8Nuts MotherGoose
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Posts posted by 8Nuts MotherGoose
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From his response, I understand that a Gadget Cache can be either depending on the use of the Field Puzzle Attribute.
A Puzzle cache is usually not at the given coordinates. But if you add a Field Puzzle Attribute, the Puzzle cache CAN be at the listed coordinates.
A Traditional cache is at the listed coordinates and usually requires no extra work. But if you add a Field Puzzle Attribute, it REQUIRES extra work to log the cache.
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Thank you for the addition to the description of each cache type.
"All hail the mighty Field Puzzle attribute." - MIGHTY indeed!
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I always thought a Tradition Cache was a container where I went to the posted coordinates, found the container, opened it, signed the log, and replaced the container as found.
Now I am seeing more and more Traditional caches with the Field Puzzle attribute. Once you find the container, you have to spend 15 minutes to an hour or more solving the puzzle of getting into the container to sign the log.
I've done many Puzzle caches in the past exactly like these, with and without the Field puzzle attribute, and earned the Puzzle cache Icon. Now I burn out my brain and only get a Traditional Icon. I know they are called Gadget Caches, but a puzzle is a puzzle. If you solve a puzzle at home or out in the field, it's still a puzzle.
Why are they not listed as Puzzle caches?
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16 hours ago, vulture1957 said:
OK, if anyone knows some other players from Missouri and SW Illinois, we should be able to get a good multiple sighting.
Thanks for the info, Mother Goose
Have you contacted iconion? If he is a partner, then anyone else from Missouri or western Illinois is less than 1 minute of flight time from him and can't be one of your partners. Clinton, IA and Peoria, IL are just over 1 minute from him. I have not received any response from my Clinton friend. If Clinton doesn't play you might try finding someone from Peoria, Bloomington, Rockford, or Chicago, IL.
Others could partner with Benchmark Blasterz as a separate team.
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On 9/29/2017 at 8:25 PM, vulture1957 said:
There is a pass just before 7pm local going from south Texas to the Chicago area. I'm in Oklahoma city, need players SW of Austin TX and/or up to Chicago.
Here is a link to the ground track at Heavens Above
Vulture1957, It looks like your ISS pass for November 29 has moved too far Northwest. Your Max Alt is now only 42° and still moving away.
Do not despair. The ISS Pass for November 27 is still moving toward you and will be close to overhead when it arrives. And iconion, if he still lives in Olatha, KS, is also in the path and 1 minute and 3 seconds along the path from you. That makes him qualified as a partner. Also, I just contacted a friend in Illinois near my old home town of Clinton, Iowa. It's too soon for a response from her yet. She is 1 minute and 6 seconds along the path from iconion. Her Max Alt is also where the ISS goes into the Earths shadow.
I am posting a picture of the pass if it is directly over Bethany. It might be a little off in either direction.
Edit addition: Since the time for the pass is still changing, the times listed on the photo are the flight time from Bethany along the path.
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12 minutes ago, Bon Echo said:
8Nuts MotherGoose: thanks for the reply and info. I will keep at it and get a better feel for it and will pay better attention to the times.
So it sounds like I will need to find a partner a bit closer to home.
On a mildly related sidenote, we visited the Ontario Science Centre on Saturday where I was able to view dirt from Mars and from the moon lots of space-related items. also enjoyed a presentation in the planetarium. Very interesting.
Philadelphia is about as close to home as you can get. It's about 330 miles from you, and the minimum distance is 297 miles ( 1 minute of ISS flight time). It just happens that this pass is so late in the evening it shadowed before getting to Philly. If you have found a partner in Philly, keep checking passes for times that are a little earlier and it will work.
If you check passes that run SW to NE, you have Waymarking partners across the USA to help. Most of us are spread north to south in the Central Time Zone. One of us should be close enough to the pass to assist you, if the times are right.
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Bon Echo said:
"Odd, looking at the Oct 11th ground pass for Hamilton, i would predict Philadelphia PA to be another good spot. But when i change the location to Philly and check the groundpath for Oct11th the path looks completely different:
E.
