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The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

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Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#81
post #9

>> Will it get me another job? ... If you can’t understand why I don’t waste my energy on doing seven balls overhead for a minute to make a youtube video for people to watch, then you haven’t entered the real world yet. I had a similar discussion with my office colleagues a few weeks back. When there was a call for a 'Hacknight' at our workplace to drive revenues up, when a SVP panicked he was going to miss his targe…

Yeah, i used to organize hack days. It was mostly one vacation day i managed to get for the team where a few would come in and hack on games or whatever.

Until a vp decided to join. Then hacks had to be about creating products and ideas had to be documented, and someone had to "win".

Now the occasional hack that benefited the company as a side effect of almost free motivation and team building disappeared. Only the most suck Ups juniors appears. And all ideas pitch how much money the company could make but are not really fun or challenging to implement.

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#82
post #9

>> Will it get me another job? ... If you can’t understand why I don’t waste my energy on doing seven balls overhead for a minute to make a youtube video for people to watch, then you haven’t entered the real world yet. I had a similar discussion with my office colleagues a few weeks back. When there was a call for a 'Hacknight' at our workplace to drive revenues up, when a SVP panicked he was going to miss his targe…

How could you be small enough for a Hacknight but big enough to have an SVP?

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#83
post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A performing juggler once told me (an amateur), after he showed me a technically challenging bit: There are bits you do for an audience, and there are bits you do for other jugglers. It sounds like Gatto liked the doing the technical bits more than he liked working for an audience. Now, years later, I find that programming has a similar pattern: there is code that one writes for an audience (and that thus is more mai…

Interesting - I would say it's the inverse. The complex, challenging, and spectacular code that gets blasted out is for the audience (user/customer) - but the most beautiful, simple, and maintainable code can only be written by those with the greatest skill, and are mostly appreciated by other developers of likewise experience. In a way, it's a bit like juggling - that non-flash, simple routine, which concisely and c…

The boring stuff is for the mass audience in programming:

"I need that button greyed out unless the value in that box is greater than zero."

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#84
post #78
post #9

>> Will it get me another job? ... If you can’t understand why I don’t waste my energy on doing seven balls overhead for a minute to make a youtube video for people to watch, then you haven’t entered the real world yet. I had a similar discussion with my office colleagues a few weeks back. When there was a call for a 'Hacknight' at our workplace to drive revenues up, when a SVP panicked he was going to miss his targe…

I'd love to read a story about a 'Hacknight' that was a wild success where everyone got 6 figure bonuses.

i think that only happens if you work for organized crime syndicates, running ddos extortions for your mob boss.

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#85
post #29

Great article but it makes no mention of Michael Moschen, who many (including me) consider the best & most creative juggler in the world. Here are some mind-blowing physics that I think the HN community, in particular, would enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHoedoSUXY He's also well-known for "contact juggling," where the balls don't leave the hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OTb8tga-yg

I was shocked to click on this article and realize that they were talking about someone other than Michael Moschen.

I believe Moschen is the only juggler to have won a MacArthur "genius grant"[0]

(He has also worked with David Bowie[1], which makes him not just a genius but a badass in my books, but I digress....)

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moschen

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_%28film%29

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#86
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I assume OP is from the commonwealth. Don Bradman is a household name here

And I ask you is he any good?

With an average of almost 100, he was the very best and will be the benchmark that all future greats will be compared to.

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#88
post #29

Great article but it makes no mention of Michael Moschen, who many (including me) consider the best & most creative juggler in the world. Here are some mind-blowing physics that I think the HN community, in particular, would enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjHoedoSUXY He's also well-known for "contact juggling," where the balls don't leave the hands: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OTb8tga-yg

I was shocked to click on this article and realize that they were talking about someone other than Michael Moschen. I believe Moschen is the only juggler to have won a MacArthur "genius grant"[0] (He has also worked with David Bowie[1], which makes him not just a genius but a badass in my books, but I digress....) [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moschen [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labyrinth_%28film%29

As an amateur juggler, Anthony Gatto is exactly who I expected this to be about. The article perfectly nails the tension of juggling: it's theoretically a performance art, but one in which there is almost no audience who can appreciate it.

I think it's akin to free jazz, or car shows, or other weird passions where eventually the experts can only be understood by other experts.

I did find it weird that they made no mention of Vova's sister Olga. Did she leave juggling?

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#89
post #40

Speaking as a juggler: I've seen Gatto in performance (in Kooza in 2008); he's every bit as good as the article says. I've also seen (and met) many other top jugglers. And yet, to be honest, while I appreciate the talent and skill required to do the kinds of numbers and moves Gatto does, and even though I understand the difficulty of pulling off, e.g., 7 clubs or 7-ball 5-up 360s or 6-club backcrosses — I find this t…

> My favorite juggler to watch is Falco Scheffler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CmnaICnMiw — no high numbers here, just 3 and 4 balls.

As a hobbyist juggler, his performance is really fun to watch on two levels. At its simplest, it's just a beautiful, flowing routine. It's really cool seeing one pattern become the next and the abrupt transitions between some are almost giggle-inducingly delightful.

At the same time, I can watch it with a juggler's eye and go, Rubenstein's Revenge, Windmill, Take-outs, Columns, The Machine, ....

It's exciting seeing a performance that is magical in total but that contains a bunch of pieces I can recognize and do myself.

Re: The greatest juggler alive quit to open a construction business

#90
post #81
post #9

>> Will it get me another job? ... If you can’t understand why I don’t waste my energy on doing seven balls overhead for a minute to make a youtube video for people to watch, then you haven’t entered the real world yet. I had a similar discussion with my office colleagues a few weeks back. When there was a call for a 'Hacknight' at our workplace to drive revenues up, when a SVP panicked he was going to miss his targe…

Yeah, i used to organize hack days. It was mostly one vacation day i managed to get for the team where a few would come in and hack on games or whatever. Until a vp decided to join. Then hacks had to be about creating products and ideas had to be documented, and someone had to "win". Now the occasional hack that benefited the company as a side effect of almost free motivation and team building disappeared. Only the m…

>>someone had to "win".

Completely agree. Once this comes in team mates stop working for each other, instead begin working against each other.

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