Jump to content

Alfiegeorge

+Premium Members
  • Posts

    55
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Alfiegeorge

  1. I've come across an associated issue a couple of times; When you are generating a PQ using a "caches along a route" method, the resultant .gpx will contain the nearest X caches (max 1,000) to the route's start that also fit your selection criteria you use (with the additional stipulation of the width, distance either side, of your route corridor being one of the criteria). So if you make the width too large, you end up with X caches that maybe only cover the first half/third/quarter of the length of your route. I think that I'd prefer always to see the nearest X caches to the route, that are within the stipulated width, irrespective of how far they are from the route's start. Does that make sense?
  2. I really do like my 450T, rugged and hard-wearing compared to my earlier etrex. However, I do always struggle with using the touch sensitive keyboard though when entering field notes ... its not likeit was made by Apple you know ! As regards the unit not differentiating between available and not available caches ... this is why utility programs like GSAK are so useful ... you can filter out/in all sorts of stuff more flexibly before uploading the .gpx file. Although, that said "is available" is a filter criteria for a raw PQ ?!?!
  3. The "upsides" of your TB being in this kind of cache is that; 1. When it does get picked up, it'll be picked up by someone who will know what to do with it. 2. As the cache has been there since 2007 - its probably well hidden and not prone to being muggled - the likelihood of your TB going missing whilst in the cache is low. 3. The cache is a locked box - extra safe !! And, additionally, most of the finds that have been logged on the cache seem to be in the Summer months - don't know whether or not this could be to do with its location - but we are getting towards the right season for higher traffic at the site. WHEN your TB does eventually go missing and believe me it will go missing one day. Then, its last port of call is most likely to have been a 1/1 cache in an urban park and / or the last finder is most likely to have been a newbie with <20 finds. A locked box in a well hidden location is nothing like the same risk. When releasing a TB, best thing is to expect nothing and then be pleasantly surprised by anything interesting that does actually happen !!
  4. ... and presumably any muggle that dials a wrong number onto that mobile line similarly gets a text message shortly followed by the uncomfortable feeling that they are getting involved in a John le Carre novel.
  5. Got to ask - What's wrong with Shelby Park? MrsB Its a Hell-Hole (read the first two paragraphs) Violent month in Shelby Park Ok the blog is a bit old but Shelby Park is a really rough part of town !!
  6. I think you might be confusing the Prime Meridian (0 degrees) with International Date Line (180 degrees) In fact, that's an interesting idea actually. If you wanted to log furthest east and furthest west (crossing the International Date Line) in the same day you'd have to make sure you found them in the right order Mark Maybe you said this toungue in cheek knowing that there are many many places where you can go from W179 59.999 to E179 59.999 without crossing the international date line. Try these two caches EAST / WEST you don't even move between two different countries ! Which reminds me of a quiz question that I remember once caused a bit of controvesy in the pub ... Q. Which US State is Furthest East? A. Alaska
  7. Here's another The Meridian, a few miles North of the one that Pharisee suggests. At The Meridian there is a path marker that is supposed to indicate where E/W meet (but either read my log or get there yourself with a GPSr - you'll find that its about 400ft in the wrong place !!) EDIT TO SAY : The cache has spot-on posted co-ords, its the path marker that is so wayward
  8. Just looked up your cache, its really quite moving. I think Memorial Caches are OK, it gives finders a opportunity for a moment of reflection and a connection with the CO at GZ. You really know some thought has gone into placement - not just the "where?" but also the "why?".
  9. Personal Information from his Swedish girlfriend ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!
  10. Mine is simply my cats' names ! Use it on quite a few different sites as a logon ID / screename - don't think that it has ever been already taken anywhere, even though it is not an unusual combination at all.
  11. My kids like being taken up there for a spot of kite-flying now and again - the Downs really is a sight on a clear, warm breezy day with hundreds of kites in the air ! Looks like a good initative from the NT, will take in a spot of geocaching next time we are there. P.S. I see that one of the History Trail caches already has a NM flag on it ... will be interesting to see how diligent a CO the NT proves to be ?!?!?
  12. I thought that your comment to sanseven; "Where are your thumbs? Sorry but this is not aout submitting your old holiday photos, so haven't completed the challenge!" was very funny - seems to have the right degree of Britishness to fit the bill.
  13. I see the absence of D/T ratings as a subtle, yet fairly significant difference as well. It means that your frog-kissing exploits are not in any way differentiated from that day you went climbing mountains. Frog-kissing - a clear example of a 1/1 challenge if ever there was one - means that this kind of thing will swamp (excuse the pun) all the other more worthy things, simply because its easy and attracts the arm-chair loggers. Frog-kissing "accept" numbers will be high and it will look to be an apparently popular pursuit, it will look like it is what the community wants challenges to be ... but all the time it will add nothing to what Geocaching really is about. MTCW
