NorStar

So sad to learn of his passing. I've been Waymarking about as long as he had and knew that he put in so much effort into wm. N/S

So, after reading these replies and remaking the images, I'm no wiser as to what is going on. It could be the camera; it could be the software; it could be the web site. The other entries tell similar observations, yet it's still different. Another forum entry about Windows 10 may be related to the same issue. My previous camera developed an orientation problem when I dropped it 3 ft onto pavement. Pictures from the camera had both orientations oriented wrong, and I learned how to reorient the pictures by using lossless rotation twice in Irfanview - my editor of choice. This is different than that, but I was still forced to use the old technique to reorient the pictures. I also found that cropping the picture oriented as a portrait picture into a smaller one in landscape mode DID NOT solve the orientation issue. I don't know what happened in the last week, but something did. I'm not sure what the source of the issue is. I don't recall any differences with my software - Irfanview, though there are updates to Windows all the time (version 7.1). I now see wrongly oriented pictures in thumbnails in the Windows File Explorer. I don't know - it just adds to frustration and needing to recreate pictures instead of adding new waymarks. It would be nice to have a feature that rotates pictures after uploading. In the meantime, I guess that I'll just take less pictures with Portrait orientation, even if it ends up cropping features.

In the last few days, I have loaded profile-oriented images (images that are taller than wider) for waymarks that, after uploading, display in landscape mode. If I click on the gallery and view the image, it is oriented in the right direction. Has anyone else seen this behavior, lately? I want to know if this is a site specific issue or if it somehow is a result of my creating the photos. I haven't changed how I make my pictures and I'm using the same camera.

Is Ottawa, Canada, on the flight path? We have rain forecast this evening but YOU could still get credit...I think. The ISS has to be at least 45° for both player. I'm at 65° tonight and Ottawa is at 30°. We are about three min's apart but the degrees won't work for us. I'm in Boston, which may be close enough. Tonight (3/31) I can see the ISS. Heavens-above.com says it will peak at 44 degrees at 20:08 ( is that 8:08 pm EST?) , but it is going to be SE of me, and really SE of Ottawa - besides, I think you will be socked in with storm clouds. The next opportunity is April 1 at 20:52 (44 degrees, NNW) and April 2 at 19:59 (77 degrees, NW). However, we are expecting rain and/or snow (now it comes!) over the next three days, so observing conditions are iffy. Nothing else good. I'll try to look out over these days to see if I can glimpse it. Update: On April 13 (Wed.), at 20:47:09 (again, standard time?) it will be 69 degrees at zenith in the NNE, going roughly west to east. On April 16 (Sat.), at 20:38:24 it will be 50 degrees at zenith in the SW, going roughly N-S. Weather should be mostly clear. Anybody available?

Is Ottawa, Canada, on the flight path? We have rain forecast this evening but YOU could still get credit...I think. The ISS has to be at least 45° for both player. I'm at 65° tonight and Ottawa is at 30°. We are about three min's apart but the degrees won't work for us. I'm in Boston, which may be close enough. Tonight (3/31) I can see the ISS. Heavens-above.com says it will peak at 44 degrees at 20:08 ( is that 8:08 pm EST?) , but it is going to be SE of me, and really SE of Ottawa - besides, I think you will be socked in with storm clouds. The next opportunity is April 1 at 20:52 (44 degrees, NNW) and April 2 at 19:59 (77 degrees, NW). However, we are expecting rain and/or snow (now it comes!) over the next three days, so observing conditions are iffy. Nothing else good. I'll try to look out over these days to see if I can glimpse it.

How about destitute (and seasick) Pilgrims coming off the Mayflower?

On the other hand, I appear to be THE VERY EXAMPLE of the world and US distributions, coming in 2nd and 8th, resp. and on many of the other lists. Not sure how to take that...trying to be different and only end up being the poster child of average.... Thanks for the work - I encourage more data!

Hmmm...being facetious, but... Did you have an asteroid, crater, or star named after them [Extraterrestrial Places] Maybe there is a statue of them somewhere? [Living Statues] If When they become famous, you can waymark where they grew up [Childhood Home] When one becomes President, you can waymark the birthplace [Presidential Birthplaces] The possibilities are wide open !!! (You may have to wait a while though...)

