BrianYesh

If you enjoyed Shop Class as Soulcraft you'll love The Anarchist's Tool Chest by Christopher Schwarz.

https://lostartpress.com/collections/getting-started/product...

This book is very practical and will give you specific ways to start making. With hand tools and wood. Mr Schwarz writing style is funny and very accessible.

You do not need to join anything to be satisfied by making real things with your hands. You do not need to speed a lot of money doing it. You can do it in your tiny apartment. Watch free Youtube videos when you need a new skill.

Don't buy a bunch of power tools. Skip that and go straight to hand tools. Even a pocket knife and a good piece of wood. I love my power tools. But sometimes wish I had spent my money on hand made hand tools and spent more time learning how to use use them.

I am a front end web designer that got a university degree in sculpture some twenty years ago. Immediately after graduation I got jobs in graphic design using early Photoshop. Years later I missed making physical things. So I made myself a little workshop and build on nights and weekends.

Respect! Good luck!

It's possible that you are responsible for your crappy situation. But it's also possible someone is harassing you and THAT is why your environment sux. It isn't the victim's fault that they are being harassed. This may not have happened to the guy who wrote this. But lets be more open minded and empathetic about the many causes of crappy work environments.

"Note: the first company to market a USB stick with a light that indicates a write operation -- not read or write; I've got one of those -- wins a prize."

I found that ideas are pretty worthless until they are made real. That is the hard part I struggle with. Because implementation requires time, knowledge, and wealth. Something all in short supply.

I'd love to see Racket "feel" doable to young and old alike who aren't computer scientists.

A visual redesign could help. Especially a redesign of the IDE user interface. But first some fun examples to inspire people would be best IMHO.

To find this project ASK the people you're trying to reach. Listen. Then find a young person who's game. Ask them if they'd make a project with Racket and write a blog post about it. There's nothing like getting inspiration from your peers. This blog post may already exist. In other words the people who are beginners need to help reach other beginners.

Or what about Try Racket? https://github.com/voila/try-racket Is this project running online somewhere?

The power of Macros with the ease of Processing would truly be a powerful thing!