| Date: | June 13, 2005 / year-entry #150 |
| Tags: | non-computer |
| Orig Link: | https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20050613-17/?p=35333 |
| Comments: | 6 |
| Summary: | In Seattle this weekend, you will have the opportunity to see people throwing things more things into the air than they have hands for, and even learn how to do it yourself: [T]he primary goal of this festival will be to teach as many people to juggle as possible. The Big Show is Saturday at... |
In Seattle this weekend, you will have the opportunity to see people throwing things more things into the air than they have hands for, and even learn how to do it yourself:
The Big Show is Saturday at 7pm. The events are free but donations are accepted. |
Comments (6)
Comments are closed. |
Off-topic:
I wonder why programmers tend towards various but mostly predictable hobbies: juggling, martial arts, cartoons, gaming, techy gadgety hacks (okay, that’s a given), etc.
Juggling in particular seems like a strange correlation. I learned to juggle when I should’ve been studying for finals. And since there were a lot of finals I should’ve been studying for I learned to juggle pretty well. ;-)
Any tips from some more accomplished jugglers for someone who does 3 pretty well trying to learn 4? (Crossing over, not 2 in each hand)
I guess if you list all hobbies available, then you can say any group chooses predictable (listed) hobbies :-).
If you want to cross four balls you have to either throw a 5-ball pattern (4 with a hole) or throw them in a shower pattern (a circle). That’s the way the math works out.
See examples here: http://juggling.org/help/balls/four/
I started juggling last summer. I can do a 5 cascade pretty well now (maxing out at 107 catches, last night actually). It’s a fantastically fun thing to do. I’ve discovered that people are pretty unimpressed with you until you can do 5, at that point, they’ll look at you mildly interested for 3-5 minutes. But I do it for myself, not for them.
Learning new things in juggling is a very incremental process. You have to start on the easier things before you can move to the harder. Don’t skip steps.
"Crossing over" with 4 balls (assuming you mean like a 3 ball cascade, but with 4) is hard, because it is asymmetrical. Definitely start with 2 in each hand first. Then you can try a synchronous half shower (throw two balls at once to the other hand, one ball going higher than the other ball). And learn a bunch of 3 ball tricks first too. Get your brain prepared for the extra speed of that fourth ball.
Why do programmers gravitate to juggling?
1. Something to do during those long compiles
back in school, when it’s too impractical
to get a football or baseball game going.
2. Club passing, particularly with more than
two passers, is like a physical realization of
an elegant 5-line lisp function.
3. Two words: site swaps
4. Trivia question (it’s not horrible
etiquette to pose one in someone else’s
comment blog, is it?):
Which well-known juggler has a Knuth book
dedicated to him? Which Knuth book?
How could you forget the beloved hobby of music? We OWN that one!! 12 guys in my group, I play sax and about 8 play guitar, one being a music major. How do you like those odds?