brdad

Hey, no fair, leaving the tasteless ones out! With friends like you, who needs enemas?

My Paul Bunyan avatar is what I started with. He stands in the Bangor, closest city to me 25 miles away. He stands for what a lot of Maine is. Bangor was a lumbering empire back in the late 1800's. The peavey in his left hand was also invented here in Maine. I tried the robot Marvin From HGTG but it was lame and I liked Paul Better. I decided instead to just alter the Paul Bunyan avatar to reflect current events in the forums. Unfortunately, the forums are lacking for intersesting content lately! My avatar history: With friends like you, who needs enemas?

I'd just convert the coords to decimal first! With friends like you, who needs enemas?

quote:Originally posted by Markwell:Don't forget the stuff under the Avatars. I'd rather place my humor there than in the sig line. "My shoes are wet"? That is humor? With friends like you, who needs enemas?

Great story, ammo cans rule! I will not use anything else unless I need to for size or to meet with landowners desires. I Have used them for years for other items, and they hold up better than anything else. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

Yep, think we understand. The position of the GPS will have no affect on bearing, it takes the coords you are at and figures bearing to coords of the cache. I will add though that the position you are holding it in, vertical/horizontal can have an effect on your ability to pick up on a signal. Etrex's antennas are designed to be held slightly above horizontal. The compass will make a difference. it it is designed to be faced in the direction you are travelling in order to be read correctly. A GPS takes a reading at regular intervals and calculates the heading based on where you were at the last interval compared to where you are at the next. But it points the arrow assuming you are holding the unit in the direction of travel since it has no way of knowing what direction you are holding the actual unit. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

quote:Originally posted by Still_Looking:I've seen several posts that say when they get close to the cache, the turn off the GPS and use their compass. How do you do this? Since the compass is only direction, how do you know where to go, or am i missing something? Also, what is the difference between Bearing and Heading since I noticed I can toggle between them on my Etrex? Thanks I think you are missinterpreting about shutting off the GPS and switching to compass. First of all, Bearing is the direction from where you are to where the cache is. heading is the direction you are currently travelling. This might be similar to a N-S highway, where we'll assume you are going North. your destination (Bearing) would be north, but the road may twist and turn around obsticles, so your heading will show the direction you are actually travelling, which could be east, west, or any other direction at any given time. When you get closing in on a cache, the GPS uses both bearing and heading to determine which way to display the arrow on the screen. Once it gets real close, a slight difference in heading can throw the reading off, making the arrow point in a totally different way that it should be. So, knowing that... If you change the GPS screen to display bearing, then set your compass to that bearing (make sure GPS is set to magnetic, or make allowances for declination) it will (or should) point in the correct direction to the cache. While I'm not using the compass on the GPS at this point, I am using it for bearing and distance. And Alan2 is right, if your GPS has an electronic compass in it, you would not need both units. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

quote:Originally posted by enfanta:If I want to drive around for thirty minutes looking for a place to park, I'll go to the mall on Saturday morning. Failing to include such broad, basic information as a town name is a weak way to improve the difficulty of a cache. I personally find looking for a parking spot, or sometimes, even the access road, fun 95% of the time. One cache I did, I made a 5 mile loop about 5 times before I turned around and looped in the other direction. The trailhead went at such an angle to the road it was invisible while travelling in one direction. it adds to the experience, I got a lesson that day I would not have gotten if parking coordinates had been given. I don't consider it wasting gas if it gives me a challenge. And then I still had a 1+ mile hike to get to the cache. And if you want to know what town it's in, look at a map. Works for me. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

