RS67Man

As far as putting the cache descriptions etc. into my GPSr, I used GSAK program, GPS/send waypoints.... part. To upload the field notes and log my finds, I did it all on the GC site using the MY Profile/Access my Field Notes page. I am still very new to this, so I am still figuring out the easiest way for me on how to do things. The Oregon GPSr is the cats meow BTW.......I was 7 for 7 on my cache finds yesterday, 6 of them in heavy tree cover on Camano Island!

I found it in my profile. I was able to upload all seven finds with field notes I made today. Much easier than looking each individual cache page. Thanks all!

The Oregon lets you make notes and mark each cache as found. Is there a way to use this to post finds to GC and/or GSAK? I am using GSAK on a XP machine. A quick forum search was not fruitful. Happy 4th!

Brand new 300 GPSr, installed 3.01 with no problems. I have not noticed any bugs with it yet, other than the ladybug that landed on it while I was out caching.........

This will help, a glossery of terms: click this LINKY

I got it at Fred Meyer on 99 in Kent, or maybe it's Federal Way up there...but anyway, it's on 99. Actually it is Des Moines.... I grew up near there on the other side of I5..........(small world)

Only when a patent or copyright is not there to protect the product/idea..........

I am going to add a walking staff. I am finding that I am not as nimble as I used to be, and It helps to have something to lean on to keep myself shiny side up on the trail. It is also handy to push branches and brush aside when looking for that cache.

I managed to buy the Oregon 300 at Dell for the $250 sale price, and the unit should arrive in the brown truck Wednesday. Other than updating with the latest beta release, what else should I get? here is my list of specifics: Windows XP primary use is geocaching, mostly urban, maybe some short hiking. I have a TomTom for driving directions live in Washington state Travel to Oregon and British Columbia on occasion. Have a 4gb micro SDHC card on the way What do I need to download? What kind of maps, utilities and required programs should I get? Please include links to the specific sites, it will make things much easier on this newbie.

Legislators do not enact laws just because they want to, they do it because their constituents have asked (lobbied) them to. Traffic laws like the proposed ban on GPS use by the driver while driving the vehicle more than likely came about because someone was killed or seriously injured as a direct result of doing this. The reason this law was wanted was to set precedent so anyone who is found guilty of the same can be convicted and punished for this wrong. The majority I was talking about was not the general public, laws are not enacted by us. They are enacted for us by those we elect. If you feel that the laws in you area are not as you see fit, get involved in government and try make changes you want. If you feel the choices you are given at voting time are not what you want, either get someone you support, or you yourself, to run for office.

If there is not a law against it, how can you be convicted of doing wrong? Sure you can say the rights of the other person have been violated, but your defense would be that you were pursuing your rights, and your rights were violated as well. (he got in your way) The two nullify each other. With no precedence, there would be no way to define the wrongdoing, regardless of who did what to whom. That is the basis of law. It sets precedence, and defines what is lawful conduct and what is not. Call new laws, like the one the OP started this post for, infringement of your rights all you want, in the end you end up defending a action that the majority has defined as unacceptable.

I can so see that one. A porcelain throne set up in the woods with a GC in the tank, no muggle will touch that one..........

You should really pay attention. I have stated previously that all the situations you and others have brought up are already covered under the basic assumption that all humans have the right to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. Violate those basic rights, and you have a crime. Stealing someone's stuff (let alone trespassing on their property) is a violation of those rights, therefore a crime. It can't be much simpler than that. And the person who committed the "crime" can say the same. He was perusing life, liberty and his happiness by infringing on your rights. With out a law, there is no crime. If laws are not written with specific language describing what EXACTLY is and is not not lawful, then all sorts of interpretation can ensue. Then it takes precedence to to establish who is in the right and in the wrong. this in turn will cause what is accepted law to stagnate and new laws could not be written. Take a example of the invention of motor vehicles. 150 years ago, when everyone depended on horses and their own feet to get around, there were no speed limits. You could not go very fast, although there may have been laws about running your horse through the town square. Motor vehicles are invented. Because this new technology enables people to travel faster and pose a threat to others. new laws need to be written to limit the speed motor vehicles can travel in certain areas so the public is not endangered. By your example, no new law needs to be written, even though people are being killed by cars that are traveling too fast. Those that are responsible are clogging the courts arguing that they were perusing their rights to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Since there is no precedence, nothing has been seen like this, they get off scott free. You can argue all you want about how the person who infringed on your rights needs to be punished, but without a law, no punishment can be enforced by the judicial system. There may or may not be laws written in your state about distracted driving, but if it does not specifically describe everything that can be considered as distracting to the driver, then it needs to be rewritten, or a new law passed.

