JDPFu.com 2025

I use Firefox – whatever version that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS pushes. I don’t do beta testing – that is for the younger crowd.

Today, I found another extension that I’ll probably enable for shopping, but disable the rest of the time.

InvisibleHand

InvisibleHand is a browser extension that watches as you shop on 20-100 websites and suggests alternative, cheaper places to purchase the same item. When you finally get to a specific item page, it looks for that same item on all those other websites and show you where you can find it cheaper. It isn’t perfect, but WOW! For some items, you’ll see over 50% savings and for others, just a few dollars. Some of the suggested cheaper websites are not places that I’ve shopped before and for a few dollars, I’d probably go to NewEgg or Amazon first. Still, when Amazon isn’t priced right, seeing a $30 savings another company I’ve heard of before is nice. I found that most of the time, the alternative was exactly the same item, however, once it suggested the wrong model device, so definitely check that the suggested alternative really is what you want.

Don’t recall where I came across this link to smart company logos, but is was interesting enough to publish here.

I’ll be relocating since I’ve won the lottery. All my contact info will change, so don’t be worried if you don’t hear from me for a few months … or years. See!

Dear Winner,

You have been awarded the sum of USD$1,500:000 which was won by your
E-MAIL Address in our Euro Millones International Lottery. The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:

(I) Batch No: BDC/MTW/STN
(ii) Ticket No : 45-46-52-58-68
(iii ) Lucky No : 5 -7-9-10-38
(iv) Ref No: PLC/LAC/076/TCC.

Do get back to this office with your name & address and the above mentioned particulars via; (ruralagencia@aim.com)

Best Regards,
Mr, Jose Vinals
Tel:  +34 603 111 071.

I have a feeling that if you send your information to the same emal address, you may have won too!

Obviously, this is spam. It is the first real spam that I’ve gotten in years, so I’m excited. The first email server it hit was listed as Ono network in whole Spain which appears to be a cable ISP.

Oh, so I won’t be disappearing. So sorry.

KMTTG is a GUI that brings Tivo-2-Go, TTG, downloading to any platform. It simplifies downloading, decryption, commercial skipping and cutting and transcoding via mplayer into a format that is useful for you (PSP, Zune, iPod, iPhone, N800, and numerous other formats like xvid, mp4, wmv, whatever you like). But there’s a problem.

Please help with a solution!

Seems that vitamin D

1. isn’t really a vitamin (it’s a hormone)
2. could reduce cancer risks 77%

I was catching up on the FINA World Diving Finals in Rome today and found the best video, without any breaks, in high def at Universal Sports. Every dive from every competitor in HD. No commercials. WOW.

The FINA World Diving contests have been occurring around the world in 2009. China, Mexico, England and in the USA. Fortunately, my cable system has added a channel, Universal Sports, that shows great sporting events that usually aren’t covered like basketball, football, hockey, and baseball. Bicycling, table tennis, diving, horse jumping – those type of sports. SWEET!

I’m in heaven watching the 3 meter springboard contests, except for the scoring. Many of these judges are giving scores based on only the entry. Boo.

The Entry is NOT the Dive

Judging based on the entry alone is like judging a meal on the dessert only. Boo.

Board Work

This phase sets up everything to follow. Bad board work leads to a poor dive.

Approach

Walk calmly, not too fast, and be smooth. Don’t stub a toe.

Hurdle

The hurdle is where the board starts moving and working for the diver. There are single and double hurdle styles. The double style really gets the board moving which is turned into more power, a higher dive and faster spins. If performed properly. The single hurdle usually provides less power and helps inexperienced divers learn to ride the board.

Jump Up, Not Out

There’s no need to jump away from the board. Jump straight up. This will make the dive higher and it will be easier to convert kinetic energy into rotational energy. Jumping out cuts height from a dive, which is bad for obvious reasons.

End of the Board

The last jump off the board needs to occur from the end, with both feet about an inch from the end. This is the sweet spot for power on the spring board, like a baseball bat has a sweet spot.