quote:Originally posted by Alan2:In southern NY you can cache in Bear Mountain and Harriman PArks without worry as hunting is prohibited. Are there other parks in your neighborhood where there's no hunting but caches aplenty? Alan This is half the problem with this whole subject. One can not assume just because hunting is prohibited in an area that no one is in there hunting. And while I have little doubt that the probability of a hunter being in a prohibited area is a lot summer than elsewhere, one should not make these assumptions. The same hunter that is stupid enough to shoot at something he can not make a full identification of is more likely the same hunter that's stupid enough to hunt in a prohibited area either because he is not aware of the boundaries or he is aware, but chooses to take his chances there because the animals are less afraid of humans, making the hunt easier. A few years back, we had an incident where a hunter had shot a deer between a Wal-Mart and I-95. If I had to guess the distance between, I'd say 2/10 of a mile. All flat land, and despite some trees between them, they are in full sight of each other. These type of stories come up now and then, and we all know the percentage that get away with it far outnumber the percentage that get caught. I'm not one to worry about going out during hunting season. Hunting season is generally open for some animal year round here, though obviously deer season is the most popular. So if I'm in an open city park, I might wear normal clothing, but if I went to any of the forest type parks this time of year, I'd definately wear some orange. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

quote:I agree...but what else am I supposed to do when I'm stuck at work? Ummmmm.... WORK, maybe? Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

quote:Originally posted by BassoonPilot:This has been discussed at length in an earlier thread. I would provide a link, but that would be making it too easy for you. But don't you realize not posting the link is making things too easy for you? Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

Jake Schoeder, looks just like the thing I'd want. I've never had a dollar store bucket with a cheap advertising sticker logo on it. And the sticker isn't even stuck on firmly, so I don't have to worry about it being plundered since it looks like trash. And that red clicky thing that would not even hold back a baby, let alone a bear during mating season once he sniffed all that viagra, it's just what I need. Maybe I should stash my ammo in it, kids always have trouble getting my steel ammo boxes open. And I'd be glad to entrust my money for such an item, even when your domain is only a month old, Not to mention it's just a bunch of more advertising crap like your bucket. By the way, your other web sites reek of lame advertising too. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

I agree 100% Jamie. Where would this world be if everyone restrained from doing something just because it might involve some risk? I am thinking just the opposite. it is frightening to think that some people rely on some rather untrustworthy items to save their butts if something happens. If you fall off something, chances are your fancy phones and other electronic items will take a beating as well. Where does it stop? Registered guides are available, they are not a new idea by any means. Maybe we should hire one every time we cache. Maybe we should call the fire and police departments and inform them of our dangerous caching attempt and our intended course and destination. Maybe we should bring along a psychologist in case we suffer from post-traumatic no-find syndrome. Maybe we should bring a camera crew and lawyer in case a blind hunter shoots us so we have proof. Sure, all the gadgets are great to bring along if you want, but if you don't have the common sense, knowledge and ability to make it to a cache as if you had none of these items, you should stick to 1/1s. Or maybe you should stay home. Oh wait, don't stay home, most accidents happen at home. Imagine going to a cache site 15 miles in the woods, slipping and dropping your entire pack off into a raging river. Imagine it's dusk before you regain strength enough to move on. Imagine everything you had - first aid kid, GPS, flashlight, matches, cell phone, compass, and everything else. It can happen - that's when "being prepared" is really going to help you. Sure, bring your phone if you feel like it. But don't criticize those that don't as if the cell phone was the hotline to god. Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

quote:Originally posted by BrianSnat:Post coordinates. Many people use their home. Actually, I'd like to propose we all use BrianSnat's house as the coordinates for all locationless. That face should be locationless! Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

I agree with Rubbertoe, it's 99% the parenting! So many parents are so busy nowadays working at least one job each that they'll buy this crap for a young child so it gives them something to do so they don't have to watch them. We didn't have video games when we was young, we acted everything out. I had guns, knives, and slings, and many other "weapons" all hand made and fabricated out of sticks or whatever matierials I could round up. We played cowboys and indians, cops and robbers, and a multitude of other scenarios. We even ended up getting hurt sometimes, abeit accidentally. Why haven't I killed anyone? Because my parents let me know what was real and what was not. I knew at 10 years old what a real gun was and what potential harm it could do. I knew it was not right to act the play games we had played for years. The play acting I did was not the major part of my life, my parents spent a lot of time going places and learning new things. I don't think we need half this crap in video games that we see. In my mind, 90% is overkill. But it is there. Deal with it. If parents might take some responsibility and look into what the game is, maybe they'd realize that maybe their 6 year old kid should not have half the games on the shelf. Maybe they'd realize that some time geocaching or some other outdoor activity (Is there any other?) would be more beneficial than another buy off with a child selected video game. My son has several video games. Even with him being 14, I know the general premise of every one of the games he plays. I either look up reviews and/cheats for screenshots, or I rent and check out the game myself before we purchase it. I limit his time, and most importantly, show him there are other things to do that can be just as enlightening, and most importantly, I make sure he knows the difference. Geez, that's a long post. I could have just said, "If a 5 year old is playing GTA, it's not his fault. I would have too if I had been allowed.". Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

