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Sky King 36

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Everything posted by Sky King 36

  1. Thought 1: Sometimes, well, often, I feel like Groundspeak just doesn't "get" me. They implement features in a way that makes me feel like they don't quite understand how I cache, how I use data in support of caching. I feel like the features are often designed by someone "familiar" with caching, but not an avid cacher themselves. Thought 2: At some point or another I think we've all owned an HP printer where the driver software wouldn't fit on 2 CDs any more and came on a DVD instead. It monitors the paper, the toner, the connection, earth's gravity, everything... And yet, the actual printing function is bug filled and unreliable. I know exactly how much toner is in the printer that I can't print to. People so easily lose sight of the mission essential funtion, the "raison d'etre", the one thing that means passing or failing. HP long ago lost sight that people buy printers to print, not to monitor printing. Combining thoughts 1 and 2, I can't help but think that the reason for the silence is that no one at GS really gets the importance of this feature. Someone's thinking, "well, the good news is the site is up and all the other fun features are working great, oh, except for that little thing about PQs." It's not the forums, or souvenirs, or challenges, or benchmarks, or favorites, or trackables that hold us all together. The single function, the mission essential task, the SOLE raison d'etre is access to the database of caches. The cache database is the hub, the sun around which all other features, and every customer, orbit. Take away the cache database, and this whole thing never existed. So that is where I am at today. Every feature and function is working perfectly, except for that one about actually getting caches.
  2. There appear to be all kinds of problems with PQs this week, See thread http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=283677
  3. I cannot imagine opening a cache, and saying, "oh look, food! Let's eat!" Leaving stuff like food, beverages, cosmetics, etc. is generally done with good intention but a complete naïveté about people's interest in eating a burrito they found in a can out in the woods.
  4. I generally agree that you're putting a heavier maintenance burden on the CO when you take up 1/3 of an entire nano scroll for your log entry, whether by stamp or not... But, I have seen a few stamps where the person's stamp was actually so small that it took up less room on a micro log than just initials with a pen.
  5. I have seen a lot of this damage first hand. One of the things we have to realize is this... Five years ago caching was a little secret, and most of the people doing it were pretty active outdoor folk that often subscribed to the "leave no trail" philosophy of outdoorsmanship. But you know what we've done? We've created a fun incentive for non-outdoor-enthusiasts to go out and enjoy the outdoors. We've hidden containers to lure our couch-potato bretheren out into the wild, and they have indeed come. The mainstream evolution of caching means that most of the people looking for most caches will no longer be "tread lightly" folks but rather, city-slickers. This means we need to re-think our attitudes about hides, and how the hider bears a responsibility for considering the wear and tear on the GZ.And has been said, the higher the difficulty, the more your rating is encouraging others to really dig into the GZ to find it.
  6. Honestly, it is growing tiresome for me. If an ammo can had a little ziploc full of 10 nice dry sig cards of past visitors, that would be neat. But I have never, ever seen this. What I see time and time again is a bison tube with a small 1 inch by 1 inch sig card crammed in around the log... A match tube with one of those little plastic/rubber eraser-like things stuck in the bottom of it, so the log didn't fit back in and edges of the log pages get caught in the tube threads creating a moisture wick... A business card clearly meant to solicit business. A SWAG item that won't fit, so it is forced in, tearing the logbook ziploc, and often, pages of the logbook itself. I see all these things several times every week, never an exception. Why can't we just agree that of all the things that COULD go into a cache, the logbook always--ALWAYS--has the right of way over all other things. I am not anti-sig-item or ant-sig-card. I just find them to be misused an overwhelming majority (90+%) of the time and so I have grown very negative on them. Why not make something creative and useful, like CITO bags, or whatever... make them your sig item... and then place them only in regular caches that have LOTS of room for them? There are well known cachers in both Minnesota and Iowa who, for years, if you opened a cache, there was a good chance the pencil in the cache was left by them as a SWAG item... Ego-fulfilling, and yet, useful to all. There are lots of ways to come up with creative sig items that contribute to caching. My only sig items, which I use sparingly, are little cache maintenance kits that have a few sizes of ziplocs, some replacement logs, a couple of bison o-rings, some wipes, and a little roll of about a foot of duct tape, all in a tiny baggie--and, my match tube seed caches. How cool would it be to go to an event and hear "oh cool, you're the guy that leaves the little cache maintenance kits, I have 2 of those in my backpack now."
