Mark 42
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Posts posted by Mark 42
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Perhaps my memory has faded with time, but I don't remember spending that much back then.
I looked at it like a donation because there were not many features the premium membership
got for a user. Now the limitations of the free membership make the whole hobby feel far
more commercial.
But, $14.99 seems appropriate to me, and $2.99 is about the going rate for most droid apps...
especially a phone app that you need in order to use a service you already paid for.
I'm assuming the $30 membership doesn't include free downloads of the phone app.
I just don't like the look and feel of the way the website has gone. The first thing I got
when I came back after a few years of being away was an in your face popup asking for money.
Some hobbies really should not be commercialized. I loved Geocaching when it was just people
working together to hide caches and going out and finding them. Now it has become something else.
If I hadn't seen what it was before, I might not mind what it has become, but I liked what it
was ten years ago much better than what it is like now.
I think it was the grassroots nature of the hobby that attracted me to it in the first place.
I'm preparing for a vacation, and considered installing a geocache app on my phone and doing a couple of geocaches if time permits. For $1.99 I would have got the official app. For $3.99 I would have waited to see if I will have time to use it. For $9.99 it's not worth it to me. A free or $0.99 app would actually be a smart move because it could introduce people to the hobby, and they might opt for a premium membership later (which would be $15 to $20 max if I owned the company).
Sometimes charging a lower price increases profits. As the hobby became more popular, it would have made sense for the cost to go down, rather than increase.
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It wouldn't be so offending except that Grounspeak originally said they would NOT do that. That it would ALWAYS be fully open!
To be clear, Groundspeak, nor it's founders, never said that. What Jeremy said was "traditional geocaching itself will never be a pay to play service."
You can come to this website today, and still do the same things for free, that you could do when the site was first created. You can still find caches without paying a cent. There has even been much improvement in the site for non-paying users.
However, if you have the means, sure, you can pay a modest fee and get a bunch of perks that may make your experience better. But that doesn't mean that you have to.
I seriously doubt Geocaching.com was founded with profit as the intent.
I was here ten years ago, and it was not nearly as commercial in feel.
The "modest fee" has gotten a lot less modest while I've been away.
Advertising would have more than covered the costs of Geocaching.com, with a healthy profit.
I have a geocache that dates back quite a while - and still gets found regularly.
People have been logging finds recently, which made me think about finding a few caches again.
I figured I might even return to the hobby, so I looked for the android phone app.
$10... you have got to be kidding.
$30 per year to be a premium member - and more and more content is becoming available only to premium members?
Making a profit is fine, but the spirit of Geocaching has been lost at Groundspeak.
It really makes me sad to see this. It was so much better when it was focused on the hobby
more than business profits.
I doubt I will return to the hobby other than an occasional find here and there, and my one remaining geocache hide.
If that one ever gets plundered, I doubt I would replace it. It seems absurd to me that the work I put
into hiding geocaches would go to a company that would also charge me to use their services.
But I will say "kudos to Groundspeak" for leaving this message thread and allowing the discussion.
There are other companies which would delete negative comments from their forums.
This post (below) says almost exactly what I was trying to say, but far better than I could ever say it:
Actually, my sincere thanks primarily go to the cache hiders in my area and not to Groundspeak. GS provides some infrastructure, but the heart and the soul of geocaching is the community. I do not care at all about PQs, improved cache maps, bookmark lists and many other features that have added to the site over the years. On the other hand, there have been many changes like allowing powertrails and opening up geocaching.com to many languages that changed geocaching to the worse for me. So the level of thankfullness I feel towards Groundspeak is rather limited. I do not take it for granted, but it is clear to me that their wish to focus on growth is against what I personally welcome.
The issue of commercialism is for me not about whether Jeremy and others earn a lot and not about whether the 30$ PM-ship is cheap or expensive (I regard it as cheap), but about the dangers of turning something into a business that should not be a business from my point of view.
Cezanne
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Smells like fish?
