Bunya

Given that we are in essentially a space-based sport, I'm surprised this hasn't been mentioned yet.. "(CNN) -- NASA lost a $125 million Mars orbiter because a Lockheed Martin engineering team used English units of measurement while the agency's team used the more conventional metric system for a key spacecraft operation." (Sept 1999 on cnn.com) Quite a cost for sticking to feet and inches! Note CNN refers to metric as "more conventional".

Not sure if this is an "issue" and whether it has already been noted, but . . . This instant logging of movement also applies if a bug is dropped in a yet to be published cache. I found this out when it happened to a bug that I have a watch on. And the TB map is good enough for me to go and try to find the cache before it is published. Now if only it wasn't a blazing hot 40C day and the cache 100 km away . . .

Can't help with Antarctica and you've already got Tasmania covered, but were nearly as close here in South Australia if you've still got a few to send forth. I think you've got my details and I'd love to be part of this grand and generous release!

Slightly OT, but I must add a BIG thank you to those posting how to change your board settings. It's not avatars that bothered me, but all those *#@* signature lines (or paragraphs in some cases). At last I know how get rid of them . . .

And an Elvish surprise for me too. I’ve been away from the forums for a bit and didn’t even know about them. The postmark gives me a pretty good idea who sent it, but I know it’s supposed to be a secret so I’ll say no more. Thank you very much, whoever you are. (It was posted 18 Dec and I’ve only just got it in Oz. Perhaps the reindeers weren’t too happy about travelling in the 43C (109F) days we’ve been having here! ) Of the (far too many) geocoins I’ve got, I prize the handful of surprise ones way above all the rest.

What’s this? One of those envelopes? For one thing I rarely get packages on Mondays (Wednesday is more usual) and I’ve not got a trade with …. so what is it? You liddle bewdy – a CreepyCrawlyCachers mystery coin #74 here in Oz! Thank you so much for the marvellous surprise. It will take pride of place beside my GCF coin. I’ve let them meet each other under some local gum blossom. But I’m not sure how they will get on with each other, so I’ve added a neutral umpire to “moderate” any conversations between them.

I'm not sure if this was introduced with the upgrade, but when you zoom out on the map the message which eventually comes up says "Your search was larger then 15 miles. Please zoom in closer." - "then" should be "than".

For those interested, here are a couple of previous threads on topics related to the one which started this thread: Discovered vs. Found geocoins and TBs, How hard would it be to divide these and would you want to? Owned geocoins split into "Traveling" vs "Collection"

You liddle bewdy! As I mentioned before, I live in an infrequently visited area as far as geocachers go, and I was worried that my coin might not have much luck. I put it in a cache on a main highway to give it the best chance. By a totally unexpected bit of good luck it was picked up (on the day I placed it!) by a geocacher (who I don't know) who was on a long trip. When I emailed my thanks to her for picking it up, it turned out she didn't even realise that the coin was in a contest! Without me having asked her to, she dipped the coin into most of the caches she found on the trip. I’ll share the prize with her. Thanks Glenn for running this great contest.

Now what I'd really like would be a GPSr with audio output - "50m to go at 20 degrees left" - that sort of thing. If connected to GPSr in your pocket with an earpiece, it could be either hands-free in the woods or muggle-confusing when stealth is required.

This is a cache in Alice Springs and there are a few others if you list those nearby. . . . and this is an Earthcache at Uluru.

No-one will mind! OK, some won't, but others might react like this . . . Added in edit: one of the (many) past threads on this topic: Geocoin substitutions.

So long as you kept the activation code, you can go through the activation again and that will let you change the origin.

I wondered about this too, but from a different point of view. Here in Australia we have recently had some horrific stories published about the suffering of workers in China who make the banned toys, due to the toxic materials they are exposed to. Should we be concerned about the work conditions under which geocoins are made? I seem to recall there was some information put in this forum some time ago about how geocoins are made, but I can’t find it. Can anyone provide a link, or such information, please?

Alongside your log on the TB page you should see a link saying “visit log”. Click on that and on the page you then get, in the top right corner there should be a link saying “upload image”.

Do you spell it kilometer in Canada? Wikipeda refers to this as the "American" spelling, with kilometre being the standard form elsewhere. Though of course - as we foreigners get firmly told when we complain about "backwards" mm/dd/yy dates - this is a US site.

As TGF never seemed to venture to within less than 1000 miles from where I live I thought this was one coin I’d never have. But then I noticed from one finder’s log that they might be inclined to trade – and they were! They also sent me a few activated travellers to visit or stay in Oz (pictured below). (And in the spirit of TGF they might be getting more in return than they expected. )

Another option is to create an extra (free) account and use it to "adopt" the coins you don't want in your active account. That way you have a list of the icons. And there are probably other ways . . .

It works! - who would have thunk it? Just as well I kept the activation code. Thanks for your help.

When I was activating a geocoin while the test was on, the system bombed when I tried to input the date released and origin info. The geocoin is now activated but now I can't add the date released and origin info. Is there any way out of this?

Couple of things: 1. When I was activating a geocoin the system bombed when I tried to input the date released and origin info and now I can't add them. 2. I get a heap of "trace" info when I show my "My Account" page - the page is OK but has all this stuff below it.

Does anyone recall the classic scene from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” where Richard Dreyfuss sculpts the Devils Tower out of mashed potatoes? The following extract about the film from Wikipedia might amuse geocachers: “The coordinates for Devils Tower in Wyoming as given in the movie are incorrect. Devils Tower National Monument is located at 44°35′26″N, 104°42′56″W, while the coordinates in the film, 40°36′10″N, 104°44′30″W, point to a small farm outside of Ault, Colorado, a discrepancy of almost 300 miles.” Just as well they weren’t placing a cache!

383 coins

GC3E is the oldest cache in Australia and seems to be the fourth oldest still active cache. Its identifier (gc3e) is featured on the round Sydney geocoin: