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Belplasca

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Everything posted by Belplasca

  1. A very sad day for the geoching community. Especially when one remembers the way that you dug Groundspeak out of a hole when your predecessors resigned... Such a shame when corporate profit is put before the purpose of the company. Bob
  2. I've been to Egypt literally dozens of times, so I don't get intimidated by the locals. (It helps if you speak a bit of Arabic!). However, caching is not easy. There's one cache up above Hatchepsut's Temple that is very difficult because it's on the side of the mountain - and you can be within a few feet horizontally, but it's still high above you... If you're on an organised tour on the West Bank of Luxor, there is one actually within Hatchepsut's Temple which should be possible in the time available, but don't miss out on exploring the temple itself! I've also found one way out in the middle of the Libyan (or Western, as the Egyptians call it) Desert. It's in the White Desert area near to Farafra - but you'll need to be independant with a 4x4 to get to that one! Oh, and the need to go everywhere outside Cairo/Luxor/Aswan in a convoy has been relaxed now, so you can hire a taxi and just go if you want now. Good luck on your trip!
  3. Went into Millets (or was it Blacks?) in Farnham on Sunday and asked for a coin. They had a look around, but didn't have any left. Apparently, they have had them loose on the counter, and children have been picking them up. Small chance of those getting activated, let alone sent out into the wild! Bob
  4. Presumably these are SDHC cards. They use a different way of addressing the storage on the card, and your PC doesn't understand how to do it. Presumably, being newer, your PDA does know what to do. Simple answer is to update your card reader. Cheaper answer is to search the Microsoft knowledgebase for SDHC and find the patch Aleternatively, use Google for "SDHC not recognised" or some such. Oh, and there are also patches for some Windows Mobile platforms. Bob Aldridge
  5. Well, I have a iPAQ 3970 with a SIRF III Bluetooth GPS and GPSGate. The GPS talks quite happily withTomTom and Memory Map, but Wherigo just doesn't want to know. I was delighted to see the new GPS settings menu item, and I set up the GPS in that and successfully tested the settings. But why, on exiting the settings screen does Wherigo then try (unsuccessfully) to locate the GPS and then offer me the option of setting it up in the exact same screen as I have already set it up in? And why, when I OK that screen, does it just spin its wheels till the battery is flat? Serious bugs here, chaps! Bob
  6. That could be fun! And I could be interested if the date is right. Do you think my elderly Beamer would be up to it? Bob
  7. High visibility jacket and and clipboard usually work quite well... Bob Aldridge
  8. As many have said, neither is perfect - my address is in Middlesex, not London, yet Middlesex is not on either list... However, since having a list is better than the current situation, I'll go with Rutsons list. It will still be almost acceptable in a few years time when the other one has become completely unacceptable. Bob Aldridge
  9. Just before I discovered caching, I had a Sportrack Map - a slightly earlier model than the color, which had 23 MB for maps etc. I used it on a trip round Europe (Dover, Brussels, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Zurich, Besancon, Dover) and the only problems were the time to load the next day's maps, and the screw that held the battery cover in. The screw went into a brass bush - which wore out on the trip! Magellan modified the design, so the Colour won't have that problem. As to the time for loading the maps, that really was a special case. In normal use, you should be able to just use the set that you load into in the unit unless, of course, you want to cache away e.g. on holiday. Like the Garmins, the maps aren't exactly cheap, and the basemap is very basic. But you can get older maps for much less money and they would be fine for caching - on ebay etc. I'm pretty sure that you can't do automatic routing on the Sportrack, but you can certainly set up a series of waypoints, and route that way. Excellent buy for €100 Bob
  10. It's this kind of situation that has led me to simply remove the caches in Green Park. If it really is as dangerous, both to National Security and Cachers' personal safety as I have been led to believe, then I simply don't wish to be in any position of responsibility with regards to caches in the area. Green Park is now a cache free zone. Bob
  11. May be two photos but, when you view them, it is just one picture. But you can be seen "in the round" so to speak wasn't me, either. I asked him in the chatroom Bob
  12. Thanks for organising this, Liane. It was great to meet people - some for the first time, and some that it seemed like I had seen only a few days ago Hope the Boys from the west have a successful caching trip to the even further west! Bob
  13. One of my caches on a bridge in Regents Park has gone missing 5 or six times in the last few months. I'm now considering what to do. However, as it's in a Royal Park (which could be considered to be a "sensitive" area, I may just decide to call it a day. Oh well, maybe another cacher would have more luck there. Bob
  14. I'm sorry. I hadn't realised that the Police had been that unreasonable. I assumed that, had you asked, they would have allowed you to carry out a proper risk assessment. Under the circumstances described, you did very well. However, due to the nature of the caches, and the time constraint that you now say is mandatory, I feel unable to just drop everything and go and see to the caches. I must therefore give you permission to remove my Green Park caches. Sorry. Bob
  15. This, of course, is in the same country that was totally spooked by a radio play... War of the Worlds with Orson Wells. Bob