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This is sorta funny...
http://www.olywa.net/cook/faq.htm
I've had it bookmarked and been meaning to post
it for months (maybe a year even?).
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I spray painted it, and rolled it in dirt while the paint was wet,
then sprayed with clearcoat and rolled in dirt again.
I think I may also have done a layer with Scotch 77
spray glue (I forget if I did). My idea was if some falls
off, the layer underneath will keep the white sportsbottle
(about 1 liter size) from showing through. I used hot melt
glue to seal the hole in the lid for the drinking tube.
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I thought it was fairly straightforward when I did it, and I
chose the method because it was quick & dirty (Pun Intended).
I did like the results, but didn't expect so many comments.
Here's the Cache:
http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...&log=y&decrypt=
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So let's say your GPS receiver is sitting on your table, and you're in the middle of a low pressure system. You leave the receiver on the table, but a high pressure system moves in. Will the receiver show different elevations, even though it hasn't been moved? Do you have an adjustment available to you?
What is the smallest increment of elevation change it will measure?"
GPS doesn't use barometric pressure to determine altitude.
I think you can get a GPS with a built in barometric type altimeter,
but that's not GPS altitude.
GPS uses the distances from several satellites to calculate
the location of the receiver. I think it's a sort of doppler like
effect (difference in time it takes a signal to get to the GPSR
from various sat's) combined with traingulation.
Anyway, atmospheric pressure will not effect altitude readings
of a GPSR.
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But it's the 50th built... which fits the wording.
The linked report has what I consider a logic flaw...
It calls it a "Lighthouse in the sky"
A lighthouse can't tell you where you are, or where to go, only
where to stay away from.
I'm used to being told where to go.
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Getting back on topic...
I started to get into the numbers game... I was pretty eager and
worked hard to get my first FTF. Since that time, I have hardly done
any caching. Just too busy with real life right now. FTF only mildly
interests me right now. I've sorta gotten into a phase where I just
want a simple traditional cache that isn't super challenging, but takes
a bit of a walk in a nice area worth the trip to see.
That may change. I'm inactive right now, and later I may acquire
a taste for puzzles and multis. I would like to do a night cache,
and was supposed to work with AJetpilot on one, but just couldn't
find any time
I haven't quit, and I did actually do some caching sorta... I went
to a local geocache event, and I went and found one of my caches
that turned up missing for awhile (and made a better device to
obscure it from view now that summer is coming and traffic
will increase in the area). I also did the Yellow Jeep Fever cache.
And, tomorrow we are looking at a sailboat... an old sailboat..
and I'm sure you can guess what that will do to my non-existant
"free time"...
But eventually I'll get back to caching. There are a lot of new ones in
my area.
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I think the whole idea of the "opt-out" is not being understood here.
The "opt-out" is just the ability to make the statistical summary of
your finds, DNFs, placed caches, etc. unavailable for your own ID.
I started to get into that game... I was pretty eager and worked
hard to get my first FTF. Since that time, I have hardly done
any caching.Just too busy with real life right now.
I haven't quit, and I did actually do some caching sorta... I went
to a local geocache event, and I went and found one of my caches
that turned up missing for awhile (and made a better device to
obscure it from view now that summer is coming and traffic
will increase in the area). I also did the Yellow Jeep Fever cache.
And, tomorrow we are looking at a sailboat... an old sailboat..
and I'm sure you can guess what that will do to my non-existant
"free time"...
But eventually I'll get back to caching. There are a lot of new ones in
my area.
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I'll go back and look again.
Was the server down for awhile today?
I had the message thread bookmarked, and it wouldn't come up,
so I went to the top of the forum I posted it in and lookes at all
of the recent topics w/o seeing it.
Hmmm.
... Yup, it is still there (sorta). Actually, it's Here now.
It got combined with a duplicate post.
Doesn't look like there was a lot of interest (which is what
I expected... sort of an interesting read but not a discussion generator)
Thanks.
