A tapeworm
-
Posts
62 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by A tapeworm
-
-
... offering some things that make benchmarking fun, enjoyable, and maybe easier?
To add to the list of items in the Benchmarking Duffle Bag: hiking gaiters - help keep some of the sand/gravel/dirt out of one's boots, and here in Michigan, keep out the sand burrs, prickers, & ticks. Similarly, leather work gloves when clearing vines/thorns/etc from around mark.
-
... Would it be helpful or would it embarrass the Posters, as in they screwed up...
Public humiliation!!! Public humiliation!!!
OK, I think the best way is, just watch the scores and if you are wondering why one hand was accepted or rejected....awwwwww....
-
Hope this clears things up. If you have any others questions feel free to ask them here.
Now I gotta read the RULES??? Sheesh!
-
Another scoring question:
"Old" BMs in a hand: bonus points awarded for a hand with 1 or more old disks (as Dolphin claimed for his first hand in the logging thread) or points for each old BM (as shorbird claimed in the next post) ?
-
Looks like some are off to a good start and others are playing the game a little differently by not logging until they have one or more hands. I wouldn't be surprised to see someone wait until they have all the hands - log/post/claim bonus and start again.
Hee hee hee. Shhhhh....
-
Except there in Michigan (or maybe Minnesota), it would be more like:
Johann: Hej, Jorgen, did ja see dat der smokestack?
Jorgen: Naw, see nottin' der, don't cha know!
Johann: Ja, it for sure be no recovery.
Ooh, you betcha, eh?
-
Why would a surveyor kill a pair of native American footwear? Did they spot any tennis shoes or sandals while there?
Ladyslippers, perhaps, in the spring - although less threatening than soggy moccasins. Any of which may be responsible for the carnage at NF0462
-
...just who rigged these trees and who used them?
THERE'S the real question!
They'd have to lobotomize me before I'd climb up there!
-
... The second visit I remeasured, and found the station a foot below ground level (it was flush in 1958) and about 2 feet off from where I had figured the location to be....
You the man! Benchmarks fear you.
-
...one of the 2oldfarts birthday is coming up!
And many more to both of you!
-
In also, because ...
I have my lines all picked out just have to wait till 9/1 now....I have all my lines picked out to get the whole set of hands three times, using only 19th century DNFs, and won't sleep until after 9/1.
-
I stopped w/ in a few hrs of a culvert's demise & asked the head of the D.O.T. road crew if they pulled the disk to report..they said "what disk?" I also drove to the spot nearby where they're dumping the rubble - no luck finding
Been there, done that!
-
We are going to stick with the simple way and if it is in GC database, then it is a find for a hand. With this contest, we will only accept the GC.com database.
Fair 'nuff.
-
Will you not accept those new style ones that are tubes buried in the ground with the rod sticking up the middle and the number on the rim?
As long as it has an identification number on the rim - sure. It is almost a disk. It has a 'disk type lid'.
Shirley~
Most of those in my neighborhood are too new for inclusion on gc.com - unless the judges will accept PID & designation as per NGS data sheets, with verification by photo on USBenchmarks @ Waymarking.com?
-
I've worked out the procedure with a bit of practice and now I can get a full county into GSAK in about 2 minutes.
1) get the county download from NOAA....
How do you get the county maps from NOAA?
The county download referred to is actually a listing of BMs by county, available here.
I don't believe NOAA offers county maps. To get user-friendly maps, use this site - a great tool unless you've got a dial-up connection!
-
... better than a mere benchmark...
True, but... how insensitive!
Hope the benchmark gods didn't see that.
-
... which application do I use to download my benchmark coordinates to my GPS?
Lots of options listed on the gc.com site. The only one I've tried (& use currently) is Geocaching Swiss Army Knife, which seems to work pretty well once I played around enough to figure it out.
-
I have a little "Muggle Card" that I can hand out...
I carry photos to show a disk & a couple types of monuments.
As per other replies:
- I introduce myself w/ first & last name in casual/friendly manner
- Explain that I'm looking for a survey mark [show photo] that was placed in this area in the [1930's or whatever]
- Depending on what kind of vibes I'm getting, I may say "That was placed along the road right-of-way in the 1930's...." - haven't yet had the opportunity to look for a mark real close to a private house, thus requiring knocking & asking permission
- If more discussion needed, explain about updating computer database of current marks, as no such thing existed when the mark was placed - folks usually fall for that line just fine
- I don't call it a hobby, but a "sideline" (& don't wear a hardhat)
- Carry NGS datasheet rather than gc.com page, as it looks LOTS more official - usually folks are happy to read the datasheet & update the descriptors: "Don't ever remember a catalpa tree here, but the fence used to run over there..."