Come on Nia, you can do it Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

quote:Originally posted by st_richardson:In addition to possibly being a geocacher, so might of noticed you following her and stopped to make sure she wasn't being stalked. Oh now, come on! Is this the face of a deranged, geocachette stalking man?????? Time is the best teacher; Unfortunately, it kills all its students!

First off, I must say the logo has pretty much been decided on by the general geocaching public as Leatherman's #1, or the "GX". Of course, anyone is free to use any image they want. However, I'll be glad to add your images on my page as it may give teams ideas for personal logos. As far as posting an image in the forums, they will first have to be uploaded to some web space somewhere on the net. Then just make your post, and click on the UBB code for image below the edit box, and type in the image location and it will show right up in your post. If you have no web space, or do not know how to use it, email the pictures directly to me at the alternate email on my profile page and I will post them here and on my page for you. We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.

They're coming to take you away, Haha, they're coming to take you away, Ho ho, hee hee, ha ha, To the funny farm Where Life is Beautiful all the time..... I've never had that happen yet while caching, but have had it happen while going to different stores around town. I always get stuck with the ugly mom with 3 screaming brats follow me around... And, a lot of people are slow posters ... maybe the logs will show up in a few days if she really was a geocacher. Then anyone that's good at pretend parking is probably good at pretend geocaching too. We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.

MacBWizard201 is right - the datum won't affect your accuracy. The datum gets important when you are transferring waypoints from somewhere other than your GPS, like from maps or waypoints downloaded from geocaching.com. Not having the datum right there can throw you off considerably. We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.

It is possible to be off that much. The biggest factor would probably be the accuracy the Etrex had when you made a waypoint where the car was and the accuracy when you returned. If you go to the satelite page on the Etrex, at the top is says Ready to navigate. Accuracy XXX feet. If you had 24 foot accuracy when you made the waypoint, and 45 foot accuracy when you came back, you could be, in theory, be off by 69 feet (24+45). It would be quite a cooincedence that you would be the max accuracy off on both occasions, but who knows... On average, my Etrex gets me a lot closer than that, I'd guess 30 feet or so. We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.

quote:Originally posted by Nurse Dave & LKay:that's the prettiest picture of you yet! Ah, just what every guy wants to hear! We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.

I never got into the Where's George craze, but it makes me wonder. Has anyone ever put coords onto a bill, leading to a cache or other place? I know I use bills a lot when I don't have a peice of paper handy, and have even written coords on them, though it was probably just jotted down as 44 67 345 so strangers may not even know what it was. Just seems like it might be neat to hide a simple cache for that purpose, maybe not even listed on the web site, possibly a "welcome to geocaching" cache. Anyone that took the effort to see what the coords were would probably enjoy geocaching. We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.

I don't think the way he handled it was right at all, but was there ANY chance the pin might not have made it into the cache? The only reason I wonder this is the first finder logged my cache saying he left something. I happened to be at the stop a few days later and took a peek and it was not in the cache (what they said they took was gone so they did make the visit). I have seen other items left by this cacher in other caches so I don't think lieing about what was left is a normal practice. I saw it as an issue not to make a big deal about, so I made no note or contact concerning it. I just assumed they dropped it without knowing or it met some other ill fate. I think this kid definitely could benefit from caching with someone to better understand what it's all about. We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.

I'd like to first compliment all the people in the complaint dept thread for being so good at what they do. Also, I'd like to compliment the site designers for making the site simple enough for an ISP challenged user such as Lep to find his way around. We all have mental problems, it's just that some of us choose to show them.