bradtal

I'm famous! I was an extra in the movie "Tank" with James Garner. You have to look REAL close, cause I'm just a blur as the camera panned across me. I still haven't got any calls from Hollywood, though. [] Bradtal Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Hello all- It was announced on the radio this morning that there will be an article about GeoCaching on Fox 31 news tonight (April 30th, 2003) at 9:00pm Colorado time. Just thought you'd want to know. I'd be curious on what you thought of the article after watching it. Bradtal Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Also, the images must be under 100 k in filesize... Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Found it too! Took geko avatar and left an icecube. Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Thanks for all your replies. I knew I would put a "burr" under some people's belt, but I wanted to see what everyone's thoughts were. What's funny after reading all the replies is that I agree with pretty much everyone here. Everyone made real good points. For example, Tahosa brought to my attention the "Postcards from the Edge" cache located in our area. It's one of my favorite ones I've done, and he has zero finds and only one hide. But it's a great cache and gave me some ideas for doing others like it. So, like Tahosa (and others) said, you can't count on the number of finds to determine how good a cache is. Interesting... I too, don't want to regulate a "hobby" so much that it no longer is fun. I'm not asking for more rules or stricter guidelines... I was just getting tired of talking about geocaching to co-workers and all of them say, "I saw on the news you guys try to blow up bridges or airforce bases with those things..." All they knew of GeoCaching was the "bad" publicity. I do agree with those of you that mentioned maybe a "tutorial" in the "how to hide your first cache" that went into a bit more detail explaining what you should do, places that are bad ideas to hide, etc. Technically they aren't "rules" but more like "pointers". Anyways, thanks for allowing me to see all sides of the coin. Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

quote:Originally posted by carleenp:I think there are enough rules already. I placed my first (and only) one after about 10 finds and after reading up on the subject on the forums. Carleen- I agree with you. I think there are enough rules already too... I was just trying to think of a way that would minimize the "Bomb squad responded to a GeoCache located at the end of a military runway" or the "Hid geocache in an ancient cave..." articles we are seeing lately. For example, just because a 15 year old can buy a car doesn't mean that they can drive it. They have to learn how to drive first. I was thinking the same thing with hiding a cache. Learn how to hunt them before hiding them. Learn the rules/regulations/pros/cons/etc. I'm not saying we should do this, I just wanted to get other people's opinions on whether it would help or not... Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

quote:Originally posted by sbell111:Are you expecting people to respond to both of these threads? I tried to delete this thread, but it wouldn't let me. Any hints? Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Hello All- I have noticed quite a few posts that go along the line of, "I found my first cache yesterday and plan on hidding a cache tonight...etc, etc" Almost always, everyone here replies, "Wait until you have a few caches under your belt before hiding a cache. Learn what to do before you hide them, etc, etc" My question is... Should the "Powers-to-be" (Jeremy, Erik, etc) not allow new caches to be approved if the user has less than X number of found caches? X could be 5 or 10, for example... I know this might upset some people, but I think it could improve the "quality" of caches. For example, we keep hearing of caches hidden in parks that look like PVC bombs, etc. With a few cache finds under their belts, they would know where are good places to hide and where not to hide. Is a Glad trashbag a good cache container, should I put chocolate in the cache, etc... What are your thoughts? Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Hello All- I have noticed quite a few posts that go along the line of, "I found my first cache yesterday and plan on hidding a cache tonight...etc, etc" Almost always, everyone here replies, "Wait until you have a few caches under your belt before hiding a cache. Learn what to do before you hide them, etc, etc" My question is... Should the "Powers-to-be" (Jeremy, Erik, etc) not allow new caches to be hidden if the user has less than X number of found caches? X could be 5 or 10, for example... I know this might upset some people, but I think it could improve the "quality" of caches. For example, we keep hearing of caches hidden in parks that look like PVC bombs, etc. With a few cache finds under their belts, they would know where are good places to hide and where not to hide. Is a Glad trashbag a good cache container, should I put chocolate in the cache, etc... What are your thoughts? Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