And this is why a law is made, without it, no one can be punished because there is no law against it. HELLO!!!! If laws were not written to say it is illegal for a unknown stranger to enter your home and take stuff, how would the courts punish the person who boldly walked through your door uninvited and took your GPSr?

What you fail to realize, Roddy, is that those things WERE NOT written into the Constitution INTENTIONALLY. Laws can't be written that deny me the right to do ANYTHING I PLEASE....as long as it doesn't violate someone else's rights. It's a really simple concept. If I want to program my GPS while driving, that's my business and my right.....until doing so violates someone else's rights. At THAT point (and no sooner), I should be held accountable for my actions. Using your logic, the government should be allowed to make a law that forces you to sit in a 6x6x6 cell so that there is NO possible way you could potentially violate someone else's rights. This argument is best taken up using logic and reasoning, rather than the flawed use of emotion and feeling. It tends to lead to circular references that make no sense. So you are saying all rules of the road are unconstitutional? That it is trampling on YOUR rights by setting speed limits, installing traffic signals, making a one way road............And you will drive anyway you please so long as you are not hurting anyone else? I hope I am NEVER on the same road you are on.........

At $90-$300 a pop, I would hardly call it minimal gain. I agree with you on the rest though. What "innocent bystander" ever got hurt because a driver wasn't wearing a seat belt? (as an example only) If Arrow42 engages in risky behavior, being resposnible for the consequences just don't cut it! Minimalizing it as if it's a choice which only affects Arrow42 is like saying yelling fire in a packed building is only a prank! When YOUR actions KILL someone, there are MANY innocent bystanders who are directly affected, I am one of them! I love how some want to pretend their constitutional rights are being trampled on because of a ban of the nature the OP has brought us...when was driving written into the constitution? When did our founding fathers decide use of cell phones and GPS units was a constitutional right? When was killing someone in the name of distracted driving made a God-given right? Yep, what RR said! If you really think that there are laws being passed that trample on YOUR rights, tell that to people who have lost loved ones because of actions of others and lobbied for those laws to be passed. It is my RIGHT to expect drivers around me to drive in such a way as to not endanger me. If they do, and they cause me injury, then I can sue the flesh off of their bones. A law like this give me precedence to do so. I do not care what anyone says, driving while distracted kills.

Two things I would like to add...... With any communication device, be it cell phone, CB radio, or whatever, a conversation with another person who is not in the vehicle with you is INHERENTLY more dangerous than talking with a passenger in a vehicle. The reason is the passenger is probably aware of the surroundings as a second pair of eyes, and can react to and direct the attention of the driver to any problems. A person out side the vehicle, many miles away in most cases, has no idea what you are facing as the pilot of the vehicle, and cannot react to any immediate dangers that may arise. It is because of this I will not use a cell phone while driving. There is not a conversation more important to me than the lives of my passengers and the other people around me. I do not answer calls while driving, I hand my phone to a passenger in the vehicle or not answer at all. Second, the program Myth Busters did a segment were they took on whether or not talking on a cell phone was safer than driving while legally intoxicated. They found that a person talking on a cell phone has about the same reaction time as someone with a BAC of .08%, legally drunk. It does not matter how much training, experience, or what ever excuse you can up with, it is still going to be a distraction. I am not a police officer, never have been. However, I do follow the rules of the road the best I can, I do my best to stay AT OR BELOW posted speed limits, (there is no "grace", you are exceeding the speed limit if you go 1mph over, it is still breaking the law!) obey traffic signals, and give rightaway to anyone who seems to think they're current objective is more important to anyone else on the road. A car is a mode of transportation. The laws are there to protect everyone and assign blame when things go wrong. If you are doing ANYTHING that does not contribute to the safe piloting of the vehicle, do not do it. You are only risking the lives and well being of everyone around you.