  7. Make sure you open the zip file and visibally examine the modify dates of the files within. Today I manually ran a PQ, it showed being ready for download... then I downloaded it, applied it to GSAK, and nothing happened. Went back to look at zip file and what the newly created zip has in it are GPX files from the last time it ran correctly 8 days ago. So you may not be as far along as you think.
  8. Oh sure, make me feel like a schmuck by acting in complete contradiction to my post! I see what you're doing here!
  9. This phenomena is actually codified in what is widely known as "Godwin's Law", which states "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." It is a point of personal sadness for me, that the community bond and camaraderie that ought to stem from our communal interest in geocaching, has little effect in our forums at all. At the end of the day, the conversational ethos of our forums, is not far evolved from that of yahoo chat rooms.
  10. Here's my scattered thoughts in no particular order, having played a little munzee now: It does have some possible tie-ins to geocaching, such as an optional find verification, but that also causes problems. Since the demise of ALRs in 2009, the generally accepted rule has been "if your name is in the logbook, it's a find." Let CO's start deleting logs because there's no QR scan and all hell's gonna break loose. I have already seen another problem with munzees being placed in a new cache. By the nature of the way you deploy a munzee, if you place a new munzee in a new cache, the munzee will be published immediately, and the cache will take 0.5 to 3 days to get through review. I have seen two munzees come out now well before the publication of the cache they were in, and in fact, one of these caches was denied. In the long term, if there's going to be a tie-in, there's going to have to be some linkage between the sites for co-publication. The munzees have to be affixed to something findable. Unlike a cache that can be very well concealed, the coords on the munzee site are just not tight enough, so they have to be affixed to beacon that is obvious enough. A 50 foot radius might get you close enough to a sign post to know where you're going, but that same radius in woods would be a real problem. That means there's going to be a huge incentive to attache them to caches, and that means we better start thinking about how they fit in here. The concept has a LONG way to go. Today you just scan and get a find count. No logging, there's nothing at all except score. There's a HUGE segment of the caching population that this will appeal to. There should be no flaming or contempt between camps--the unbelievable popularity of geocaching owes itself to BOTH the competitive spirit of the number hunters AND the quality-over-quantity folks. I am not sure how munzee really evolves into its own place in the universe. It seems like an adjuct to Waymarking, with some difficult tie-ins to geocaching (see 1 and 2 above)... And I am not sure how it ever establishes its own identity separate from Waymarking.
  11. You don't need service to scan a qr code. If for some reason your phone didn't work at all, you could always take a picture of it and scan it later, but as stated before, you don't need any bars to scan a qr code. This is not true for munzee. With munzee, you *do* need data plan coverage at the site of the munzee QR code. When you scan the munzee code, the munzee app sends the QR code AND your *current* GPS fix to the server and you must be near the published location or the log attempt fails. You would not be able to snap a pic at the site, go home, and then rescan the pic.
  12. A lot of this will depend on whether you are more of an urban cacher, or more of a wilderness camper. Walking 3 miles out to a cache in the mountains or a swamp requires some contengency planning that won't make as much sense for a park and grabber. What I carry in my car as backup (like some extra containers or spare shoes) will be different from what I carry on my person. But, here goes, by category: Cache finding/retrieving: Thin leather "mechanic" work gloves A telescoping mirror The camera and video on my cell phone, for inspecting places just out of sight but within reach A very nice 200 lumen flashlight, a 180+ lumen headlamp, and a red LED headlamp At least 4x AA and 10x AAA NiMH batteries An 8-foot long piece of 8 guage copper wire, which can be bent into tools/rods/hooks A 3-foot long piece of 12 guage copper wire for quicker use than above A Leatherman multi-tool A pair of forceps About 6-8 feet of duct tape for repairs, and to make a sticky "ball" on the end of the 8 gauge wire to fetch caches 50 feet of 50# woven fishing line for retrievals, with a 1/2" wrench socket as a plumb weight and magnetic retrieval A little notebook for notes and multi-solving Cache Repair: About 8 sizes of ziplocs from 2" x 2" up to gallon sized, about 6-8 of each The duct tape above 4-6 sheets of paper towels plus 3-4 cleaning wipes 6-8 sizes of common o-rings for nanos and bison 4-5 sizes of log sheets, already folded into little ziplocs for easy drops A replacement nano and camo'ed match tube Safety: Pre-packaged first aid kit Pre-packaged survival kit 3 sources of fire (lighter, waterproof/windproof matches, and magnesium flint striker) 1 or sometimes 2 water purification methods (tablets always, filter for wilderness hiking) Moleskin in case of blisters (a thing of the past in my Keen boots) Signal mirror (a totally underestimated tool, try using one once with someone a mile away, it is like a laser) Little scotch-lite reflective twist ties for trail marking, tho I have never used them Protection as needed: A nice orange hunting vest for hunting season, and I love all the pockets for caching An ASP collabsible baton, although I bent mine and need to replace it Kimber Pepper Blaster non-aerosol chemical weapon At night, even without a strobe mode, my 200-lumen flashlight is a very effective defensive tool Now, this all sounds like a lot, but, before water, my pack and all its contents weighs 12 pounds without the vest or ASP baton. I try to stick around 12-14 pounds, because that is a weight for me that is effortless. That is, I can walk all day with it and never feel any discomfort or fatigue of any kind. Once you get up to about 20 pounds, then you begin to feel the "weight burden" on your body, but 12 pounds, I never even notice. A half gallon of water would add 4 pounds to my load if needed.
