Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Greasy pole
Greasy pole, grease pole, or greased pole refers to a tall pole that has been made slippery with grease or other lubricants and thus difficult to grip. More specifically, it is the name of several events that involve staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise traversing such a pole. This kind of event exists in several variations around the world. It is also used as a metaphor for the difficulty in achieving the top of one's career.
Pau de sebo or mastro de cocanha de consists of mastering a vertical mast or pole of diameter about 10cm (4-5 inches) and up to some eight meters tall (around 25 or 26 feet) lubricated with sebo or cocanha. At the top is suspended a hoop of about 1m diameter (3 feet) from which hang prizes about 50cm (18inches) from the pole. It is a typical activity for youths during the summer solstice festival in Portugal and Brazil. The game consists of first individual (tactical) attempts and if that fails then (strategic) team activities similar to the human castell pyramids performed in Catalonia but with the added safety of a stable central “fireman's pole” escape route. It may also be linked with a similar 16th Century game which originated in Naples and known in Spanish as Cucaña
As part of Queen's Engineering Frosh Week, the incoming first-year engineering students must, with the help of the upper-year engineering students, climb to the top of a grease pole and remove a tam which is nailed to the pole's top. The Queen's Grease Pole is a metal football goalpost stolen by Queen's engineering students in 1955 from University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium. Currently, the pole is covered in lanolin and placed in the centre of a pit of muddy water referred to as the "Grease Pit", but from the first climbing of the pole in 1956 to 1988 the pole was covered in axle grease and it was only sometime between 1957 and 1967 that the pit was added to the event. There have been various other changes to the rules of the event since its inception, including the banning of the throwing of projectiles at the frosh attempting to climb the pole by upper years, removing unsanitary contents from the pit and allowing women to participate.
The Queen's Grease pole has been the subject of several heists, including in 2000 and 2015 by students from the University of Toronto.
The Bear River Cherry Carnival in Bear River, Nova Scotia offers $100 every year to the first person to walk out their greased pole and grab a Canada flag nailed to the end of the pole. The greased pole is held at a different time every year as they have to schedule it for high tide so there will be water below the pole for competitors to fall into. After the first round, competitors have to make it over the second red ribbon to continue on. Competitors must fall "clean". That is, competitors who grab the pole when falling are immediately disqualified.
In Indonesia, locally known as Panjat Pinang, is a popular game played to celebrate Independence Day. Communities around the country organize the Panjat Pinang on or near 17 August, which marks Indonesia's independence day. Organizers put precious gifts on top of the pole (using the branch of the Areca tree) such as bicycles, sports equipment, fridges, and any kind of everyday home equipments. The pole is greased and participants climb the pole in groups. The game has been played since Dutch colonial rule in the 1700s.
The cities of St. Julian's and Msida hold a yearly il-ġostra, the greasy pole game. St. Julian's is in honor of St. Julian, while Msida's is in honor of St. Joseph. Dating back to the Middle Ages, ġostra, which is derived from the Neapolitan cuccagna or cockaigne, is played in late-August during the Feast of St. Julian. For this game, a 20-metre (65 ft) wooden beam is attached to a pier at an angle and extended over the sea. Flags are attached to the pole, which is then greased. The aim of the game is to run to the end of the pole and grab one of three flags: a Belgian tricolor one, a yellow Vatican one, or a blue and white one dedicated to St. Mary. In the past, more towns held events like this, often attaching their pole to coal barges.
In the United Kingdom, contests to climb a greasy pole were held at numerous fairs including the Crab Fair in Egremont, Cumbria, where the contest continues to this day, alongside the annual Gurning World Championships. The prize for climbing the 30-foot-long (9 m) pole was originally a hat but from 1852 became a side of mutton, which if there are no winners is cut up and distributed to the poor. In 2004, the greasy pole was discontinued as an event at Egremont Crab Fair, due to high insurance cover costs should a participant fall from the pole. As of 19 January 2008 Egremont is home to a new greasy pole: a 30-foot-long (9 m) sculpture by Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller and collaborator Alan Kane. This is the team's first piece of public art and marks the re-introduction of the Greasy Pole as a crab fair event.
