JohnX

How about: The National Science Foundation reported a radioactive meteorite landed somewhere near here and I am trying to find it before someone picks it up and gets radiation poisoning. This works better if you look like a Mr. Science geek and say it with a straight face. Of couse it's really not fair to scare the Muggles.

Google on: rowling muggle lawsuit for articles on muggle stuff.

Here is a better translation of the German Cache Listing: Micro on the Kreuzberger Lohmuehleninsel. First an important preface: This cache may not be logged by a premium member! The Cache represents an opposite of the first Premium Members Only Cache which can only be logged by regular members. In order to maintain a balance of caches in Berlin, I will place a No Premium Members cache for every Premium Member Only cache placed in Berlin. If the Premium Members Only cache is made available to everyone then this cache will be made available to premium members. Until then I will check the profiles of loggers and will delete the logs of premium members since they do not meet the requirements of this cache. Now however to the Cache: It is meant as a drive-by and is placed just off the thoroughfare. Watch out for Muggles. Enjoy the view of the new Berlin landscape even if it is obstructed by the fence. The fence does not have to be climbed to get to the cache. I copied the hiding method of another cache in Berlin for this one. Cachers shorter than 1.7 meters tall might have a problem finding this cache without aids. The cache only contains a log book so bring something to write with. Have fun looking for it and… end of translation It does not sound to nefarious to me. Berlin is the new capitol of Germany and was formerly divided by a wall. The city is now a symbol of unification for many people world wide so this cache should not be a surprise. Keep in mind that citizens of other countries don't necessarily think like Americans who just aren't smart enough to speak English. Perhaps they have a different point of view.

The advantage to the term "muggle" is that it can be used as both a noun and a verb with specific meaning. Muggle and muggled. Onlooker and onlooked? Onlooker and raided? How about normals as in "I had to wait until the normals went away to find the cache." and "The cache was normalized."? OK, perhaps it is a stretch. I think muggle is going to stay. B.T.W. The story of JK Rowling being sued over the term muggle has something to do with a children's book only published on a small scale in the US and not even nation-wide. Muggles were small elf-type creatures. It turns out that way before the book was published the term "muggle" referred to marijuana cigarettes.

Leave the trash, call the Police and you won't even have to file a complaint. A neighbor of mine told his son he could use the car if he took the trash to the recycling center. The kid took the two bags and dumped them just off the side of the road instead taking 10 minutes to dispose of the trash properly. The father ended up in court with a $250 fine. Ouch!

I placed 5 caches near my home and spent a lot of time scouting other locations. I found a few good spots but then decided against placing anything there to give others a chance to place their own caches. After about a year, caches did indeed show up in those locations. I am glad someone else will have the fun of checking the visits to their cache. The point being, I can imagine a time when it will be hard, if not impossible to find a decent cache location in my town. Just a thought that you may want to leave some locations for others.

Get inexpensive business cards from: www.vistaprint.com I have used them for "real" business cards before and was very satisfied. They even offer "free" cards. Google on "free business cards" for other companies that do the same thing. Thanks again for all of the answers.

OK, thanks for the responses. As long as people value them, in they will stay. They just seemed strange to me, almost like a cat marking it's territory. B.T.W. I made magnets for all of my caches which receive a lot of positive posts. Each one is a business card appropriate to the cache, usually the name of the cache, it's location and some appropriate graphic. Then waterproofed with acrylic spray and mounted on a buisness card magnet. I will post pictures somewhere if I can get my scanner going. JohnX

I use tennis ball cans for 4 of my caches which are not the easiest things to pack and unpack. I have noticed people leaving calling cards in them in separate zip-lock bags which makes it that much more inconvenient to get at the swag and log book. I don't understand the purpose of these cards since there is a log book and am wondering why they are even in the cache in the first place. Eventually, when the cache is full enough they are going to be removed as part of the regular maintanance. Am I missing something? Added less than 24 hours later: I am not talking about laminated cards or clever handiwork. I am talking about calling cards printed on business card stock at home on ink jet printers that are getting bent and torn by being crammed into a small cache container.

