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Hobbies Anyone?

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I've long wanted to build home audio speakers for a hobby, and have done research on this topic for quite some time. I have recently finished the first of a pair of bookshelf speakers for my computer (a glorified home theater really).

When I saw it standing upright for the first time, fully painted with all the drivers screwed into the cabinet, I was beaming with pride. When I heard it for the first time, I was overjoyed. Running through my mind were the hours spent on calculations for the design, mathematical predictions for frequency response, my own journey to discover the fundamentals of how a driver works, and how every element, from cone material to cross-over design, affects the audible quality of the speaker. What I saw (and heard) was my will made visible, concrete -- I saw the product of my mind, the achievement of a value. I'm still smiling :)

Does anyone else have any hobbies from which they derive a sense of pride?

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I write columns for the Daily Texan at UT, and since the payment is only nominal ($10 per week) it really qualifies as a hobby. I enjoy seeing my name and picture in print, and I love the idea of fostering debate both between the editorial board and myself and the readers and myself.

I also play just about every sport imaginable, at least until I hit the skill-level plateau where years are required to advance. I find sports to be a good concretization of my values. Sinking a contested jumper is like heroin.

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Hobbies, how about the Irish Tin Whistle? This little, (cheap?), musical insrument has openned a whole new world for me. Unfortunately, I caught a bad case of WhOA, Whistle Obsessive Acquisition Disorder. I now have over 15 whistles. And I am not alone in this hobby. There are Irish music sessions, (structure quite differently from other types of music sessions,) where Guinness has been known to flow. One of the most popular web sites on eht whistle is at http://www.chiffandfipple.com/table2.html. :yarr:;):D

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I ride horses very well. I almost always ride without any saddle. Today, I jumped one of my horses with no saddle for the first time. I love the pride in my skill and the integration of my mind, body, and my horse. It's fun to look back on how the horse was to begin with, and how my work brought the horse to what it is now. I like the challenges of stubborn horses and the pleasures of a behaving horse. It takes all my effort - both physical and mental - to work with horses. It's my favorite hobby. :yarr:

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My greatest hobby, actually it's more like my greatest passion, is Cricket. It's a sport played in quite a few countries, India included. It's not that well known in the US.

Some of my greatest moments of joy have come on the Cricket field. I used to play the game professionally till I had to give that up for academics (parents weren't too keen about me playing). Engineering just took up an awful lot of time, and I couldn't conjure the time to continue playing. I hope to someday play professionally again.

Ayn Rand used the phrase "non-contradictory joy" and thats exactly the kind of feeling I get when I hit the perfect cover drive or when I bowl a ball that whizzes past the batsmen at good speed. Other than cricket, I have felt that kind of joy only with computers, mathematics and objectivism :)

"For the love of the game."

Dinesh.

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Mountains. I love scaling different peaks, of different heights in different climates; whatever. You get a real sense of accomplishment looking back down. :)

Having said that; There are a couple of guys who climbed all the way to 20ft below Everest's summit and then deliberately didn't go the full way - something about proving mans respect for nature. Not sure what I think about that.

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Besides the fore mentioned Irish Tin Whistle, I have two other hobbies/passions.

The first is weight-training. Pumping iron is addictive, especially free weights. Mainly you compete only with yourself -- an objectivist activity(?). I just wish that I would have started it before I was 56 years old! I have been pumping iron now for almost 2 years and I think I keep on doing as long as I can.

The other hobby/passion is PC gaming. I am almost ashamed to admit that the shoot them up, solo games really do something to me. BTW, Doom 3 comes out in 8 days!

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My greatest hobby, actually it's more like my greatest passion, is Cricket.

Ah, good to hear. I am also a big cricket fan - grew up with it in Sri Lanka, and now I live in Australia so I get to see games in some of the greatest venues in the world. What do you think about the whole Muralitharan saga?

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Ah, good to hear. I am also a big cricket fan - grew up with it in Sri Lanka, and now I live in Australia so I get to see games in some of the greatest venues in the world.

