{"id":25527,"date":"2010-02-22T09:07:13","date_gmt":"2010-02-22T16:07:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=25527"},"modified":"2020-02-22T09:10:29","modified_gmt":"2020-02-22T16:10:29","slug":"the-sum-of-my-heresies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=25527","title":{"rendered":"The Sum of My Heresies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Like many hashers, I\u2019m interested in our origins and history.\u00a0 I read everything I can get my hands on.\u00a0 When I go to interhashes, I seek out experienced hashers and ask them for their take on things.\u00a0 I\u2019ve swilled beer and talked trash with old-timers around the world, including Ian Cumming, Bill Panton, and Magic Hughes (not bragging; I\u2019ve just been lucky).\u00a0 I\u2019ve been writing about hashing and hashers since 1993, in print and on the internet, and swap notes, information, and ideas with other hash publishers on a regular basis.<\/p>\n<p>The upshot of all this research is that it\u2019s turned me into a hash heretic.\u00a0 At least that\u2019s what many hashers tell me, and I suppose they\u2019re right. Many of my beliefs contradict common wisdom.\u00a0 One of these days I\u2019ll get called into the circle for a public stoning.<\/p>\n<p>Here, in one place, is the summation of my heresies:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Hashing grew out of hare &amp; hounds running, which has been around since the mid-1800s\n<ul>\n<li>Most modern hash traditions are identical to those found in earlier hare &amp; hounds and harrier clubs<\/li>\n<li>The Hash House Harriers, the original H3 club founded in 1938 by G &amp; friends, was another in a long string of harrier clubs<\/li>\n<li>We must still honor G and the Mother Hash, however, because this particular harrier club has been spectacularly successful, and today has chapters all over the world<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Early hashes did not have circles, at least as we understand them today<\/li>\n<li>Beyond basic oratory and drinking, most things we do in circles today are not native to hashing<\/li>\n<li>Hashers did not invent the motto \u201ca drinking club with a running problem\u201d<\/li>\n<li>Recruiting new hashers should be done carefully, if at all<\/li>\n<li>Emphasizing drinking and sex attracts the wrong element and hurts us all<\/li>\n<li>Hashing is an underground activity and publicity is its enemy<\/li>\n<li>There is a serious alcoholism problem in the hash which most of us try hard to ignore<\/li>\n<li>Hashers can and do behave as badly as other mortals<\/li>\n<li>There is no \u201cwisdom of the circle\u201d; hashers need to be led<\/li>\n<li>There are rules<\/li>\n<li>Cans are easier than kegs<\/li>\n<li>Any selection of beer should include cheap yellow piss<\/li>\n<li>Simpler is always better<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I\u2019m proud to be a heretic, almost as proud as I am to be a hasher. When it comes to hashing, I\u2019m with Mao: &#8220;Let a thousand flowers bloom.&#8221; Just as long as everyone remembers that, ultimately, I\u2019m right and they\u2019re wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like many hashers, I\u2019m interested in our origins and history.\u00a0 I read everything I can get my hands on.\u00a0 When I go to interhashes, I seek out experienced hashers and ask them for their take on things.\u00a0 I\u2019ve swilled beer and talked trash with old-timers around the world, including Ian Cumming, Bill Panton, and Magic [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hash-house-harriers"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25528,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25527\/revisions\/25528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}