h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The newly updated article is a big improvement - however it still lacks something... a few things come to mind.

About "showering" - technically, it's only proper (or "full", as in "full shower") if the balls are *passed* back to the hand that's doing the large throws. If you do a little throw, it's called a half shower. A full shower is *much* more difficult to do than a half shower... a three ball full shower, for example, is close in terms of difficulty to juggling three balls in one hand - and it's a lot more difficult than a three ball cascade.

Why people juggle:

To my mind, there are three main reasons. In no particular order:

To impress people. Juggling *is* quite impressive - although several years' practice is required to actually put on a decent performance. Anyone who likes performing in front of a group of people, or just getting attention, might take up juggling for this reason...

Secondly, juggling is fun. Once you start... well, it's difficult to explain. Essentially, it's the thrill you got as a kid from being able to catch a ball... multiplied several thousand times over. There is a feeling of power, of control, of being able to do something that few other people can... of being really *good* at something that's difficult to do. If you can find someone else to juggle with, and to learn juggling alongside, the fun can only increase.

Thirdly. I *know* there was a third reason... um... possibly it's to make money, I can't remember, I had all this sorted out in my head last night... *shrug* ah well, I'll post a followup if I remember. Perhaps someone could suggest something?

Relative difficulties in juggling:

I thought it might be interesting to have some lists of how long it might take to learn various skills in juggling... it also gives me a chance to show off . So, here's what I can do, along with approximate learning times (practicing about half an hour a day, on average...):

3 ball cascade - 5 hours
2 balls in one hand - two weeks
*confident* 3 ball cascade - one month
*confident* 2 balls in one hand - one month
4 ball fountain - one month
3 club cascade - three months (also includes knives, torches, etc)
3 ball simple tricks - three months
5 ball cascade (very dodgy) - four months
*confident* 4 ball fountain - four months
*confident* 3 club cascade - five months
3 ball complex tricks - six months
3 club cascade, double spins - eight months
3 club cascade, triple/quadrouple spins - twelve months
3 balls in one hand - fourteen months
*confident* 5 ball cascade - fourteen months

These are all approximate (I may check in my diary, and get some *real* dates - I'll post them if they make me look better than these do , but they give a reasonable idea of relative difficult... juggling three balls in one hand is several hundred times more difficult than juggling three balls in two hands.

And that, I think, is all I have to say on the subject... for now. Until then - keep juggling!

Not sure I totally agree with you about showering. I'd say it was a half shower if the little throw to the hand doing the bigh throwing went up slightly. If it's straight across (making the whole thing like a circle with a flat bottom) then I'd still call that a shower personally.
Your times sound about right, although I'm still working on five balls. (I'll have to start practising half-an-hour a day, rather than just once a week!) Any opinions on other juggly type things? I can unicycle (kinda) after a couple of months (doing about half an hour a week whenever I could borrow one), basic diabolo tricks you can pick up in an hour or so I'd say, as with yo-yo tricks (although I still haven't managed Splitting the Atom yet How do you get the thing to sleep that long!). I got a rolo-bolo going more-or-less in a few hours (although gave up soon after that, falling off is far too dodgy for my liking!). Any cigar-box/devil-stickers out there care to comment?

Hmmm... *thinks*... that sounds about right. Certainly if the throw across does go up, it's definitely a half shower... other than that, I'm not quite sure. Personally I'd call it a full shower if it's quite a bit more difficult than a half shower...

I'm still improving my five ball cascade... my record is about 90 throws, which ain't easy .

I'll have to try the unicycling... certainly it could improve my act a lot, or it would if I had one .