Naturally, you can take safety measures to the extreme. There are many ways you can hit your head, even when not on the water. In the north east, I have never read a newspaper story on anyone dying from a head injury on flat water or even class I water. I have read several stories of people who slip on ice, hit their head, are knocked unconcious and then freeze to death. I guess we should all wear our winter helmets. I think you may have been caught in class I water or worse by your description of events because the definition of flatwater is slow moving water with no ripples.

I exchanged emails with another cacher who was tired of a very prolific first time finder getting all the FTFs. I suggested he might get a cache approved without actually placing it. Let the poor first time finder do a bit of fruitless searching. A trick so dirty that even I wouldn't do it.

I just edited a cache page (Who Pulled the Plug?, area code 02347) and the map in the listing changed to something totally inacurate which is absolutely useless. The cache is on a tiny island in the middle of a pond. The original map which was possibly from MapPoint was very accurate and clear. The new map is just absolutely wrong. Is there a way to correct this problem?

Here is today's post (slightly edited) from the first cache I ever placed. It made me smile. "We found it! Our first ever found cache!!! Thank you for making a simple one for us newbies, esp ones with kids in tow and a husband who is a magnet for mosquitoes! The coordinates got us right to an area ripe with many great looking spots so all three kids and 2 adults were busy hunting high and low, then I turned around for just a second and said to myself "oh, now it's got to be there!" Thank you for helping my kids and I find our first treasure!"

I would recommend finding a canoe rental shop. They will set you up with a boat, all necessary equipment and advice on good locations to paddle. Inflatable rafts are hard to paddle very far in. Wear a PFD (personal floation device) or life jacket if you are inexperienced or don't know the route you will be paddling. Other important times to wear a PFD, during bad weather, while on cold water, if you won't be able to right your boat or swim to shore, or if you insist on drinking. Skip the helmet if you are flat water paddling in a kayack, it is not necessary. Bring extra water. Use sun screen. Also, I have found a good boat trip is one where you make it back just before you are tired of it. A grim story. The 14 year old who lived was wearing a life jacket. The three who died were not. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/Northeast/05/08/boat.capsizes.ap/

I once placed a cache IN a cache. I cut a slit in the seam of a tennis ball, stuffed in a bit of foam and then some foreign coins and an American flag pin. The posting challenged cachers to find it but the first 5 finders couldn't figure it out and the 6th took the ball. The container was a tennis ball can which is my favorite, cheap, clear and easy to hide. But what do you do with all those tennis balls?

The point I was trying to make in my original post was to be careful in the woods during hunting season. In November, I placed a cache in a park near my home in dense brush. The park has a playground, soccer fields, baseball diamonds and walking paths with benches. The cache page is here: The Snoring Cache This is where the cache is hidden: Dense Brush This is what was found about 80 feet from the cache: Spikes in Tree If you read the cache listing you will understand my concern. Also, I think it is a pretty good cache. Read the logs to see what people think about it. Geocaching has recently brought tremendous numbers of people into wooded areas usually only frequented by hunters. I suspect a lot of geocachers might not even know when hunting season is and hike into heavily hunted woods with their kids in search of that elusive cache. I also suspect hunters might not realize how many geocachers there are out there. If anyone is interested in why it is a good idea to be careful in the woods during hunting season check out the statistics at this link: International Hunter Education Association - Statistics A quick summation is: About half of all fatal two party two party hunting accidents are caused by a hunter failing to identify his target. In my opinion, that is total carelessnes and not an accident.

OK, I'm not trolling on this post but there are enough people hunting that have no business touching a gun that I will quote a recent news story. Deer Hunter Shot in Head 11 December 2003 "Every December, Paul Belmont puts on a bright orange hat and vest over camouflage clothes, loads his shotgun and heads into the woods to hunt deer. "Hunting is a safe sport. You always make sure that the safety is on, and you only unload toward the target. If you're responsible, there isn't a problem," Belmont said. His comments come just days after a fellow hunter accidentally shot Michael J. Doherty, 41, of Westford in the head during the first day of deer hunting season. I can quote other stories as well but the point is, be careful. Know when the hunting season is on. People get cold, tired or drunk. Good judgment fades under stress. Please don't rant on me on this post. I have owned more than a few acres of land in the Catskill Mountains about a 3 hour drive from NYC for over 20 years. I know what some hunters are like. I now live south of Boston and Geocaching seems to be a family sport with lots of kids wandering around the woods. I am not sure some hunters understand the nature of the game and I suspect an unpleasant event will eventually strike. John