  13. So, i was thinkin.... Several cachers have now crossed over the 1,000 find per day threshold... Given enough power trails and two months, surely you guys can catch him, LOL.
  14. Dropped a magnetic keybox down a sewer drain, but with a few hours work, managed to recover it. Worked my way to a hard terrain cache, only to realize I forgot my pen, went back to get it... came back, only to realize I actually had my first pen with me all along. I left, realizing I actually left the second pen at the cache, went back to get it... Three trips. Doh! Ruined one of my favorite t-shirts at a night cache by getting covered in thousands of those tiny little burrs sometimes called "hobo's lice" that are common in Iowa. Dropped my car into a few feet of snow at a cache. Walked off with the cache container in my pocket once, didn't realize it til the next day. I have left nice gloves at at least 3 caches now. Left my GPS at a cache and didn't realize it for about an hour.
  15. Well said. I don't just maintain for the benefit of others. I do it because I enjoy it.
  16. I used the Trimble Navigator software on both my Curve and my Tour, both on Sprint. I don't use it much now because I have other tools, but at that time it was an essential part of my caching toolset. The only thing it is missing is the area map view. On the android or iPhone app, there's a map view where you see the map and the 10 or 20 nearest caches. On the Trimble, you can ONLY get to a map view by selecting a cache and that cache will be the only one shown on the map. This is the one, and only reason, why I tend to use my android with the Groundspeak app instead of my BB with the Trimble app. That spatial awareness of where groups of caches are in relation to you, and each other, cannot be underestimated. The other difference is that on a droid or iPhone you can actually enter logs, or enter detailed field notes. On the BB running Trimble, you can't log and you can't enter text to a field note... You simply select found or not found and it saves a field note on GC.com for you, but you can't add your notes to it. Still, for me it was WELL worth the cost. Real-time access to recent logs and access to aerial images have always been huge benefits to me. When I am in high speed 3G/4G data coverage, I rely heavily on my phone (now 95% android and 5% Blackberry) and when I am out of coverage I rely heavily on my Nuvi that I load full paperless details into from GSAK using the jjreds macro. That combination--offline paperless data PLUS online logs and images has added sooooo much robustness to my cachign life. I can step out of any meeting anywhere, and if I have some time to kill--I can be locked onto a nearby cache in 2-3 minutes and be on the hunt with no preperation. It's tremendous. BTW, I bought the one-time subscription... when I switched phones from the Curve to the Tour I had a problem moving the app without having to re-pay for it. A quick call to Trimble tech support resolved the issue and the transfer went off without a further hitch. When you fire up the app they actually see your phone number on their end and can see that your device has changed, but that it's still you. I also found the GPS in the blackberries to be accurate enough for most day to day urban caching, and so back then I often broke out my 60csx only for the real tough ones.
  17. ...one day you find yourself crawling 30 feet on your belly through a culvert 2 feet across, in 4 inches of cold muddy water with several pounds of cordless hammerdrill so you can mount an anchor for a cache....
