For those of you who want to get pumped about (or are still deciding whether to attend) the 2008 national seminar, want to reminisce about the 2007 Nationals, or just want to check out what this NCRC stuff is all about, I've finally finished a web-based video version of an NCRC slideshow that I've given to several area grottos. The slideshow contains overviews of topics covered at each of the levels in the week-long training seminar, with extensive use of photos from the 2007 Nationals. There's also a preview of the 2008 Nationals in Mentone, Alabama, with several photos of the seminar facility and the classic TAG caves in the area. Last but not least is a "highlights reel" from 2007. It runs just over 16 minutes, and is set to music (admittedly heavily boomerish - I'll try to be more up-to-date next time- suggestions welcome!).
Thanks to all the photographers for allowing me to use your photos (if you didn't respond to my request and don't want your photos used, please let me know and I'll remove your photos from the show).
For a high quality version, click on
this link (warning - file is 85 MB!). To get full-screen, you may need to right click on the video, select "Full Screen" or "Zoom", then "Full Screen", or some other combination, depending on your browser.
You can view four different resolutions at
http://blip.tv/file/851192 . (Note: for best results, view the original version - not the Flash version!) The default size is 1024x768, but successively lower res versions are available by clicking the "Select a format" pull-down window and selecting one of the other files (although not labeled - the four files in descending order are 1024x768, 800x600, 640x480, and 320x240). Here also, you should be able to view any of the files at full-screen by following the instructions above. I'm working on uploading the slideshow to a couple of other video sharing sites that might have better quality and easier navigation.
For a low-res version viewable at OnlineCavers.com (OK to view at the default size, but the compression Ning uses makes it pretty bad at full-screen), you can use
this link.
Cheers,
Ron
P.S. Looking forward to seeing y'all in a couple of weeks!