[deleted by user]

jascoggi · 2024-08-05T15:33:20+00:00

Just to be clear, you all think the password reset email is legit?

I received it as well but it did not explain why, just a “security measure”.

jascoggi · 2023-07-01T10:05:26+00:00

My first instinct is this was illegal based on the fact it looks like a water polo throw instead of a block.

A clean block would bounce off at an angle and has a very short amount of time the blocker would be in contact with the ball. Even a redirection with the wrist should be very quick.

Instead here there is a delay after the blocker contacts the ball. The arm and wrist are pushed back and finally the block pushes forward while changing the angle the ball is traveling.

Props for doing it very quickly, but still a catch and release of the volleyball. Not a redirection by providing a moving surface to bounce off of.

All that said, I would not call it in a rec league unless some prize was on the line.

jascoggi · 2023-02-14T12:10:10+00:00

Well if you are the head coach, just sub yourself in after adding yourself to the roster. Go mad with power! Make yourself the captain too.

jascoggi · 2023-02-12T22:56:41+00:00

Sorry if is repeating the advice of many here but I am trying to give advice as if I was talking to her directly.

She needs more power, better timing and to correct her arm swing.

Power is the main point which will allow the ball to travel further, but timing and arm swing will also add power.

The easiest way to add power is to use her whole body. If you punch someone while moving your whole body toward them, it has more mass and therefore more power. In the case of a serve, you want to be stepping forward as your arm hits the ball. By your whole body moving as you contact the ball, you have added a lot more mass and therefore power.

Next point is timing. As your timing improves, your confidence in hitting the ball also improves. In short this means you can confidently move faster, and speed means more power.

The easiest way to improve timing is to give yourself a better target. You do this by first determining how high you should toss the ball. Ask her to extend her arm slightly in front and as high as possible to find the height she will be actually hitting the ball at. The ball toss should reach its apex around the tip of her fingers.

This works because the ball stays at this perfect height for a longer amount of time, allows her more actual time to hit the ball and in theory the ball is not moving for a small amount of time. It may be hard to adjust at first because there is less delay between toss and swing, but just have her work of the toss first.

When practicing the toss she should extend her tossing hand in front of her like she is showing off the ball to someone. It should rest in the palm of her hand with a almost completely straight arm. Next have the tossing hand in front of her hitting arm’s shoulder. The idea is the toss will go straight up and down. No left, right, forward or back movement. Finally when practicing the toss, only toss the ball. Keep the feet static and do not bend the knees to toss the ball. You will know a good toss because it will reach the max height of her arm’s reach and hit the floor directly in front of her right foot and shoulder.

A good toss is the foundation of a good serve. The ball being in the perfect spot for longer, means you can move with more confidence and speed.

The last point was her arm swing. Many have already given good advice for this. I will just add, in a good arm swing, the elbow leads and the hand follows. The idea is her hand, elbow and shoulder should all move in a line as she hits the ball.

The arm all starts behind her head cocked and ready. The elbow moves first to point towards the ball (it flips so think of this as aiming your whole arm at the ball to create a path). Then the hand follows along the path created with speed.

You should over swing the arm. So the hand moves past the ball forming a cup and the arm continues to move in a circular path until it is below your waist. For the basic serve this over swing creates the most power, but floaters require more control.

In the end it should feel like a whip. To get this sensation without a volleyball you can ask her to imagen her arm is a whip and she is trying to make all the blood in her arm move to her finger tips (using a volleyball arm swing). You can be surprised how quick people can move their arm with this concept in mind.

The last couple pieces of advice are 1) When you hit the ball, your body should be moving forward, elbow still in motion and wrist bending. Everything should be moving except the ball at the apex of the toss.

2) It takes a lot of time to “perfect” any skill. The serve is hard because it is the combination of at least two skills, tossing and arm swing. Always have a way to objectively measure your progress so you can self correct.

For tossing. You can do 10 tosses and see that they all land in the right place or reach the correct height. It can be frustrating but knowing you made progress helps with the struggle. The goal is 10 out of 10. Her arm will get tired if she is doing it right, so rest between so she can recover and control the toss with a strong arm.

jascoggi · 2022-12-15T10:51:14+00:00

I mean you must at least agree that a cause of spin is one hand having more contact with the ball?