quote:Bash away. I work with reporters and can honestly say that a TON of embellishing goes on when a script is written. The geocaching script doesn't surprise me at all. Accuracy isn't at the forefront of a journalist's mind when a story is written (especially tv reporters). This is so true. A group of us build and race full size electric powered race cars and the local news came out to do a clip of us on the nightly news. They asked us how fast the cars go, how long it takes to build them, etc. We showed them how safe they are with the 5 point seatbelts, rollbars, etc. The race they filmed was one of our best. We had some of our fastest speeds, awesome competition, and great crowd turnout... We had a blast. We were so excited to see what the news was gonna show that night. Well, we watched the clip and our jaws dropped to the floor. They gave totally inacurate facts (like that the cars can go 110mph... Ya, right...). Plus the ONLY clips they showed of the race was one of the cars that had electrical problems and was creaping across the finish line, and other of a driver crashing into a curb. No shots of the race, no shots of the crowd, no shots of the excitement and thrill of the race. We were so disappointed, we vowed not to let any news channel talk about our sport again. However, the next news crew that approached us, we told them about the last time, and they said it would happen with their channel. Sure enough, they did do a good job, and it showed off the sport WAY better. PS. We use a GPSr in the race car to track our average and top speed. PPS. To learn more about the electric car racing, check out the following webpage... Electrathon America Racing. Then, pick on "Gallery" at the top... Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

"This end down... Other end up...." Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

I really hope this doesn't happen. Requiring a permit to hide/hunt a cache. I agree with the people here that when the government gets involved, it just makes things worse. For example, in Oregon, you used to be able to camp in whichever campground you wanted to. Then, they decided to make it "mandatory" to get a camping permit and you had to "reserve" your camping spot. Of course, everyone in Oregon has their favorite camping spot, so they reserved the spots months and YEARS ahead of time. You could not be in a camping spot without this permit. Now, you can drive through abandoned campgrounds because the people that reserved the spots decided not to camp that weekend, etc. But you could not camp in that spot, because it was reserved. Argh! And if you did camp there, you would be fined. The state thought it would make it more fair for everyone to have a chance to camp, but instead, it made it 100 times worse. I just imagine that same thing with GeoCaching... Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

quote:Originally posted by Criminal:No B&E? Well there goes that cache idea.... Ya, I can just see the log book for a Breaking & Entering cache... Took: TV, VCR, CD Player, & Jewelry... Left: Broken window and muddy footprints on the carpet... Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

quote:But you live on Fort Collins. I thought the atomic clock was in Boulder. I think the "headquarters" are in Boulder, but the antennas are in Wellington. I think it's interesting that they say they are in Fort Collins, because they really aren't. They are a few miles north of Fort Collins, in Wellington. Check out this picture to see what the antennas look like. These things are huge! The pictures don't do them justice. My house is near the houses in the background of the picture. Check out this picture to see a satellite image of the area. The building in the middle houses all the machinery, and you can see the antennas (and their shadows!) surrounding the building. Another funny thing about these antennas... My neighbor plays the electric guitar, and he actually picks up the signal from the antennas though his guitar and amp. I've been over there and he sits there and listens to the tones/beeps/announcements, etc. Told him his amp is the most expensive atomic clock I've seen. Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

quote:Originally posted by EraSeek: There was a disturance lately. You sound a bit like Yoda. "There is a disturbance in the GPS force, yes there is..." Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

My wife and I always laugh at this. We live less than a mile from the antennas that broadcast the atomic time code. However, every single clock in our house is different, and none of them show the right time. I do use my GPSr to set the clocks when power goes out, etc. Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

I sure hope this wasn't done on purpose and was an accident. However, I think it could have been an accident by a personal experience... I was asked to do a computer animation of how pepper spray sprays out of the container (distance, spread, etc.) for the local police department for a training video. They provided me a container of the pepper spray so I could make the 3D computer animation as "realistic" as possible. I put the pepper spray in my car and left it in there overnight. When I brought it inside and started to work on the animation, I was overcome by the smell from the pepper spray. Just the difference in temperature from the cold car to the warm room was causing the container to leak. Since this could happen every day & night in the cache, I could see how it would really smell. Just my two cents... Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now. [This message was edited by bradtal on January 23, 2003 at 12:54 PM.]