  16. OK, I can accept that - but I'm not the most upset at the way this appears to have been handled. Fistly, as far as I can see there ase very few cachers involved, so it really wouldn't have taken much to have dropped them an e-mail warning them of the situation. Secondly, by archiving the caches, you seem to be indicating that you don't trust the owners to act responsibly over this, when simply making them Unavailable would have done the job of taking them out of circulation. Even with them archived, there are likely to be cachers coming to London with printouts - maybe from America or other countries - who will still go looking for them. By archiving them, it has made it rather more long winded for us to make the changes to the cache pages, since you have to be in a position respond to a request to unarchive before I can do it. Under the circumstances, I'm taking my time over working out just how best to mark the caches. Incidentally, was it intended that the marking should be on the outside of the cache container. Because that is not what the agreement seems to say. If it's OK to mark the cache contents, then that will make it easier to ensure the integrity of these sensitive caches. I hope you can understand that I'm not really wingeing over this - as I said above , just trying to see if it couldn't have been handled slightly better so we can all learn from the experience. Bob
  17. Thanks. I suspect that some will be lost - though hopefully not in Green Park. But, since there are so few cache owners in the area, it's quite hard to understand why they weren't involved in the discussions, and just presented with an ultimatum... Bob
  18. As the owner of these caches, I have the advantage of knowing exactly what I'm looking for, but I tend to just openly go straight to them and go off with them... It was replaced for me recently. So I didn't know what I was looking for, but I did know the rough area. I spotted it after a couple of moments. It's in plain sight (through a little foliage) so can be found without any suspicious scrabbling around... Actually, I disagree! If you don't know that it's a cache, I wouldn't mind betting that most people - police included - would take it for a normal part of the installation. Once you realise what you need to grab, it's quite easy to get hold of it. But I did hear recently of an experienced cacher who took time to check amongst the nearby leaves - but posted a DNF! They must have actually touched the cache and not realised it! So, it only looks suspicious in hindsight... Yes. And all credit to the negotiators - on both sides - for reaching a consensus. Having caches in areas like this that stay in place isn't easy. They need to be findable, yet hidden. As I've said, my approach with the ones in this park, which were all missing when I took them over, has been to find a way to hide two of them in plain sight. A third is very close to its original position, but now has a taped on holder, rather than relying on magnets on cast iron and the third has been relocated away from the seat that it had been magnetically attached to, into a new spot, where it can easily be seen if you are looking for it, but where it is a little way away from the normal run of muggles. And, much to my surprise, it even survived the very high winds recently! So now I'll have to work out just how to mark the containers in a way which will not make them more obvious, but which won't compromise them. Might need some discussion with the reviewers! Anyway, to sum up, three of these caches can be grabbed in a totally non-suspicious manner. Just study the locations from a short distance. Green Park 1 is more difficult, and may not survive the new situation very long. However, it should be possible to grab it if you happen to be clumsy with your loose change... Bob
  19. and the rest are about police investigations into his dubious caches causing security lockdowns in central London ... To be fair to Currykev, the majority of "his" caches in this context are actually caches that he has adopted. So, if they are "dubious", it's the original setter that should carry the can... Bob
  20. Hey! There's even a button marked "fast reply"! For what it's worth, I was at several of the camping events last year. I saw absolutely nothing that I would consider to be unacceptable behaviour (except, perhaps, for a little excessive drinking. And I was certainly guilty of that!) I did see some things that led me to surmise that people might be having some fun in their own way, in their own time, in their own spaces. But it was pure speculation on my part - and I kept it to myself.. If there was anything at all wrong with the treatment of the youngsters, it might have been that they were allowed to stay up a little late - but an occasional late night never hurt me, when I was a child... What a pity these rumours start, and then get blown out of all proportion! The reality is far more mundane! Bob
  21. Thanks for the feedback on this - I'll wait and see what transpires before I take my toys out of the playground Absolutely! Having been "interviewed" by an armed policeman at a cache site in America, I know just how un-nerving it can be... Oh, and I'm not at all irate! :D I'll stand by and await instructions. Bob
  22. Could it be on the underside? I think with a little thought most caches could be labelled and for those that really cannot, then perhaps a few will be lost. Does it say 'on the outside'? However, the alternative to this arrangement is NO caches in those areas at all, so think on that!!! Yes - it could be labelled on the underside. Which would work, provided all future finders returned it in that way. But if they don't??? But, the agreement does NOT say 'on the outside' as far as I can see. Maybe this is something that can be clarified? In point of fact, I made a special journey to the cache site after I had placed it to make sure it was clearly labeled inside, since I recognise how sensitive this area is... Bob
  23. I have one that is in plain sight. Putting ANY label on it will make it stand out... It just might work if cachers return the cache with the label out of sight. But, if the police know EXACTLY where the cache is and what it looks like, do they really need it to be labelled? There are plenty of unlabelled other structures in the area! Bob
  24. So, since cache owners are unable to edit their cache pages, what is the point of the comment in the archiving message: Bob Edited to add that I have now heard that a mechanism is being put in place to allow the editing of cache listings involved...
  25. As one of the cache owners affected by this agreement, I have something of a problem with just one of the conditions. At least a couple of my caches are in plain sight. Clearly marking them as geocaches will make them totally obvious to muggles. Since three of the four caches in Green Park were "unavailable" when I adopted them, and the fourth went missing immediately afterwards, it can be seen just how vulnerable these caches are in this environment. Marking them so they become even more obvious just isn't going to work. So, whilst I applaud the way that this agreement has been achieved, it might have been even better if the people involved had also mentioned it to the very restricted number of cachers involved. Bob
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