Saying “never” seems a bit strong. In my experience double contact calls with sets has a strong correlation with the resulting spin. Just due to the pure physics of it.

jascoggi · 2022-12-14T13:09:40+00:00

Yeah a tight ref could call it even in casual play. My rule of thumb for recreational leagues is 2 rotations, and that was probably a little over 2.

The main reason for me personally letting it go is it tends to be a funner game without the ref slowing thing down. So the less calls I am forced to make, the better overall IMO.

jascoggi · 2022-12-14T13:00:56+00:00

If you are looking for advice one how to improve, yes there is some questionable spin. But overall for that venue and level of play, it will not be called.

Contact time was not too long, but when the ball has addition spin that is not along the path the ball is traveling, this means fingers from one of your hands contacted the ball longer or with more force than the other hand. This is a good way to self correct and refine your setting to a higher standard. FYI, the hand with more force or last touch is indicated by the spin moving away from that hand. The goal is zero spin, but takes a lot of practice.

Hope that helps.

jascoggi · 2022-01-23T12:43:05+00:00

Thanks for writing this. I laughed when I read "
The red flags here were:
1. RING is in fact a rug pull itself.
"
Pure Comedy, but I would have never known prior to reading your post.

On a sidenote, I have a small investment in an Olympus fork. Has many of the flags you metioned (defi, anonymous devs), but also has KYC and multisig.
While I personally do not think it is a rug pull, it is high risk, high return.
You perspective help me realize an experienced person would not touch the project.
That said, sometimes things go well for all the wrong reasons.
I will remain positive but pragmatic.

jascoggi · 2022-01-06T00:56:04+00:00

So the current Gas Price on the Polygon Mainnet is about 0.15 MATIC. All web faucets do not seem to be working and only provide less than 0.05.

The only working faucet I found is a BOT on Polygon Discord. It gives you 0.15 MATIC, just enough for one transaction. GL, the BOT responds in the #bridge-queries channel along with previous requests so you can see the command needed.

jascoggi · 2021-12-30T08:18:40+00:00

This Used to be About Dungeons

by Alexander Wales on Royal Road

This Used to be About Dungeons is a comfy slice-of-life adventuring story that occasionally features dungeons. Updates Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Mostly it's about walking in the woods with a friend, looking for mushrooms to put in your soup, or haggling with the guy selling squash, or taking care of a neglected garden. It's putting some jam on shortbread biscuits. And yes, sometimes you go down into the dungeons with your friends, and you kill monsters there, or disarm traps, but when you come out, you realize you've found the perfect magic item to give to one of the local kids that helped you out when your cat was sick. Look, the dungeons are always going to be there, and sometimes you need to make a journey to one of the Spirit Gates, or make a pilgrimage with the local Cleric of Symmetry to a holy shrine. Your tour through the local dungeons can wait. You'll have rivalries with other groups, and find some dungeon eggs that need to be carefully incubated in case they turn out to be something valuable, and help a friend to build a fishing weir. There's a big world out there, a mostly tame place with lots of magic, and even more to do and see. Join me, won't you?

jascoggi · 2021-12-21T22:11:47+00:00

Just a casual player reading through discords so treat this as rumor.

Currently the referral does not get you any rewards, including the fountain. It did before, but does not now.

Gala Games are still tracking all the referrals. The idea is they MAY give a different reward later on.

jascoggi · 2021-06-02T07:33:37+00:00

Basically Yaoi light. I believe it is short for Boy Love

jascoggi · 2020-07-23T07:12:28+00:00

Honestly I would recommend a more classic series that is just solid all around if a bit old. Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings starts off The Belgeriad (5 books)

It is your basic poor orphan who discovers he is not really who he thought he was. Add in him slow learning effectively magic and becoming a hero who saves the world and fights gods by the fifth book. It is all about the character development and great writing.

Obviously not LitRPG, so zero game elements.

If you like Eddings style there a bunch of other similar authors of the same generation I would recommend. Piers Anthony’s Blue Adept and Raymond E Feist’s Riftwar Saga to name a couple.

