Ask Carroll

[Nick Carroll]

ha ha there's heaps of sledging in free surfs, mostly in sarcastically delivered praise and attempts to sell each other on wave selection

in-heat sledging was pretty popular on and off in the 80s and 90s but has mostly died off - occasionally people tell each other to fcuk off (see Micro/Gabriel at Snapper for instance) but I wouldn't call that witty. The increasingly sanctified priority has taken a lot of the heat out of heats if you get my drift.

I think sledging is more a thing in team sports really. In things like surfing, the athletes tend to slag off at third parties like the judges/umpires etc. In a team environment you are protected, whereas individuals are a bit more aware that what they say to an opponent might come back to bite 'em.

re the girls, they can totally be bitchy about each other in private, just as the boys can be, it's like fcuken high school sometimes. That's where you hear some witty comments, when pros are making fun of each other behind each other's backs.

[Drailed]

Nick, has Kelly sent you any Outerknown freebies?

[Little]

Nick, why is it that opinionated women on the telly, ( usually aging ex Cleo editors clinging on by the skin of their teeth ) always harp on about body image problems associated with the glamourisation of gorgeous models and actresses but on the other hand, admonish those who hand it out to hideously obese "celebrities" like Magda Zsubanski and that other big unit ( from some morning panel show ) often calling them beautiful or "comfortable with their bodies". For fcuks sake, if you're going to have an eating disorder I know which one I would choose ( results based ). Lisa Wilkinson is a prime example. She's had so much botox she can't even blink properly anymore and she thinks she has a right to bang on about body issues?

p.s. Don't you think Karl Stefanovic fits the profile of the b grade celeb caught with his pants down at a Logies after party then 'fessing up to a sex addiction?

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, has Kelly sent you any Outerknown freebies?

No, but he will.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick, why is it that opinionated women on the telly, ( usually aging ex Cleo editors clinging on by the skin of their teeth ) always harp on about body image problems associated with the glamourisation of gorgeous models and actresses but on the other hand, admonish those who hand it out to hideously obese "celebrities" like Magda Zsubanski and that other big unit ( from some morning panel show ) often calling them beautiful or "comfortable with their bodies". For fcuks sake, if you're going to have an eating disorder I know which one I would choose ( results based ). Lisa Wilkinson is a prime example. She's had so much botox she can't even blink properly anymore and she thinks she has a right to bang on about body issues?

p.s. Don't you think Karl Stefanovic fits the profile of the b grade celeb caught with his pants down at a Logies after party then 'fessing up to a sex addiction?

Well I have met Lisa and she is a lovely person. I do not think you want an eating disorder of any kind Little, they are fcuken terrible and some of them will almost certainly kill you. I think maybe you should spend a bit of time thinking about your attitude to women.

I do not know Karl Stefanovic, he does come across as an epic tosser but I dunno about the b grade sex addiction thing.

[Gumby]

Nick,

Which 2 Kardashian sisters would you like to see take on each other in a fight to the death, and why?

[Cranked]


Hossein Derakhshan is his article "The Web We Have to Save" bemoans the impact of ranking strategies:

There’s no question to me that the diversity of themes and opinions is less online today than it was in the past. New, different, and challenging ideas get suppressed by today’s social networks because their ranking strategies prioritize the popular and habitual. (No wonder why Apple is hiring human editors for its news app.) But diversity is being reduced in other ways, and for other purposes.
https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-ha ... b1fe15a426

Do you agree/disagree? I have had a feeling that this dumbing down of content has been accelerating over the last few years but had not thought to sheet home the blame to the ranking strategies.

[Nick Carroll]

Nick,

Which 2 Kardashian sisters would you like to see take on each other in a fight to the death, and why?

would they both die in the process?

[Nick Carroll]


Hossein Derakhshan is his article "The Web We Have to Save" bemoans the impact of ranking strategies:

There’s no question to me that the diversity of themes and opinions is less online today than it was in the past. New, different, and challenging ideas get suppressed by today’s social networks because their ranking strategies prioritize the popular and habitual. (No wonder why Apple is hiring human editors for its news app.) But diversity is being reduced in other ways, and for other purposes.
https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-ha ... b1fe15a426

Do you agree/disagree? I have had a feeling that this dumbing down of content has been accelerating over the last few years but had not thought to sheet home the blame to the ranking strategies.

