The life and death of hobbies...

Hamsters, don't forget about the hamsters Manny. No, I suppose the celebrity gossip thing isn't totally new. I guess the on-demand immediacy angle is what's really new. Now someone can text/facebook/tweet these things instantly. Caesar et al, their "news" took longer to get around.

hummm... cats.. saute'd in recoil oil....stewed in a T-34 muffler.. now thats cooking!!

Manstein's revenge

bbrowniii:

It is simply that, as our society has changed, what is important to them has also changed. 

 

You mean wealth, power and celebrity is something new?

Nope.  But technology has given us the ability to 'know' what the wealthy, powerful, celebrities are doing EVERY SECOND of the freakin' day. 

bbrowniii

 

 

Nope.  But technology has given us the ability to 'know' what the wealthy, powerful, celebrities are doing EVERY SECOND of the freakin' day. 

It's also given us the ability to know that a plane crashed in the Hudson BEFORE any news network picked it up. Share pictures instantly, around the world. Share our thoughts with the world, be they the latest celebrity gossip, or a tutorial on aircraft weathering.

The key is in the filtering. If you want to follow celebrity gossip, that's there for you. If you want to follow politics, or science, or movies, that's there for you, too. 

I don't know. I know celebrity news is pretty rampant, but I don't read People, I don't watch E!. I get most of my news from a combination of drive-time NPR, blogs, and a selection of news sites. Unless it's something big like Michael Jackson dying, I pretty much don't hear about it. And I'm 100% cool with that.

DoogsATX

 

The key is in the filtering. If you want to follow celebrity gossip, that's there for you. If you want to follow politics, or science, or movies, that's there for you, too. 

I don't know. I know celebrity news is pretty rampant, but I don't read People, I don't watch E!. I get most of my news from a combination of drive-time NPR, blogs, and a selection of news sites. Unless it's something big like Michael Jackson dying, I pretty much don't hear about it. And I'm 100% cool with that.

Wait, Michael Jackson is dying??????

Now that's a hobby that isn't ...dying...?

I guess I'm an anomaly in this generation! I build models, don't watch much TV, I don't play many video games, I like to read, I love to cook....and I'm a girl. In High School, I WAS the modeling club--the president, secretary and grunt all rolled into one.

I am the only person I know who does modeling, which is why I turned to this site so I don't bore my family and friends to death with talk about airplanes and plastic.....

OWL

the doog

I think the hobby will face a drastic draw-down in the coming twenty years. By that time, lots of hardcore modelers will be gone, and the upcoming generation just will not have the patience for it.

I agree 100% with you on that one and will offer up another that is close to home for the two of us as well:

The backyard tinkerer.

From what I have gathered from your postings about your racer side, you handle your own maintenance and that is the rarest of all skills these days.

If all the motorcycle mechanics were to suddenly disappear, the hobby would die off as fast as it would take for the scheduled services would arrive because most people couldn't even do the most basic service if they had to.

CallSignOWL

I guess I'm an anomaly in this generation! I build models, don't watch much TV, I don't play many video games, I like to read, I love to cook....and I'm a girl. In High School, I WAS the modeling club--the president, secretary and grunt all rolled into one.

I am the only person I know who does modeling, which is why I turned to this site so I don't bore my family and friends to death with talk about airplanes and plastic.....

 

OWL

 

PaintsWithBrush

 ...most people couldn't even do the most basic service if they had to.

And...I pumped my own gas this past weekend...

Paintball use to be really big here in Utah. I played in tournaments had a pretty good team with shop and field sponsors as well as gear for cost deal with a top brand. i moved to California back in 2007 for work. when I came back this year everything had all but dried up. all of the shops and fields have closed up and nobdy really plays anymore here in UT. kinda sad.

My cat just ran under the bed when I read that.  No kidding LMAO...

Manstein's revenge

 

DoogsATX:

 

 

VanceCrozier:

 

 

No, but the need to know who has contracted what from Paris Hilton on any given day... that's new. And what the is a Beiber anyway?

 

 

Eh, celebrity gossip's nothing new.

