MaxEntropy
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Posts posted by MaxEntropy
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That would lead me to believe that the airport security is pandering to the different regulations of the individual airlines.. so that one airline doesn't see a problem with GPS during flight.. They all must use it themselves.. and it isn't a transmitter, but a receiver, while another airline won't allow it.
All receivers are transmitters.
To amplify the signal from the air, they broadcast a very weak signal on the antenna.
Yes, I know, It's over-simplified, you folks feel free to type a long technical diatribe below.
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However...since 9/11/01, you're not allowed to transport batteries on a plane, be it opened package or not. Put your batteries in your checked luggage, or they will take them from you. They'll also take nail scissors from you.
That's interesting because when I was flying back from Paris, the security guy there seemed very interested in what type of batteries I was carrying and whether or not any of my battery-powered appliances like my shaver had been out of my sight or to a repair shop. He was apparently trying to screen-out bombs disguised as battery packs.
He didn't show any concern towards the many NimH AAs that I was carrying, he was interested in my spare laptop battery. It went through the scanner twice.
DeGaulle airport had the most intense screening that I've ever been through at an airport and even then it wasn't so bad, 10 minutes max. In a way, it was reassuring.
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Copy of e-mail sent to Geowomyn .... Bad news on her excellent Ardenwood series. This stuff is depressing, I wonder if we've hit some sort of "critical mass" in the bay area where the game is awaking folks in authority and inviting such responses. Maybe we should come up with some simple guidelines on saturation levels within a park or region. Not that Geowomyn's series violated any of this. Depressing.
A portion of my e-mail reviewing the Ardenwood reaction.
I went over to Ardenwood around noon to eat a picnic lunch and pick-up a few of your caches in this excellently designed series. While paying my $2 entrance fee the young Ranger manning the desk noticed my GPSr. His comment, in politely official tone, "We don't allow GPS stuff in this park"; of course he meant caching as opposed to simply using a GPS device. After realizing he wasn't joking, I questioned him on this in my best low key manner and was told that his boss had found out about the Ardenwood caches and that they would be removed because they involved digging within the park and were not approved. His comment, "My supervisor was pretty upset". He also said that three caches had been removed and they were looking for the others. I let him know that it would surprise me if any digging was involved given my experience with your caches and that I was sorry about their decision.I did a quick search for "Moosic" and didn't find it, the cache may still be there but I wasn't going to look too hard today in order to avoid antagonizing the rangers. I went on to eat my lunch and then returned to talk to the same ranger again after giving the matter some thought. In my conversation I let the ranger know how Geocaching works and that your series had probably brought over 70 families to the park. I also let him know that common practice was to make caches "minimally invasive" and that most of the Ardenwood caches were probably of the 35 mm log only variety. I dropped off a couple of your Ardenwood cache printouts so they could see how well designed the series was and let him know that his supervisor could contact you via e-mail link from the cache web page. I also let him know that normally a GeoCacher will remove their own caches if requested to do so by someone in authority as a matter of game policy.
The ranger was polite but a wary and said he would pass on the info and cache sheets to his supervisor. I believe Ardenwood is part of the EBRP group which has had a couple of run-ins with Geocachers in the past although this was not brought up in our conversation.
Sigh ... Probably should have mentioned CITO and other positive things about Geocaching but it wouldn't have helped. The decision is being made above him and the impression this man's supervisor had passed on to his crew of Ardenwood rangers was uniformly negative.
/Lefty
I live about 1.9 miles from Ardenwood. I've tried several times to get permission to put caches in there but I've had NO response. I've written two letters with no response, called several times and showed-up twice, both times the supervisor was unavailable or out to lunch.
Ardenwood is public land but I thought that I would try to get permission because they are trying to maintain an 1890s theme and I wanted to work with them. I got the feeling from the people that I spoke with that though it's public property that they treat it as some sort of private fifedom. They were arrogant at best and once fairly rude.
