cool_and_the_gang
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Posts posted by cool_and_the_gang
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Lots of whimsy here but no answer for Radical Geezer's original posting. I have experience with elevators, thier operation, specification and installation. If it was a modern elevator the answer is simple: The machinery which operates the lifting mechanism as well as the door openers are controlled by a mircoprocessor which senses the speed of the elevator, it's position and the status of the doors. These components are mass produced by the elevator company and the same one is installed on every elevator made whether it stops at one floor or 20 so the controls have to be configured the same as well.
I also have experience with ATM units and the same issue with standardization applies. Drive up ATMs simply have a standard ATM unit installed which could have just asz easily ended up somewhere else.
I hope that this was helpful.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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If you are using the unit some where like a densly forested area or close to cliff face the GPS signals can be bouncing around in a way that affects the readinf strangely.
Also, try walking slowly and allowing the GPSr to contemplate the sky and its position for a few moments. Often it will sort out the extraneous signals that were confusing it and will give an accurate reading after a few minutes.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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We're with searchin_ut and cruzin' on this.
There will always be change, for good and bad. This is true in the BIG World and in our little corner of it. Our happiness in it is dependant on how we respond to the change. If we are strongly attached to something we will resist the change and if nesseccary, after finding that resisting or forcing change is too difficult, we may simply remove ourselves from the environment we find intolerable. No discraace in that. We did what we needed to do to maintain our integrity and I think that is what Team_360 did.
Of greater importance, though, is how we manage ourselves during the "crisis". If we maintain composure and dignity we can make an grceful exit without causing further suffering within a supposedly faultering system.
We engage in this sport enjoyment for enjoyment and frequent the forums in search of information that will enhance the enjoyment. If we find that this isn't working we'll find another way to enjoy ourselves in the sport and without conspicuous "I'm leaving for good this time...this is really my last post...really...I meant it..." fanfare.
Lastly, I hope that we all enjoy this sport in conjunction with other things in life! How wonderful it would be if we applied the passion some of us have for hiding tupperware in the woods to world situations having TRUE local or global significance!
Let us all live our lives to teh fullest: work hard, play hard. But put the bulk of your energy into making a true difference and let the small stuff go!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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If I am cacheing alone or with another person or group willing to undertake a more difficult hike and who will while being disappointed in failing to find a cache will accept it as a periodic outcome of the srort, then I'll undertake a more difficult one.
Exposing the kids to it is another matter. If I choose to take them with me I'll always choose a 1/1 because I give them the unit and they do a lot of the work (with some help).
It depends on the circumstances at the timeof making the decision to go out after a cache: time, energy, and company.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I went out once and located a cache box after a somewhat difficult search. Because took me longer to find than I anticipated darkness was falling fast and, in addition, I was being eaten alive by insects. I did technically "find" the cache, I had the ammo box in my hands. I simply wanted to get out of where I was without opeining the box, getting the log book out composing an eloquent entry made in imecible pensmanship, seal the whole thing up again and then hide the thing with in the same manner that I found it. Later, when I was going to log it I wondered about the ethics involved and decided not to. So I'm actually behind 1 cache. I'd give the guy the benifit of the doubt. No sense in having two geo-cachers loosing sleep over a cache they couldn't log
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I was hoping to use my GPS on some flights this weekend and last. The GPS was listed in Air Tran's magazine as something never to be used. I decided to ask the attendant who curtly answered "absolutely not". It wasn't worth the hassle to me so I didn't push the issue even though GPS's prohibition is ridiculous to me. I'm with Drat19 on this: If there is a place to not make waves these days it's in the Airpline Industry's swimming pool.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I like the planetarium idea in concept but the private property would be a sticky issue. Hard to think the curators would approve of it. Maybe on the grounds outside.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I spend roughly the same amount of time on the Heavens Above site as this one. It's not hard to see why that site also appeals to GeoCachers or people with a head for Geography, Mapping, Geometry etc. On a philisophical note: I think this all an awesome way to celebrate the peaceful use of technology, the advancement of man's knowlege and ability and in celebrating the murky boundaries of spirituality and science! (I know: GPS tecnology is used alot in warfare, but WE are not engaging in it. Does using ammo. boxes contradict this?)
