LivesWithMonkeys

I have a travel bug that is on race from the UK to New Zealand. I have some family that live in Australia. Is it proper to mail a TB from point A to point B so they can place it in a cache near the goal or is it proper for TBs to move, by hand, from cache to cache? I would think the proper method is moving by hand from cache to cache, however, I would also think it is acceptable if I was to physically hand the TB to a fellow cacher (perhaps as a TB trade). It seems using the mail system would be cheating or at least defeat the spirit of the game. Any thoughts?

A friend and I were considering going after A Superior Cache! and I began to wonder. Is this the oldest cache not found or is there an older one? My PQs seems to be limited to a 500mile radius. Anyone know of older ones?

I guess the question is: In your mind, does more puzzle caches = smarter (as in look at how smart they are cause they can decipher that code) OR does more puzzle caches = dumber (Look at how smart the other people are who just ignore puzzle caches and do what they came here to do (geocache), not solve puzzles) Personally, I'm with the guys who say they don't care if its a puzzle or a traditional cache, as long as it leads me to someplace worthwhile. And , for the little Monkeys, some cache that is at least big enough to hold swag (no guarantees that there is any)

Wishbringer looks like the coolest thing ever!!!! Starting the quest now...

To the all mighty FSM, may you be touched by his noodly appendages!!! Next hint: Some collectible things have numbers associated with them, such as collector numbers, to keep track of which ones you have or want to get.

Can someone provide some guidance on how one might solve this type of puzzle? The 42 and 82 are obviously the two degree numbers (I say "obvious" because that's what we see all the time for Michigan caches. Other areas would of course have other obvious numbers). So how do you turn the words into the rest of the digits? You know you need to come up with ten more digits (five for each coordinate). First, start counting things. If that doesn't work, look for some other way to get numbers. Is it the number of the first letter of each word (no, because the M in "methods" would be 13)? The sum of all the letters of each word? Can you get Roman numerals out of the words? Of hexidecimal numbers? I see. Thanks for the advice. I get it now.

There you go, you've hit the nail squarely in the center of the head. As someone who enjoys creating puzzle caches, I'll have to say that this aspect of geocaching probably appeals more to those who enjoy a bit of mental stimulation, and to whom the novelty of finding a traditional cache has worn a bit thin ..... there's just so much of a challenge that the typical parking lot micro, P&G cache, or even the average ammo can in the woods can provide. I'll venture to say that the people who enjoy creating puzzle caches are probably those who enjoyed creating treasure hunts for their friends in their childhood and have now incorporated this leaning into their new hobby. What I really can't understand is why people who don't enjoy doing puzzle caches continue to whine about it in these forums ..... just ignore them if you don't like them! I like the comparisons made between the physical skills required for some caches, such as SCUBA, rock climbing, etc. and the mental skills for puzzle solving. I think both have their place. My problem is, I can pretty much figure out that if a cache is on a sheer rock face I might need climbing skills. I can then go out, get the required training, equipment, experience, etc. to climb that rock face. Similiarly, if the cache is in an underwater cave, I can do the same by training in SCUBA diving. Sooooo, where do I go to get trained in geocache puzzle solving? Hopefully, right here in this thread. Therefore, I hope this thread stays on track with more advice on how to solve puzzles and doesn't go off on a "I hate puzzles" of "I love puzzles" rant thread.

Personally, I see geocaching as a great reason to get outside, get some exercise, fresh air, etc. and as a side note find some McToys inside Tupperware. :-) I see this puzzle solving as sitting in front of my PC for hours, searching the web for some clue to solving the puzzle, getting fat and pasty white. The more time spent doing the first, the better. The less time spent doing the second, the better. This is why I want to learn the art of puzzling, so I can solve these puzzles quickly and get back out there. As an IT person, I spend enough time in front of the PC as it is.

Oh yeah, one more piece of information for you Windows users out there. If you open up the Calculator program, then choose View, Scientific, you get a caculator that can convert numbers between Hexadecimal, Decimal, Octal, and Binary.

Heres a good training to that would help me out. I found this in a different thread: Can someone provide some guidance on how one might solve this type of puzzle?

Well, it looks like this thread was what I was looking for - training on solving puzzle caches. Please keep it going!!! A couple meager things I have learned: 1) sometimes people will hide information in the HTML code of the the web page itself. When you are viewing the cache listing online, choose view, source (if using IE) and glance through the encoding of the page. There might be something there. 2) Some puzzles have ise a technique called "Steganography", where you basically can open up the raw code of a jpeg, gif, bmp, etc. graphics file, insert some text, and then recompile the picture. Now, it looks exactly the same as the original, but, hidden inside, there is a text message. I have not found any freeware software to decode these type of clues, but I am sure it must be out there somewhere. 3) Sometimes, people will post what looks like gibberish, but it is using a certain font/character set. Determining what font/character set is used and finding the symbol numbers within the character set often yields the coordinates.