OK, so I post and the warn thingy comes up on my message. Now I know where I saw it. Also, it says tadpole. As Ricky used to say nearly every episode.... "Splain to me Lucy." Thanks **************************************** Please check out the previous message. ****************************************

So I recall a warn thingy near my name or one of my caches, but now I can't find it. Sorry to ask, but what is it? B.T.W. I went to the FAQ page and a search revealed nothing. *************************************************************** OK So I figured it out about half an hour after the original post. No need to respond. Thanks.... ***************************************************************

I have a few caches placed and I notice I often have more than one account watching them. Not that I'm paranoid or anything, but is there a way to check who these watchers are? Also, Broken Links report; Main page, click on contact us, links to Groundspeak Forums are broken.

A guy would write these long letters to corporations, movie stars, etc, asking them the most ridiculous things. I can't remember the title or author at the moment, but the book was a riot. The book you might be talking about is [b]The Lazlo Letters[/b] which if I recall was done by the guy who played Father Guido Sarducci on Saturday Night Live. A more recently published book is [b]Dear Mr. Mackin[/b] written by Chris Mackin and orderable from most book stores.

For years I have been walking in a state park near my house. The park is in a town that has a leash law. I don't know if the leash law applies in the park but I assume it does. In my opinion, if a dog has a habit of rushing up to people in a uncontrollable fashion, it should be kept on a leash. Many times I have been in the position of determining if a dog charging me is friendly or not, I have never used my pepper spray but there were a couple of times it came real close. More than once, before I got aggressive with all dogs coming at me, I have had dogs jump up on me in excitement, of course after they ran through the mud. B.T.W. Here is a recent log entry (not mine) from a cache I near my house. quote: We found it and exchanged a couple of robots for a ball and a dino. This was our fourth for the day and as a large, loose, and very wet dog attacked us, it was our last Also, imagine the damage a dog could do by jumping up and knocking down someone who was not stable on their feet? A broken hip or worse because some irresponsible pet owner wants to go to a public location and let their "freindly dog who doesn't bite" run around uncontrolled.

I have a newly purchased ETREX Legend and had the same problem you had in finding my first cache. I wrote the location on a 3"x5" card and then programmed it into the GPS. I then checked the card and GPS against the info on the screen. I drove to the park where the cache was and tried calling back the waypoint. When I got close to the location the GPS sent me around in circles! (OK under tree cover.) I finally gave up because, 1. There was no cracked tree in a 200' radius and 2. There was a LOT of poision ivy! (A useful plant to recognize b.t.w.) On the way back to the car I referred to my 3"x5" card and found the location of the waypoint I entered into the GPS AND checked had changed! I refer you now to page v (roman numerals) of the poorly written manual, which I quote "User information, such as waypoints, routes, etc, is retained in the unit's memory without the need for external power. It is always a good practice to back up important user data by recording it manually." I entered the waypoint into the GPS, WROTE IT DOWN, AND checked it at home, when I got to the park the batteries were low so I changed them. After failing to find the cache, I checked the waypoint in the GPS to my written notation and found the location in the ETREX was off by nearly a quarter of a mile. Either I erased the only waypoint I entered and inadvertantly entered another one in my use of the device..... or the original data was corrupted when I changed the batteries. The cache was found after I reprogrammed the GPS in the field (I brought the manual because I am an engineer and I read the manual cover to coever BEFORE I used the GPS... and the manual left a LOT of questions unanswered.) The moral of the story is... I am a pathetic geek... and if that nice little compass arrow and distance gauge leads you astray check the absolute location of the GPS to the number written on your 3"x5" card. Further experimentation is in order. If I am able to duplicate this problem I will report it to GARMIN and to this forum... John X.