Anyway, Webfoot: Ccrew is right - like seeing the glint of sunlight off of the wind shield of a car passing on the freeway. As the angles of the sun and the car relative to your possition change the apparent brightness increases or decreases. The material used in the spacecraft hull is very reflective and the reflection of the sun off of it can be seen from very far away and on a predictable timetable.
I have observed several based on the time tables opsted on the site. I have also had success viewing close passes of the ISS and other satellites whose passes are posted!
Everyone enjoy the waning days of summer!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I just got a SportTrak map from the "flying J" e-store for $99 and took a $30 rebate from Magellin. I don't need alot of bells and whistles and and VERY happy witrh my $69 investment.
!**BUMMER**! I posted too soon and the forum won't let me delete it! I just checked the site and it states that they are out of stock and won't be getting any more. Sorry to get your hopes up.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I've seen the Rino's on sale on various internet sites at really deep discounts. Try the "flying J" E store. I'd post the link but I can't fugure out how at the moment. Look into the past threads about this issue, too.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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Me: Architect. Any others out there?
Wife: Mom
Kids: Professional kindegarteners.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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Again, welcome, LongArm503. I have a SportTrak Map which we are very happy with and which works without a hitch pretty much as simply as BrianSnat described.
I think people could be more helpful if there weere more specifics to the question.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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Hey! Thanks for the link. I am in the process of placing two micro's myself and was wondering the same thing.
Nice Timing. And by the way, SK: If you look up my thread concenring input on a cache your input would be valued, since you're interested in micros. I mentioned I was thinking about a cache stocked with "stuff". Having looked around, though, I think I'm better off with a micro.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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Thanks to all who replied so far. I like the arithmetic idea for the coordinates. That would eliminate a physical items that I would have to maintain.
Maybe the given N coords. + address, given W coords. - address.
I welcome further comment.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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Hello, All!
I have been designing and researching an interesting cache and would like input on it before I expend further effort in something that's going to go over like a lead baloon and get no activity. Here is the info:
I am an architect. My cache will educate people about the wide variety of architects that have worked in our are and the wide range of architectural styles that exist in the area. Many buildings go un-noticed and have been designed by well known architects!
The cache will work like this:
There will be posted a list of 10? architects, and the style of the buildings, ie:
1) Frank Lloyd Wright, Prairie Style Residence
2) Louis Khan, Modernist Style Church
3) Mead McKim & White, Greek Revival Historic Residence etc. etc.
On public property in clear proximity to the buildings will be placed small markers with the coordinates of the next building (The coordinates of the first will be posted). The order of the buildings, however, will not be in the same order as on the list and the game will be one of the cacher matching the buildings to the list of designers (this will be made clear on the cache page) - thus the public will be forced to observe the buildings (learning about the style in the process) and will learn about the designers and will be forced to "tour" historic neighborhoods etc.
The final coordinates will lead to a hidden cache box which will be started with architecturally related items that I have already assembled:
A log book and single use camera
A model of the Eiffel tower
An Architect's scale made out of simulated stone
Small Plastic Drafting Triangles
A Mechanical Pencil
An erasing Shield
A laminated steel reinforcing bar reference chart
A high strength, ASTM 325 steel bolt (used in steel framing)
A Pin from "The Architect's Building" in Boston
Post Cards of well known buildings
Photographs of buildings taken by me in my travels
Issues of Fine Home Building and Architectural Record
A demo CD of Computer Aided Drafting Software
etc. ALSO: A laminated card with photographs of the buildings with the correctly matched designers and styles.
It is my hope that this theme will be continued but is not mandatory. There is the potential that no one will bother with the buildings and will simply go from one to the next outside of the spirit of the cache simply to get to the end. If this happens, so be it. I don't want to get involved with people e-mailing me answer sheets for confirmation of finds which is common with virtual caches. People who are genuinely interested in expanding their knowledge will play the game.