Let's see how I did: 1. 2500 waymarks - Mission Accomplished on 10/2013. 2. 500 waymarks in Boston - accomplished. 3. 500 waymarks in one year - fell short. So far (pending two more approvals - still waiting...) I have 440 in 2013. This is good enough still to be the second highest number of waymarks in a year. However, due to classes and work the second half of the year was a challenge. 4. Reach 1000 waymark visits - way off! - 791 so far. 6. Waymarks in 600 different categories - done - about 629 now. 7. Various other goals - mixed results. I barely reached 200 waymarks for Massachusetts Historical Markers, I moved some up to the next level. All in all, a pretty satisfactory year. Next year: 1. 2400 waymarks posted (keep the rate more than 1/day). 2. 1000 waymarks visited. This time I'll make it! Goal - 1100. 3. Waymarks in 666 categories. 4. Get 100 waymarks in one more category (probably US Benchmarks). Here we go!

I've had two of my own have were retroactively declined years later. In at least one case it caused the removal a category in my 'posted' grid. To me, it was someone doing 'house cleaning' on waymarks that they felt should not have been approved in the first place.

Welcome home to Old New England! I look forward to seeing you when you are here! N/S

I have goals. Here are a few: 1. Reach 2500 waymarks. 3. Reach 500 waymarks within the city limits of Boston (easy-peasy - only about 35 to go) 4. Log 500 waymarks in one calendar year for the second time. 5. Reach 1000 waymark visits (challenge - about 280 to go). 6. Reach 600 different waymark categories (easy-peasy - about 12 to go) and try to fill in a 6x6 area on the grid 7. There are several goals on number of waymarks in cagetories. In general, reach 200 in Mass. Historical Markers (easy), For those I have 50+ waymarks get as many to 100, for 25+ get as many to 50, and 10+ to 25, and get as many categories to 10 as possible.

When I tried to upload an image in the Upload Image tab after saving the waymark, I receive this message (started approximately 8:00 pm EST): An error occured in the File Upload Service. There was no endpoint listening at http://bishop.Groundspeak.com:8000/FileService.svc that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details. I checked the images - they are less than 100 MB in size. I didn't see any unusual characters in the name of the image, and I have been using the same folder for all my uploads. Is this error message from something I did or is this on the Waymarking.com end?

For a while, I had thought that there was a category for these already. I see them as two different categories. I didn't get to vote in peer review, but I feel that this would be a good category. Look out towers are specifically set up for anyone to view a landscape; fire towers are set up specifically for an agency to view the landscape to look for smoke or fire. In the west and south Boston area I can think of at least 7 towers, so, etrapoloating, there have to be hundreds available where you can waymark a point near enough to the base. Access to a fire tower depends on the land that it is placed on. In my area, the remaining fire towers that I know of are all on publicly accessible grounds - you may have to hike a ways in. Getting access to climb a tower depends. Most are not accessible, often surrounded by chain-linked fencing, but if someone is there and you ask nicely, they might let you up. I view firetowers much like lighthouses - they are a sentinel station to guard against approaching danger. You can't always get close to a lighthouse, either, yet you can ask to post coordinates where the best view of the tower is - perhaps on a rock ledge nearby. I perused entries in the Lookout Tower category. There was an entry for a lifeguard station with a tower. The description was so sparse that it was not clear whether it was publicly accessible. The others I saw on the first couple pages were clearly towers set up for the public to climb and get a view. Which is fine, and which is why I feel that fire towers deserve a category of their own.

Here is an NPR audio article about the ranch. NPR - Colorado Fire Consumes 'Taste Of The Old West' Hopefully, the ranch will rebuild and the waymark would be active again. As for the trailhead, I hope that they will clear the trail and reopen, then visitors will be able to document the recovery.

I've had one waiting, as well.

