mtbikernate

okay, so gs's app isn't as good as it could be. doesn't change the fact that c:geo was pissing off gs by the way it was scraping data from the database. the developer specifically mentions that he was intentionally flirting with the TOS. do that, and eventually the people you're exploiting will stop you.

I saw that log. I'm really surprised the tent has lasted this long without the university police taking it down.

What you have near your cache, friend, is Sabal minor, a common plant that goes by many names including dwarf palmetto. When they're in clumps like that, they're nearly impossible to get rid of because of their thick underground stems.

That's probably fair. A cache owner who places caches in good hiding spots with good containers can probably handle more caches since there's less maintenance to do. Put out crappy hides that need work all the time and you won't be able to keep up with the needs of even a few.

Absolutely. Although, I'd have to say that for some people that number is 0. I have encountered a couple caches that are the ONLY cache owned by a CO, and they've had some problem or another that has been documented (sometimes for years) and the CO hasn't addressed them. There's one local cacher near me that owns easily several hundred caches. I'm annoyed that a large proportion of them are the powertrail/minitrail sort spaced every 0.1mi along the road taking up space that could be used for more creative hides. But I give the cacher props for taking care of every single one of them. If there's a problem, it's disabled quickly until the cacher can check on it. Some are fixed and some are archived. All with a pretty quick turnaround. Even though I don't like that type of hide, I really appreciate that the CO maintains them well.

I wouldn't be surprised. But it could be anything. Maybe there are other powertrails in the queue for PR right now and there's just a backlog. Maybe PR is dealing with more pressing permissions issues somewhere else in the state. Maybe PR is sick and in the hospital or has a family member sick in the hospital. Maybe PR has a pressing deadline at work. But absolutely insulting him on the forums is not going to get the CO anywhere.

a number of different ways to do this. be creative.

You obviously cannot be from Texas! I have reported MANY that need archiving, and it has been nearly a year and they still are not archived nor has a 30 day notice been sent. Au contraire. I have logged many caches that NA, and they have in fact been archived by PR. 10 caches have been archived by my last count since 2010, and two have been disabled and will be archived soon (and those are only the ones that I posted NA on). Most have simply been unmaintained by the owners (most of which from owners who no longer participate). PR gives those owners plenty of time to address the issue on their own before taking action. A couple of those have obviously been problematic placements, and PR has archived those within a single day of me posting NA. Archived: GC1GWTQ GCTH5Z GCMV4F GCQMNY GCKQYT GCRE10 GC2AM8Y GC2A1A GCHMC8 GCMTCZ Disabled: GC18NG5 GC10HMK

I've found that Prime Reviewer does a pretty good job as long as people post NA when something needs his attention. In my part of the state, at least, people tend to let crappy caches be crappy caches for years and years without posting even as much as a NM to the cache owner. But once people start contacting Prime Reviewer about any problems, PR is right there taking a look at them and dealing with them as necessary. I'm quite surprised that PR covers the area and number of caches he does. That's gotta be one heck of a workload. But it's not a job I would ever want.

it greatly annoys me that Facebook seems to have convinced a substantial population that integrating their junk is actually a good thing. I have a few friends who have created businesses, and rather than just building their business a website, they make a Facebook account for the business and then solicit their friends to "like" said business so they will eventually get some kind of unique address or something. No. I'm not going to "like" some friend's business just because the person is a friend. That's spam. I'm not going to put Facebook's "like" button on my website. I have honestly found better ways out there to enable people to find and share my content. I have to ask...because I haven't seen it asked yet in all of the threads about Facebook integration on this site...WHY? Why do you want a Facebook "like" button? What other "integration" do you want? Is it really that important to you to log onto gc.com with your Facebook account? What is the advantage of that? What's the whole point of it? Because I don't see any point other than bugging your friends with updates about a game they'll never play.

linkshare by mtbikernate, on Flickr As I have said before (many times), you can already do it. You don't need a button. I like that it's not a single click away for people to abuse.

not IMO.

You can already post the link for interesting caches you found on your Wall and share your experiences that way. I've had plenty of people ask me about this "geocaching thing" I do based on nothing more than the Status updates I post. Yeah, you can already share cache logs this way if you really want to. There's nothing stopping anyone from doing this already. VERY occasionally one of my cacher friends will post a cache (though not a specific log) that was particularly enjoyable. I think it's fine the way it is. BECAUSE it takes a few keystrokes to do, people only share what's really worth it. If it became just one button click, FB would wind up getting an awful lot of cache pages/logs and most people (including me) would ignore them and develop a negative opinion of Geocaching - the way I have with Zynga (the bastards). I don't think Groundspeak wants to increase the population of people who hate geocaching because that sort of thing could lead to more missing caches, I think.