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I will probably tire of the forums long before I tire of caching. It's hard to say exactly when it will happen, if it ever does. I have enjoyed many hobbies, and would have sworn I would be participating in them for the rest of my life. But things change.
Ditto.
I already grew tired of the forums... so I took some time away.
I came back today after an abscence from the forums because I saw a
launch announcement for GPS satellite number 50, and I posted it
thinking some people might find it interesting.
One person had followed up in the thread when I checked back
(about half an hour later).
Then, when I went to see what was going on in the thread,
it was gone.
I have to assume that TPTB killed the thread.
If that's the case, the forums have nothing left for me.
I want a forum where topics are allowed some degree of freedom
to be peripheral to the main subject, and if that's not what the forums
are about, I have no problem with that... it just isn't what I'm after.
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If you were to place a micro attached to the satellite, I wonder
what the coords would be.
I suppose someone could create a locationless for anyone who
can get a picture & coords of a GPS satellite launch. Maybe a picture
of yourself holding up your GPS receiver with the launch in the background.
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In the past Rockwell designers of the Global Positioning System created a revolution in navigation, equal to or greater than even the compass or the sextant. Certainly GPS advancements in navigation accuracy, agility and availability are light years beyond any dream of the ancients.
The 50th of these marvels is poised for delivery into space Saturday, March 20, on a Boeing Delta II rocket – another industry workhorse built by Boeing employees. It joins the 24-satellite system circling the globe every 12 hours. (While many of the satellites deployed over the years lasted significantly longer than their design life, they do occasionally have to be replaced.)
For the record, the three-stage Delta II rocket will blast off from Space Launch Complex 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., at 12:39 p.m. Eastern time.
“Saturday’s launch is an important milestone for the Boeing Delta team,” said Dan Collins, vice president and program manager, Boeing Delta Program. “Our team’s commitment to mission assurance has played a critical role in the success of the GPS program and the services it provides to the U.S. military as well as civilian users around the world.”
The signals are so accurate, time can be figured to within a millionth of a second, velocity within a fraction of a mile per hour and locations to within a few feet.
GPS gives users 24-hour navigation services such as:
Extremely accurate, three-dimensional location information (latitude, longitude and altitude), precise time and velocity. GPS atomic clocks are accurate to one second in one million years.
24/7, all-weather operations
Continuous real-time information
Support to an unlimited number of users and areas
Support to civilian users at a slightly less accurate level
The successful deployment of GPS satellites aboard Delta II rockets has enabled the U.S. military to use GPS to assist aircraft, ships, land vehicles and ground personnel using handheld devices.
GPS also provides directional guidance for the freefall flight of the Boeing-built Joint Direct Attack Munition smart weapon system, now being used in the war on terrorism.
Another one for the record: Boeing Delta II rockets have launched all of the Block II GPS satellites that make up the current operating constellation.
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...but I did end up making it out without any help. My wife wasn't too happy though, she told me not to take the road...
Wives are like that...
Although mine (Sherkanz) is starting to get used to my antics.
It's aorta bad when a friend with a nice shiny 4x4 w/ heated
leather seats tries to follow me and the road gets more and
more narrow until the branches nearly tear the mirrors (after
they have folded back) off of the truck.
Here's a picture of our truck... the scratches probably don't
show in the picture... http://www.ford-trucks.com/user_gallery/si...d=37644&width=0
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I think you make a good point...
More and more lately, when my kids want the dog to do
something and they ask me to make him do it, I have
been coaching them on how to get him to do it... with
a heavy emphasis on them making sure to praise him
when he does what they ask him to do.
Kids sometimes don't realize than a pet is not like a
radio controlled car that just does what you want, and
then can be switched of and... I was gonna say put
away, but in the case of my kids and their toys...
left laying around.
We do give the toys a time out when they get in the way.
Usually a couple of days on top of the fridge teaches the
toys to stay out of the way and go back where they belong
after they get done playing.
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Yeah, the way I understand it the tail doesn't really break...
it's more like a reflex action in a last resort panic situation.