As an officer and one who lives in a 'hotspot' of UU churches, I would welcome the category. I understand the issues of geographic appeal, but I feel that regional Waymarking categories should be accepted, as well. Plus, I'm for waymarks that illustrate history - there is a deep historical significance to UU (in particular, Unitarian) churches in New England: Unitarian churches were the first major split from the old Puritan religion, which is today's Congregational church. Literally, congregations were split - often bitterly. There are rich stories that can be told about Unitarian churches, many of which were heavily involved in the abolotionist movements and other civil movements. Not having them would be a serious 'hole' in Waymarking categories. In having a category for that subject, you get a better sense of the 'flavor' of that group if you read these waymarks in succession. So, I support this category. I view other categories of building 'parts' differently. Stained glass windows are about the windows, not the church buildings, and can be found in government buildings and private homes as well as churches. Bell towers - the same. I've logged steeples on buildings no longer used as churches. So, though they overlap, I don't view them as the same, and I usually write the description a little differently for each category - that's one reason why I don't have 5,000 WM. By the way, a major denomination mission is the United Church of Christ, which includes the Congregational churches. I'm not sure what their geographic distribution is, but it at least covers the US and Canada.

Hooray! It made it! I see that it is in peer review. How many need to say 'Yeah' there? I'm still a little unsure of the process, myself. I'm wondering why only three days are given? Votes for waymarks in a category some times take months to get resolved. Not that I want to make it open indefinitely. A week might give a little more time for people to open their emails and then vote.

Fraternal Greetings! I am one, also: Past Master Norfolk Lodge, A.F.&A.M. Needham, Massachusetts Scottish Rite (Northern Jurisdiction, though) Refering to an earlier post, the Masonic Lodge Category in Waymarking.com is now well populated, but still far from the goal of having coordinates for every lodge. I clicked on a link in an earlier blog but it went to a PR site. I was wondering if the the Masonic Geocaching Society was still active.

Wow, what an historic trek! I'll have to follow in your footsteps some time! If you waited one more Saturday, you might have seen me at the Blue Hill Observatory Open House. Granted the weather wasn't as nice... There is one note that I want to add about Blue Hill. The flag pole, though a benchmark, appears not to be the one that was the copper rod by Borden. The copper rod was set in the present day location of the Blue Hill Observatory tower, according to the text in MY3471, Blue Hill Borden. There is a triangular brass plate with text that approximately marks the location. Picture included: The plates states that the "x" "was the copper bolt set". The datasheet further explains that the copper rod was searched for when the tower was built but not found and that the exact location may never be known. Also, since the other setting is used as a reference, it is likely that the flag pole is not where the copper bolt was set. But that doesn't detract from your careful work. My hat's off to you!

This is a pair contrasting one another, literally within a couple hundred feet along the same walk. Both of these are in New Orleans along Lake Shore Drive. The body of water is Lake Pontchartrain. The first is the benchmark "Essex", BJ1355. http://img.geocaching.com/benchmark/lg/7b8...90b0b2ab8c5.jpg In contrast, the second is the benchmark "Dodge", BJ1353. Hopefully soon, this will be beautiful again. http://img.geocaching.com/benchmark/lg/993...bdb1cf87847.jpg

Oops. I guess I somehow mixed the two map captions. Sorry for the false alarm.

I have always enjoyed the statistics and maps since they were first brought out. I've been basically on other things in the past couple years, and it's nice to see what the activity has been since then. I have a comment on a caption on the website. When I click on the map, I go to the map page. The top map (the one with the most colored counties), has a caption saying "Total GEOCAC Recoveries as of December 1, 2007." I think you mean to have an earlier date, since I think the map is showing all the recoveries from the first one submitted. Check.