 

Very true---I mean there were those rumors about me at the "U-Boat Rehabilitation Centers" that persisted well into 1944...then there was that lingering rumor about me eating cats during the Stalingrad seige---wait, that was true...

If i may toss my into this conversation. I dont think the hobby is dying. I think its as alive as it ever has been. Im a 17 year old football player and I have been modelling for around 10 years now. Ive gotten both my younger brothers hooked and i feel no greater joy in showing off my model tanks and such to my family and friends and hearing "oh wow." I think that this hooby isnt dying its just flying under the radar for alittle while

Manstein's revenge

Cool...so what is your favorite subject matter and how did you get in the hobby?

Ive always liked building things, be it Lego castles with my brothers, K'nex, or snap together Zoid kits. My favorite subject matter is aircraft. Ive loved planes since before I can remember! I really got into the hobby in High School when the Air Force JROTC offered a model airplane club. Ive been hooked ever since!

OWL

nice to meet you Owl..!

psst..fellas.. play nice.. Ladies are present...

Me too.  I started because my Mom and Dad got me this Revolutionary War cannon model at the Bunker Hill Monument in Boston when I was 4.  That and a tube of "No-Tox" lemon smelling glue.  That was my first.  I always loved playing with my gi-normous lego collection, and my Grandfather was a carpenter.  So I had a lot of creative inspirations.  There is one kit I will never forget.  When I was 9, my Grandfather died about 2 weeks before Christmas.  Before that he had gotten me a Christmas present that was already sitting under our tree.  We shared a house with my Grandparents, and when my mom came in and told us to stay in our room, I knew something was wrong.  After they had taken him, my Mom came in and told us.  We didn't stop crying for hours, especially.  My Grandfather was actually closer to me than my Dad was so when Christmas rolled around, I was really unsure of opening the present.  My Grandmother brought it over and told me it would make Bumpa (My Grandfather's Kid Nickname." happy if I opened it and liked it.  I opened the kit and I have to this day never figured out how he knew the exact kit I had wanted but not talked about for months.  It was the 1/48 scale B17F.  I guess he saw me watching the movie "Air Force" which is what made me want it so bad.  He was a smart old cuss.  I still miss him horribly.  He was the most supportive and helpful person I knew when I had just started out.  He even let me build in his workshop in the basement.  He had a small drill press and some older tools he let me have to work on kits.  It took me over a month to complete that kit.

I had to tone it back in HS though.  I was taking AP classes and I skipped my Sophmore year and I needed a LOT of time to keep up on my schoolwork and activities.  So until I was disabled, I never had time to do many.  Now I am back into it and trying to relearn long lost skills. Oh well...  At least my hobby isn't computers..  Oh wait.  That's my other hobby... lol

CallSignOWL

 

Manstein's revenge:

 

Cool...so what is your favorite subject matter and how did you get in the hobby?

 

 

 

Ive always liked building things, be it Lego castles with my brothers, K'nex, or snap together Zoid kits. My favorite subject matter is aircraft. Ive loved planes since before I can remember! I really got into the hobby in High School when the Air Force JROTC offered a model airplane club. Ive been hooked ever since!

OWL

p38jl

nice to meet you Owl..!

 

psst..fellas.. play nice.. Ladies are present...

Wait.. Manny did't ask for a picture of her ? 

Hate it when he breaks character...

Somethin's wrong...

Hans von Hammer

p38jl:

nice to meet you Owl..!

 

psst..fellas.. play nice.. Ladies are present...

 

Wait.. Manny did't ask for a picture of her ? 

Hate it when he breaks character...

Somethin's wrong...

quick..,.! in the bunker comrades~!!

VanceCrozier

 No really, how many people can cook for themselves now?

