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PaperclipPerfector  3mo ago (text post)   2918 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for January 5, 2025

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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What happened with or to KulakRevolt/FromKulak? I never checked out the culture war threads since I got my fix from nrx blogs and Hindu Twitter, though I wish I switched out the latter with the CW here. This isn't an attempt to gossip or concern troll, he's clearly a very skilled writer and fairly smart, I don't have much context as to how he went from his motte post of the year to a much more cynical attitude.

I wish him well.

What happened is kind of a sad story. Kulak, you see, unsuccessfully attempted the hock… and the rest is as it is.

The hock?

IIRC (I probably don't): A while ago, a user on this site kept posting about how he was going to be dropped off by helicopter with nothing but a knife in an isolated location as a way to forge himself into a real man or die trying. The isolated location was Hock Mountain, so he called this escapade "the Hock". The moderators eventually banned him for being a single-issue poster, since he kept talking about it but never actually did it.

The isolated location was Hock Mountain,

That mountain would have been a sensible choice -- as I recall his actual goal was a winter crossing of the Brooks range in Northern Alaska, which is much more ambitious.

I forget why he wants to call it The Hock, he may have been coy on this point...

"Hock" in this context means to throw; he intended to "Hock" himself out into the wilderness to survive by his grit.

It doesn't though -- "huck" means "throw"; "hock" is something the guy just kind of made up. (ironically there's also kind of snowshoe/ski hybrid called "Hok", that would have been a better equipment choice for his quest than what I recall him considering -- I don't think he knows about them though)

I did in fact consider and reject Hok skis. They didn't fit ski crampons and seem like they'd do poorly on the flat.

Did you get a chance to do any ski mountaineering yet? You'll find that nothing is 'good' on the flats if you are breaking trail.

As for crampons, the ones I know about attach more to the binding than the ski, and I'm sure I've seen ones fat enough to go on those skis -- but if you are climbing anything too steep for the skins on a solo trip like that, you have made some bad choices. (like, untenably bad -- as distinct from the background level of bad choices involved in the whole project)

Welcome back.

I've teased you in comments, but I'm glad you're alive and well.

You're back! Glad to hear you're still alive.

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