Here is a thread in which we can discuss terms and names for the things we do when we astrojax.


We use the terms EB for EndBall and MB for Middleball.


When using an astrojax there are forms which your hands or fingers take and some of these have names:

Bar - An outstretched finger creates a 'bar'. This is one of the most common forms people use to astrojax. An EB can wrap around a bar, skip over, etc.

Hook - A curved finger forms a 'hook'. You use this to hook or grab a piece of the string. The jax can dangle from a hook.

Pinch - When you use 2 fingers or a finger and thumb to 'pinch' the string at a point. A pinch can be held loose so that you can adjust the point at which you are holding the jax by letting it slide to a new point.

'OK' - You make a circle around the string with your finger and thumb. The string is not actually fixed at any point by an O hold, but is encircled by your fingers so the point at which you are engaging the jax is very loose.

'Hold' - When a MB and/or EB is held by a hand.

Pinch, hook, OK, and the bar I identified as the forms your hands and body parts take as you interact with astrojax. These, for the most part, are not rigid forms. They can be used in lue of each other and/or can be a compromise or combination of these forms.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfL15rJlIfw[/youtube]

At 0:24; holding the MB in my non-dominant hand, I swing the 2 EBs over a bar. Upon contact I lolly both of them in the opposite direction and catch the strings on a hook on the same nondominant hand holding the MB. I then swing the MBs for an orbit and release them from the hook. They shoot outward from the point where they were hooked.

Thats examples of bar and hook. The hook is simply a bent bar. The OK is simply a hook made circle.

Pinching is traditionally done by an index finger and thumb. Though, the index and middle finger are quite capable of pinching the string between them. As well, any hook can become a pinch by full closing on the line.

One of the essentials of astrojaxing is a little trick called the lollie.

The lollie is used to reverse the direction of an orbiting EB. It is accomplished by centrifugal force, which represents the effects of inertia that arise in connection with rotation and which are experienced as an outward force away from the center of rotation. By allowing the EB to flee from the center you spin from you reduce its centrifugal force to the point where you can change it's direction.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXcNg81uoIY[/youtube]



2 main ways you can Lollie: 1 is by feeding line into the orbiting EB thus elongating its orbit; and 2 by actually moving the center in the direction which you want the orbiting EB to slow and change directions from. Both these are means of effectively elongating the orbit and thus diminishing the momentum of the orbiting balls.


Hopefully this makes an extremely important astrojaxing move intelligible. Questions and comments are welcome!

The lollie is an important trick and concept to some AJ insight from Myc Wyse. Myc is currently banned from this forum but some of his ideas are very relevent to becoming a better jaxer. I will explain his very useful concepts of "force and feel" as best I can here:

Whenever you have orbiting astrojax balls, regardless of which particular trick or whatever you are doing, you have the ability to add or subtract momentum from the orbiting ball(s). Adding momentum is refered to as 'force' as you are adding force to the orbiting ball. This is swinging the ball or shaking the base from which the EB stems from can add momentum to the orbiter.

Removing momentum or letting it wind down is refered to as 'feel' as you can feel the force winding down. Minimum 'feel' is simply allowing the orbiters to encounter wind resistance and wind down. To actually subtract momentum from the orbiter you use the lollie. You 'loll' the orbiters by elongating their orbits(they then have the same momentum to cover a larger distance).

Whenever you have orbiters, you can use force/feel to have greater control over the orbiting balls - in controlling the speed at which they orbit and in controlling changes in their direction. When you become sensitive to the subtleties of force and feel you may find that even in 'force' there is some a modicum of 'feel' and vice versa; that when you add momentum to on orbiting ball you still have some control over the 'feel' aspect and when you subtract momentum from an orbiting ball you have some control over the 'force' aspect. This may seem like psuedo-physics, but it is simply a subtle ability stemming from the fact that you operate force or feel thorough the same medium, the orbiting ball.

Hopefully I didn't butcher Myc's insight here and it is useful to other jaxers.