  14. Archived before I could see it, but I can hazard a guess. *rolls eyes in disbelief* .... It was "log 10 challenges from your armchair" (or words to that effect)
  15. I was wondering the same thing. Or to see how many challenges you can complete without getting them disallowed, without leaving your home. Seen CX898 then?
  16. There is a lot of dross out there !!! Most of which has been identified in earlier threads. I've seen just 1 challenge that seems to live up to the expectations of what this is all about. Sail Away It has three key ingredients for me; - its very location specific - it requires a GPSr to complete - it is in a place where a physical cache would be impossible. However, without D/T ratings and without a pre-publication review process, I fear that challenges will sink to the lowest common denominator and the dross will prevail.
  17. To me that seems like the kind of thing they should have been about. It's a shame that something like that gets lost among the "kiss a frog" and "fart on a tree" dross. One of the challenges I saw was "go and find a geocache and log it as found". Not sure if that's still there or not. What troubles me isn't so much the extra feature (that's easy enough to ignore) but the way Groundspeak seem to simply ignore what their users (i.e. paying customers) think, leave features half-working or broken for ages while introducing more and more fluff to the site. Throw in a few big steps back, like the cache page that includes extra graphics (this coming from a company whose issues in the past seem to stem from a lack of bandwidth), takes away a precise date in exchange for something vague, and a new layout that can't even present logs in a consistent format, and one has to wonder what "improvement" they'll dream up next. If people are looking to stop funding this increasing farce it's not a big step from there to move listings to competing sites. After all, if Groundspeak doesn't care what cache hiders think why do those cache hiders owe Groundspeak anything in return? +1 "Sail Away" [CX71B] is what this should be about - very location specific, needs a GPSr to complete, is away from where a physical cache could possibly be. I also like the cryptically implied alternative solution ! But, with no D/T ratings on challenges there is no more kudos for a numbers hunter in completing this than there is in the proverbial "kissing a frog". Hence, this kind of challenge will be the exception and get lost amongst the dross. BTW : I think the challenge "go and find a geocache and log it as found" might just have been conceived with a little irony
  18. Ok, so you might have had "tongue firmly in cheek" there but I see a grain of truth. The analogy being; the toddler pool at the swimming baths - it keeps those that just want to mess around out of the way of the serious swimmers. (He says, inviting a flame-war)
  19. Well, of course, we haven't seen how they work on the GC.com site yet but I have downloaded the iPhone App to have a look at the test challenges that they have left in there (tip : search the App Store using "Groundspeak" rather than "Geocaching" or "Challenges" - it's way easier to find). Conspicuously, there is no "ignore" button - well, none that I can see. You can flag a challenge as "Prohibited", "Offensive", "Spam" or "Unplayable" if that's the thing though !
  20. The most important thing that I've learned while reading the forums is this; If for any reason, whatsoever, you do not sign the physical log on a found cache you must remember the following; "Do not under any circumstances mention this is your on-line log" !
  21. Nice article Off to Jersey next week for a couple of days, trying to squeeze a day trip to Sark in (just to say I've been !!) Any Recommendations for the best caches on the islands?
  22. This is something the GAGB and the Reviewers aided by Groundspeak are working on. but it will take a period of time to fully implement. Until then we can only take advice given by the Police and implement that advice. Deci Sadly, there may come a day when the terrorists replace a cache with a bomb... The police having the co-ordinates listed as safe may then be dangerous. It's drop in the ocean stuff... And another GAGB RULE (they're not guidelines if they're not optional) won't help when 5 of the last 6 caches that I've found don't follow the existing GAGB rules: "Sadly, there may come a day when the terrorists replace a cache with a bomb... The police having the co-ordinates listed as safe may then be dangerous." Why replace a cache to achieve this false sense of security. There is enough information in this thread for you to be able to successfully list a bomb ! What it should look like, where it can be, who'll know where it is ... Wait for the first profile to appear that is 0 finds 1 hide
  23. ...Further muddying this issue was a bug that caused searches that crossed the Prime Meridian to break, resulting in no returned caches for those users in close proximity to the PM (which meant a significant number of UK cachers and others) ... This also seems to have fixed the UK postcodes problem that I had reported as well. My office address and home address are both <4mls from the Prime Meridian and it was local postcodes in those areas that I was using. Unlucky I guess. Congratulations the app now works in London !!
×
×
  • Create New...