And for those with little knowledge of buildings and styles I will post links to various architectural web sites pertaining to each of the designers or styles so they can bone up on it before they head out.
The next steps are:
1) charting the coordinates of each of the buildings (comment on the appropriate number would be appreciated)
2) placing the markers (I propose adhesive backed vinyl tags stuck to the backs of street signs on which coordinates are marked in permanent marker)
3) placing the cache. This is the hardest part, I think!
You comments would be very much appreciated before I put any more effort into this. Thank you for your time and assistance.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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We sell all of the stuff we get out of the cache boxes on E-bay so we're actually making money by Geo-caching
Seriously: I bought the GPS for less than $100. Ther is some cost in gasoline which would have been spent driving somewhere interesting anyway.
We could not have taken up another sport (skiing, etc.) for less of an investment and gotten so much out of it.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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Like many previous responders I bush whacked in on several early caches. If that arrow pointed "that" way "that" is where I headed.
I felt bad about the snapping twigs and slightly trampled vegetaion but I had not mastered the nuainces of Geocaching.
Now I take a much more reasoned approach, studying the terrain and maps. The route I take might not be a striaght line but it is probably easier on my shins and less damaging to the environment.
It's easier on the kids, too, if I take them.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I've enjoyed collecting some of the cards I've run across which hasn't been many actually.
With the number of geo-cachers and the vast number of caches across the country and the world its unlikely that you will come across mine and visa versa.
I'm not sure of the "legality" of this but I don't see any harm in it trading items such as these outside of caches.
Unless our wisdom and opinion is swayed by the pursuasive arguments of cachers wieghing in onnthis topic I suggest that you e-mail me your address and I'd be happy to send you one on our custom made geo-tokens (my version of the card) in exchange for yours.
You can view it at
http://www.geocities.com/team_fisur/geocoins/index.html
click on cool_and_the_gang!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I'd take credit for the find. It sounds like you were close enough to have been about to find it, anyway. Thanks for fixing the cache. Might have been vandals who came upon it by accident or animals.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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Good going! It's nice to have a few finds, especially on your first tries!
We found that this bolstered our confidence and enthusiasm. But we hit a temporary slump when we tried more difficult ones because, well, they WERE more difficult!
If this happens to you don't give up! Use what you've learned in the field and here and stay with it!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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The depth you experienced exists in all things and every moment. Give-n-takes is right. We could all experience this depth in everything we see and do and in everyone we meet if we could be more mindful.
Be grateful for your insight and strive to experience the world like that all the time!
We did a multiple cache that took us on a tour of some beautiful landscapes in the finger lakes (look up: Tally Ho!(New York)). It was a great cache.
As luck would have it the final stop overlooked a wide valley and we found ourselves there at the precise moment of the sunset behind dramatic clouds. There were several dozen cows in the field in front of us who seemd to fall silent to watch the sunset with us. Becasue we were looking into a valley the sky dome was HUGE and I had a similar feeling of oneness as we all (me, my wife and the cows) experienced each other and that moment and observed the sun setting (or was the horizon moving up?) in a way that would never happen the exact same way again. I entered similar sentiments to this in the log book and noticed that many preceding entries were similar. I hope that we all inspired to be present in the remaining moments of our lives!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I like to find quirky and unusuall things that give me a sense of the spirit of the people who were at the cache before me and like to leave things of the same nature. I like the sense of connection that this gives me.
The other things I do, if nothing is particulary interesting is to trade a small item (an plastic army guy, for example) and put into the bag I usually take cahcing. Then I'll leave it in the next cache, sort of an anonymous Travel Bug.
And lastly: lately we've been experimenting with geo-tokens on which we've printed our e-mail adress to track thier travels. I haven't gotten any responses so far so either people are keeping them or they're not moving.
Junglehair and I probably cross paths most frequently of all the people in these forums being from the same geographical vicinity. So if you're reading this, Junglehair, keep an eye out for our coins!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I'm psyched to be the first post in reply! Drat! Mark42 beat me to it!