- Politely & excitedly snap a photo of whatever piece of pipe or conduit folks show me that I really should be interested in
-
Submit 3 reports ½ second apart ...
That's pretty funny.
-
Thanks, all.
It's not about the found/not found ratios.
It's kind of like fishing.
Like, a bad day benchmark seeking is better than a good day working.
-
Granted, it didn't involve scrambling up a mountain or dodging trains, nor was the mark originally placed by Methuselah - but I'm pretty old, so anything older than me is REALLY old....
The 1948 description of NF0453 is quite good - so although when I got to the site & found no witness post, big elm tree, nor fence corner, I still thought it was worth scrounging around despite the 1985 "Not Found" report.
Sharp!brain helped get me to the likely area - just off the edge of the groomed church grounds, in a scrub-growth spot adjacent to a small privacy fence hiding more forest detritus - by pacing off from the road and SW corner of the church. The elm trees in W. Mich. essentially all disappeared in the 1950's & 60's due to Dutch Elm Disease but just W of the area was a large decayed tree stump
which I thought might be a remnant of the NGS descriptor.
While I dug amongst the leaves, sticks & weeds, sharp!brain took a nap. Shortly I uncovered a concrete slab with a square hole in the center.
Slow!brain immediately told me: "It's the base for one of the concrete posts which occasionally in these parts hold disks on their tops". Thus, the 1985 report is correct; the post & disk are gone.
Sharp!brain didn't awaken for half an hour or so, at which time I was a couple miles away at another marker: "Why would they place a 4 x 4 concrete post in a concrete base? That's where the witness post was." D'oh!
Returning to the church grounds, I scraped with my boot (no trowel - slow!brain does the packing) 18" west of the concrete foundation. Just a couple of inches below the surface, of course, was the mark.
Flush with success, sharp!brain took another nap. Slow!brain suggested: "Why don't we go look for the whole string of "Not Found" marks along the RR tracks 5 miles or so N of here?" - which seriously and adversely affected the day's found/not found ratio. Still, the weather was nice, & I didn't have to jump from a railroad trestle.
-
Warning!! - Shameless Plug Ahead
I am in development of a web site that displays benchmarks near to you in a Google Maps Application. Simply select your state, and input the zip code/city you live in to view benchmarks in your area. Its kind of a visual representation of doing the nearest benchmarks link on geocaching.com.
http://benchmarks.scaredycatfilms.com/index.html
I'm always looking for new users and input.
monkeykat:
That is so cool! So why am I writing tiny numbers & arrows on highway maps to plan searches when you've done all the work already? Great work!
Suppose there's a way to have the location icons list the PIDs automatically - i.e., instead of clicking individual icons - so a printed version shows roads & road names/icons/PIDs ?
-
Is there a place on the web that you would recommend to place your photos to be used on the forums.
If you have a personal website or some online community (Facebook, I suppose, for instance) where a URL directs one to the photo, it's easy:
- Click on "New Topic" from the Forum page
- At the top of the message box there's a menu bar (bold, italics, etc) - the small icon which looks like a tree inserts an image - just add the URL to the pop-up window after you click the tree.
Without the online-pic-URL capability, it's stupid complicated but possible (I think opening a new browser page makes this easier):
- Go to the Geocaching home page; click "My Account"
- On the right side, under "Account Options", click "Edit My Profile"
- Scroll down to "Virtual You: Your Photo" (sounds frightening)
- Under "Your Photo" click "Choose Profile Image"
- Click "upload new image" - browse to where the image is loaded on your computer & click "upload"
- The photo now appears on the Choose My Profile Photo page you were at a page or 2 ago.
- Click on the photo - the URL that appears on the new page can be Cut&Pasted in the box after clicking on the tree from waaaay before.
-
Okay, the newbie asks sheepishly - what's a pathtag? Does it separate the men from the boys? Lower gasoline prices? Impress chicks?
Poker Fun Run
in Benchmarking
Posted
That was intentional. Now find this one.
I'd been BM'ing for about a month when I looked for NF0908 - I should probably go back and check all my previous DNF's!