There are two passes for Philadelphia for Oct 11. You got the wrong one. Check the pass Times. It should be:
Unfortunately, the correct pass for Hamilton/Philadelphia is below the Minimum 45° altitude in Philadelphia. For that pass, the ISS goes into the Earths shadow just before reaching Hamilton (note: doted line on path means in Earths shadow) and is seen in Philadelphia to the NW at Max Altitude of only 31° when it enters the shadow. Hamilton will be able to watch the ISS fade and disappear almost directly overhead.
EDIT: Watch the time schedules. Creston in Western Canada is 3 hours behind Hamilton. An 8:00 pm pass in Creston would be an 11:00 pm pass in Hamilton. I doubt if the two of you could get together for the same Pass unless it was in June or July. During that time, the sun shines over the North Pole and keeps the ISS visible through most of the night in the higher Latitudes.
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On 9/29/2017 at 8:25 PM, vulture1957 said:
There is a pass just before 7pm local going from south Texas to the Chicago area. I'm in Oklahoma city, need players SW of Austin TX and/or up to Chicago.
Here is a link to the ground track at Heavens Above
With that ISS Pass being two months in the future, you will have to keep checking it. My experience says the track will probably drift to the NW as time passes. It may even be lower than the required 45 ° for you by the time Nov 29 gets here. The scheduled time will also drift.
You may also want to keep an eye on the pass on Nov 27. It is currently SE of you and may drift up and be overhead by then, or even to your NW. I know it passes into the Earths shadow near Chicago.
I haven't watched an ISS path for more than a month in advance. That was a couple years ago. If I remember correctly, the ground path shifted to the NW almost 150 miles. I don't remember how much the Altitude changed or how the time changed.
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On 9/3/2017 at 9:22 AM, vulture1957 said:
8Nuts, you seem to know a lot about this, maybe you can explain something for me. I look up a pass on HeavensAbove for me and see the ground track. If i figure out a location that is on that path and then change the "my location" to that city, the track doesn't look the same.
Lets first assume we are looking at an ISS Pass going over your city and heading to the Northeast. Because the path is shown on a "Flat Earth," Your center point of search always shows North as straight up on the screen and the path is a straight line. When you find City "B" to the northeast at the edge of your original view, because of the curvature of the Earth, due north for City "B" would be seen on your original view as a line leaning to the NNW.
Once you go to the center view for City "B", North is straight up and the path seems to have become slightly more horizontal.
If you go back through these posts and look at some of the map pictures I've posted, you can see this path curve that is not shown on the center point view.
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The Waymarking Event has not been forgotten. The committee for the 2018 Texas Challenge is still organizing locations and times.
I know we can't have a separate Event at the same time as other Events on that Weekend. That is against Groundspeak Rules. There will be a registration/Welcome Event Friday evening. The Challenge Event is Saturday from 9:00 am until 2 or 4 pm. Awards Event will be Saturday Evening. Sunday morning probably Breakfast Event followed by CITO Event. I'm hoping to get squeezed in for a 1-hour Event late Saturday afternoon for socializing with other Waymarkers who may have chosen to compete in the Challenge.
While the main Challenge competition is occurring from 10am-??? on Saturday, I may be able to set up a Waymarking training class.
I will have a designated Waymarking Booth set up Friday Evening and Saturday.
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On 9/4/2017 at 5:20 PM, vulture1957 said:
I guess I could see about using 8 (V) as the only degree number for E/w or NS
N8 85.887 or E8 85.887 -- would become 9 25.887
or 9 degrees, 26 mins 38 secs
Hey, another thing. How do I get degrees symbol?
I would use W88 58.873. That puts you N/S through Wisconsin, Illinois and south. It also puts you near the boat ramp in Rock Cut State Park in Rockford, IL. About 40 miles north of where I go each summer for Family Reunion in August.
Edit - Easiest way to get Degrees symbol is to copy from a Waymark page. (W 002°) °
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On 9/12/2017 at 11:48 AM, vulture1957 said:
for Rose Red - how do I do a visit to this category? Do I go to the coords that were first published, or do I take photos and readings for a different set of coords for the same name? Or, is it only for the person who takes the picture of their GPSr to log that find, after the named person publishes the waymark?
