RUn2it

A cameras dynamic range (lightest to darkest point) has a limited # of f-stops. A good example is a scene with beach, ocean and cloudy skies still illuminated just after sunset. Expose for the still bright clouds and the ocean and beach are too dark to see detail, expose for the beach/water and the highlights are washed out with no detail. HDR (Tone Mapping) is basically 3 exposures (using bracketed exposure setting) 2 f-stops apart or using stepped shutter speeds and merge the correctly exposed parts into 1 photo. That's it basically. The old film guys used graduated neutral density filters to compress the range.

Oh yeah, what's the fuss over RAMPANT? Once my ramp was right on an ant hill and I had 100's of RAMPANTS all over

To quote CBD "we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature" yet cite the reasons for the endangerment such as "urbanization" isn't that where they build structures for humans to exist, "agriculture" isn't this how we get food for humans to exist? and "forestry" isn't this what we build the structures with for humans to exist? And when they use less specific terms like "habitat destruction" what does that actually mean? Is there groups of humans organizing "The Annual Berry Cave Salamander Stomp-A-Thon"? Or is it another evil human existance necessity like homes, food, water or building materials? And how much education did it take for the Einsteins to "believe the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature"? They must have watched the HD channel when they showed a time lapse video of what happens when you plant a seed and water it! Or maybe they noticed some chiped paint on their house and realized that was wood, aka forest under the paint. Or maybe while driving their Prius they saw a field that had something that looked just like what the buy in the produce dept of a SuperWalmart. I'm pretty sure this is a rant. Damn, where's Bert when one is in need of guidance? (Just joking)

tell them to park between creek and fee gate and go pick them up..... :worthless_without_pics:

I've been going since 1972 and have never used a 4 wheel drive to get in and only recently have I noticed the road doesn't have the screw loosening washboard, is this from more maintenence or less users? And the bathrooms were built mostly before the fees started.... put a quarter fee box on them, use a service... pay for a service. And the medical help, ambulance, helicopter ride is free paid with pass $? And I also appreciate the representation at the meetings but I don't think the BLM will shut down the dunes if we're not represented, but the fee's would have no resistance to the upward spiral and that's where the representation is most effective. The BLM needs us, without duners there's no need for them. If the dunes are ever shut down it will be by an entity or group that are not aligned with either the BLM or off roading community. And technically are the fees really fees? If it's a use fee why is the driver/owner of the tow vehicle the only 1 paying? It's because it's a PARKING FEE, charged per vehicle. My crystal ball says the fee's will on go up, more resistance will slow the rise some, and it will be some bug, weed or insurance rep lizard that will be the excuse to close the dunes, unless the economy gets so bad the goverment slashes manpower to police the dunes and they close them to protect us from ourselves, the old big brother Orwellian story again. Did I just rant, or was I bitching? 1 more thing ... Yay Bert, lol.

Thanks guys, already did the pawn shop list, if the shops follow the law they get a thumbprint, personal info from drivers license and serial/description of the item and it's sent to the sheriffs office and cross referenced with what's input from police reports. I'm 99.9% sure who is at the bottom of this and has never been to my house or have I told the person where it is, a friends wife is/was best friends of the perp and I got a msg that was garbled but got the name but was unsure what was said, something like gonna contact me or grab me, didn't think much of it then got a call while at a race out of town wanting to get a ride back to Victorville from Barstow when I came back, kept asking when I'd be back and when heading back kept "updating" where I was and suddenly 5 minutes away got another ride. Don't have to be Einstein to figure that 1 out, the perp found out where my house was from the same person that started having a guilt complex about my location and left the msg, unintelligble but I guess good enough for her conscience. That's about all I can say for now.

No update from me but if you watch the video, I think the 2 vehicles that pass by are 1) the SUV that towed the trailer and 2) the white SUV was a lookout driving back and forth using a cell on conference call to warn the others, the towing SUV knew exactly when to pull in and at the very end of the video the white SUV drives by again as if he was down the street giving the all clear to pull out. Just a guess

Thanks 80grit, I forgot about that pic. The quad was locked in an enclosed trailer, cut the chain link fence next to a vacant house and cut the locks of the ramp door. Got lots of stuff from inside the house, didn't have the security bars up inside the garage door, took all my Starrett and Mitutoyo inside/outside micrometers, dial indicators, Last Word indicator set, depth & radius guages, 1",2", 3" Criterion offset boring heads, Indicol, Proto torque wrenches, Lincoln mig welder, $600 German 90 deg porting hand set, Epson wide format printer, Blue Point brake tools, all my air ratchets and grinders...... this is depressing. Later, and thanks guys. Lee

Quad is yellow and red, what was blue is red, chrome stator & clutch covers, 39 Keihin, Coolhead, Bill's pipe, Cibie Oscar converted to HID, 12v battery between A-arms, Douglas blue labels, Skat-Track Edge rear & STU razors front, alum diamond plate skim plate, rear axle spaced +4 in. Should be easy to spot. Thief probably walks with a limp from trying to start it without Tech5 boots I hope! It may still be in the Hesperia area but have an idea it's in the Barstow area. Thanks for any help recovering. Of all the pics I've taken at Dumont this is the only pic of the quad I could find.

Pete, you got some good pics, you had the angle for the finish backdrp and the scoring towers. I got your PM, if only I had read it before monday..... Took this shot and missed the focus point but background came out fairly clear, Is that you?