 And how many of them that can cook for themselves will actually go into the woods and kill their own dinner? And, how many of those that kill their own dinner, can do their own butchering?

aahh..!!! ahhahahaha... I got a good dead hobby story..tonight,, I was the grocery store headed home,,, bumped into a person from my town who is semi important/well respected etc,, got chatting about the fire dept, etc,, and some how we got on hobbies,, etc,, she and her husband and some friends are in a Ukulele club!!!! ?? I was like WTF ? there are enough people who play and like the Ukulele to form a club ?? and get together?? they also travel to Newfoundland and New Brunswick and play in bars and such.( I bet Vance is there secret idol). their doing a fund raiser for a cancer patient this weekend.. !!! ok ?? cool. and all..but what ?? lol.. they even got T shirts made up...!

now.. there.I thought that was a dead hobbie!!!!

and now.. for something completely differant...

oh wait.. we just had that.... Long Live Monty Python..!!

where is Barney Fife when u need him,,,

...okay...I see a new badge in my mind's eye...

ukeleles in NB? Nah, you must be mistaken, they've been driven to extinction just like the Eastern Cougar. (And no, not the ones you'll find in the bars!! )

fermis

 

VanceCrozier:

 

 No really, how many people can cook for themselves now?

 

 

 And how many of them that can cook for themselves will actually go into the woods and kill their own dinner? And, how many of those that kill their own dinner, can do their own butchering?

I do all the cooking, and understand where all that wonderful protein on the hoof comes from, but I've never really had any interest in bringing the critters in myself.

Ham radio was mentioned.  There are still a few Hams around, but the hobby that is really dead is short wave listening.  SWL's (short wave listeners) would try to log as many foreign broadcast stations as possible.  Most stations would respond with an SWL card if you sent them a reception report, and people collected these cards.  There were books, magazines and broadcasts devoted to this hobby and many major manufacturers made general coverage receivers, including Sony, Kenwood, and Panasonic.  Australia, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan, used to beam broadcasts to the U.S.  Now, none of them do.  Neither do most of the other countries that once did.  The internet killed it.  Broadcasting is very expensive while a website is relatively cheap.  And, why would a person stay up late and try to make out a signal midst the squeaks and whistles of interference when they can hear the program perfectly clear any time they want from their computer?

I spent many pleasant hours at this, starting with a war surplus ARC 5 receiver when I was a kid.  I still have a couple receivers, but I don't turn them on much any more.

Don

Don Wheeler

I spent many pleasant hours at this, starting with a war surplus ARC 5 receiver when I was a kid.  I still have a couple receivers, but I don't turn them on much any more.

 

No wonder you never answered my request for a breakout from Stalingrad...

Don Wheeler

Ham radio was mentioned.  There are still a few Hams around, but the hobby that is really dead is short wave listening.  SWL's (short wave listeners)...

I've done this before, but it's been years. Visiting my grandparents in Yarmouth NS, stuck out in the Atlantic, it was possible to get good clear signals from all over Europe. Still have the receiver unit in my basement. I keep thinking I should set it up again but not really sure where to put it, the thing must be 2.5 feet across, 1.5 feet high and deep. VACUUM TUBES baby!

To be honest if it doesn't go on display somewhere I really should see if any museums are interested in archiving it.

Internet radio - yup, I listen to it all the time at the office and either internet or satellite radio at home.

VanceCrozier

 

 

 

I've done this before, but it's been years. Visiting my grandparents in Yarmouth NS, stuck out in the Atlantic, it was possible to get good clear signals from all over Europe. Still have the receiver unit in my basement. I keep thinking I should set it up again but not really sure where to put it, the thing must be 2.5 feet across, 1.5 feet high and deep. VACUUM TUBES baby!

To be honest if it doesn't go on display somewhere I really should see if any museums are interested in archiving it.

Internet radio - yup, I listen to it all the time at the office and either internet or satellite radio at home.

Commonly referred to as boat anchors.  If you don't want it , you might see what they are going for on E-bay.  I have a circa 1954 Collins ham receiver with 22 vacuum tubes.  It was given to me by a friend who's Dad bought it new.  I fire it up once in a while just to see it glow.  I've seen it on E-bay for as much a $1000, but I'd never part with it.

Don

after much thought  i have come up with a couple of dead hobbies scrimshaw is one now that the whaling is baned ( save the whales for valuable cupons ) second is building ships in a bottle and one that my grandfather did as a hobbie whittling, my father even did some his ball in a cage on a chain is mindbending. now im sure that there are more that i have not thought of yet.        as for call sign owl keep it up and dont let anybody ruffel your feathers.           now where is my badge or do i rate one        

I say ya rate..

p38jl

I say ya rate..