  18. So, help me understand what you mean when you say a team... I live in MN. So, is the idea that, because I'd likely never get around to all 50 states... that the onus is on me to find like minded cachers in other states, that we form a team of however many people we need to in order to find the 50 state caches? On one hand, I am intrigued by the idea of using caching as a way to create social experiments like this, there are just all kinds of possibilities. We're limited only by creativity. On the other, the whole team dynamic does take away from the simple notion of a cache log representing a list of people who have actually visited alocation over time.
  19. I carry the kimber chemical weapons, they're highly recommended by pros, and they're not a spray but an oil that can't blow back. They sell professional law enforcement grade gear that I have used in the past, and I carry the personal version often. Very affective against people and critters. Also, an ASP style collapsible baton is highly effective against dogs and other creatures. I would be careful about using them for defense against people--any weapon system that requires you to be within arms length of the assailant in order to use (knives, batons, etc.) are extremely risky without training for several reasons.
  20. LOL... the actual 5 points really only apply to combat... Each time the leader moves away from his unit without radio communications, he must issue a five-point contingency plan. The contingency plan includes-- Where the leader is going. Who he is taking with him The amount of time he plans to be gone. The actions to be taken if the leader does not return. The unit’s and the leader’s actions on chance contact while the leader is gone
  21. Here's my two cents worth, and why I don't necessarily agree with either of these points. It's this simple... either people care, or they don't. They rarely care "conditionally." Let me explain. (It will become obvious that I have a degree in logic structures in a moment here.) Imagine there are three kinds of hiders: Hider A: I am a conscientious hider. I try my best to maintain my caches because it's the responsible thing to do, regardless of whether others are willing to maintain them or not. Hider B: I couldn't care less. I put em out, I let em live their natural life, and when they get old, someone will archive them. Whatever. Hider C: I am a conscientious hider who maintains my caches because it's the responsible thing to do. But, now that I can see others are willing to replace my ziplocs, I have decided to abandon my upbringing and personal values and just say the hell with it. From now on I'm scattering trash all over the countryside and letting them fester. Too bad for you, you losers. We all know lots of people that are A. We all know a few people that are B. But my point is, there is no such thing as C. Either people care, or they don't. The ones that care about their caches will maintain them whether you lend them a hand or not. And the ones that don't care about their caches will not maintain them, whether you lend a hand or not. I agree that sometimes, maintaining a cache prolongs the life of a cache that should just die. But I do NOT agree that maintaining a cache alters the beliefs or behavior of the hider in any way. Either people care, or they don't, and I don't believe my swapping a ziploc has any influence over their value system.
  22. Fusion's camo colors come in both their satin/flat finishes, and also the ultra flat--definitely go with the ultra flat. They're avilable at Walmarts for under $5 a can. Paint the container with the lid ON. You don't want to get ANY paint at all on the contact surfaces, where the lip of the container presses into the soft rubber grommet of the lid. I usually use several colors. For instance, I may paint the container with their olive green... but then I just barely "mist" a stripe or two of the black or brown across it too, just enough to ever so slightly change the green tint a shade darker or lighter in some areas to break up the container's visible outline. Spray lightly. The fusion paints actually work best with a thinner coat of paint than a thicker one. The paint molecules actually stick to the plastic better than they stick to each other so a thicker coat actually scratches or chips easier, where a thin coat almost becomes part of the plastic.
  23. Army Rangers use what's called a "5 point contingency plan" any time they split apart from each other. A few of them aren't germane to caching, but still, the lesson can still be applied. Pilots often file flight plans (sometimes in visual conditions, and always in instrument conditions). These same principles could be applied anytime you're going to be in wilderness deep enough that you'll be out of communication: Where am I going When should I be back What should you do if I am not back by then What will I do if I am not back by then
  24. For the first time, we'll have caches archived, and unrecoverable, for reasons of radioactive contamination. I really want to make a funny one-liner about a new "radioactive" attribute, but the situation just gets so much graver, and so much worse than we were being led to believe, that even gallows humor is a tough sell for me today. I was caching a lot in Eastern Iowa both during the historic Cedar River flood of 2008 and the very damaging smaller floods of 2009 and 2010... A lot of caches were lost, rising water does a number on them. I can't imagine how many cahces were lost in the tsunami this time, or in Indonesia a few years ago.
  25. Heck, just carry cocaine and use that as the powder, and kill two birds with one stone!
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