Hub AI
Greasy pole AI simulator
(@Greasy pole_simulator)
Greasy pole
Greasy pole, grease pole, or greased pole refers to a tall pole that has been made slippery with grease or other lubricants and thus difficult to grip. More specifically, it is the name of several events that involve staying on, climbing up, walking over or otherwise traversing such a pole. This kind of event exists in several variations around the world. It is also used as a metaphor for the difficulty in achieving the top of one's career.
Pau de sebo or mastro de cocanha de consists of mastering a vertical mast or pole of diameter about 10cm (4-5 inches) and up to some eight meters tall (around 25 or 26 feet) lubricated with sebo or cocanha. At the top is suspended a hoop of about 1m diameter (3 feet) from which hang prizes about 50cm (18inches) from the pole. It is a typical activity for youths during the summer solstice festival in Portugal and Brazil. The game consists of first individual (tactical) attempts and if that fails then (strategic) team activities similar to the human castell pyramids performed in Catalonia but with the added safety of a stable central “fireman's pole” escape route. It may also be linked with a similar 16th Century game which originated in Naples and known in Spanish as Cucaña
As part of Queen's Engineering Frosh Week, the incoming first-year engineering students must, with the help of the upper-year engineering students, climb to the top of a grease pole and remove a tam which is nailed to the pole's top. The Queen's Grease Pole is a metal football goalpost stolen by Queen's engineering students in 1955 from University of Toronto's Varsity Stadium. Currently, the pole is covered in lanolin and placed in the centre of a pit of muddy water referred to as the "Grease Pit", but from the first climbing of the pole in 1956 to 1988 the pole was covered in axle grease and it was only sometime between 1957 and 1967 that the pit was added to the event. There have been various other changes to the rules of the event since its inception, including the banning of the throwing of projectiles at the frosh attempting to climb the pole by upper years, removing unsanitary contents from the pit and allowing women to participate.
The Queen's Grease pole has been the subject of several heists, including in 2000 and 2015 by students from the University of Toronto.
The Bear River Cherry Carnival in Bear River, Nova Scotia offers $100 every year to the first person to walk out their greased pole and grab a Canada flag nailed to the end of the pole. The greased pole is held at a different time every year as they have to schedule it for high tide so there will be water below the pole for competitors to fall into. After the first round, competitors have to make it over the second red ribbon to continue on. Competitors must fall "clean". That is, competitors who grab the pole when falling are immediately disqualified.
In Indonesia, locally known as Panjat Pinang, is a popular game played to celebrate Independence Day. Communities around the country organize the Panjat Pinang on or near 17 August, which marks Indonesia's independence day. Organizers put precious gifts on top of the pole (using the branch of the Areca tree) such as bicycles, sports equipment, fridges, and any kind of everyday home equipments. The pole is greased and participants climb the pole in groups. The game has been played since Dutch colonial rule in the 1700s.
The cities of St. Julian's and Msida hold a yearly il-ġostra, the greasy pole game. St. Julian's is in honor of St. Julian, while Msida's is in honor of St. Joseph. Dating back to the Middle Ages, ġostra, which is derived from the Neapolitan cuccagna or cockaigne, is played in late-August during the Feast of St. Julian. For this game, a 20-metre (65 ft) wooden beam is attached to a pier at an angle and extended over the sea. Flags are attached to the pole, which is then greased. The aim of the game is to run to the end of the pole and grab one of three flags: a Belgian tricolor one, a yellow Vatican one, or a blue and white one dedicated to St. Mary. In the past, more towns held events like this, often attaching their pole to coal barges.
In the United Kingdom, contests to climb a greasy pole were held at numerous fairs including the Crab Fair in Egremont, Cumbria, where the contest continues to this day, alongside the annual Gurning World Championships. The prize for climbing the 30-foot-long (9 m) pole was originally a hat but from 1852 became a side of mutton, which if there are no winners is cut up and distributed to the poor. In 2004, the greasy pole was discontinued as an event at Egremont Crab Fair, due to high insurance cover costs should a participant fall from the pole. As of 19 January 2008 Egremont is home to a new greasy pole: a 30-foot-long (9 m) sculpture by Turner Prize winning artist Jeremy Deller and collaborator Alan Kane. This is the team's first piece of public art and marks the re-introduction of the Greasy Pole as a crab fair event.