Weird hobbies. Oh, and stupid people in trucks.

Rant first:

I'm an Albertan, and I hate trucks.

Pick-up trucks, to be precise.

For those non-Canadians out there, there's a cliche about Albertans and pick-ups. As in, damned near everyone has one.

AND IT'S TRUE.

And I hate them. I hate the gas-guzzling, I hate the noise of the diesels, I hate the stupid unnecessary size of them, and I hate the fact that ninety percent of the people in Alberta who own trucks don't really need them. Way to perpetuate a stereotype.

More than anything, though, I hate the idiots who drive pick-up trucks. That's not to say that everyone who drives a truck is an idiot, but there's enough of them out there to make me wonder if the truck dealerships require their customers to sign certified papers of idiocy before they're allowed to drive their new trucks home.

Examples of idiots? Well, how about the idiots who drive diesel three-quarter ton chromed-up penis substitutes and take up three spaces by angling into parking spots so that no one will hurt their precious babies. Oh, and if you don't think pick-ups are penis substitutes, then why do truck nuts even exist? Apparently, when you have no balls to begin with you're required to dangle the plastic version from your idiotic truck so that everyone knows you're not completely emasculated.

I should probably mention at this point that I was cut off not once but twice yesterday by left-turning idiots in trucks. Once when I was going down the highway at 100 km/h (nearly had to change my undies after that one. It was close). Nothing like entitled idiots in trucks to make you wish your car horn did more than just meep meep... I'd say choice and very loud profanities would be much more appropriate.

In fairness, I should also mention that this is currently going on in my hometown. Town population more than doubles. Truck population more than doubles. Idiot population? I'd say we're looking at about 300%.

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That went on a little longer than planned, so I'll keep the other part short. I have a few weird hobbies,and I spent altogether too much time at one of them this morning. I know you'll find this odd, but I like to play with... recommendations algorithms.

You know, the "you might also like" suggestions you get on some websites. In my case, I mess around with the one on Large Internet Book Retailer That Sells Everything in the World Now.

Hey, they don't need me to advertise them.

It's fun to play with their recommendations page because a) you're given a chance to say Not Interested and then refresh the page for different suggestions, b) I've bought an assortment of different things from them over the years, and c) I guess my tastes are a little unusual. It makes for a very confusing time for the poor little program that's trying to figure out what I like, and I enjoy that probably a little too much.

Let's see... she bought House MD DVDs. That means she likes television shows. We'll show her all the boxed sets available from every TV show out there. Hmm. She just clicked Not Interested on every single one. Well, what else does she like? She's got some classic literature. That's easy. We've got lots of that. Wait. She doesn't seem to like anything past the 19th century. But she bought a philosophy book. That's it! Classic thinkers! Oh dammit, now she's on to silly British comedy. Are there any comic philosophers? She ordered a DS game? Electronics, here we come. Oh, now it's moleskines. They make tons of different styles. Wait! Wait! Art! She's buying art stuff AND she's added some to her wishlist. We've got this figured out now... CAMERA LENSES? She's searching camera lenses? Are you effing kidding me?

I try so hard to break its little brain, and it tries so hard to please me with some of the weirdest suggestions you could ever imagine. I find it endlessly entertaining.



Yeah, yeah, I know. But don't knock it 'til you've tried it. It can be a bit addicting.

Lunch for me now. You've got plenty of words anyway, considering how little I've posted lately. See you tomorrow.





Oh, one more thing, speaking of weird hobbies. Did anyone guess the mystery plant in today's pointless photo? I'll post the answer in the comments, if anyone cares.