I just had to grin when I saw Geowomyn's caches there. I found several and got skunked on one. They were well done and absolutely none of them involved any digging! I'm a little ticked-off at Ardenwood for failing to respond to my requests and now for apparently kicking Geocaching out. I'm going to avoid Ardenwood and their creepy Patterson Family worship.
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After I upgraded my software, my Legend got confused. It had me somewhere near Moscow. As soon as I walked outside ang got some satellites, it straightened out. The max speed was somewhere in the 8000 MPH range.
The SR-71 has nothing on my GPS.
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My little cache-pals make so much noise on the trail that I rarely see anything more wild than cows. They talk about looking for deer and mountain lions, but those smart critters are long gone before we get close.
One time however, we were searching for a cache in some scrub. As we widened he radius, my younger son (8 at the time) ducked into a big shrubbery. Moments later he ran out yelling "Wild Animal, Wild Animal! I carefully poked into the bush with my stick to find a rabbit curled-up in some grass. Using my best Monty-Python voice, I told everyone else. "It's not a wild animal, it's a little bunny." It went downhill from there "It's a vicious beast..."
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I'm curious. Where exactly is the wilderness area that has that sign?
I doubt it is a federal wilderness designated under the 1964 Wilderness Act, or some private individual has posted an unofficial sign as some sort of protest. Perhaps a state or county wilderness, or private land adjacent to a federal wilderness.
The Wilderness Act specifically allows horses and personal electronic devices (which includes GPSr, iPods, etc.). The Act also allows hunting and fishing subject to state and local fish and game laws.
But back to the original intent of this forum -- Prior to my retirement from the FS I was the unofficial 'geocache monitor' for the Forest where I worked. Basically, I checked every one placed (It was a tough job but someone had to do it. The taxpayers paid me to geocache!) There is a cache in a designated Wilderness with the knowledge and approval of my superiors. When I raised the issue of a cache in the Wilderness I basically received a shrug and the comment that if it is not a problem then leave it alone. Additional discussion with law enforcement said the same thing. The LEO sought legal clarification on geocaching in general from legal staff further up the food chain (how high I cannot say), and according to non-judicial legal interpretation geocaches are NOT litter. There is a specific legal definition of litter and geocaches do not meet the definition. Geocaches are not abandoned property, as by definition they are not abandoned. And although not specifically either banned or allowed under the Wilderness Act or other federal regulations, the wording can be interpreted either way; in the lack of a definitive and formal court ruling any interpretation is subjective and arbitrary and the FS lets local managers decide locally on a case-by-case basis. The LEO also said he would not want to try to argue a citation for 'illegal geocaching' in front of a federal magistrate -- he would lose.
The only two geocaches in our local area that raised concern were outside any wilderness boundary (one near an archaeological site, another in a rock outcrop that may be risky for some people to climb). In both cases we decided to leave them because of light use, less than a half dozen or so visits per year and neither created any problems or impacts.
Did you log your finds? If so, cool.
For a long time I've wondered what the land-management professional's (rangers) view is about geocaching as it relates to an increase in visitors.
It seems to be a conflict in that on one hand, it seems that rangers want fewer visitors to their area to reduce the impact on the environment and franlyy, to make their job easier.
On the other hand, Rangers are outdoorsmen at heart and they like to share the great outdoors with others and encourage couch-potatos to get outside and take a hike. It may also be that park needs a level of visitors to justify the staffing level. Geocaching generally brings in more visitors. From the Ranger's perspective is that good or bad.
What's the inside story?
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I've never watched an entire episode of that show. In fact, the longest continuous stretch I've seen might be five minutes. But anyway, why not throw the people on the island, leave, come back in a week with cameras. Repeat.
The current method is only a soap opera, and far from anything to do with surviving. But I guess it's what makes the money. I can't argue with that.
Jamie
It's about surviving the game, not particular survivor skills.