It's been many years since I've seen a religious tract in a cache. I consider them tacky in any situation. If someone wants to have a serious conversation about religion, I can discuss things intelligently. But usually, people who want to talk religion want to talk "at" you, not actually have a conversation or learn anything. As for what I do with them...they're pretty harmless. I let them rot in the cache with the other paper junk nobody ever takes. If they wind up in my caches, I trash them like I trash other advertisements. A cacher once crammed a coupon for a local business into my bison tube micro cache. Seriously? It took tools, but I removed it and threw it in the trash.

I have one on my property. 1. I like to meet people, and I have met some good people hunting my cache. 2. I am showing folks (indirectly) about gardening with native plants can be attractive and economical (especially with regards to mowing and watering) 3. Having the cache on my own property gives me a little more flexibility about the cache placement/design than if I was placing it on public property somewhere. I can get very creative and test ideas. 4. If you like trackables (like I do), a cache in your own yard allows you to provide those trackables a bit more security than they might otherwise get elsewhere. I am not prone to put trackables in a lot of local caches, because most of the ones big enough to hold them are in places that get burned more frequently by prescribed fires than they get found. My house is also close to the highway, so it's a fairly easy stop for someone looking to move trackables. If you don't want to come by and find it, don't. Nobody's forcing you to do anything.

The first log was just a note stating that the puzzle had been solved (from a forum regular). First find was from a pair of cachers who hunted it together (and couldn't have logged it otherwise). The first one of them to actually log posted this: next The cache had been published on the 3rd, so it indeed take a surprisingly long time for someone to log it. I was pretty happy with how well the cache was received from two of the most prolific cachers in the area who, IMO, have some of the best hides. What was funny about this is that djbtex already knew my wife through work and wasn't aware that the cache was ours when she found it. The cache is in the front yard, and it dawned on her when she came by the house one day that she had hunted a cache there.

I've encountered a lot of poor-quality logbooks in my area that are damp enough to make writing a full sentence a chore, but dry enough to scrawl a name. And those are the better ones - I've found too many around here that are just too wet to sign period. But, if the logbook is in good shape and it's at least a little book (not a sheet of paper with grids that aren't even big enough for me to sign/date most of the time), I will write something, and the length of what I write will be fairly commensurate with the size of the book. I try to leave good quality logbooks in my caches that are made from waterproof paper, and I will use the largest size that realistically fits in the cache to allow people to write as much as possible.

At a $400 pricepoint, a full suspension bike is going to be a pile of $#!+. The fewer bells & whistles the bike has at that price, the better overall bike it will be. It used to be that you had to spend about $1,000 to get a decent full suspension bike. Nowadays, that number is a bit higher with inflation. If it was me with that budget, I'd probably opt for a rigid singlespeed. You'll wind up with a higher quality frame and higher quality wheels than you'd get on a comparably priced geared bike with suspension. It'll be likely to last longer (if taken care of), too. A pretty decent one can be built from closeout parts for cheap. I built one several years ago from a bunch of parts I collected from ebay, friends, and my spare parts box. I only had to buy a couple of things new (like a headset and bottom bracket) and I think I spent about $250 altogether, including shop labor to install the parts I lacked tools to install myself. But, I knew exactly what I was after and was able to hunt down the stuff I needed. I'm not sure what being an "avid" mountain biker has to do with having a very soft rear suspension. Either the bike you have has a poor suspension design or you don't have it set up very well. Except for downhill bikes, most full suspension bikes nowadays are designed with pedaling uphill in mind and set up properly for the rider's weight (with any gear on person or bike) perform just fine going uphill. And on technical climbs, they're actually better than bikes without rear suspension because they maintain traction better. I've been riding one for 8yrs now (the same bike, in fact) and I will keep riding it until it falls apart on me. This is worth repeating. Don't go to used gear sales or buy from craigslist unless you know exactly what you're after already. If you buy the wrong size, you're going to hate riding it. If you buy something with hidden damage or is in disrepair, you're screwed.