A point I haven't seen listed yet is the amount of exercise one can get while geocaching. I have read a couple of threads about how much "weight" someone has lost after just a few months of geocaching. Plus, you get to enjoy beautiful mother nature and explore areas you didn't even know existed. Also, compared to other hobbies like golf, skiing, racecar driving, investing in dot-com's, etc, a $99.00 GPSr is pretty darn cheap. I do recommend taking the "boss" with you on the geocaches. My wife and I enjoyed the time together. She is an avid photographer, so she used the opportunity to get some neat pictures. I did make the mistake of taking her on a very difficult cache, and she hasn't been as "eager" to join me since... Anyways, hope everything works out. You'll have to let us know. Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

quote:Originally posted by cachew nut:Hmm, I may have to rethink my feelings about secrecy of caves after seeing http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cachelog_details.asp?ID=138239&L=796447. I agree with you Cachew Nut... Don't think that something like this should be on the family-oriented webpage. Funny, though... Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Will the whole magazine be encrypted with the ROT13 code? Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

I also agree with everyone here that these are nice guidelines to follow. One thing I like to do is return the cache "contents" back in better condition than I found them. For example, if the cache had a printout describing what geocaching is, and it has been "buried" under all the geoswag, I place it back on top so if a non-geocacher finds the cache, its the first thing they see (instead of all the way cool stuff in the cache). Wow, that was a long run-on sentence... My elementary school english teacher would be very upset... I would hope this would help deter thefts of our caches. PS. Great job Brian. It's nice to see people interested in keeping this growing sport fun for everyone. Brad

quote:Originally posted by Chazman007:I couldn't think of a better way to go, getting slammed in the face with my GPS. I can just picture the autopsy report... 'Minor cuts and bruises. Broken thumb... The word "Garmin" was imprinted backwards in his forehead...'

quote: I will now remove every cache, after I find it and log it of course, to free our environment of all this litter. Actually, you can't remove caches once they are placed in the wilderness. If you do, you will disrupt the ecology of the surrounding area. Think about it. If you remove the cache, all the little bugs living underneath it will possibly persish (and some of the bugs might be endangered...) Also, where will the wildlife come and find a free meal of food that was left in the cache? Also, the forest won't smell as good if you remove the scented candles or car fresheners out of the cache... Finally, if we stop vistiting the caches out in the wilderness, all of the wildlife in the area around the cache will think we don't care about them anymore and would die of loneliness and boredom... of course I'm only joking... Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

I just recently heard that the Surgeon General is warning all of us who have seen the first two "Lord Of The Rings" movies to NOT watch the third one when it comes out. He said the movies are "hobbit-forming".... Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.

Hello All- I was on a business trip with a co-worker (who was also a pilot) and he brought his GPS with Suction Cup mount antenna. After a few minutes into the flight, he licked the suction cup and slapped it onto the window. It was cool to watch how fast we were flying and our altitude, etc. But, it wasn't more than a few minutes before we had about 4 flight crew telling him to remove it. They said they got "many" complaints from other passengers thinking that we were going to blow up the plane or cut a hole into the window etc (by the way, this was over 5 years ago...) So, anyways, I always ask if I can use my handheld gps (no external antenna) before turning it on. In all cases, they said it was ok as long as I turned it off during the first and last 10 minutes of the flight. Brad Hard work pays off in the future, laziness pays off now.