TrailTalk Awards

“I meant "tatellate", it was supposed to be a play on "titilate". Sheesh, the things I have to do for TT's smartest person. j/k”

“Did you all see the Writing Rules on Phil's page, real cute!!”

“Yes, and I was doing a further play on words my morphing yours into tattletaling...”

“Oopsie - I thought you mispelled it. Shoulda known.”

“How do you titillate an ocelot?”

““This may have already been covered.. but I was sitting here at work, driven to post something.

2002 TrailTalk Awards
=====================

1) Most fun to hike with

2) Most boring to hike with

3) Scariest to hike with

4) Fastest hiking pace

5) Slowest hiking pace

6) Biggest gear slut

7) Biggest food whore

8) Biggest slut/whore, period.

9) I am sure there are more categories..”
TownDawg
8:23:25 AM
12/11/02

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I'll make a 9 and a 10.

9) Best campfire stories

10) Most Inspirational Trailtalker


---

If I may, I'd like to nominate my nominee for Most Inspirational Trailtalker (#10) ... RichB”

“I'll give a 2nd on Rich. pedxing's experiences are dang inspirational too.


1, I'm biased with the folks I hike with regularly, but chili, longlosthier, Nigal, toph all come to mind. Nigal was a one night stand, but it was memorable.

4, longlost, walkindude.

5, HOI, walkabout1 (haven't seen him around in years)

7, Towndawg, end of discussion.

8, Towndawg, endo of disucssion (just funnin ya big guy)

9, Sipsey trip in about 03. Polar Bear Hunting was the story, like any good story, you really had to be there.”

“11, folks you've only gotten to hike with a time or two and would like to hike with again.


11, Nigal, Sass, birch, HPM, hmmmm, am sure there are others.”

“#8) Would have to be stovestomper.”

“Funnest would be Tarabull. Or AmyG. Or Lizs. Or Sunshine. Hell, they're just fun folks to be around. HPM, OPIES, etc, too.

Funnest on the trail would be Gizmeaux. You just have to know him, I reckon.

Food whore would be Om - but only because she prepares the most delectable dishes imaginable. And she BAKED a birthday cake for me and Radagast at Cumberland Island :)

Most inspirational would be Doug, eh? I only met him once, and was preoccupied with Sarabelle's demeanor - which turned out to be caused by lymes disease. Nonetheless, I was struck by his personna and positive energy. Genuine guy.

I was impressed with Eurohike the moment she appeared on TT. She instantly became the TTer I most wanted to meet. Futile wish, there gojo - seeing's how she's German-turned-Swiss. Then I meet her. Spent the better part os three days and two nights with her. An honorary American, she is. The poster child for immigration reform.

Hound Dog. What happened to him? I weilded my bubba teeth at Ocala, and he followed suit - ya gotta love a guy like that! That would qualify him as "best prapared" imo.

Slowest, these days, would be Sarabelle.”

“#6 is Supertroll, and he carries all that stuff!”

“#3 is spirit coyote. She wanted to go play with the gators in FL on a Ocala trip. Crazy Mike Backpacks had to beg her not to.”

“Aw, Shucks Stovie...thanky, thanky....

Unfortunately I believe I have been eclipsed by Refridgerator...tho I'm tryin' ta keep up....”

“stovie, he still begs me not to do things. Did I ever tell you the time I touched a live, wild, 700lb elk???? Yeah, I was a little faster at running back then, thank goodness.”

“I don't have strong opinions on any of these except for 10. Personally, RichB has inspired me the most - so I'm in strong agreement with HPD and dayhiker.

Judging by trip reports and one snowshoe trip I'd say Artex is the fastest.”

“There's a name I've not heard in a lawng time dayhiker: walkindude. Anyone heard from WD in the last few years?”

“I talk to Mark every Blue Moon...Working and concentrating on his music last I heard...He and his brother joined me on a paddle on the Elk River a Millenia ago.....”

“ST when you talk to him, tell'em to come on over to the Smokies and hike with ape again if he can. I bought his climbing rack a lawng way back, it ain't touched rock yet, dangit.”

“Naked ape, he's on facebook. Was ranting about his tickets to the season opener of the womens roller derby in Nashville, he's doing ghost hunting stuff, and fixing guitars”

“I saw him the other day at the party at Baileys when the Opes moved to Nashville or from Nashville or whatever they were doing in Nashvile at the time.”

“It was 8 1/2 years ago that I hiked with the Walkindude.”

“Ocala for me - errr, '04?”

“Fastest: GreenMonkee and ENS are fairly speedy.
Slowest: Rambling Rev.. Love ya Rev, but you are slowwww..... :-)

Another catagory: Best trail angel....HOI for hauling in a case of beer on the Old Rag trip a couple of years ago. Great times!!!!!”

“1) Most fun to hike with: I could put a lot of people here, but I always have fun hiking with 32oz Gatoraide

2) Most boring to hike with: Out of this group, probably me.

3) Scariest to hike with: Crazy Mike Backpacks. Bacon Ring, that is all I have to say about that.

4) Fastest hiking pace: probably JimH

5) Slowest hiking pace: probably TownDawg

6) Biggest gear slut: Fridge. You have more gear than anyone I know.