If you go to the Waymark coordinates, take a photo and post your Visit. Visits are NOT just for the "Friend" who first took pictures for the Waymark.
If you go to different coordinates for the same name, you would have to take pictures, contact the person and see if he/she would like to produce another Waymark for the Category. Then after they create and publish the new Waymark, you would be able to claim the Visit.
Remember also that you, as the Friend, want to find an interesting location for the Waymark. Coordinates that put you on a gravel road between two corn fields, or in the middle of brush country is not interesting. That's like placing a Historical Marker that says, " At this location, on Sept 24, 2017, nothing happened."
P.S. I'm at N26 to N30 and W97 to W99 frequently.
Edit to add the P.S.
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I just posted in the Waymarking Forum about a Waymarking Event scheduled for the weekend of March 10, 2018.
If you are interested go to the Waymarking Forum here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=344697
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Our Reviewer must have forgotten about Event stacking.
I had a CITO Event approved and then a few days later another CITO was approved 5 miles down the beach. People had to drive by that one to get to mine.
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I know there have been discussions about Waymarking Events here in the forum in the past. Comments were made about there not being enough Waymarkers in an area to make an Event feasible. I also know that many Waymarkers are also Geocachers, and Geocachers sometimes travel long distances to attend Mega-Events.
I have volunteered to host a Waymarking Event in north Texas on the weekend of March 10, 2018. Benchmark Blasterz and TerraViators will be joining me as co-hosts.
The Waymarking Event is being scheduled in conjunction with the 16th Annual TXGA Texas Challenge & Festival. (See GC71QAW) The Texas Challenge is a Mega-Event held on the weekend of March 10, 2018, in Denton, TX (Located on the north side of the Dallas / Fort Worth metropolis.)
The Waymarking Event will be held sometime during the same weekend. Date and Time are pending scheduling with other Events.
There are 38 Waymarks in 25 Categories within one mile.
There are 11,829 Waymarks within 100 miles.
I plan to set up a Waymarking Booth that will be open during the Weekend to welcome you and give you an area to sit and discuss Waymarking. I will have my Waymark Sticker Seeker Sticker (WM17E7) with me. Don't forget to bring your Sticker or Pin.
What else can we put on the schedule for the Weekend, or for the Event?
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I find your comment about 7*24 Defibrillators more interesting than just any Defibrillators. And not allowing Hospital, fire stations, and other first aid locations, would be good too. Maybe also removing all public transportation centers, IE Airports, train/subway stations, bus stations. They are generally 7*24 locations.
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It worked. Your waymark got reviewed.
Those reviewers must work extremely hard. I review waymarks everyday yet I have still not earned my way on to that list.
Yes it did. Two out of three of them anyway. Truthfully, I would have never put up with having to contact a volunteer geocache reviewer and ask them to take a look at my geocache listings I submit for publish. This is why I submit very few Waymarks, it is just too fustrating to do the work and submit, then wait, then contact officers and ask them to take a look.
We need auto publish after a time limit. Maybe Bryan can show us some love and help those of us left enjoy Waymarking.
"Auto Publish" won't work. Just like the original Locationless caches, When the cache owner became inactive, any phony thing got posted because the person knew the owner would not delete it, even if it was a phony photo and location.
What would work better is to put pressure on the responsible parties, the reviewing Officers. If an Officer goes for 6 months without reviewing at least one Waymark submitted to his group, he automatically gets demoted. This would result in all Officers in a Group keeping an eye on each other, and if one of them got demoted, fresh blood would have to be brought in and promoted. Exceptions could be made for those Categories with very few submissions.
We as Waymark Creators also have to look at ourselves. Are we providing all the required and all the optional information that we can find? Or are we submitting minimum information to speed up our Waymark production, and ignoring optional information that is easily accessible. I have to review Waymarks submitted that has one sentence in the Quick Description, and a copy/paste of the same sentence in the Detailed Description, and no optional information at all. The optional "Parking location" is left blank, but he had to park to get the photo. The optional "phone number" is blank, but it's on the sign in the photo, almost too small to read. The optional "Web site" is also on the sign in the picture, but is way to small to read.