Wow! I was excited when I first started but you've got me beat! Here's my 2cents:
I admire your commitment to leaving cool cache stuff but you'll find that not every one shares our thoughts on this. I try to maintain a good level of quality despite the junk I often find. You may want to start cultivating the notion that the game is about the mastering geography and orienteering, the actual hunt and the finding of the box being outside and being led to interesting places. If you focus on finding "buried treasure" you might end up being disappointed.
Here's an extra 2cents on your specific questions:
1) I don't think it's cheating to read the clues. They're there to help you if you're stumped. If the placers didn't want you to have them they would not have given them.
I usually print the clues and the encrypted clue but don't look at them much but take them with me. If I get stumped I'll then look at them more closely or decrypt the clue (It's a very simple cipher, you can do it in your head if you have to.)
2) Many times the location will be in the cache description anyway ie: "This cache is in Powder Mills Park . . ." but I don't see any offense to the spirit of the game in figuring out the general vicinity with a map.
3) Your wife only needs GPSr if your going to compete (race) to the cache. My wife and whole family and I have only one and we do fine.
4) The paper map can help but isn't neccessary. I don't use one, maybe other people do.
One other imenly helpful gadget is a magnetic compass. You will consdider this a blessing when your GPSr gives you crazy readings under heavy tree cover. We use an old boy scout compass it doesn't need to be fancy. When the GPSr starts to wig out I'll back up to a location giving an acurate reading and then use the compass to head into the woods using the bearing I got from the GPSr.
Good luck and happy cacheing. Be safe and post your first find or e-mail your success through my profile!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
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I chose to abstain for voting because I'm still on the fence with this issue. I'll join the discussion for what it's worth because there is value to having the issue hashed out and resolved. Plus, consider this issue as a metaphor for larger, global issues!
I think Geo-Cachers by nature are people who would prefer to have fewer rules imposed on them. With freedom, however, comes the responsibility of making the personal choice on how to exercise that freedom. In my experience with people, it is here that things break down both in the mirco-environment our sport and, indeed the world at large.
Although those placing them would probably not share this view, it seems to me that many caches in my area have been placed out of selfishness. One cannot deny that a thrill or a sense of accomplishment or contribution is inherenet in the act of placing a cache or a sense of superiority gained by those having placed so many, etc..
It is these actions that lead to caches of poor quality or to areas littered with caches in banal places. Both of these consequences will deminish the enjoyment of the sport for it's players as well as put it in an increasingly dubious position with land owners and "land managment" agencies.
The integrity of the sport, indeed the integrity of all social systems, is dependant on individuals who are able to forgo taking actions that feed thier own ego and take ones that add quality to the system as a whole.
This type of discipline is difficult and it seems some people choose a path different from that of restraint. Thus it becomes necessary in some people's eyes to afford protection to the system through harsher policing policies.
I was drawn to the sport because of it's unique qualities and those of fellow players that I have come to know. I'd prefer, as I suspect we all would, to continue it without a heavy blanket of regulation.
But this can only happen if everyone involved is honest about thier motivations and takes "right action" that makes this reality possible.
It is also important to consider the impermanent nature of all things. Our sport, like all things, will evolve and change over time. Let us avoid allowing fear of "the man" or of change detract from our enjoyment of it, deminish the quality of how we take care of it, or lead to the exclusion of new players.
The trick, as in all of life, is finding balance and having tolerance.
'nuff said!
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
[This message was edited by cool_and_the_gang on August 06, 2003 at 08:39 AM.]
Geo Kit?
in How do I...?
Posted
Might help to take some extra batteries both for your flashlight and your GPSr.
In addition to hardcopy of the geocache data also remember to take a map of the local area that you'll be going into especially if it's a wilderness area so you can get out without relying on the GPSr.
"Now may every living thing, young or old, weak or strong, living near or far, known or unknown, living or departed or yet unborn, may every living thing know happiness!"
[This message was edited by cool_and_the_gang on September 23, 2003 at 06:01 AM.]