Yipee, a cricket fan. It's good to hear. I thought most here wouldn't know about the game. Do you play often? Man, it must be great to watch those matches at Perth et al. I love watching the game too, but kinda hurts when I do. Keep thinking "I should be playing!!!" :(

What do you think about the whole Muralitharan saga?

First up, let me say I think he's one of the greatest bowlers the game has seen. And it's not just his doosra, he reads the game so damn well. He always has a trick up his sleeve and a smile on his face, I just love that.

Now about his arm, it's pretty obvious that he does have a deformity. Check out his site if you need to see pictures. So all in all, I have really no problem with him bowling anything he wishes. It's very absurd for the ICC to tell him what he can and cannot bowl.

As a cricketer, I can say that I would absolutely love to play him, just for the enormous challenge it represents. It's just like I'd like to play Wasim Akram (being a left handed pace bowler myself, he's my role model :yarr:).

What are your views on the whole issue?

Dinesh.

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I'm yet to see any games in Perth. I live in Melbourne so of course I've seen many games at the MCG. I have also been to the Adelaide Oval (always ends up dishing up some great games), The SCG and the Gabba.

I used to play cricket competitively at High School level (I was captain of our team), but after having entered university, I simply don't have the time. I still play for fun with friends, my brother, etc though. I am a right-arm pace bowler with a pretty erratic action. :( I get a lot of wickets with bounce and pace, but I also tend to go for a lot of runs because my accuracy isn't great. :yarr: I am also an aggressive lower-middle order batsman.

I have been disgusted with what has happened with the Murali affair. Despite the mountains of evidence that has cleared him of chucking, the Australian 'public' and the media simply ignore all of it and continue to call him a chucker. Granted Murali should just ignore all this and keep touring Australia, but sometimes these 'fans' make me very angry. A couple of weeks ago, in England, Murali bowled to some county cricketers in the nets with an elbow brace on that ensured that he could not straighten his arm. Surprise surprise, he still managed to extract prodigious amounts of turn off the wicket - both with his stock off-break and his doosra. How much attention does this get in the local media? Absolutely zilch. The fact that people want to destroy the career of this outstanding cricketeter reveals how screwed their psychology must be.

Anyway, I am also a big Wasim Akram fan - man that guy had such a beautiful action to watch. And that swing! wow. Some other players that I admire at the moment are Dravid, Andrew Strauss, Flintoff, Pollock, Kallis, Aktar, Sangakkara, Warne, Lara and of course, Tendulkar. I hope the India vs. Australia series later on this year will be as good as the last one. Can't wait.

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I used to play cricket competitively at High School level (I was captain of our team), but after having entered university, I simply don't have the time. I still play for fun with friends, my brother, etc though. I am a right-arm pace bowler with a pretty erratic action. biggrin.gif I get a lot of wickets with bounce and pace, but I also tend to go for a lot of runs because my accuracy isn't great. smile.gif I am also an aggressive lower-middle order batsman.

:( I'm a left-handed pace bowler, but lol, with a smooth action. I can generate quite a bit of pace but my main weapon is swing. Swinging the ball at brisk pace can be very rewarding :) I was captain of my school and junior college side. I open the bowling and usually bat at No. 3 or No. 4, I personally like No. 4.

I pretty much hated my engineering college days, so I chose not to play for them, even after getting asked to play. Nowadays I primarily play in my colony with my friends and I'm more or less like the coach here. I love coaching too, someday when I'm old I'm sure I'll open up a cricket academy :D

I completely agree with you on Murali, the whole fiasco is disgusting!!

My favourite cricketers (past and present) are - Wasim Akram, Brian Lara, Malcolm Marshall, Vivian Richards, Tendulkar, Kapil Dev, Walsh, Murali. Ok, I think I'll stop here, the list is too damn long and I could talk about cricket all day :D

I just love watching Lara play, I'd go miles just to see him. Watch how he gets into position, truly exquisite!!! Man I wish I could bowl to him!

Ahh, all this cricket talk has left me longing to play!!!!! :lol:

Dinesh.