I spend a good part of my work interviewing people, now it's time for me to be on the other side of the 'table.' 1. How did you first hear about geocaching? I was looking for things to do with my new 'toy,' a Garmin Vista, and found the Geocaching.com web site. I decided to give it a try and was hooked on my first find. I got the Vista more or less to know where I was during hikes in the woods, often in the mountains or large woods. 2. Tell me about your first cache? It was just about four years ago that I started. On Nov. 7th, I attempted my first cache, by a pier in Quincy. I was looking, but found that the signal jumped enough that I couldn't zero in on it, then a car of teenagers parked on the pier, and I decided to give it up that day (actually evening). On Nov. 11th, I had three lined up so that I figured that I would find at least one of them. The first one that day was in a town owned forest, which I visited often when I was little. Apparently, I had used the GPSr too often beforehand, because the batteries gave out while in the forest. I also learned a lesson about how the signal can cause the location to bounce around. There are large hemlock and pine trees in these woods, which, together with the heavy clouds and sprinkles made hunting an added challenge. Thus, after various attempts to get a location and hunt there, I gave up. (I later found it - after four attempts - I was close the first time). The second one, I knew was going to be a challenge, since it was at a ball field. I looked but I didn't find this one, either (I later found this - on my third attempt - and I still smile at how creatively it was 'hidden.'). The fourth cache involved more than hunting a cache. It involved walking through an old mill village finding and filling in numbers to the real coordinates, then finding the cache. This should have been the the toughest one to find of all. I had fun walking around and, as I filled in the numbers, I learned a lot about that village. The find wasn't too hard after all that. I did have my encounter with a 'muggle' at that site who was walking by with his dog. I gave him a quick explanation of what I was doing, and he at least smiled appreciably and walked off. This cache, to this day is still active and I count it as my favorite. 3. Have you had any bad/scary experiences caching? No, not really. The only bad experiences are the ones where I come up to a place where a cache should have been and wasn't there. 4. What is the #1 reason you geocache? Two reasons (about equally important). 1) It takes me to places I wouldn't have been to before and often teaches me a lot about a location (either the description on the web page or maybe a sign at that location), and 2) The hunt for something. 5. Do you prefer to hunt or hide? Hunt. I have yet to hide. I'm sure that I would enjoy hiding and maintaining something, but I would have to slow down in other activities, first. In fact, I'm trying to find time just to geocache again. 6. What was your favorite cache place? Why? My favorite is my first found geocache, Historic Saxonville (Framingham). Not only is it my first found geocache, it was a well developed geocache that involved some time by the hider, it made me interact with the area (looking for clues at a location), it involved history of a location, and it also involved a nice walk in the woods. 7. What was your worst cache? Why? I'd have to say one that was hidden among old iron furnace ruins. It isn't active anymore. It was in line-of-sight and there wasn't a need to move anything, but the temptation was there. 8. Have you ever attened a cache event? Yes I have - I think three of them. They are great. I haven't been to one lately. Again, time is the main factor. I do intend to go again. 9. Tell me your best caching story? Compared to others that I read in the previous entries, mine is not as exciting, but here goes. I decided to go on a trip to New Hampshire to drive around, and, stop and walk in the woods somewhere. We decided to go to the Fox Forest Reservation, which is a large chunk of land where research is done. This was on Leap Day (Feb. 29, 2004). Down in the Boston area, there had been very little snow all year, and the ground was bare. I thought to myself, how much snow could be there, maybe a few inches? The cache I decided to look for was well into the forest - I'd say at least a mile from the road. Of course, when a friend a me drove up, I hit the first snow on the ground somewhere at the I-495 junction (about five miles from the New Hampshire border). By the time I reached Hillsborough, I saw that the snow was at least a foot deep. We walked in and found that the snow was pretty soft and easy to walk in; however, it was very tiring. We trudged in further and further, and soon I got the 'how much further do we have to go/shouldn't we be turning back, now.' My reply, 'Just a little further.' We reached the location and naturally the GPSr pointed to a location off the trail. Now wasn't the time to doubt the GPSr (though I was trying to calculate the chances of success at this point). I stepped off the trail and found that I was walking into a mini ravine and the snow was even deeper - thigh deep or about two feet. I figured my chances were really low - there was a high chance of it being deeply buried by snow. But, I found a likely spot and put my arm in, and found metal! So, I pulled it out, walked back to the path to look, take the Travel Bug there and log, then walked again to put it back. It was a ton of work - I have missed geocaches that would have been far easier to find, but it was so satisfying. Not only did I find the geocache, but I walked in an absolutely gorgeous area, made more beautiful by the snow. I should not have been able to find that cache, but I did. There, that's all. Hey, if you don't mind sharing the written essay, could you post a link to it at the end of this thread so we can see what you found about us?

Wow! I just poked around the Massachusetts one you put together (must have just put it up). Really slick! I had been using downloaded county files and put them in an access database, then used MapPoint 2004 to view them. This was fine until recently - for some reason, I can no longer link to any files. This is a nice substitute (the only issue is that I would have to be online to use it - small concession). Maybe some day, I'll 'fix' the other problem or learn how to use the way using GSAK/GPSBabel/GoogleEarth metioned earlier.