I think he has a great point. I have often wondered if the true power of social media, and what some people see as the democratising of opinion, might be to flatten everything out to a sort of horrible uniform grey tone, a dull half-human stupidity. But I don't know enough about ranking strategies to have an opinion on their influence.

[Drailed]

Nick, has Kelly sent you any Outerknown freebies?

No, but he will.

Mate, you'll be top cock around newport then!! This aint no shitty analogue cap or rvca hoody...

[Cranked]

By ranking strategies I think he means the like/dislike beloved by social media, and I guess the number of clicks for a hyperlinks. This is just simple counting, these then have to be opportioned to various categories/types of articles to attempt to discern what people like/dislike so they can be targeted.

The point is that this process is bounded and flawed because it cannot predict real human responses in other than a pretty dumb way, hence his points above

[Beanpole]


Hossein Derakhshan is his article "The Web We Have to Save" bemoans the impact of ranking strategies:

There’s no question to me that the diversity of themes and opinions is less online today than it was in the past. New, different, and challenging ideas get suppressed by today’s social networks because their ranking strategies prioritize the popular and habitual. (No wonder why Apple is hiring human editors for its news app.) But diversity is being reduced in other ways, and for other purposes.
https://medium.com/matter/the-web-we-ha ... b1fe15a426

Do you agree/disagree? I have had a feeling that this dumbing down of content has been accelerating over the last few years but had not thought to sheet home the blame to the ranking strategies.

I think he has a great point. I have often wondered if the true power of social media, and what some people see as the democratising of opinion, might be to flatten everything out to a sort of horrible uniform grey tone, a dull half-human stupidity. But I don't know enough about ranking strategies to have an opinion on their influence.

Phew, Lucky for Realsurf then.

[Nick Carroll]

Mate, you'll be top cock around newport then!!

(haughtily) I am already top cock around Newport thank you very much.

[Drailed]

I thought your brother was

[Nick Carroll]

By ranking strategies I think he means the like/dislike beloved by social media, and I guess the number of clicks for a hyperlinks. This is just simple counting, these then have to be opportioned to various categories/types of articles to attempt to discern what people like/dislike so they can be targeted.

The point is that this process is bounded and flawed because it cannot predict real human responses in other than a pretty dumb way, hence his points above

Yep I had picked that up.

I'm not on board with the general horror of AI for pretty much that reason, AI will need to go to some crazy fcuken places before it manages to predict human behaviour.

[godsavetheking]

Nick,

Can I ask you a board question? It's for a friend (no really, it is). Anyway, said friend has been surfing for a while, probably 20 years plus, but still doesn't really have much of a grasp of anything beyond the basics. When things go absolutely perfectly I suppose he can go along a wave and up and down a bit in an arthritic manner but he can't do anything really beyond that. I'd He doesn't have much idea about generating his own speed and his positioning is usually pretty poor. Up until a year or so ago his only board was a fairly standard 6'2 Phipps which he really used to struggle on but then I sold him an old Lost round nose fish quad that I bought off eBay but never rode which improved things a bit, but not a lot.

He's now making noises about getting another board and was showing an interest in the board that I bought recently because he thought I was surfing well on it the other day (I wasn't particularly, but all things are relative eh). I want to avoid bruising his ego where possible, but it's not the board for him and would constitute a backwards step I think. However I'm struggling to come up with alternatives that don't come across as insulting (ie get a minimal). To my mind he needs something that gets him into waves early to accommodate his creaking takeoff, has decent speed off the mark and keeps its speed on the wave without requiring too much rider input. It doesn't really have to turn (I'm not sure his back foot has ever actually been on the tail pad) but it probably does need to be from one of the bigger manufacturers so it's easily available here. He's mid-40s, fit, good swimmer, 6ft ish, probably 75 kg. Any thoughts?

[el rancho]

Set the gulls on him I say. Sad old prick.

[Drailed]

Get him a 7s.