The creator, Mark Burnett says that it's not reality, he calls it "unscripted drama". Throw a bunch of people into an uncomfortable situation where they have to get along on the surface while scheming with and against each other then turn on the cameras and watch what happens.
BTW, when the canoe capsized and dropped it's cargo, I immediately thought, PUSH THE MOB BUTTON! (Man Overboard, from my GPSMap 225).
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Good advice from a hotel lobby on the big island of HI
Is this still funny?
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Yes!
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I was playing with my Garmin eTrex Vista today and discovered what appears to be an undocumented feature. From the main menu page, if you bump the clik stick once to the left and press, you get a little window that says "Owner Information" click on that and you get a screen to fill in your name and address. There's a check box at the bottom that makes this info display at power-up. I could find no mention of this in the manual.
Don't know if this is on other eTrex models but its worth a look. Sure beats programming your home coordinates and hoping someone can do a reverse lookup for your addy.
Regards,
BBFlatt
Your manual was probably a revision behind your firmware.
When I bought my legend, It didn't have that feature and it could ONLY store 500 waypoints. About 6 months later, I got a software upgrade that enabled the used screen and somehow found space for 1000 waypoints. Like I could survive with only 500 waypoints. That won't even get me 20 miles but that's another thread...
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Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! BBFlatt!
After my FIL gave us his Vista, M stumbled onto that page only long enough to delete a letter the first time he played with the GPSr, but could not remeber how he did it for us to change the information. We have read the manual from cover to cover and scoured the boards, but never found anyone who could tell us how to do it.
Our Vista now has the correct owners information!
Garmin has all of the owners' manuals on-line.
I downloaded the manual for my legend before I bought it. How's that for anticipation?
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Yes compasses can be calibrated. How do the magnetic compasses in US warships ( yes theyre there) point North when surrounded by steel?
Ships don't really use magnetic compasses. They have gyrocopasses which always point to true north once set-up and precessed properly. Since you never bet your life on technology, they also carry magnetic compasses as a back-up
The marine "standard" magnetic compass is adjusted to compensate for the metal of the ship by adjusting the fore-and-aft and athwartship magnets, quadrantal spheres and the Flinders bar. Even then some deviation will still exist so a deviation table is required from which you can finish correcting your compass course.
I doubt that there is a pocket compass that is equipped with any of these so it's better to simply keep it away from iron, DC wiring and other magnets.
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I bought a tube of a cream called Zanfel. I bought it on-line but I've recently seen it in a drug store on the shelf. It claims to be able to remove the urishiol from the cells after it has bonded. I bought it after the last time that I had poison oak so I haven't been able to try it out. It cost me about $40 for a small tube but if it works, it'll be well worth it. I'm allergic to PO so it lasts about 4-6 weeks when I get it.
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That's creepy.
I think that I have a stalker.
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I just got this press release in my in box. Since it's a press release, I'll copy it here in its entirety:
Detective Work is All Fun and Games in Second Annual Magellan GPS Geocaching Contest
Cache Her If You Can' GPS Adventure Offers Family Fun and Big Rewards This Summer
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Throughout the summer, thousands of friends and families in America will enjoy fun and adventure in the great outdoors -- hot on the trail of a fictitious criminal mastermind and searching for secret locations where treasures await. The Magellan® "Cache Her If You Can" GPS Adventure is a geocaching game that sends amateur crime-solvers on a weekly quest for clues in 30 cities across the U.S., competing for grand prizes from June 24 to September 1, 2004.
Found exclusively at www.magellangps.com, the second annual web-based contest hosted by Thales, global provider of Magellan GPS consumer products, is an ideal outdoor recreation activity that gets kids, families and friends of all ages out of the house to enjoy some fun and adventure while taking in the natural beauty of the great outdoors.
It also sets the stage for the introduction of the new Magellan eXplorist 100, eXplorist 200 and eXplorist 300 GPS receivers. Priced affordably at $99, $149 and $199 respectively, the compact, vibrantly colored handhelds deliver more advanced features, more powerful performance and more value than competitive products.
