Things I *don't* do as a hobby

[compilerbitch]

Inspired by Scott Adams' wonderful oneliner from his current Dilbert blog:

Atheism is religion the same way that NOT collecting stamps is a hobby

I just started wondering if you lot had antihobbies. An antihobby isn't the absence of a hobby -- I mean, there are loads of things I don't do, like polevaulting for example, but I can't say that I make a hobby of not polevaulting.

<flamebait>Vegetarianism, for some people, appears indistinguishable to others as making a hobby of not eating meat.</flamebait>

Discuss.

Edit: ¶ #

[Poll #918141]

Comments

[redbird]

I wonder if an anti-hobby might be something that all/most/many of your friends or family do and you don't: if you're the only person in your social circle who doesn't play bridge, or go rock-climbing, or collect obscure jazz recordings, it becomes noteworthy.

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

I think that would fit, but you'd probably have to revel in your nondoing of the thing, at least a bit, in order to qualify. So you'd have to say something like, 'no, I'm not going to eat food like a complete looser like you lot, I'm going to live on fresh air and the cosmic forces underlying the universe. Nyaaah!' in order to qualify.

(Yes, silly mood today, sorry)

[andrewwyld.livejournal.com]

I don't know that this isn't the same as the linguistic distinction between "I want to listen to Kate Bush" and "I don't want to listen to Kate Bush" (predictably, I am currently listening to Kate Bush).  Ambivalence and antipathy are both handled by "I don't want ..." yet are distinct states.  Thus, not collecting stamps is more like agnosticism; avoiding the ownership of more than one stamp at a time--i.e. no little books of self-adhesive stamps--is more like atheism.  You could, conceivably, make a hobby of never having more than one stamp in your possession at once.

Of course, then you'd have variants--does a stamp count as part of a collection if it is on a letter you are about to post?  If it does, does an anti-stamp-collector have to post letters one at a time, between stamp-buying trips?

[andrewwyld.livejournal.com]

Parachute jumping could be regarded as not falling fatally into the ground, elevated to the status of a hobby.  One of my current hobbies is not being electrocuted--more relevant when you realize I am building or repairing a significant amount of mains electrical equipment for our band, including a vintage valve amp which used to have a ground switch but doesn't any more.  I still think I might have sustained a shock from it the other day, though.

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Isolating transformer. RCD. Variac.

(Ex- power supply designer who managed to avoid going voom or pining for the fjords)

[andrewwyld.livejournal.com]

The Fender uses ground as a return path, so there's very little I can do about the potentially-fatal voltages other than not ever touch them while the amp is hot.

Andy did make some interesting sparks with the filter caps one time, and blew the fuses ... fortunately his guitar was grounded as well.

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a deathtrap to me, however nice it may sound. I have an antihobby associated with avoiding things that could capriciously decide to kill me. Like horses, or poisonous snakes. Or people from the wrong bit of Oakland. That kind of thing.

[andrewwyld.livejournal.com]

I don't know if I told you about the ground switch?  Old American amps, predating the introduction of grounds into domestic circuits, tend to let you connect the chassis to the neutral pin instead.  Ungrounded, unpolarized plugs being symmetrical, though, this pin could be the live pin.  Fortunately the chassis contains a metal switch that lets you choose which pin is connected to the chassis.

The connection from the pin to the chassis is, admittedly, via a very small value capacitor ... an electrolytic one.

I'm sure you know what happens to electrolytics after thirty years.

We pulled out the ground switch before we powered the amp up.

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Rather you than me.

[emarkienna.livejournal.com]

I'd say agnosticism is more like "We don't/can't know whether we collect stamps or not";)

(I think the distinctions are covered well by the labels implicit/explicit and weak/strong atheism; an active dislike or opposition meanwhile I think is more antitheism than atheism.)

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

It's interesting, isn't it?

I love playing with ideas that break classical logic, and this is a good one! If you disallow ¬¬x = x, all sorts of fun stuff happens.

I'm fond of logics that have a Hasse diagram like


*
/ \
F T
\ /
B


where F = false, T = true, * = top (could be either F or T) and B = bottom (no information)

This lets you quite elegantly deal with nondeterminism, so you can say things like F /\ * = F, T \/ x = T, etc.

Things get even more fun if you allow values to change over time, however!

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

*grumps at LJ*

 *
/ \
F T
\ /
 B

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

(though of course these typically *do* allow ¬¬x = x, it's just yet more weirdness)

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

I totally agree about the being-obstructive-to-TV-licensing-bastards concept. For years, when I still lived in the UK, I didn't have a TV, but I was constantly hassled by TV licensing anyway. I remember that, circa about 2002 or so, there was a voice response system number on the back of the renewal form you could call to say that you didn't have a TV, which caused them to stop bothering you. More recently, that has disappeared, with them basically wanting you to provide written evidence (or some such idiocy) and threatening all kinds of things if you don't. I read a few web sites and, seemingly, you're quite within your rights to ignore them, and to tell them to sod off if they turn up at your door.

Apparently, 'TV Detector Van' really equals 'underpaid goon with a database printout'. Ha. I moved to America, where I am Evilly Watching TV Without A Licence. Legally. And I even have BBC World. So Ner.

[tea-at-bettys.livejournal.com]

We didn't have a television til I was nine and we regularly got letters demanding licence payment. And when I was an undergraduate we got demands two years running when we already had a licence because different people had bought the television and the licence. I had fun writing rude letters but maybe that's just me!
Also, how are you supposed to prove that you don't have a television?

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

I think the basic idea is that you're supposed to hand them written evidence that they can later use against you if they can show any of it to be factually correct. I take the export control view of this -- don't export bangy things to countries that might later chuck them back at you, so I didn't actually write to them at all. From what I saw, there was no obligation to do so, so I didn't.

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

When I was living in Leyton without a telly I had endless hassle from the TV licensing lot no matter how much I told them I didn't have one.

For some reason, now I'm in the Isle of Dogs, they've gone away after one letter.

For some reason your icon looks disturbingly cheery today.

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Is that better?

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

Too far the other way!

[dave-t-lurker.livejournal.com]

Apparently, 'TV Detector Van' really equals 'underpaid goon with a database printout'. Ha. I moved to America, where I am Evilly Watching TV Without A Licence. Legally. And I even have BBC World. So Ner.

Wouldn't it have just been simpler and easier to get a license? ;-)

[compilerbitch.livejournal.com]

Damn. I should have thought of that.

[lsur.livejournal.com]

That's the key really - it's a hobby if you do it intentionally. Making a point of not doing something is actually (not)doing it intentionally so it's a hobby, not an anti-hobby. Anti-hobbies don't really exist in this universe. Like anti-hobbits, they are fictitious and only live in holes.

I've thought of a proper one!

[fatdog.livejournal.com]

I don't see films.

I do read film reviews, somewhat obsessively. I am interested in cinema. But I do not see films. Not through choice anyway.

I'm not sure why, although I think its something to do with the fear of being stuck in the cinema for 2 hours watching complete crap and being very bored.