Hi Guys my boys were at the eumundi markets last sat 17th may, they played stickball with you and rushed back to my stall saying mum we just played the coolest game ever etc etc. thankyou for that Right first of all, whom was playing StickBall in the daylight, where they could be seen.
William Smith, D.C.L., LL.D.: A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, John Murray, London, 1875.
PILA (σφαῖρα), a ball.a The game at ball (σφαιριστική) was one of the most favourite gymnastic exercises of the Greeks and Romans from the earliest times to the fall of the Roman empire. As the ancients were fond of attributing the invention of all games to particular persons or occasions, we find the same to be the case with respect to the origin of this game (Herod. I.94; Athen. I. p14D, E; Plin. VII.56), but such statements do not deserve attention. What is more to the purpose in reference to its antiquity is, that we find it mentioned in the Odyssey (vi.100, &c. viii.370, &c.), where it is played by the Phaeacian damsels to the sound of music, and also by two celebrated performers at the court of Alcinous in a most artistic manner accompanied with dancing.
The various movements of the body required in the game of ball gave elasticity and grace to the figure; whence it was highly esteemed by the Greeks. The Athenians set so high a value on it, that they conferred upon Aristonicus of Carystus the right of citizenship, and erected a statue to his honour, on account of his skill in the game (Athen. I. p19A; compare Suidas, s.v. Ὄρχησ.) It was equally esteemed by the other states of Greece; the young Spartans, when they were leaving the condition of ephebi, we called σφαιρεῖς (Paus. III.14 §6; Böckh, Corp. Inscr. n1386, 1432), probably because their chief exercise was the game at ball. Every complete Gymnasium had a room (σφαιριστήριον, σφαίριστρα) devoted to this exercise [Gymnasium], where a special teacher (σφαιριστρικός) gave instruction in the art; for it required no small skill and practice to play it well and gracefully.
I was in the town of B. visiting a sick relative of mine, and with me were two of my other friends from the school. It was here that we chanced upon a street game which, of course with our impulsive behaviour and rash pride in our flourishing new skills, we couldn't help but join in. We should have listened to our teacher more. When one is learning power one needs control, if the control is not yet learnt then it is best not to draw attention to ones self. For reasons that are obvious as this tale showed me.
Well here is the first ever fully dodgy JobSeekers Guide Video format.
I hope you understand this will get better with audience participation. I now have a working (sic) studio and the know how to produce this show. Who wants to be first on.
I cannot tell you how excite this makes me bro. I been waiting for someone to do this for years. This brings on so many thoughts about mapping play etc and the corelation to physics. This means the beginning of StickBall Computing. Do you realise what you have done.
As I opened my eyes from my indulgent reminiscing I was fully surprised to see three local youths of about the ages of twenty or so, I could tell they were local because of their clothing, carrying what seemed to me to be a training ball similar to our own and a jumbled collection of old, battered sticks. I thought the game was still outlawed in this part of the country and perhaps it was this which fired my excitment. I nudged Gabriel and nodded to the stage like section of the market square where most of the street entertainment was performed.
As I wandered alone through the endless desert country, I rounded a corner and before me were two dudes. The two dudes passed a ball to each other using the tecnique which has come to be known as StickBall. This involved Sticks. Wonderful i thought as the ball described a rather lovely parabola through the evening sky.
Published in [[Internationale Situationniste]] #2, 1958
One of the basic situationist practices is the derive [literally: “drifting”], a technique of rapid passage through varied ambiances. Derives involve playful-constructive behavior and awareness of psychogeographical effects, and are thus quite different from the classic notions of journey or stroll.
In a dérive one or more persons during a certain period drop their relations, their work and leisure activities, and all their other usual motives for movement and action, and let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there. Chance is a less important factor in this activity than one might think: from a dérive point of view cities have psychogeographical contours, with constant currents, fixed points and vortexes that strongly discourage entry into or exit from certain zones.
But the dérive includes both this letting-go and its necessary contradiction: the domination of psychogeographical variations by the knowledge and calculation of their possibilities. In this latter regard, ecological science — despite the narrow social space to which it limits itself — provides psychogeography with abundant data.