To play and be eligible to win, participants will need to have access to a GPS receiver and register at www.magellangps.com. There, contestants will enlist as agents and follow the contest's fictional storyline to assist the "Magellan Detective Agency" in foiling the sinister plans of the notorious "Stella DeCache" and her devious henchmen of "Organization X" before they're able to disrupt the game of geocaching.
Each week, clues posted on the website will ultimately reveal exact latitude and longitude coordinates for one or more locations, which contestants will enter in their GPS receivers so they can use it to guide them to a secret briefcase-like container hidden above ground on public property, like a park or forest. The first person to find the case and the top-secret reward document inside wins a grand prize, plus cool items they find in the cache container. Grand prizes vary from cache to cache and may include trips, outdoor adventure products or vehicle navigation gear packages.
For complete details on contest rules and prizes, see the official game website at www.magellangps.com. For information on Thales Navigation visit www.thalesnavigation.com.
NOTE: Magellan and eXplorist are trademarks of Thales.
For a copy of the Magellan GPS Geocaching B-roll or a Magellan eXplorist GPS review product loan, please contact Brian Rhea at 408-244-7432 or brian@rheacom.com .
SOURCE Magellan
CO: Magellan; Thales Navigation
ST: California
SU: PDT
Web site: http://www.thalesnavigation.com
06/24/2004 00:01 EDT
I, for one am glad that they are trying this again. There were a few trouble spots last year, but nothing that couldn't be fixed.
This year, it's a spy theme rather than the explorer theme of last year.
I'm ready to go.
Hey Garmin, when are you going to get in on the fun?
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The definition of spam is, "unsolicited bulk email."
One thing you're missing in that definition is that "spam" is almost exclusively used to describe commercial emails where the intent of the message is to get you to purchase a product or service.
My how the times have changed.
I remember when a Spam message was some guy filling a BBS messsage with SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM SPAM BACON EGGS AND SPAM. Which is actually how we came upon the term Spam for nuisance messages.
The the Chef Bork guys started in with BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK BORK but it never stuck. Getting Borked eventually coming to mean something completely different in politics.
Ahhh, the good 'ol days.
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I bet dollars to donuts that that guy likes to golf. I run into a lot of golfers who badmouth cachers.
I'm not sure what makes walking around a manacured field of grass chasing a ball and wacking it with very expensive clubs wearing very expensive plaid pants and golf spikes better than walking around a field, wooded area, mountanside, park, or rest area looking for an ammo can or film canister.
It's very strange to me that anyone would sneer at what others do with their leisure time. Don't like it? Don't do it. Do what you want to do with your time off, I'll do what I want to do with my time off.
Ok, I'm now insulted twice in one day.
Two of my hobbies are golf and geocaching, if you think about it they have many elements in common; long walk, searching for the impossible to find, outdoors, funny looking gear . . . I guess I have no life at all.
At least it keeps me happy. 
You wouldn't happen to be a retired member of the media would you?
Just going for an insult three-fer here.
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My favorite quote from the Foxnews.com account:
"It may be very hard for the receiver to get signals 100 percent of the time."
Gee, ya think?
To defeat this sort of tracking, try driving under tree cover a lot.
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My first cache is an offset multi that guided the cacher through a local park that uses big stone sculptures as art. The cache makes them follow part of the art trail.
I was hoping that the multi made it a little more challenging and much more interesting. The feedback that I get seems to indicate that I was successful.
In a multi, I like to see a theme. High-tech, birds, horses, sci-fi, movie locations and cars are themes that I've seen in a multi. They were all more interesting and more fun than a park-and-grab. I also like multis that guide us through a park or other nice or interesting location. I can tell when the cache owner puts a lot of thought into the multi and I really appreciate the effort.
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An event cache has to be an event for geocachers to which geocachers are invited and geocaching type activities take place or are discussed.
