What's the coolest thing you've learned to do this past year?

And for my answer: My friend and colleague taught me backgammon. It was a game I’ve wanted to learn for ages, and I found it to be mentally stimulating, so much so I started playing chess a little bit again. Chess is cool for it’s strategy, but I recommend backgammon because it’s a classic game and involves alot of luck, skill, and some reasoning skills.

Play songs my 14 year old has written for our band!

I am learning how to pit fire pottery and hope to learn about blackware techniques :)

Play the violin better

I have taught myself guitar, and i believe that everyone should teach themselves something because you get a lot more out of it.
also, i have learned how to do a backflip on my dirtbike.

Intubate someone using a video assisted laryngoscope.

Well..it wasn’t THIS year, but…the coolest thing I learned in the last few years was that I was really good at designing outdoor landscapes and patios!

I simply got a visual on the layout and then, I drew out the patio plans myself and had the concrete poured and, coolest of all, on visual alone, I purchased 10 antique wrought iron graveyard fencing panels with the swinging graveyard gates and…freaking AMAZING…they all went together in a PERFECT semi-circle design right up to the railing on my deck!

I blew myself away! lol

The coolest thing I learned was that it is as everyone said: the only person who can “fix” that black hole in my soul is me.

Now if only I could figure out how I do that.

I learned how to make an elephant butt out of origami.

How to become a life coach.

3dsmax, some more photoshop and after effects.

J’ai appris assez de français pour lire Le Petit Prince (mais je dois faire les études plus.)

ay also lərnd haʊ tu trænskrayb kanvərseʃənz yuziŋ ðə Intərnæʃənəl fonɛtIk ælfəbɛt. ðɛr Iz stIl noteʃən ðæt ay æm ənfəmIlir wIð, ðo (sətʃ æz haʊ tu IndIket ilongetɛd saʊndz – wi skIpt ðæt sɛktʃən In ðə tɛkstbʊk). bət It ʃur Iz fən raytiŋ ðIs we :)

Fix 4000 Series Roombas.

Oh, I also learned to take pretty good planetary images (see my avatar).

I learned how to bake bread! It’s not as hard as I always thought, it makes the house smell great, and it’s sooooo yummy!

oh, i also learned how to make chocolates.(: sooo easy!

Not to dance at my kids birthday parties. Shows them up a bit, i’m Daddy cool now though. Took a lot of willpower but I made it in the end :¬)

What a spectacular question! I try to learn a new talent every year and this year I learned how to walk on kangaroo stilts (btw that’s not me in the video… just showing an example of what they are). Last year I learned to ride a unicycle and I can say definitively that the stilts are way easier.

All about Philosophy of the Mind and from that, that I’m an Epiphenomenalist. More recently: how neurons actually function, which is mind blowing stuff!

A shit ton of stuff about a ton of different philosophers.

So far, I really hate Baruch Spinoza, but I love Alfred North Whitehead and Descartes.

Also: What epiphenomenalist means.

This whole year? Gee. I only really remember the things I learned in recent months.

I learned a lot about how to cook and end up with something tasty and not laughably primitive. Which may or may not be the one coolest thing of all of 2010, but I should say it’s a worthy candidate for the title.

@muppetish
ɪts ə kʰɔlən. ju ɹait ə kʰɔlən æftə: ɛlɔŋgeitəd vauwəlz. :)
Officially it’s two tiny triangles pointing towards each other, but a colon is fine too.
Anyway, hai faiv fə: ai pʰi: ei trænscrɪpʃ̩n skɪlz. XD

bAi d@ wei, s{mpA: Is wei izi@: tu uz On @ k@mpjut@:. ;)

I learned about fluther.

Analyze a movie:
• recognize the classic three-act structure of most movies
• understand mise en scène
• appreciate the work of director and cinematographer
• know the elements of a film (script, lighting, sound, acting, ideology/message, etc.)
• identify shots and their purposes, camera angles and their purposes, kinds of focus and their purposes, etc.
• know something about the history of film and some of the great early filmmakers
• understand the basics of film criticism, including auteur theory, and the difference between a review and a critique

@crazyivan lol xxx

@Jeruba: I’m majoring in all of that. :)

It’s not something I actually learned how to do but something I learned that I can do. I learned that I can lick my elbow! Not that it has any special use or merit right now.

I got a new job and have learned to weld, braze, and use a cutting torch I have learned a lot of spanish too..

@Ultramarine_Ocean

Hmmm..well, that is beyond my abilities, either my tongue is too short or my arm is too long! lol

How to take better care of my front-loading washer.
Now I rinse out and dry the dispenser tray.

How to properly operate my digital tire pressure gauge.

How to operate a Toyota Sienna.

How to get from Slidell, LA to NOLA.

How to change the font at Fluther.

@Ultramarine_Ocean: I have heard that if you can lick your elbow, your sex will switch. Check your pants!~

OOH!! I learnt to unblock my bathroom sink all by myself!!! :-D

Using my home pc and using the internet. I’ve never had my own pc before a year ago. I’ve always been familiar with computers (I’m not old) because I work on industrial equipment for a living and most of these machines have their own built in pc’s that tell the PLC’s what to do. From working on automation, CNC equipment, programming PLC’s, programming parameters and using SAP systems to look for parts as well as learning to use computers in school I’ve always been somewhat familiar with computers but not with having and using my own personal laptop or using the internet.