Yes, he provided all required information to get the Waymark approved. But I'm not impressed. I'll pass on approving it and maybe one of my fellow officers will approve it. In 3 or 4 days, I'll check it again. If it hasn't been approved, I'll approve it, and send a note that he could have done better by easily providing more information. The next Waymark he submits in the same Category, looks just as sparse as the previous. Does anyone read notes in the email on approved Waymarks? Does anyone care about quality? Or is it all about the numbers.
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I am currently watching an ISS Pass (SW to NE) in July. Since it is a long time in the future, I'm watching to see how the Path times and Path max altitude changes as time goes by.
I'll be starting a new ISS Topic on this Forum after July 4. Stay Tuned.
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I was out on the town last night...don't tell. There were only raindrops in the heavens here anyway. Through this thread, I'm letting BK-Hunters know that I might be available to help them with their waymark.
Thank you 8nuts MotherGoose for helping us all with this.
CRAP! I haven't followed this thread for a coupla days. I'll look at Heavens Above right now and see what's up.
LATER - A check tells me it's a no go for this month. We're leaving for Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, likely on the 5th, and there were no passes before that which work for both of us. Oh well, we have the rest of the summer.
Keith
Check for the towns you will be spending the nights. Might be able to hook up with someone in California to the SW or someone in Kansas/Missouri to the SE depending on which way the pass is going.
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I was out on the town last night...don't tell. There were only raindrops in the heavens here anyway. Through this thread, I'm letting BK-Hunters know that I might be available to help them with their waymark.
Thank you 8nuts MotherGoose for helping us all with this.
I know they do a lot of traveling, but you might also try catching Peter and Gloria at home near Winnipeg. I have not contacted them.
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BK-Hunters, Where is your location? We can't know who to match with you if we don't know which passes to look for. "a long way north of you" covers a lot of area.
So, for that matter, does "a long way south of you".
We're 7 miles north of the 49th in central BC. Coords are about 49.099806 -117.686424
Keith
When you said the passes were basically running East-West, That told me you had to be close to the Latitude 50. And since you have passes every day, it has to be N50. At this time of the year, S50 is in the Earths shadow most of the time, with few, if any visible passes.
I'll see what I can discover.
You're in a tough area to get partners. Sunset is at around 20:45, so it's late when ISS Passes become visible. You're too close to the major cities in Washington to your SW to get partners there, unless you make a short road trip to the East. You might find someone in Calgary. Winnipeg is 2 hours later, so getting someone to stay until 1 or 2 am might be difficult.
While checking for passes, I did discover three that you could search for partners along.
Here's a Map of some passes.
Pass 2 and Pass 3 ended when they entered the Earth's shadow. I checked some others that started turning southward sooner and discovered many of them also got shadowed out.
One nice thing about your location: When The ISS passes over Hawaii, it will also pass south of you at 74° on Pass 1, but times will be different. On this Pass 1 Hawaii is about 1/2 hr before sunset.
There must be passes where an Ottawa partner would be adequate.
elyob, there was a pass last night, or rather - early this morning your time. The evidence was right in front of you. Look at Pass 2 in the above photo.
Here's a photo of Pass 2 Ground Paths for Vancouver (near BK-Hunters), for Winnipeg, and for Ottawa.
Because the ISS is close to it's highest Latitude, a small difference at Vancouver will make a big difference when it starts heading south.
Check the left columns of the pass and compare the direction with the right column. Here we see it rises over the horizon at 10° W and sets at
10° ENE. This tells us that the ISS is still heading slightly North. If it said W and E, the ISS would drop into the USA before it reaches Ottawa.
Winnipeg is being used as a Check Point on the pass to check times and path.
Vancouver shows the path near N50 W100 at 23:46 (circled), Winnipeg shows the same point and ,in this case, Ottawa also shows the same point. The Hour time is different due to time zones, but the minute is the same, which tells you they are all on the same PASS. I also circled the xx:50 minute mark because it is near a lake and can be used as a check point.
If you look at the east end of the Pass SE of Ottawa, you see the pass become a dotted line. This tells you the ISS has entered the Earth's shadow and is no longer visible.