I see two things here.... (1) A really offensive person putting up a auction of TBs and GC coins in a way that a passionate and technologically savvy group will react to. (2) A community of people who are very passionate about thier hobby, is reacting to the listing in a very predictable way. Geocaching is like any other hobby. It will have people who are VERY passionate about it. They will go to great lengths to promote, protect, and participate in their chosen hobby. There will be others that will participate for a while, then move on when they no longer have interest in it. I have seen the passion that many people will exhibit in many hobbies. This groups reaction to the listing is of no surprise to me. Can the TBs (or the cache) in the listing be classified as stolen property as defined by the courts? LEGALLY speaking, is there a precedent that will support this claim? Someone made the example of parking a car in a public place, this is a apples to oranges comparison. A motor vehicle is a TITLED and registered piece of private property. The title of the car is what enables you as the legal owner to retain possession even when it is properly, (and improperly) parked in a public place and you walk away from it. Geocaches and their contents, because there is no legally recognized owner, are the property of whoever is in physical possession at the time, be it the owner of the land that the cache sits on, or the times when a person comes along and picks it up. Because this hobby is so new, I doubt there is a legal precedence to support the ownership claim by the CO or the originators of the TBs in question. A very strong argument can be made that it is legally abandoned property, because it sits where the placer of the property does not legally own the land. Bottom line: Is it a 'bay listing made to anger the community it targeted? Yes Is it succeeding in its goal? Yes Should the 'bay pull the listing? Only because it is inflammatory and derogatory to the group of people that it is aimed at.

And I thought we were nice to our fellow GCers, I think the big one would hit if that was me......... I do like the idea of taking photos of the FTF, it would be like getting caught in the act...... As soon as I find a good place for it, I would like to place a cache. I want to make sure it is worth going after for the rest of you, gotta have a view, or some sort of historical importance. Kinda hard around here, a lot of caches all ready.

LASF? I was wondering the same thing! So enlighten us, what the blank is a LASF?

Not to add confusion, but you can also use a free image hosting site like photobucket.com or similar. Once you have images uploaded to a image hosting site, many provide html code to copy/paste to your listing. To find out what users here are using for their photos on this site, you can right click on any photo, then click on properties. that will tell you the actual web address where the photo is kept. This works with any picture, gif, bitmap, or anything in all webpages that is not text.

I heard of going through &(*% to find a cache..............but not literally......

For someone who has been at it for less than a month, with a borrowed GPSr, I figure I am doing pretty good. I had a chance of getting a FTF this evening, after logging a STF on another new cache earlier today. I saw a new cache appear on the caches near me page, and saw that there was no found logs on it yet. It was only 2 miles from my home! So I ran a quick copy, checked GE to make sure it was where I thought it was, and out the door I go! I find it with no trouble, but alas, another STF. I missed it by 14 minutes! Well, maybe next time! BTW, I plan on getting the premium upgrade when I get my own GPSr, that way I will get those notifications for new caches.

I am not new to forums, and I am a active member on 3 other forums that use Invision Power Board software. Since this has not been addressed in this thread, is it a issue of to many users logged on at one time? I have noticed that this forum is much more integrated with the Groundspeak.com website than others I have dealt with, and much more cross site information sharing. Would a more simplified forum with less bells and whistles as a band aid fix be possible for the short term until the long term fix is ready? Would that improve forum performance? Would members of the forum be able to deal with this as a temporary fix, to get the performance back to acceptable levels? Here comes my taxi now........... Taxi!!!

Old school, does that also include a sextant? Now that would be a challenge! I am still curious to see what kind of carry pack, back pack, or fanny pack you guys are using. I snagged a fanny pack from the wife to hold stuff for my urban hunts. My thought was to have everything in one pack, ready to grab and go. The mirror and gloves suggestions are a good ones, I am going to look for ones I can use.