All joking aside, I was going to post something this morning about puzzle caches as well. Not that I think they should be banned or anything, but...to be honest....I can't solve them. Or perhaps "can't" is a strong word. I'm an intelligent, educated person. Unfortunately, I may not be educated or experienced in whatever said cacher decided to use as a code for their puzzle cache. Like perhaps HTML programming, numerology, ancient sanscrit, etc. Or perhaps, If I had every font ever created installed on my PC, I could decode a particular set of coordinates encoded in a particular character set. SO, I guess, what I am looking for is a training class on puzzle cache solving. Call it Puzzling 101. See, I dont want to have to go running back to the hider for hints until they just about give it away. I want to solve it myself. But to do that, I need the proper background, training, knowledge, etc. So which one of you expert puzzle solvers have some time to train us clueless masses? Also, as a side note, is there any guidelines for puzzle caches, for example that solving them should not require you to have to purchase additional software or other products? P.S. I do agree that geocaching should be more about spending time in the outdoors and less about hunting for days on end on my PC to find a certain photo which, if turned upside down and looked at ina mirror will show the episode number of a certain cartoon , that, if purchased and watched, will give me the first 2 digits of a coordinate, if converted from dodecadecimal based numerology

It's named after a river in Alaska! Oh, the humanity! dave Mine is the "Jett Creek (AK)" Red Jeep Travel Bug :-)

Is there a way, when bringing down the cahce info from GC.com (either individually or with PQs), to include the map from the HTML page? That info can be helpful when trying to figure out how to get close to the coordinates. Sorry if this has been answered previously. LwM

I have the same question. My problem is, my GSAK database is a combination of 4 different PQs (home, work, family farm, dads lake house) plus about 80+ individual caches that I pulled down which are near places I frequent. Getting the PQs to update periodically wouldnt be a problem, but getting the updates on the individual caches has me stumped.

How do you pronounce "Porsche"?

Perhaps you know something that the rest of the class doesn't. Perhaps not. I'm sure I have no direct knowledge of Groundspeak's balance sheets. All I have is conjecture: The company has at least 3 employees and are looking for a 4th (ASP.web developer) I imagine they have at least 1 or 2 administrative assistants. I hear they have many volunteers that help with the registration and approval of caches. For some reason, they choose to have a real office in Seattle. I guess just to have a place to run away to and get away from the wife and kids. All they really need is a place to store a rack of servers, router, firewall to house thier server farm. This could easily have been set up in the basement of their houses. Many places provide rack space in environmentally controlled secure space as well. Or you could just have the enitre web site hosted by someone else. Personally, I would rather be on the beach in Hawaii or out geocaching then in an office, but they want to look like they think businessmen should look like. Whatever. To each, their own. Now, what do they bring in - about 40,000 users of the site. For the price, I imagine 90% of those pay to have the access to premium content for 30$/year. 40000 X 30 X.9 = 1.08 million dollars US per year, just from access to the web site. The you have merchandise sales, travel bug sales, etc. Lets say the total adds up to 1.5 million in revenue. Pay each Admin Assistant $35k = $70K Pay new Web Developer $100K = 100K Office space/yr = 60k WAN costs/yr = 25k Hardware Maint/yr = 10K Hardware&Software costs/yr = 20k Total = 285K per year This leaves 1.215 million to be split between the founders per year, a bit over 400k per year per founder. of course, all of this is beofre taxes, but that depends on how creative thier taxes are. Not a bad piece of change for a game you didnt invent, upon which you tagged a name you didnt come up with. Bottom line is I think they have the resources to spare.

Did you leave something of equal or greater value? I printed up several pamphlets from the FSM web site for just such an occasion: FSM

(Good post by the way, I just edited the portion that I wanted to respond to) Part of the issue is that that it takes resources to build features and thsoe of us that think this will not work don't want the resources spending time on this rather than something else. Not right or wrong, just pointing out the impact that putting in one feature has on others. Point taken. I'm not sure which resources you are referring to, but for all the fun that geocaching provides, this web site is not all that complicated. And, really, all we are talking about is adding a few more fields to a database record and an addition to existing web pages to display the averaged results for each rating. Considering Jeremy is/was a web designer, it shouldn't be too hard to make those additions. Then again, with the vast monetary resources Groundspeak brings in, Im sure they can hire the job out too.

At the risk of going off topic and making this a political debate: I agree 100%. But should they be required to serve in the armed forces first?

But did you also see any super hot bikini model types? And, if so, can you share any pictures?

On the subject of a rating system, I have a question: I can understand when people might say that they won't use such a system (for whatever reason). That is their choice. I can understand when people might say that such a system would not add any fun to their geocaching. I can understand that and assume that would mean they wouldnt use such a system. That too is their choice. I can understand when people say they dont care what others think about a cache. This also equates to saying that they won't use such a system. Fine. What I dont get is when people say "I dont like the idea of having such a system". To me this equates to " Not only would I choose to not use this system, but no one else should get the choice of using a rating system either." A rating system would be just another feature that you can use or not use. Some may choose to use bookmarks while I may not. Some may choose to use pocket queries but I may not. Some may choose to read through all the log entries while I may not. I say, add the feature. For those that want to use it, that's great. For those that don't want to use it, thats great too. I dont see how granting someone the option of another feature hurts anyone. The only people I see this hurting might be people who want others to visit their caches but know their caches would be rated poorly if a rating system was established.

99.99% positive. I'll go test it out today to verify again, and also try out using the Trip Computer page. Like I said, its very weird what it is doing. Luckily, I left myself that .01% of error. You nailed the problem on the head. Was set for Course instead of Bearing pointer. I wonder when that got changed? Oh well, it isnt my first ID10T error and it wont be the last. Thanks again, LwM

I love it!!! LMAO

I know that in other forums, I was suggesting a more detailed approach to rating a cache. Sure, if it congeals into one over-all rating number, this cache might be rated lower than other. Inthe system I suggested, this cache may have a scenic rating that is lower, but its historic rating would be high. As you seem interested in the history aspect, this cache's history rating would meet your desires.