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When I come to a breakthrough in one of my story plots, is exhilarating. Or when I see the key to some philosophic principle that I have been struggling with; or some philosophic principle that suddenly becomes crucial to everything else. For example, most recently I saw a joyous connection between The Prior Analytics and The Principle of Romantic Drama. But I changed work environments and have not been able to follow it since to my satisfaction.

Americo.

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Besides the fore mentioned Irish Tin Whistle, I have two other hobbies/passions. 

The first is weight-training.  Pumping iron is addictive, especially free weights.  Mainly you compete only with yourself -- an objectivist activity(?).  I just wish that I would have started it before I was 56 years old!  I have been pumping iron now for almost 2 years and I think I keep on doing as long as I can.

The other hobby/passion is PC gaming.  I am almost ashamed to admit that the shoot them up, solo games really do something to me.  BTW, Doom 3 comes out in 8 days!

A man of my own passions :lol:

I also am "addicted" weight training, although I got a little earlier start than you (I'm 25 and have been lifting weights for about 4 years on and off). And my other hobby is PC gaming. I cannot wait for DOOM 3! The last time I was this excited about a game release was when id software released their last game, Quake 3.

On the subject of id software, I cannot help but draw distinctions between John Carmack, id's owner/lead programmer and Howard Roark. Anyone who is a fan of PC gaming knows that every title Carmack and id software have created is a work of art. And from what I've read, Carmack's passion for programming rivals Roark's passion for architecture.

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Is it me, or has the number of PC - games being released dramatically slumped over the last year or so? if so, does anyone know why? (x-box?, lack of microsoft backed games?)

Microsoft still publishes games for the PC, as well as the X-Box. One of the best games that came out in 2003, Rise of Nations, is published by Microsoft.

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The first is weight-training.  Pumping iron is addictive, especially free weights.  Mainly you compete only with yourself -- an objectivist activity(?).  I just wish that I would have started it before I was 56 years old!  I have been pumping iron now for almost 2 years and I think I keep on doing as long as I can.

How often do you work out?

Are you making good progress?

I like weight training too.

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Camping / hiking, computer gaming and photography. Just recently I got a Fender Stratocaster and now I'm learning to play the guitar. Man what fun that is!!!! Rough on the fingers at first though.

VES

PS: Diablo 2 is my favorite computer game. Simply a classic!!

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My favoorite 2 hobbies are Snowboarding and Wakeboarding. I can't say which one I like better. For those of you who don't know what Wakeboarding is here goes. You get pulled behind a boat at about 20 mph on a board that looks like an oversized trick ski with bindings. Behind a good boat ( Mastercraft wakeboard boat ) you can use the wake as a two sided ramp to jump and do tricks on.

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How often do you work out?

Are you making good progress?

I like weight training too.

I too enjoy lifting. Offseason I do straight Heavy Dut II work out every 3 - 6 days. It takes 3 days to recoup fom upper body and 6 days or so to recover from lowerbody.

During rugby season, I do a traditional cardio/powerlifting workout regime. Though that doesn't strike some as logical, offseason is all about bulking and onseason is about stamina and beating the hooker in front of me.

Edit: For those of us born in America and not enlightened in the ways of Rugby, being a hooker doesn't involve high heals and a mini-skirt. Except for zulu's but that's another story. A hooker is the equivalant of the center in football except we have to be smart and able to run. ;)

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Things I'm a huge fan of:

Literature. I write and read, A LOT.

American Football. I play tight end and cornerback.

Baseball. Oddly enough, unlike most young males, I'm not a huge hitter, but I love love love pitching. I'm sixteen, and very proud of my 80 MPH pitches at my age..

Then there are my two biggest physical hobbies: running and weightlifting.

I run a mile in about 5:50 seconds, and I can benchpress about 280 pounds.

Linguistics. I'm hoping to be semi-fluent in four to five languages by 30. I obviously know English, and at one time or another in my life I've been competent in German, Japanese and Spanish. Right now German and Japanese are pretty much wholly forgotten.

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