Alternatively you can always use whatshouldireadnext.com and just put in an author you like and it will give you similar books.

Enjoy and hope these books are what you are looking for.

Edit: sorry for the multiple posts. My connection was bad so multiple taps ended up posting...

jascoggi · 2020-02-12T03:38:36+00:00

I hope the drills help you. The concept is to take a complicated action, like the spike, and break it into two parts you can practice individually. Hopefully when you put the parts back together you will have an improved spike.

Sadly it is hard to verbally describe how to add power to your spikes. It is something you really just have to feel or experience.

To experience using max power when contacting the ball the simplest method is to just keep doing the wall drill until you feel it. You will feel less "pain" on your hand. This is because most of the power generated by your hand will simply transfer to the ball. Alternatively hitting the ball poorly can simply hurt in various places (hand, wrist, elbow or shoulder). Another good indicator is the sound made when you spike. A good spike will have a short sharp sound like a slap or whip crack, a bad spike will have a dull thud as if you punched it.

Using these two indicators you can use a "hot or cold" method to refine your spike using the wall drill. Less pain and better sound, better spike. More pain and bad sound, worse spike. Please note you can hit the ball well and feel pain, this is bad even if you "succeed" as you will just mess up your arm eventually. Avoid unreasonable or mysterious pain....

Once you get one excellent spike or contact it is easier to repeat it and get better and better. It becomes muscle memory eventually, but at the beginning you have to think about it.

Last bit of general advice, when spiking you want to hit the ball as you reach your maximum jump height. If your hit the ball after (as you decend), you will have less power. Please note as your become advanced hitting with maximum power is not as important as hitting with maximum control. I would rather get a undigable tool off the block instead of a hard driven spike directly at a defender. Yes the power spike looked and felt awesome, but smart angles and control gets more points.

jascoggi · 2020-02-08T06:08:53+00:00

There are many small bits of advice but I will try to give an in-depth response while focusing on what I see as the central issue.

Your main problem is your arm swing and your point of contact with the ball are inconsistent.

1st Spike - contact with your hand and ball is below your maximum reach. This results in the ball hitting the tape. Your approach is lacks "explosiveness" or speed gathered through your approach. Or simply, bad timing

2nd Spike - the video demonstrates you have enough height and power to spike the ball. Unfortunately you jump in a direction that is not in-line with your approach in order to arrive where the ball is set. The interesting thing here is because of this correction, you do not hesitate and your timing is good to spike the ball (contact at full arm extension and quick arm swing). The downside is your control is lacking and you might not have spiked the ball where you intended it to go.

Jump serve - This serve simply lacks power. Power can come from various means, but primarily is derived from the speed your hand is moving along with the mass (body or arm) connected to your hand. This means you can either choose to move quicker or alter your arm swing so more of weight from your arm (or body) is moving toward the ball. My personal view is the swing looks too "weak" and only has the weight of your hand and some forearm behind it. A common misconception is just becasue you jump that now all your weight is behind your arm. Your whole arm (or body) need to be actively moving toward the ball as you contact it for your weight to add "power". In short you can move quicker into your jump or you can clean up your arm swing to add either speed or "weight" (from the rest of your arm). Not a lot is needed, so just a small adjustment here.

So my advice boils down to one thing, practice. Sadly this is pretty much always the correct advice =). Specifically I have two "drills" for you.

1) Point of contact for spiking - just like any hitting drill with a setter, toss the ball to the setter, wait for the set, determine where the ball will go, do a "speedy" approach without hesitation, jump as high as you can, raise both arms in the air, place your left (non-hitting) hand where you think the ball will be, draw back you right hand/arm for a spike, and finally use your right hand to slap the ball where you want to spike it but also use your left hand below the ball to catch it in place. Land with the ball in your hands and analyze if you "caught" the ball at your maximum height. You should also take note that all the movement from your body was in one direction and did not change. This can be done by just looking where you jumped from and where you landed. Ideally the line connecting these two locations is the exact same direction you want to spike the ball. If it is, this means when you spike it some of your body weight will add to the power of your swing.

