4 ms·

Unlocking the mathematical formula of juggling (2012) [video]

22 points by ColinWright 3y ago

OfSanguineFire 3y ago
XScreensaver had a juggler screensaver[0] where one of the optional things you could toggle was showing the Cambridge notation for each juggling pattern that the little man did. Especially because of this mathematical element, juggling has a lot of nerd appeal, but it must be a pretty age-limited pastime. I’m now in my forties and it hurts to repeatedly bend down when I mess up performing even the beginner’s moves, so I’m unlike to devote myself to learning Rubenstein’s Revenge. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkKaXBOvCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkKaXBOvCA
- fanf2 3y ago
  Practice in front of a bed!
- jugglerAndrew 3y ago
  Most jugglers learn to kick up. That is, using your foot, slide the prop from the ground to your other foot, and do a quick lift of the foot so that the prop flies up vertically in the air which you can then grab. A lot faster and no back pain.
tomjuggler 3y ago
123456789 https://jugglingedge.com/help/siteswapanimator.php?Pattern=123456789 https://jugglingedge.com/help/siteswapanimator.php?Pattern=1...
jugglerAndrew 3y ago
The juggling notation presented in the video is commonly referred to as siteswap. If you search for that term on youtube, you will see lots of fascinating patterns being juggled. Juggling is really interesting to me because while the activity has existed for millennia (I believe there are Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting juggling), there was not a whole lot of innovation until the 1980s, outside of circus acts. Innovation has accelerated due to the internet, but the hobby/sport/art still feels very immature. It’s performative, challenging, and individualistic (although passing, or juggling between multiple people, is a common practice) in a way that reminds me of skateboarding, but it has never had a true pop culture moment. So juggling remains quite irrelevant and unpopular to most of the population.
- ColinWright 3y ago
  Paul Klimek invented the notation (or an equivalent) first and called it "Quantum Juggling". Bengt and Boppo invented it at the same as us, and they called it SiteSwap, and while we never named it, others referred to it as "The Cambridge Notation." But the name SiteSwap has stuck. As you juggle you throw the balls (or other objects to yourself, but in the future. In the standard pattern you're always throwing things the same height, and hence the same distance into the future. But you can throw things different distances into the future. The trick is then to make sure you don't get more than one thing landing at the same time[0]. So you take a collection of throws and permute their landing times. Thus you have swapped the (temporal) landing sites. Hence SiteSwap. [0] In the simplest and original version of the notation. Enhancements now allow for all the variations you can think of.

22 points by ColinWright 3y ago

XScreensaver had a juggler screensaver[0] where one of the optional things you could toggle was showing the Cambridge notation for each juggling pattern that the little man did. Especially because of this mathematical element, juggling has a lot of nerd appeal, but it must be a pretty age-limited pastime. I’m now in my forties and it hurts to repeatedly bend down when I mess up performing even the beginner’s moves, so I’m unlike to devote myself to learning Rubenstein’s Revenge. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkKaXBOvCA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJkKaXBOvCA

fanf2 3y ago
Practice in front of a bed!
jugglerAndrew 3y ago
Most jugglers learn to kick up. That is, using your foot, slide the prop from the ground to your other foot, and do a quick lift of the foot so that the prop flies up vertically in the air which you can then grab. A lot faster and no back pain.

tomjuggler 3y ago

123456789 https://jugglingedge.com/help/siteswapanimator.php?Pattern=123456789 https://jugglingedge.com/help/siteswapanimator.php?Pattern=1...

jugglerAndrew 3y ago

The juggling notation presented in the video is commonly referred to as siteswap. If you search for that term on youtube, you will see lots of fascinating patterns being juggled. Juggling is really interesting to me because while the activity has existed for millennia (I believe there are Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting juggling), there was not a whole lot of innovation until the 1980s, outside of circus acts. Innovation has accelerated due to the internet, but the hobby/sport/art still feels very immature. It’s performative, challenging, and individualistic (although passing, or juggling between multiple people, is a common practice) in a way that reminds me of skateboarding, but it has never had a true pop culture moment. So juggling remains quite irrelevant and unpopular to most of the population.

ColinWright 3y ago
Paul Klimek invented the notation (or an equivalent) first and called it "Quantum Juggling". Bengt and Boppo invented it at the same as us, and they called it SiteSwap, and while we never named it, others referred to it as "The Cambridge Notation." But the name SiteSwap has stuck. As you juggle you throw the balls (or other objects to yourself, but in the future. In the standard pattern you're always throwing things the same height, and hence the same distance into the future. But you can throw things different distances into the future. The trick is then to make sure you don't get more than one thing landing at the same time[0]. So you take a collection of throws and permute their landing times. Thus you have swapped the (temporal) landing sites. Hence SiteSwap. [0] In the simplest and original version of the notation. Enhancements now allow for all the variations you can think of.