My phone no text, big can of Tex Ridder years ago..... say what? Had text shut off, bug that says I got texts that I never received and Verizon wireless broadband was dropping fri/sat then Sun non-existent, tech said Vegas was totally down. Pete, wasn't an easy shoot for me, darker than Anaheim and shooting across was solid spectators like trying to photograph a jigsaw puzzle piece in front of a pile of puzzle pieces. You get alot of blurry or dark pics? I came across a combination of settings that gave me a lighter pic without larger aperture, slower speed or higher ISO, or maybe it was an imaginary easy button, but couldn't dupe it at Boyd. Boyd, sounds like Curly Joe saying bird, oh ... wise guy. Shot your "Brain Institute" in the civic center this morning, you know that out of proportion metal building? anyways, what does off topic mean?

Yep, sooner or later it will happen, no event, happening or get together escapes the bare a$$.

sounds like you have an issue with your existing software or registry file(s) errors. I run XP and no software problems, could use more RAM and bigger hard drive with editing and storing 18 MP photos. Had a crash from a virus/trojan but resolved that and use "CCleaner" nearly every day to empty all the temp files, trash etc and cleans, repairs and optimizes the registry and it's a free download at CCleaner. Even a 1st class program that's uninstalled can leave multiple orphaned registry entries and fragment your hard drive. GoPro video or not the CCleaner is needed along with a current antivirus, firewall and spyware/adware program. I have all at a price of zero so I have no excuse for another crash. Good luck whatever way you go.

Convert your MPEG4 files to AVI then edit away with Windows Movie Maker. There's plenty of free converters, here's 1 MP4Cam2AVI If you get a codec error go to < http://www.divx.com/ >or < http://vistacodecpack-dk.com/dk/ > and download. I think there's a box in tools/options or something like that that needs to be checked for "ffdshow" in the Vista codecs. That should get you going in the right direction, haven't messed with any video in a couple years and I'm still running XP.

All you need is an entry level editing program, even an older Photoshop Elements, that's all I use. Lots of goofy stuff you can do.

The pic of Mike jumping had too much to leave it alone.....

Presidents weekend '07

I'll try to get some more loaded hey, what gives, missing pics and duplicates?

I took a few pics, just got a new camera body Thurs before I left for Dumont so wasn't letting it rip like usual.

This is what usually happens when dealing with govt agencies, you tell them what you want to do, whoever you have access to won't have the authority to give the OK so they give you a form to fill out and it goes up the chain, when it reaches the 1st person that may have the pay grade to authorize it they will deny it because there's no blueprint or detailed plans by a structural engineer for it therefore it could bring liability on the agency that authorizes it for negligence evidenced by the paper trail, if it just shows up they might confiscate it or do nothing as they didn't know it existed. I just came in on that road and it's either 8-10 mph or over 40 mph or it's shake, rattle and roll. If they bladed it the last couple days I sure couldn't tell. It looked like it might have been watered on the right going in in some places. Smooth at 40 but I'm not going to fly by people doing 10 mph even if I could see through the dust. I figure it's a gamble with my time, wire, argon/co2 and kilowatts but doing nothing will get nothing done. Or maybe make small versions that several of us could drag in and load up till we leave and drag it out ...... hmmmm

I was going to test it for an attachment point on the drag so it's at a slight diagonal so it doesn't just push the bigger rocks down the road but off to the right side and weld some ugly chain on it with a couple different sized hooks and 1 closed loop on the vehicle end so the loop could go over any ball and 1 of the hooks should be able to hook the frame under most trailers somewhere, if 1 out of 10 duners drag it, don't see how it couldn't help by knocking the tops off the washboard and leaving that in the low spots and the entrance is wide with a spot on the right going in to drop it and just after the the road turns towards the water crossing before the little down slope there's a wide area going in on the right where people with desert buggies use to camp, it had a no camping sign when the fee's started. 1 thing is for sure, if the BLM doesn't confiscate it and it gets used the results would be the same as you have seen after somebody has used one and the results probably looked better than that road especially on off weekends. Hey, if the road looks good, let the drag sit, if it looks washboardy drag it, much more rewarding than complaining about it, same as the trash, complaining only shows that you probably didn't contribute to the trash, that's it. Try picking a little up. I've seen the road 30 years ago where we had to make a detour around the motorhomes and trucks buried to the frame on the straight flat road, and times scraping bottom after rain would rut the road, moving rocks in the creek and way more times going up the last part several people stuck at once so to me the road is relatively good except for the cyclic screw loosening washboard at speeds faster than an AARP member with a walker. :angry2:

I've said for years I was going to do this, looks like the time has come. I have lots of Ford splined axle ends from when I use to cut and respline them, I thought I could weld up a drag heavy and big (and ugly) enough that nobody would take it and duners could drag it from the entrance to the right turn before the drop/creek cross and duners leaving could drag it back to the entrance. Not a permanent fix but if used would keep the teeth rattling wash board to a minimum I think. I was never much of one to rely on government to fix something much less fix it right, and usually necessitates funding then come the fee's/taxes, sometimes they're the "temporary fee's/taxes", temporary because sooner or later you die, with the majority of the $ falling through the cracks (pockets) of government for a "fix" that replaces 1 problem with a "new and improved" version. I remember the rock/gravel they put on the road, exchanged the regular dust on the motorhome to the light grey dust that stuck better and harder to wash off. If anyone can think of any reason the drag wouldn't work, speak up so I don't send lots of kilowatts through the mig just for a reason to be more cynical. :pumpkin:

Yeah, what Aaron said! And it's in Primm so a local for all the LV area.