You wouldn't have a birthday party for a child at Chucky-Cheeses and invite some geocachers to join the kiddies who are there and call it an "event cache". However the site has certainly posted social events to honor a geocacher for finding 1000 caches or for another milestone like a birthday.
I think as long as the event is for geocachers, not just a party to which geocachers are also invited, it's fine. If at the event you want to make the poor guy carry a cache for folks to log that might be fun, but I wouldn't get off on too much of a tangent on that. Participating in the event is what generally earns the smiley, but having a physical cache that can later be hidden nearby as a permanent cache would be cool too. Maybe the guests can all bring trinkets to contribute to this communal cache commemorating the event. I'd communicate with your local approver beforehand to iron out any bugs and arrange for the event to be changed to a traditional cache after it's over.
The only snag I see in the way you describe it is posting it at the last minute to keep the guest of honor in the dark. That would also prevent participants from planning their attendance. We do want event caches to be planned events, not spur of the moment "drop in if your in the area and can make it" last minute thoughts.
erik - geocaching.com admin
One of our recent event caches in the area was exactly as you described. It was the Chuckee Cheese birthday party of one of our young and actice cachers. I couldn't attend, but the log shows that it was well attended.
You say that geocaching must be an event to which geocachers are invited and geocaching type activities take place or are discussed. Well, put a bunch of Geocachers in a room and you know what they'll talk about. They might even get some of the birthday party folks interested in the game.
In fact, I think that it was a great idea on the Dad's part. I've been to enough Chuckster parties to know that having a bunch of adults around to talk about something other than problems with the schools, babies and gossip would be very welcome.
I agree about the short notice problem. I only read cache stuff in the evenings, so I wouldn't know about an event cache announced the same day until it was too late.
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It's not the Government's money, it's the taxpayer's money.
While it would be a nice thing to do, why do we have to pay for it with taxpayer money? Why do they need to spend 50 million of our taxpayer dollars on this? Whay does it take $50 million dollars to encourage landowners to allow public use of their land? The feds are over-taxing us, then giving it back to the states with rules and restrictions.
And then, how long will it be voluntary? How long until it becomes encouraged, then strongly encouraged, then occasionally mandatory then mandatory as so many voluntary programs have become? Is the 5th amendment about to take another beating?
Can someone put their finger on the section of the constitution allowing the federal government to do this?
I'm feeling very Federalist today.
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I'm interested in seeing what is in there. It seems that after about a dozen or so finds, one knows 95% of what there is to know about Geocaching. The rest is experience.
If the book has a bunch or stories about the adventures of Geocachers, it could be worth the time, otherwise, I'll just go out caching.
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But let's not forget that advertising and sponsorships are generated by ALL of us (premium members included).
That's it,
Randy
(Well, now that I think about it, members-only caches inhibit non-members from viewing sponsorships on those pages!)
What sponsorships?
I don't see any advertising on the pages other than the gear from the Groundspeak store and a relatively small mention of Offroute.com on the main page.
If you appreciate the fact that there are no pop-ups and long banner ads here, thank the paid members and the folks who buy gear at the Groundspeak store.
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Having an active moderator is a far cry better than the freakin zoo that this forum was just two months ago.
This is coming from a guy who had a very long post deleted last night without notice.
Thanks Moderators.
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This is what it looks like when you have a warning:
Warn 10%
Oh, that's just a warning indicator.
I thought that my batteries were dead or that my computer wasn't getting a very good signal.
Two of my hobbies are golf and geocaching, if you think about it they have many elements in common; long walk, searching for the impossible to find, outdoors, funny looking gear . . . 
At least it keeps me happy. 
President Bush Get Geo Coin From My Son
in General geocaching topics
Posted
I had this image of walking down the trail and two guys in black with mirrired shades step out of the brush "Excuse me sir, this trail is closed"
Then from the distance you hear, "Yeehaw, Found it!. Hey Dick, Condi, it's over here"
Congratulations Benny. Well Done.