It's Big. It's Heavy. It's Wood.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

oh, and tonight's soundtrack (warning, not for the faint of heart, though you might still enjoy their version of "one" and "i wish i was a mole in the ground"):

wtf?!?

[jgh]

I also have some thoughts about Jocks and Nerds here at startingstrength.com, and how the two groups still don't play well together because of their different ways of viewing the world. But I'm tired, and need to actually get up early (for me) tomorrow to work. So. It'll have to wait.

Looking forward to it!

Also, that German goth band was pretty interesting. Reminds me of the type of stuff Aphex Twin used to do ages ago (spoons and white noise). Some of the related songs from your video on youtube are really cool. I used to want to play in a band that did music like Ein Gleiches (dark heroin rock is what I would have called it).

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Looking forward to it!

Second that. Probably some stuff that needs to be said.

[tertius]

wtf?!?

Blixa is a very eclectic musician. I've got a file somewhere of him singing "Somewhere over the rainbow" too. The looped screaming goes on for quite a bit longer on the record, I might add. Next workout I'll listen to "Halber Mensch" and post a link to "Das Schaben" which is the most brutal piece of noise music I know. I'm very fond of it.

Looking forward to it!

Also, that German goth band was pretty interesting. Reminds me of the type of stuff Aphex Twin used to do ages ago (spoons and white noise). Some of the related songs from your video on youtube are really cool. I used to want to play in a band that did music like Ein Gleiches (dark heroin rock is what I would have called it).

I'm a big Einstürzende Neubauten fan. If you're not familiar with their work, you should be...

[tertius]

Just got home a few minutes ago.

Not because of anything cool, though.

They company (read: one guy) I do technical support for had serious problems that last few days. So I spent from 8 pm til a little after 4 chasing BSODs, testing RAM, and so forth. I left my research gig to go do that. The upside is that doing the tech support stuff pays very well. The downside is that he doesn't have any money, and is, in fact, behind on his contract.

It's going to get to this point pretty soon:



I mean, he's a source of guaranteed income, because he's one of those people who have the opposite of the magic touch with computers:
Everything he uses, breaks. I like getting paid, but it's frustrating as hell.

So, no training for me, tonight. Bah!

[tertius]

Squat
70 x5x3

Chins (w/ band)
1-2-3-2-1, 1-2-1

Deadlift
175 x5x2

Odd night. Lost a little speck of my tattoo in the shower. Piece of old skin went, and took the new skin and pigment with it. Grr. Gonna happen, though. The skin on the chest is pretty thin and delicate, as these things go. It also occurs to me that I have an old, faint scar in that vicinity, which may have something to do with. Gonna have to get it touched up, though. Grrr.

Squats felt pretty good, only a little bit of complaint from the tendons. Wondering if my adductors are going to be sore, though. 70 pounds is still stupid easy, even for me. Was planning on doing a power snatch technique session today, but it's raining/misting outside, and humid as hell, so decided against that, and deadlifted instead. Good thing. If my session had consisted of doing light squats, assisted chins, and power snatch technique I would really have felt weak as hell. I mean, I know T-bone deadlifts more than I do, but pulling more than body weight off the floor still makes me feel strong. Getting close to running out of plates though, gonna need to make some decisions about that real soon. Seems like I'm making progress with chins, at least. I feel like the band is causing me to gain strength in an odd way, since the bottom of the movement is much more assisted than the top. Not sure what to do about it. I'm also considering switching to pull-ups, as they seem like the more functional movement, and I'm not all that worried about my biceps. There's always curlz, after all.

Did my lifting to this album (another live performance video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrlHT...eature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAWJK...eature=related (not the best sound quality)
This band is fabulous. Their first record is about the sea, and has the sexiest song about a tugboat ever written. The second (from whence come these songs) is about the decline of Industrial America, and features amazing guests, including the terrifying and awesome Ms. Carla Bozulich (second video, her record Evangelista is best described as terror-rock), Tom Waits, and Mike Watt. It's not all heavy, though. I recommend listening to the song "Traineater" as well, which is the eponymous track, and is a sort of ballad to locomotive that is being scrapped.
Their third record just came out, and is about man's yearning for space. I should have it on Friday. I'm totally stoked. Now, to eat ham. And then, perhaps, Nerds.

Also, though. Man, I used that a lot in this post.

[tertius]

Briefly, and probably less elegantly than I would like: Nerds, and Jocks.


