I plan out all the details, it’s like someone spoiled the book for me, I just can’t get into it. I have to create characters I’m interested, plunk them in a situation, and just start seeing what happens. I dont fret the little details unless they start getting me into a place I’m not enjoying. Later on I go back to the early parts and tie them together with whatever happened. Done this way, writing a story feels like reading a story, one that is specifically tailored to your own interests (and that none of your friends have read, so they can’t talk to you about it)
For camping, in cold weather switching from being active to resting can be miserably cold. To combat this you can fill a heat tolerant water bottle with some boiled water, wrap it in a shirt or sweater to prevent burning, and put it into your sleeping bag to warm it up quickly. You can also sort of do the reverse for when you wake up. You can put your clothes for the next day in a small bag and sleep with them in your sleeping bag. That way they won’t be frigid when you’re trying to dress.
Better yet understand that none of your gear makes heat, you do. Think of your sleeping bag and clothes as batteries that need to be recharged periodically and your body is a generator. When you shiver that is your body trying to burn calories to produce heat. You can stay much warmer by keeping busy and moving around than you will by standing around a fire. When you wake up cold in the middle of the night, move your legs like you’re riding a bicycle while laying on your side. It won’t take long to warm up. Also keep an isolating layer between you and the ground like a foam sleeping pad. It also works for when standing on frozen ground.
To combat this you can fill a heat tolerant water bottle with some boiled water, wrap it in a shirt or sweater to prevent burning, and put it into your sleeping bag to warm it up quickly.
The first time I did this I ended up so hot that I had to take it out. Its a wonderful trick and I have woken up spooning the cool water bottle in the morning
I have an old school got water bottle that I use like this… In my house.
I used to drag my clothes into bed with me in winter when I was a kid. No central heating, no double glazing, no insulation, no carpets. Might as well have been living in a tent.
Boardgames
Its easier to make gamers into friends than it is to make friends into gamers
People are surprisingly easy to manipulate.
What niche hobby of yours does this rule apply?
So this is where the fediverse chick came from huh haha
It’s just a Town of Salem game, right? Right?
Observing groups is a very useful skill, in minutes you can tell who’s where in the hierarchy, what the cliques are, how well they coordinate, how information flows, and where influence springs from.
This let’s you not only insert yourself at the right moment, peg, and place for maximum efficacy, but also informs you of barriers, challenges to overcome, and next steps for the group to act better together.
Group dynamics for coaching, creating community, project organisation, and group coaching.
This does seem like a very niche hobby.
Useful subskill I’d call it, I use it for scout mastering, organising (in nonprofits), adult training, team projects, event organisation, coaching and consulting both nonprofit and for work.