Ride The Board

If the diver is riding the board, they will be thrown the proper distance away, and significantly higher than jumping alone. The sound of the board is distinctive too. When the diver rides the board it is relatively quiet. When they don’t, it is EXTREMELY noisy for all to hear, almost painful. Poor board timing makes everything else harder. Everything. The diver will be lower, spin slower, and almost certainly struggle to complete the dive.

Each diver sets the board fulcrum to their preferred setting for each dive. There is only 1 manufacturer of boards approved for international contests. Over the years, there have only been a few significant changes to the boards to make them easier to ride and provide more power transfer. The double hurdle takes advantage of these board changes.

Back and Inward Starts

The rules of diving say that the diver’s feet cannot leave the board as they try to build power. This rule is almost always ignored by the judges AND the divers. The rules say it is a balk and 2 points are to be removed from each of the judges scores. There’s a belief that if the feet leave slightly then the judges can’t see it. If they can’t see it, then they can’t take off for doing it. Obviously, the greater the bounce, the more power can be gained from the board, so divers have a real interest in pushing this rule to the limit. This rule exists for diver safety. It is very easy for feet to slip when they aren’t already on the board, especially when performing inward direction dives.

In the Air

Not Too Far Out, nor Too Close

Distance from the board is critical. Using the board properly to convert power into height and spin is the game. Any extra distance away means the diver didn’t go as high as possible. It is a waste.

Being close is also bad for obvious reasons. If the judges are afraid of a hit, they’re likely to miss important aspects to the dive.

Spin Fast

Spinning slowly makes a dive look difficult. The goal here is to make it look easy. Spinning fast lets the diver finish early and setup for the following phases.

Point the Toes

Point the toes, always. There’s no other way to say this. If the toes aren’t pointed, it is a 9.0 dive if everything else is absolutely perfect. Flat feet in the middle of a dive are a major flaw. At the beginning of some dives, when the feet are in danger of hitting the board, it is ok to not point the feet until passed the danger time, then the feet must be pointed. This covers twisting dives too. Point and curl the toes.

In the Correct Position – Pike, Tuck, Laid Out

Tuck – knees to the chest, feet pointed. Head location isn’t important.

Pike – Chin to knees, feet pointed. If spinning forward, nose or forehead to knees is fine too. Legs should be straight, not bent at the knees at all.Some divers hide their bent knees in the pike with their arms.

Twisting Position

Arms are used to cause the twist to occur. The arm position is close to the body until is it time to stop the twist.

Legs shouldn’t be twisted. They should be together, held tightly, no crossing.

Feet should be pointed with the big toes together, but not overlapping. This is extremely difficult to accomplish. Crossed feet are bad.

Toes should be pointed and curled under.

Kick Out Strong

To stop the rotation and/or spin of a dive, kick out strong and stretch. Kicking out weakly or timidly doesn’t stop the dive enough. In my book, a strong kick adds point back to a dive that may have been flawed in other ways. There is no 10.0 dive without a strong kick out.

Finish Early, with Some Drop Time Left

Most dives should finish just under the 3M board and allow time to extend and drop into the pool vertically. Finishing a dive lower means they will still be rotating as they go into the water. Boo.

Vertical, Not Short, Nor Over

Going in vertical means just that. The body should be fully extended and straight as it drops into the pool. Coming out of a 107b (fwd 3.5 pike) dive and having a slight pike as the diver enters the water is flawed. If everything else was perfect, this is a 9.0 dive when the pike isn’t ended and the diver rotates into the pool.

Entry

On the Head

Divers go into the water on their heads, not on their feet. Sorry cliff divers.

No Twist

As the diver stretches his arms above the head it is common to cause a slight twist by pulling one arm harder than the other. This is unfortunate. Usually it can’t be noticed until the calves or feet go into the water and the front or back of them is seen.

Rip It

Ripping a dive causes the splash to be minimized. It is a critical part of the dive and worth 30-40% of the total score. Big splash means points off. We just want bubbles. The sad truth is that smaller divers produce smaller splash. The 9 year old Chinese women prove that. Divers that are thick have a tougher time ripping an entry. Physics doesn’t care about your feelings, but it does care about big shoulders and big butts.