This film was formative in my youth. Because I've clearly been, if not a nerd (I tend to dress a bit better than that), then a geek. Some say geeks are ascendant these days, but only in certain economic niches, and we have yet to wield much political power (see President Gore).

One of the primary barriers between nerds and their ilk from the rest of people, and jocks (in the broadest sense) in particular, is how they communicate, how they treat the acquisition and allocation of respect, and how they settle disputes. Much of this can be seen in the little dramas that pepper our weird little forum on a regular basis, as people who navigate the 'tubes like jocks crash headlong into the maw of geekdom.

There are some similarities, of course. Both groups tend to be quite hierarchical and competitive in their own ways. The problem, i think, lies in how those hierarchies are navigated by those within them, and how new members of the group are made to fit into those structures.

Now, Jocks have a hierarchy based on performance and experience, and allocate respect accordingly. Generally speaking, outsiders will begin at the bottom of the scrotum pole, and can only move upwards by a combination of being good at what they do, being a 'team player', persistence, and earning the approval of an authority figure, such as a coach. This is not to rule out political jockeying, of course. There's plenty of that, it's just within this framework. For people who believe they are in a position high in the hierarchy, respect is simply expected from others, and failing to receive it is a major insult. Disputes are settled according to hierarchical structure, i.e. I squat more than you, and have been doing it longer, so shut the fuck up. Typically, this structure is fairly stable, and slow to change. Put simply, Jocks are somewhat Authoritarian.

Geeks, similarly have a hierarchy based on performance and experience, but they do not typically have many recognized authority figures (like a coach) who can bestow group membership. Additionally, respect is not something that is freely given out based on hierarchical position, but is something that must be earned, and newcomers can rapidly climb the social ladder by aggressive displays of prowess (much the same as jocks, with major caveats). A geek or nerd arriving in a new group will be rudely awoken if he expects to simply receive respect without first being seriously challenged. Differences are settled by debate, primarily, and there is no social rank (except perhaps for the equivalent of 'Wizard' from hacking circles, and maybe not even then) that cannot be challenged and be able to dismiss debate. Thus, Geek hierarchies tend to be fairly fluid, with social status changing rapidly based on recent events, shifting alliances and politicking. This can make geek groups less welcoming than you might expect, as those with status cannot be assured of hanging on to it in the same way that their Jock counterparts can. Geeks, in stark contrast to Jocks, tend to be rather Anarchistic.

When these two crowds mix, you run into problems very rapidly, depending on who is the majority. In a place like this, which is fairly rife with nerds/geeks, newcomers can get put through the grinder pretty quickly. For a geek, this isn't a big deal, really. It's something we're used to, and it's a chance to show off your chops. And we're probably going to come out of the corner swinging, anyway. See my entry to the forum, about a year ago for reference, as evidence. Now, for a Jock, used to a stable system of respect, confident in their position, and expecting others to shut up when addressed by their betters, this is really difficult to navigate, sort of insulting, and on the internet leads to things like, say... bringing up someone's numbers in an attempt to discredit their argument. Similarly, Authoritarian Jock types cannot navigate the seething turmoil of endless debate that is Geek culture. Even the cool ones, like Wendler and Matt Reynolds. It's just a waste of time and stupid, from their perspective.

Now, I feel like Rip is actually a Geek. He has a distaste for the word 'coach', loves Star Trek, and arguing. He welcomes insight from us peons, but he'll quickly dismantle someone who doesn't know what the fuck they're talking about. And hence his work attracts geeks, and his forum is loaded to the goddamn gills with them.
The "Wake-up Call" thread is a great example of these two ways of thinking colliding. Rip clearly wanted to engage in a real debate on the issues, but defenders of the status-quo simply made endless appeals to authority, Jock style. Coach said it's this way, he's at the top, and knows what he's talking about, so that's how we do it.

And now I really need to go to bed.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

Nice post.

[Mark E. Hurling]

What Sully said. Great insight into geekdom. I see some of this amongst the engineers of all types that I support these days. It often reminds me of watching social interactions of meerkats. I loved the Nerds movies. The big hairy tormentor for the frat boys lived near me I discovered when his daughter and ours went to the same pre-school and later grade school. Nice guy in person despite his fearsome appearance and movie persona. He was also the doomed side kick of Van Damme in Bloodsport. I see him in the barbarian versions of the Capital One credit card commmercials these days. By the way do you watch The Big Bang Theory? Love that show. It too illustrates nerdy-geeky hierarchical relations.

[tertius]

Thanks fellas.

I don't watch much TV, MEH. I only get PBS.