thorax

You might try posting this same query to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SATXgeocachers/ A lot of the SA crowd hangs out there. As far as weather in this part of Texas this time of year, dependable is the last thing it is...expect anything from highs in the 80's to highs in the 30's.....sometimes within the span of 24 hours... Have fun! I haven't had a chance to cache much in SA, but from what I've read they seem to be a pretty creative bunch....

Well, even when I hunt for the caches in a city that has LOTS of cahces (like my hometown of Austin, TX), I usually do a latitude/longitude search....the entire country of Mexico only has 185 caches (as of when I last looked) but if you look up the latitude/longitude of where you are interested in and search on gc.com, you will find all you are looking for.

yes please

I have noticed recently that I have not been getting email notifications for caches on my watchlist of edited logs. Is this the result of a change in the notification system, or just a temporary situation. thanks

However, I take up your offer of a beer and raise my virtual pint of cellar cooled Tetley’s Bitter in your direction and drink to your health and to all cachers in USofA! (and that will probably start another row…..why Tetley’s isn’t Adnam’s, Shepherd Neame, Marston’s, Theakston’s, Morland’s, Breakspear’s etc. good enough? ) Thank you for your post. And I too, is short order (well, one distinct advantage you have at your location is that the sun rises over the yardarm 6 hours prior to doing so here) will raise a pint to the northeast and drink to you and Mrs Eckington’s long live and happiness. My only quandary is whether it should be Live Oak Liberation or Beiiter End Sledgehammer Stout. Oh well, I guess it’ll be one of each then…..Sláinte!

After some reflection concerning my earlier post, I felt I should add a few words. The comments in my post which were taken to be racially insensitive, and which I subsequently edited out of the post, were never intended to be hurtful or offensive to anyone. My intent was focused on cultural and political issues, but I had not understood how they might be construed as racial in content. It has always been my belief that racial and ethnic insensitivity is wrong, even when it is unintentional or made without prior knowledge as to its impact. To anyone who was disturbed, hurt, bothered or otherwise offended by those comments, I apologize. It was not my intention, and I will be aware of this specific issue in the future. As to my other comments, after reviewing the original remarks by Eckington and Lactodorum, as well a responses in the thread, I may have misunderstood the original statement. As I said before, I understand that this is Mr. Irish’s website, and he is free to decide what the rules are, to apply the rules in whatever manner he sees fit. As for me, I’ve been exploring for many years, before GPSR’s, and before the Internet. I personally think it is unfortunate that Mr. Irish, along with those who assist him by approving and disapproving submissions by the users, has decided that virtual caches will only be approved in exceptional cases. But that is perfectly their prerogative. This is the same as the “0.1 mile deadzone.” My humble opinion is that virtual (as well as reverse and roving) caches adds interest and breadth to the hobby, but I also realize there are many ways to make a cache, several other websites, as well as alternative venues for posting or otherwise advertising the existence of a cache, just as there are many ways to spread the word on letterboxes and similar. If I may, from reading many of the heated discussions on the various boards here concerning the approval and disapproval of caches, I see two common problems. The first, which was mentioned in Eckington and Lactodorum’s original post, was that the guidelines might not be clear enough. Not that this is necessary, but if they were, possibly with more extensive examples of what warrants approval and what warrants disapproval, might at least decrease the number of over excited submitters who take it personally when their submission is disapproved. The other area which, it seems to me, produces a great deal of emotion, is when the discussion moves to trying to explain the reasons for a submission’s disapproval. The discussion often turns into an argument as to whether the reasons make sense and whether they are applied uniformly. I can speak only for myself, but a simple statement that that’s what Mr. Irish (or his assistants) says is a lot more straight forward and leaves much less room for argument. My only argument with the message is that the virtual caches in Austin were given as an example of ones that are “meaningless to a certain extent.” While I can accept that the approvers and disapprovers here may choose to not accept certain sites and approved virtual caches, which does not make them meaningless. Is the memorial in Austin to the small town of Praha, Texas that lost an entire generation of young men during World War II (GCA80E) meaningless? Is the memorial to the live and work of Barbara Jordan (GC3E1D) meaningless? How about the virtual that leads one to some of the last physical evidence left of the tragic “Tower” shooting in Austin in the 60’s, or the memorial to the University of Texas students to gave their lives in World War I? I noticed at least one of the participants in this thread uses the motto of the World Cup in his signature, so I assume sports (at least some sports) may not be considered meaningless, so why would the cache concerning the mascot chosen for Hutto Texas (GCD9B6) be meaningless. The virtuals in and around Austin concern our history and our heroes, as well as the merely interesting or offbeat. You and Mr. Irish approve them or disapprove them as you choose, but please take some time to consider if they should be termed meaningless. Finally, imagining anyone has actually read this far down, I was serious in my post. Should you, by good or bad fortune, find yourself in this part of the world and be thirsty, it would be my honor to share some local brew with you, whether or not to discuss the issues in the post or the weather.

To begin with, if you hadn’t decided to use Austin as your ”bad example” I probably wouldn’t have even noticed. But you did, and I did. Firstly, you mention there are 52 virtual caches within a 20 mile radius in Austin (well, I guess that depends on where you put the center)…to 35 in the same area around London….Well, when I looked up how many total caches there where within 20 miles of the center of Austin (using the Goddess of Liberty on our capital as the center) I found 242 total. When I did a search within 20 miles of what I assumed was the center of London, I only found 138 total caches…That gives less than 22% virtual to Austin, and over 25% virtual to London… I also wish to respond to the concept of “meaningless” which was ascribed to virtual caches. Does meaning have anything to do with it. Caches which show on Jeremy Irish’s website are those which please Jeremy Irish. It is not uncommon for businesses, including websites, to foster the illusion of “community” to try to increase customer loyalty. Mr. Irish has made it quite clear that what he says goes, which on a business level surprises me, but on a personal level does not. It is his website, and “meaning” has nothing to do with it. I will add that just because a cache is not listed on this website does not mean it is not worth hunting. My favorite example is that of letterboxes. Many letterboxes, here AND in your country, are not listed anywhere, and are only known by word of mouth. Does that make them any less worth perusing? I can only say that I invite you to come to Austin to explore our caches, virtual and otherwise, before you render an option. Should you manage the trip across the pond, I’d be quite happy to take you to a few of our caches, share a few of our local beers with you (they are served cold because our mean room temperature is about 25 degrees warmer than yours) and then see what you think. thorax [This message was edited by thorax on September 28, 2003 at 05:31 AM.]

Here's the specific error I get: Persits.MailSender.4 error '800a000e' AspEmail's premium features have expired. To continue using them, please visit www.aspemail.com to purchase a registration key. /seek/cache_logfind.asp, line 401 I've not gotten my "pocket query" emails in a couple of days, and have not recieved emails about caches on my watch list. Also, have not been able to email members through the site....