Shoulder Splash

For some dives, usually the blind entry dives, back and reverse, being short on the dive will cause tell-tale shoulder splash. If you see shoulder splash it means

• the dive is short
• the entry isn’t vertical
• the dive wasn’t finished high
• the dive probably wasn’t stopped (from rotating)

Point the Toes

One last time, point the feet, toes and curl the toes. It should be the last thing the judges see.

Sound Matters

The sound of the board, the sound of the entry – both matter. A quiet board means a higher and faster dive. The rip entry sound is exciting for the diver, the crowd and the judges.

Platform Judging

Almost everything said for spring board diving above applies to platform dives too. Jump up and jump strong. Point the toes. Spin fast. Go in vertical and rip the entry.

On platform, going in vertical isn’t just for high scores, it is a safety issue. If your arms aren’t together, stretched, tight and vertical as they hit the water, the impact will cause them to be pulled in front or behind the diver. In front and the head takes a direct hit. Behind and the shoulder muscles could become ripped. Talk about repetitive stress injury. Ouch.

Conclusion

Judging a dive isn’t something that a non-expert can do consistently. Basically, every dive starts with 10.0 points and deductions are applied as the dive progresses. Even the best judges miss parts of a dive and make mistakes. That is why there are 7 judges with the high and low scores thrown out.

For more information, a well know coach wrote this article.

Diving is also subjective. An attractive person will tend to score better than someone less attractive.
Tattoos, blue hair, uneven skin coloring, poor swimsuit selection and bad fit each matter. A slight tan is often the easiest fix to make someone slightly more attractive, but don’t get sun burnt. Also, don’t overdue it. Later in life, that tan will matter.

Who am I to write this?

• A diving fan
• A former high school diver, but not particularly good
• Wrote a computer program to score diving meets
• Dove in a Regional Olympic Trial – finishing last, failing multiple dives on 3M
• Coached 7-16 year old divers 1 summer
• Engineer / Former Space Shuttle Rocket Scientist

Quick Inc Steps in GA

1. Determine what type of company you need/wish to be. Assuming LLC here.
2. Come up with a Name Joe’s Body and Leg Shop, LLC – LLC must be in the name.
3. Get a mail drop at a local UPS Store or similar so the corporate address can be placed on all State Documents.
4. Reserve that name with the Secretary of State $25 – good for 30 days only
   1. Within a few days, you’ll be notified if your name is available/reserved.
5. Get Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS
   1. 75 days to send in IRS Form 8832 to get your LLC classified (C/Sole proprietor, etc.) if the default doesn’t work for you.
6. Fill out your Articles of Organization and send to the Secretary of State $100 to file.
7. Get a local business license (County/City), as needed.
8. Trade Name Registration – Superior Court Clerk’s Office does it here.
9. After the state and county provide confirmation that you are a company, get a bank account
   1. Checks, check card, VISA are nice.
10. Order these business things
    1. Corporate Seal – not needed
    2. Business cards – CEO or Director of something or other?
    3. Letterhead
11. Business Insurance
12. Get paying customers
13. open SEP-IRA for you and your employees
14. Health Care Insurance
15. get reimbursed for all the money you spent setting this up.
16. Start tracking your business expenses – travel to the bank, mailbox, customers, etc…
17. Make Money.

Ok, now you need to read and understand all the tax laws (or get data from your lawyer and/or CPA) Mileage, business meals, need to be carefully recorded and kept track of. Business expenses are not income.

Ok, these are just a few things that I’ve been thinking about over the years. Don’t know if any are good enough to follow thru on, but heck, political speech is protected, right?

• TermLimits
• [[Voting]]
• Campaign Contributions
• [[Why patching your computer is important]]
• [[Fair Tax]]
• Education
• [[Privacy]] | [[PrivacyPolicy]]

More to come … I’m certain.