Sort of a semi voluntary thing, so it doesn't take much (if any)
force sometimes.
It took us awhile to get him to start eating. He seems most
attached to my wife, but he at least respects me.
She is somewhat allergic to him... when his tail (the spines
are like a sawblade where they are short, where the tail is
narrow) or his nails scratch her she gets a rash for a few
hours.
Sometimes I do too, but it takes a couple of days of being scratched.
It may even be that I was reacting to constantly applying
Iodine. I didn't want to trim his nails the first couple of weeks
we had him because he was a bit stressed, and we were learning
how to handle each other.
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Perhaps just keeping them apart until the kid(s) are old
enough to be more situationally aware. By then the dog may
have calmed down some too.
We're working with a new pet that some people think our
kids are too young to be around... but we have set guidelaines,
and taught the kids how to recognize which situations cause him
anxienty, and what he looks like when he is frightened or anxious,
and it has worked out well so far (I'm the only one who's been
bitten so far). But his bite is far less serious... at least now while
he's just under 3 feet long. When he get about 6' long, he will have
the strength to bite off the end of a finger. But he was less tame
and used to me when I got bit... now when he gets scared he often
wants to huddle up against me for protection (it's funny, looks like
a kid with his arms stretched out saying "Daddy..." and wanting
to be protected). But if he's down on the ground, he goes into
the survival instinct, and get's a bit confused about who is
and isn't a predator.
The time I got bit he was new to the house, was on the ground, and
the dog got close. He's barely beginning to get the idea that the dog
won't eat him. The dog is afraid of him.
Here's a couple of pictures...
"Rocky":
You can follow the whole story at the link below:
http://tesa.proboards24.com/index.cgi?boar...1874461&start=0
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Okay... I guess I thought hoe or shovel training was like
whack the dog over the head with one... so what is a dog that behaves
like a HOE
D'oh... I just re- read my post
Okay my bad... typo, shoulda wrote "how".
I guess we're back to neutering if your dog acts like a hoe.
DO NOT tell me what color he is!
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Sorry to hear of your predicament.
Now, I have only had time to skim this message thread, but a couple of
things came to mind (so I may be redundant here).
Have you had or considered having the dog neutered?
Anyone who belives that breed and genetics doesn't influence temperment
is decieved, whether dliberately or by misinformation.
Yes, you can make a Pitbull more or less aggressive by how you train him,
but you cannot make a pitbull behave the same as a Labrador Retriever
by giving both dogs the same training and environment.
I have a neutered Lab-Shepherd mix that has not been given any
special training. He was so easy to train it was as if he trained
himself for most of the behaviors we wanted from him.
I, or anyone in my family can walk up behind him while he's eating
and pick up his hind end with his tail, and he will just wait for the
person to let him back down, or maybe look back and try to
wag the tail he's being lifted by. I'm pretty sure anyone he knows could
do the same, and I doubt even a stranger would be in much risk of
being growled at, let alone bitten.
I challenge anybody to duplicate this behavior from a pitbull.
Personally, my dog is LIKE family, some would say he IS family,
but if he became viscious towards my kids without severe provocation,
and I was relatively sure that it was not going to be an isolated incident,
I would either find someone without kids that wanted an otherwise good dog,
or take the dog into the backyard and put him down.
There is no way that ANY dog has even 1/1000th the value to me that
my children do.
But I tend to think more like a farmer, and consider people who spend thousands
of dollars to save a pet to be lunatics (Now, I never said I'm not a lunatic, or that
being a lunatic is entirely bad...)
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ALmost forgot to post a picture of Otto, and a picture of all of us at
the site of the first geocache
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Use the link below to upload an image.
Then use it again (DO NOT USE "BACK" or "RELOAD") to see the
image and copy the URL of the image.
Then use the IMG button at the top when you post the picture.
There is a size limit, so you may have to either compress your
image a bit (.jpg reduce quality) or make it smaller.
Here's the link:
Groundspeak is all about the $$$?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
Just make the Android version free - those users can be trusted