That kind of crap is why I live in the country outside of city limits. I've lived in the suburbs my whole life, and visit the city very frequently. I hate the suburbs, nothing happens, it's boring and very few people are ever out. No block parties, nothing to do, no stores. Uggh. All of my aunts, uncles, sisters, ect ect... (I have like 5 aunts and one uncle) live in Philadelphia. I've been to block parties, on my relatives blocks, they have them often, they would hire a band, open up a fire hydrant, it was pure fun. Both of my parents moved to the suburbs of philadelphia before I was born (Most of the rest of my family stayed). I plan to move to the city when I get old enough to buy my own house/condo/rent. I can't imagine living in rural area's. So your post is really insulting to me, and everyone else who can't stand places other the cities. I don't understand how that can be insulting to you. It's not like he insulted you personally or anything. One of the benefits of living in the country and outside city limits is that laws (and taxes) are less restrictive. No city ordinances, HOA's are fewer and far between, there's more space to yourself, etc. All it takes to have a party of any kind is someone to say, "Let's have a party!" I've attended plenty of such gatherings in the suburbs and in the country. In the country, it usually involves a fire with marshmallow roasting and catching lightning bugs and games in big fields and getting muddy and sitting on a patio drinking beer. In the suburbs it revolves around houses that have big patios, grills, and maybe a pool...with beer on said patio. It requires you to know your neighbors and invite them over, not for some HOA or neighborhood association to vote and plan everything for you. People who claim the suburbs/country are boring just don't know how to make their own entertainment.

What about instances where the geology directly affects the biology/ecology of an area? There are many places local to me where the subsurface geology creates unique conditions that support isolated plant communities that are very different from the ones that dominate the area? I already have an earthcache that uses the topic in the lesson, but I heavily diluted the link between the geology and plant community because that sort of thing was not expressly mentioned as okay.

It depends how off road you want to go and how much pavement you plan to ride. Any mountain bike can ride on the pavement. It won't be super fast, but the right tire choice can make a big difference here. But if you get something like a hybrid, you'll be limited to how far off-road you can go. You'll be limited to smooth dirt, smooth fire/dirt roads, etc. Rough trails with rocks and roots will be pretty much out of the question because the bike will be built too much for road riding. There are two off-road trails near me. One of them is pretty smooth. Some small roots, but nothing too bad. A hybrid could be ridden there without any trouble. The other trail, much closer to me, is pretty technical for the area. There are jumps, drops, deep loose sand, and rocks we specifically placed to make rock gardens. That trail would eat a hybrid and crap it out like bad chinese food. I commute on my ~11yr old mountain bike. I just make sure the tires on it suit how I plan to use it. I use tires with tiny little knobs because I do take it on some dirt trails on my regular commute, but they're not the meaty knobbies on my "play" bike. I still break 30mph on some sections of road, but I tend to average less than half of that. Speaking to your budget, most bikes at that price point are going to be similarly equipped. There will be some differences, but those differences will be pretty subtle. Your primary selection process should involve fit/comfort of the bike. Every manufacturer's bikes will have slightly different sizing and frame geometry. Some might feel terrible, others okay, and some great. You will want to test ride several bikes to find out what is comfortable to you. A good bike shop will help you out with the aspects of fit that are vitally important (like reach to the handlebar and leg extension) that shouldn't be ignored and that will enable you to narrow them down based on individual comfort and preference issues (like standover clearance).

There's some kind of bus service where I live, but my town is so small it doesn't take long to ride a bike. I think it's mostly for disabled folks. I can (and have) go caching by bike. That generally gets me no more than 5mi from my house, though. The country roads and highways in Texas have high speed limits (70mph on a two-lane road with no shoulders? HA! I'm not riding my bike on that) and you can ride for a VERY long time (how about doing that when it's 100F or more outside?) without seeing anything but cattle or (in my part of the state) pine trees.

If I was thinking about geocaching when I went to Hawaii Volcanoes NP, I could have gotten the one on this list that was there. I walked right by the location. But since I wasn't thinking about the logging requirements when I was there, no go for me. Tombstone is on my watchlist, though. There are a couple caches in the Dallas area I've got my eye on, and I'm going to make a daytrip up there to snag them one of these days.

I managed to get a "waterfall" published after this guideline came down (you can really hardly call it a waterfall, but it illustrates some interesting properties of the local bedrock). I'm planning to set up a "spring" EC this weekend. The spring I'm after is unique to the area had has some cool effects on the local vegetation (and should have a high terrain rating as it'll take a bit of a hike to reach). I doubt it'll be hard to get it published, but I might have to work with a reviewer to get the wording of it just right.

I'm just throwing this out there... The reviewer quite possibly published this based on the available information - the cache was on the pedestrian bridge. Nowhere on the cache page is it obvious that the cache is hanging beneath the bridge. There are so many micros that hang from railings that I doubt the reviewer thought twice about it. My guess is that a rail worker spotted it and got nervous about potential terrorist activity, since railroads are a potential target as outlined by Homeland Security and the TSA.