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Everyone was nice to me, but I found it hard to participate in some of the conversations because everyone else there was fluent in Gearhead and I just don't care. It was all

One dude: "How do you like that model BLQ45Z?"
Other dude: "It's got pretty good flang, but the chimping bleederweep doesn't zerbert as well as I like in the corners."
First dude: "I heard that floppykush helps with the zerberting, tried that?"
Third dude: "My next squelch is gonna be a floppykush! Used to have a panpan bleederweep, but you know what they say about those oilsquirms!"
All dudes: [nod sagely and then argue]

Context is locked; QWP.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

recessional

I always take comfort in knowing that this is exactly what me and friends sound like to non-writers all the time.

From:

rydra_wong

I have pretty much exactly these conversations about trad climbing gear, which is essentially designed for people to get very obsessive and geeky about small bits of metal.

There's a particular bit of kit called a tricam, where liking/using/rambling about the merits of tricams marks you out as geeky even by trad climber standards.

I like tricams.

From:

recessional

Uhhhuh.

It also occurs to me as I literally note a reply on the Voynitch Manuscript Is Solved post I reblogged/added commentary to that also, mediaeval documents. That is the other one that I am this opaque on: mediaeval documents, laws, scripts, and so on.

As I restrain myself from going "don't be ABSURD a modern gyno would have been utterly fucking useless it says RIGHT IN THE ARTICLE that this was cracked by someone recognizing idiosyncratic Latin strict abbreviations and patterns of instruction illustration are you blind?!"

Because I suddenly realize that THIS PROBABLY DOESN'T CONVEY AS MUCH INFO TO EVERYONE AS IT DOES TO ME.

From:

birke

It's illustrative that I understand your comment -- except for the absolutely critical term "trad climbing." (And then of course the "tricam.")

From:

rydra_wong

Yes, the technical conversations are universal, it's just the subject matter that differs!

ETA: please note that it is taking heroic self-restraint for me not to go I CAN TELL YOU ALL ABOUT TRAD CLIMBING AND TRICAMS.

Which, I think, also illustrates the whole issue.

Edited Date: 2017-09-10 06:38 pm (UTC)

From:

jjhunter

I'd be interesting in hearing more about trad climbing and tricams!

From:

rydra_wong

OKAY SO, not sure how much of this you are already familiar with, but:

"Trad climbing" = rock climbing protected by a rope and assorted small cleverly-designed bits of metal which you have to wiggle and wedge into cracks in the rock yourself. Which obviously provides strong motivation to collect and geek out about the small cleverly-designed bits of metal.

This is distinct from "sport climbing" (rock climbing protected by a rope and bolts which have already been drilled into the rock), "bouldering" (rock climbing protected by being pretty close to the ground and also a big squishy mat -- boulderers get no shiny metal at all so have to compensate by being extra-geeky about the finer details of climbing shoes) or "free soloing" (rock climbing protected by nothing at all; see Alex Honnold).

Tricams = a kind of obscure trad protection gear, small bits of metal shaped kind of like a kidney with a pointy nose, attached to some stiff nylon or dyneema tape. Depending on who you talk to, either arcane, superseded and pointless (as well as a pain in the arse to remove from the rock afterwards) or indispensible (and a pain in the arse to remove from the rock afterwards).

If you're interested in climbing, the curious are always welcome in

disobey_gravity!

From:

jjhunter

Ooo, awesome!

Also, much amused that everyone can agree that tricams are a pain in the arse to remove from the rock afterwards, regardless of whether they think they're indispensible or superseded + pointless.

*googles for some images*

Those look like the kinds of things I hope explorers of new-to-human worlds bring with them just in case - they look as mysterious and all-purposeful useful as a swiss army knife looked to me the first time I saw one.

From:

rydra_wong

Also, much amused that everyone can agree that tricams are a pain in the arse to remove from the rock afterwards

There's a special trick to it ...

*googles for some images*

If you google for images of "cams" (and add "climbing" so you don't get bits of car engines or webcams), you'll see what are technically "spring-loaded camming devices", which were invented by a guy who was literally a rocket scientist.

Cams are awesome! And the invention of cams has made much trad climbing much safer, especially on the gritstone which is where I do most of my trad. I love my cams.

However, tricams do essentially the same thing with no moving parts, which I find so conceptually elegant. And you can fit them into placements where regular cams won't fit. So sometimes a tricam will protect you when nothing else will.

From:

ixt

Ooh, I love learning about things I didn't even know existed! Plus, as a mechanical engineering student, I share your love for things that lack moving parts, because of how they tend to be harder to break. And the tricam shape looks so simplistic, I approve of it on principle :)

From:

niqaeli

Fannish metadata delights me, personally. We compress so much information into such an opaque and impenetrable yet so tidily compact format! (I mean, with the key it's trivial. Without... ha, have fun. See: your medieval manuscripts.) I give you: K/S, D/s dubcon, 5k pwp.

So much data there! So absolutely baffling to anyone not thoroughly immersed in the jargon.

From:

rydra_wong

I mean, with the key it's trivial. Without... ha, have fun. See: your medieval manuscripts.

What we're saying here is that the Voynich manuscript is the index for a medieval fic exchange, right?