Unusual Hobbies (other than Roadgeekery)

[kphoger]

I collect decks of playing cards. Most of them tend to remain unused, though whatever is my current deck of choice (always a 100% plastic deck) gets used at biweekly poker games I host for my friends. (Currently I'm switching off between Cartamundi Ace cards and bridge size Copag 1547's.) I even built a felt table, which also gets used for board games on weeks that we do not play poker, to enhance the experience. I also have six decks of blackjack cards and all the equipment (shoe, discard container, chip racks, etc.) though of course we do not play for real money because the dealer's edge makes the game unfair.

My girlfriend has recently started collecting dice of all colors, sizes, and numbers of sides. Her most recent acquisition is a massive d20 (20-sided icosahedral die) that is about four inches tall that we found at a games store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I quipped to her that with the cards and dice all we needed to do was get some slot machines and we would have the entire unholy trinity of casino games represented.

Icosahedral dice are common stock in Scattergories sets.

[Takumi]

Back when I played Magic: The Gathering (itself an unusual hobby) around 2000, I had several D20s. I remember either I or an ex-girlfriend had an oversized one, about the size of a softball.

[Scott5114]

We have d4s, one d5 (actually just a d20 numbered 1-5 repeatedly), tons of d6s (of course), a few d8s and d12s, d10s (both numbered 1 thru 10 and 1-100 by tens), a few d12s, and d20s. We also have some oddballs like clear d6s and d10s with smaller ones inside, some d8s with fractions (1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, 7/8, 1), a d12 with zodiac symbols instead of numbers. We do have a Scattergories set so we have one of those too.

The funny thing is we never play any games involving anything other than d6s!

[Special K]

Back when I played Magic: The Gathering (itself an unusual hobby) around 2000, I had several D20s. I remember either I or an ex-girlfriend had an oversized one, about the size of a softball.

Noticing a trend in oversize 20-sided dice among females.  Maybe i shouldn't ask.

[kphoger]

Back when I played Magic: The Gathering (itself an unusual hobby) around 2000, I had several D20s. I remember either I or an ex-girlfriend had an oversized one, about the size of a softball.

Noticing a trend in oversize 20-sided dice among females.  Maybe i shouldn't ask.

A very strangely proportioned woman:  size 20 D

[algorerhythms]

My girlfriend has recently started collecting dice of all colors, sizes, and numbers of sides. Her most recent acquisition is a massive d20 (20-sided icosahedral die) that is about four inches tall that we found at a games store in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I quipped to her that with the cards and dice all we needed to do was get some slot machines and we would have the entire unholy trinity of casino games represented.

I had a roommate in college who was a big fan of Magic the Gathering and had a large collection of various dice. I never really got into that game, myself.

As for my unusual hobbies, I used to play a lot of board games with my friends back in college. We'd play Settlers of Catan, Risk, Stratego, and Carcassonne mostly. Scrabble on the other hand was strictly forbidden, as it tended to start riots.

In more recent times, I've gotten into a bit of 3D rendering using POV-Ray. I'm far from the best in the world at it, but it is fun at least. Here's a landscape scene (using terrain generated from GIS data of the area around Dan's Rock in western Maryland):

I also wrote some sign generation macros for POV-Ray, though I'm sure the people here can point out plenty of non-conformities with standards in the signs it generates. The two street name blades with logos are variants that are used in Norman, OK.

[agentsteel53]

I had a roommate in college who was a big fan of Magic the Gathering and had a large collection of various dice.

I haven't played MTG since like 1997, but I seem to remember it not requiring any dice past something that could indicate 1-20 for the amount of life a player had.  a d20 was a popular choice.

[vtk]

Some time ago I came up with a rough concept for a d120 which, unlike d100s I've seen, has all sides exactly the same size and shape. Though I don't play any games that use dice at all...

[NE2]

Not that unusual, but science fiction. I recently discovered Stanislaw Lem.

I also like having a good wank. And having a good poo, preferably simultaneously with the wank.

[vdeane]

I used to be into lighthouses... starting to get back into it, especially since there's a nice synergy with roadgeeking (and could be my only opportunity to clinch roads in parts of Ontario).

[US71]

Back when I played Magic: The Gathering (itself an unusual hobby) around 2000, I had several D20s. I remember either I or an ex-girlfriend had an oversized one, about the size of a softball.

I played Dungeons & Dragons in my early college days. I finally gave it up when it became Hobbit forming. I wound up giving it all (books, dice, miniatures) away to one of the local kids who was still gaming.