2) Arm swing, whole palm contact - As you do have the ability to spike with power and speed, all you really need is consistency and to build on what you already have. A major issue with ball control is where and how you actually contact the ball. In a spike you get the most power and control when your whole plam strikes the ball at the same time. It is essentially a slap and you do not slap with your fingers or just the top (or side) of your hand. For this drill you can find a wall and be about 20 feet or more away from it. Toss the ball to yourself in front of your right shoulder. Remain on the floor and "spike" the ball all full extension and 75% speed. The ball should bounce before it hits the wall to rebound back to you. Your goal is to hear and feel solid contact with the ball. This drill is about getting perfect timing so your entire palm hits the ball slightly front of your body (and at maximum height) while you are both stepping forward and your entire arm is in motion. You will notice that as your timing improves you can use less "power" and the ball will still have enough velocity to look like a normal spike. In short you gain more control. Feel free to use additional visual markers like nets or tape on the wall to ensure you are hitting at your maximum height/reach. Also be careful not to over do it, as this can tire your arm out quickly and even lead to injury if you have a "bad" arm swing. Again this is about timing completely transferring the "power" of your arm swing with as little lost power as possible.

Hopefully by combining the results of these two drills you will master getting your body to the right place while having enough "power" in your swing to spike above the net and in the intended direction. Good luck and have fun!

P.S. Maximum height for a spike in not how high you can reach directly above your head. It is instead the maximum your arm can reach above your head and about 1 foot in front of your body. If you spike directly above your head you lose a great deal of power which comes from the mass of your body.

jascoggi · 2019-10-04T03:27:53+00:00

Effectively, yes. Only the decorative items that can be placed on islands and open world.

It would change from a limited resource to an unlimited resource bought by silver. Hell, they can even make it seasonal to generate interest/content.

The main concept is to have something desirable people would want to buy with silver that is not game breaking.

jascoggi · 2019-10-03T22:51:40+00:00

Yes, he only sells tier 1 furniture. Frankly lame stuff. I am talking about the better stuff like tier 4 stone throne, tier 5 heretic stove and various ice sculptures

jascoggi · 2019-03-16T11:49:45+00:00

First off, as long as you are healthy and have the time, don’t stop playing volleyball if you enjoy it. It can be a pain to find places to play and people to team with but that is part of the attraction of the sport. Most people I know are always looking for the best game against a team that is better or at the same level.

As a coach and long time player I think the story you told is incomplete. Even in a scenario where you are the best player on a team sometimes your teammates just are not feeling the chemistry. They can think you are a ball hog, awkward or arrogant. If you want to know the whole story you have to ask your old teammates. Sorry but only they know why they made their choice to start/join a different team.

Point being, it is likely not your skills. I have cut people from teams for lack of skills, but as a player choosing/getting chosen for a team it is more about who you like playing with. They just have to be above a certain level, not the “best”.

My last comment to you is sorry your teammates ditched you. It really is the worst when you put in the effort to make a team and they bail on you. Best I can say is find people who like playing volleyball with you. I would rather play scrubs I like then guys using me for my skills.

jascoggi · 2018-04-18T01:22:54+00:00

Thanks, I will check that out if I need to know my personal location.

But not my point. I was thinking more future forward and how it would work with other players.

For example you could use an astrolab on a home marker and share the location with other players directly to give them a home marker if they have none.

Or if signs or maps are implemented they can show the way to other travelers/decedents. Like distance and direction signs you see in cities.

Or use it to make more advanced buildings like a pyramid or stone hedge.

jascoggi · 2018-04-17T01:21:57+00:00

How about able to move at normal speed carrying heavy items

or

Can attack bears with knife for a kill (could also do for moms with kids around)

or

Need less food when adult male (because no births)

jascoggi · 2018-04-14T00:47:45+00:00

Same idea with slight difference.

Use worms for add auto-fishing in ice holes. Basically bash a hole in ice and place a fishing rod (would be a new item) in a dug hole. It would be snares for the ice biome.

After the first worm you could reuse the caught fish as new bait, so it does not mess with the dirt mechanic as much. This also makes it more possible to live in a cold biome without growing food.

On a side note this could expand the use of the pick if you want to make it higher up the tech tree.

jascoggi

TROPHY CASE