7) Biggest food whore: TownDawg. You eat well on the trail.”

“My awards:
1. Most laid-back lawyer, (probably least laid, lol), I've hiked with.... Chili.
2. Most adventurous engineer I've hiked with, (the bar can't be very high in this category)...Dayhiker.
3. Most frustratingly politically”

“continued from last post....
3. Most frustrating politically because he's too fair..... Pedxing. (dude needs to start hating more, lol)”

“Scariest to hike with for me would be HOI. Dunno - there's just something about him. Prolly his eyes - those beady eyes that watch and wait. And the way he answers someone's inquiry from someone else - third party like - from way across camp... nowhere near the fire ring. Yeah - he listens, too - while he's watching and waiting. I always post Gizmeaux outside the tent at night when HOI's around. Scary man.”

““This is actually a rather fascinating manifestation of two major Sociological perspectives. Think back to Sociology 101 for a minute. On one side, Noncon is trying to emphasize Structural-Functional mores and folkways; that there are structured rules to be followed and punishments to be avoided for the harmonious operation of the forum. The social actors contributing to this are the forum "regulars" who are all patting Hyway on the back and encouraging him in accordance with what can be defined as a "classic" perspective on what it means to hike the AT.

On the other side, HPD - intentionally or not - is demonstrating the force with which conflict acts upon social structure and the status quo. In its classic refutation of Functionalism, conflict is shown to shape the social landscape far more than Structural-Functionalism. The interactions between HPD and his detractors demonstrate that social power is inherently stratified in this forum, and this inequality sparks competetion for social power through social conflict.

In this thread's case, HPD is competing to make his perspective on the AT a socially recognized alternative to the classic perspective. This is producing cognitive dissonance in the Structural-Functional actors, and they seek to ameliorate this by protecting their classic perspective of the AT through the use of their social power levers (from gentle reprimands to castigation) to force HPD's perspective to the sideline. This is a classic example of a group of people engaging in pattern maintenance; socially reinforcing boundaries to protect their social reality and underlying social power advantage by alienating non-normative behaviors and actors. The problem with this behavior for the structural-functionalists is that it tends to lead to social ossification, which in turn increases cognitive dissonance in the have-nots. This would predict ongoing conflict, particularly since HPD is apparently fighting solo against the combined forces of the structural functionalists and unable to implement change. Without the status-quo changing, further conflict is fairly guaranteed to arise. And of course this prediction is well supported by the historical levels of ongoing conflict in this forum.

Now that I think about it, it's really kind of like in Star Wars when Princess Leia tells Tarkin that the more he tightens his grip, the more star systems will slip through his fingers. Applied here, Sarge (Princess Leia) is telling everyone that the more you (The Evil Empire) try to alienate him, the more he's going to fight back to change an unjust status quo in future sequels of the battle...”
Mutt
10:35:32 AM
4/12/10”

“I agree HPD, that was the best post on this forum in a long, long time.”

“Thankfully, Princess Leia wins in the end.”

“great. let's all contribute to mutt's superiority complex



























okay. that WAS pretty good”

“Dibs on the Star Wars' Princess Leia's end!”

“I like watching social dynamics. This joint is a petri dish that way.”

“More like a specimen jar...”

“That is classic TT.”

“I agree.... it seems to bring a little order to the chaos..”

“I still want to know where he copied that from.”

“Doesn't look copied to me...seems to be a very organic, well written, original piece of thought; interfacing sociological analysis and pedagogy with our little microcosm here.”

“But Mutt wrote it. LOL”

“implying mutt didnt plug a handful of names into a paragraph of pop psychology

also implying that he can write for that sustained amount of time with no extreme sneering or condescension”

“mhmm”

“crash sounds butthurt.”

“stop hurting my butt”

“That's what she said.”

“Mutt's post was fun. It is interesting that HPD nominates it. There is a moral and cognitive relativism inherent in this kind of sociological analysis. The argument isn't about truth or goodness, its about power and group identity and challenges to the social order.

Doesn't HPD realize that this kind of cognitive relativism is part of plot to undermine our sense that truth and morality are fixed. This is a slipper slope you're on HPD. One day you approve of Mutt's version of Soc. 101 and the next you will be quoting Berger and Luckmann.

http://www.amazon.com/Social-Construction-Reality-Sociology-Knowledge/dp/0385058985”

“Doesn't HPD realize that this kind of cognitive relativism is part of plot to undermine our sense that truth and morality are fixed. This is a slipper slope you're on HPD. One day you approve of Mutt's version of Soc. 101 and the next you will be quoting Berger and Luckmann.


Wow, if you honestly believe that, you've been brainwashed. What you fail to recognize is that the tipping point may have already been breached, and the so called "plot" (poor word choice) may in fact be a reversal of a previous undermining of our sense of truth and morality.

I'll take it a step further and suggest that using the word "undermine" inherently yet falsely suggests that the "known" (agreed upon) truth and morality are legitimate.”

“I'm so confused.”

“It is interesting that HPD nominates it.

Also, it puts me in a positive light. Why would it be interesting that I would nominate it.

You are proving the point of the post if you interpret it as a negative thing to try to buck the classic perspective. I think you just revealed a lot about yourself by saying that.”

“I hate being confused, I'm going back to playing with the cat toys.”