[bugo]

Most of my interests are pretty normal: cars, guitars, computers, photography.  I have a few odd hobbies like fire towers.  I had some really weird interests when I was a kid but most of those have waned. 

[Scott5114]

I have a few odd hobbies like fire towers.

Have you seen the one in the car dealership parking lot in Norman?

[bugo]

I have a few odd hobbies like fire towers.

Have you seen the one in the car dealership parking lot in Norman?

No.  Is it visible from I-35?

[DaBigE]

I also like having a good wank. And having a good poo, preferably simultaneously with the wank.

WAY too much information

[vtk]

I also like having a good

WAY too much information

That, or he's trolling.

[agentsteel53]

Some time ago I came up with a rough concept for a d120 which, unlike d100s I've seen, has all sides exactly the same size and shape. Though I don't play any games that use dice at all...

how is that possible?  I thought only the Platonic solids, which go up to 20, have that feature.

[NE2]

Only the platonic solids have all faces and angles the same. A geodesic dome (or at least one type) has equilateral triangles for all faces, but the angles between faces are not identical. You can also have solids where the faces are not regular polygons, but are all identical (for example, take a cube and replace each face with a very shallow pyramid).

[agentsteel53]

Only the platonic solids have all faces and angles the same. A geodesic dome (or at least one type) has equilateral triangles for all faces, but the angles between faces are not identical. You can also have solids where the faces are not regular polygons, but are all identical (for example, take a cube and replace each face with a very shallow pyramid).

gotcha.  I'd actually envisioned the "small pyramids" concept, but had visualized a non-convex figure, which would be less than useful as a d120!

[NE2]

Really, it's easier to roll a d20 and d6 and use 6a-6+b, rather than hoping your d120 isn't a perpetual motion machine.

[vtk]

Some time ago I came up with a rough concept for a d120 which, unlike d100s I've seen, has all sides exactly the same size and shape. Though I don't play any games that use dice at all...

how is that possible?  I thought only the Platonic solids, which go up to 20, have that feature.

NE2 pretty much nailed it.  Take an icosohedron, and replace each triangular face with a shallow six-sided pyramid – or, take a dodecahedron and replace each pentagonal face with a shallow ten-sided pyramid; the same results are achievable either way.

[agentsteel53]

NE2 pretty much nailed it.  Take an icosohedron, and replace each triangular face with a shallow six-sided pyramid – or, take a dodecahedron and replace each pentagonal face with a shallow ten-sided pyramid; the same results are achievable either way.

how does one replace an N-sided polygon with a 2N-faced pyramid? 

having an unimaginative day today!  need more caffeine...

[vtk]

NE2 pretty much nailed it.  Take an icosohedron, and replace each triangular face with a shallow six-sided pyramid – or, take a dodecahedron and replace each pentagonal face with a shallow ten-sided pyramid; the same results are achievable either way.

how does one replace an N-sided polygon with a 2N-faced pyramid? 

having an unimaginative day today!  need more caffeine...

You have to break the original edges at their midpoints, and pull those midpoints out slightly from the center of the polyhedron.  Actually, you could get really fancy by rotating the pyramids slightly, but then you lose the congruency of all faces (unless you make N-faced pyramids instead of 2N-faced pyramids) – I think we need to start a new thread about math...

[agentsteel53]

You have to break the original edges at their midpoints, and pull those midpoints out slightly from the center of the polyhedron.  Actually, you could get really fancy by rotating the pyramids slightly, but then you lose the congruency of all faces (unless you make N-faced pyramids instead of 2N-faced pyramids) – I think we need to start a new thread about math...

yep, need more caffeine!  thanks for the explanation 

[6a]

I collect music, mostly CDs

I have a rather large music collection, mostly ripped from CDs borrowed from the public library.  What I think is a little less common about my music collection is the way I compile playlists, usually for a specific sound, emotion, or context.  Most folks I know with large music collections just tell their media player to play an artist, or play an album, or shuffle everything...

Yeah, I have...uhh...a lot of mp3's.  I get a kick when someone asks me what kind of music I like, because the answer is usually "what, today?"

I also like to collect license plates.  I'm working on a birth-year set and I'm only missing NC as far as having one from every state I lived in, because I actually gave it back to the state like a dummy.  Other than that, I dabble in ham radio and SKYWARN spotting during the odd bouts of severe weather, although I am responsible for one tornado warning