Things to do while socially distancing

I thought it’d be good to have a thread for new things folks could try to do while bored at home.

The Metropolitan Opera is doing free live audio streams. The schedule and links are here:
https://www.metopera.org/season/radio/free-live-audio-streams/

Post your links!

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If you like acrylic painting, or have been wanting to get into painting I highly recommend looking up acrylic painting tutorials on youtube. Below are links to a few playlists I have going for myself. Many of the tutorials require zero initial talent or experience and are appropriate for absolute beginners.

If you’re a newbie to acrylic painting I recommend starting with The Art Sherpa. She designates her paintings as 1, 2, or 3 “hoot” (one being the easiest). Each tutorial has a list of paint colors needed in the description.

I recommend getting a canvas pad instead of frame wrapped canvases unless you really want to hang the piece because then you’re working on actual canvas, but its easier to store. Mixed media pads and watercolor paper don’t really work well with acrylic paint.

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If you like puzzles, this site provides new free ones every week with options to pay if you want more. It is great for learning new and different types of puzzles.

If nonogram puzzles suit you, there are more than you can solve in a lifetime here, with new ones added every day.

https://www.nonograms.org/

And this site allows you to compete with players worldwide for time in a variety of puzzles

https://www.puzzle-nonograms.com/

Look for sudoku online or nonograms online in your favorite search engine. There are many more sites than these.

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It’s a great time to get caught up on all those Fusion360 (and other) online tutorials that you’ve been intending to watch.

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Ah, Bob Ross. Where are’t thou?

On twitch, of course! https://twitch.tv/bobross

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Bob Ross is so popular I didn’t think I needed him in the list. I haven’t actually followed any of his tutorials personally.

My dentist sometimes shows Bob Ross with Netflix on his TV, It can get annoying after a while being stuck there but not wanting to complain. He is also in the Smithsonian now. He never sold his painting they are all in storage in a warehouse owned by his company. Evidently to do the taping he painted three copies of every painting.

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Ran into this today. Could be relaxing coloring in great works of art. :smiley:

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Great find.

Printing off about 50-75 pages to send to my Great Grand Niece who’s in kindergarten. Will use book binding glue to make it into a book. Will have her select her opus magnum to grace the time honored place of honor and prestige: refrigerator door

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Yasss! What an awesome idea.

Critter cams to watch while you’re under house arrest… :slight_smile:

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2020/03/if-youre-stuck-inside-might-as-well-enjoy-this-list-of-animal-cams/

Read the comments for more cams…

Not sure if this works outside NYC…

Plenty of old DOS games to play for free:

https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos_games

Listen to old 78s and Cylinder Recordings:

https://archive.org/details/78rpm

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With nursing homes being locked down, I’ve suggested to my scout troop to startup a pen pall correspondence. The easiest way with no commitment is Love for the Elderly.

Another option for our makers is the contests at Instructables.com - they sometimes have decent prizes.
https://www.instructables.com/contest/

And if any scouts looking for things to do:
Jamboree on the Internet April 3-5
https://www.jotajoti.info/

Online Merit Badge Classes

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The Metropolitan Opera is streaming a different opera every night for free.

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Milk street is making their online cooking classes free until the end of April.

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Audible has opened ip free audio books for kids.

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http://www.claysharecon.com for the next 5 days is doing live feed demonstrations.

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