Vancouver has a late sunset and can't view the ISS until 22:00 or after. With the time zone changes between the viewers, elyob in Ottawa will have to be awake between 01:00 and 03:00 to view the pass.
If Vancouver waits until a morning pass, any Pass after 03:00 will enter Daylight just after passing Winnipeg, with a sunrise at about 05:40.
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Perhaps they should have a time limit, with an option to renew.
GeoTours are contracted for two years. The contract must be renewed or GeoTour status is removed along with the GeoTour Attribute.
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BK-Hunters, Where is your location? We can't know who to match with you if we don't know which passes to look for. "a long way north of you" covers a lot of area.
So, for that matter, does "a long way south of you".
We're 7 miles north of the 49th in central BC. Coords are about 49.099806 -117.686424
Keith
When you said the passes were basically running East-West, That told me you had to be close to the Latitude 50. And since you have passes every day, it has to be N50. At this time of the year, S50 is in the Earths shadow most of the time, with few, if any visible passes.
I'll see what I can discover.
Gary- How do you keep that stuff in your head!! You are one smart cookie
As for the ISS pass tonight - gonna be clear as a bell in Dallas
Thanks for thinking I'm one smart cookie. I have been an avid ISS watcher for years and have memorized most of the information.
If you look above the list of passes, you will see a line of information that starts with a blue "Orbit". The "402 x 408" is the max and min height above the Earth on this pass. 51.6° is the highest latitude the ISS will reach. I usually just round it to 50°.
Here's some more buttons to play with on the ISS pages:
Up to this point you have been looking at a list of visible passes. Just above the list is "passes to include" If you click on the dot by "all", your list will get much longer. The right column now shows the Pass Type: visible, daylight, or unlit (night).
The blue "Orbit" above the list, and the blue "Orbit" above the list and to the right will take you to a page showing three real time visual displays of the ISS orbit. Each also has an ISS Icon, showing where the ISS is currently located on the pass.
Also on the upper right of the list page is "Home". This will take you to the page after you have selected your location, and before your list page. On the Home page is a small map of the current ISS Position above the Earth. At the top left is usually information about some upcoming astrnomical phenomina.
"Configuration" allows you to change your location as needed.
"Satellites" gives you a list of satellites to choose from. all are visible to the naked eye. Usually we choose ISS to go to the list page.
"Astronomy" on down gives you many other options to explore.
On the "Change your observation location" page, you can enter a City, State, Country. Or scroll to the bottom, and you can enter coordinates. If you enter coordinates, you may also want to change the name.
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BK-Hunters, Where is your location? We can't know who to match with you if we don't know which passes to look for. "a long way north of you" covers a lot of area.
So, for that matter, does "a long way south of you".
We're 7 miles north of the 49th in central BC. Coords are about 49.099806 -117.686424
Keith
When you said the passes were basically running East-West, That told me you had to be close to the Latitude 50. And since you have passes every day, it has to be N50. At this time of the year, S50 is in the Earths shadow most of the time, with few, if any visible passes.
I'll see what I can discover.
You're in a tough area to get partners. Sunset is at around 20:45, so it's late when ISS Passes become visible. You're too close to the major cities in Washington to your SW to get partners there, unless you make a short road trip to the East. You might find someone in Calgary. Winnipeg is 2 hours later, so getting someone to stay until 1 or 2 am might be difficult.
While checking for passes, I did discover three that you could search for partners along.
Here's a Map of some passes.
Pass 2 and Pass 3 ended when they entered the Earth's shadow. I checked some others that started turning southward sooner and discovered many of them also got shadowed out.
One nice thing about your location: When The ISS passes over Hawaii, it will also pass south of you at 74° on Pass 1, but times will be different. On this Pass 1 Hawaii is about 1/2 hr before sunset.
Why must I solve a puzzle to "Find" a Traditional Cache?
in General geocaching topics
Posted
Thank you all for your input.
I love puzzles. Whether it is listed as a Puzzle cache or Traditional with Field Puzzle is mute to me. I'll go for either. Keystone gave me an explanation that I understood.
on4bam stated, "I think 8NutsMotherGoose looks at it the wrong way thinking you "earn" a cache icon."
Whether you say "earn" or "get", it's a personal viewpoint of the amount of work you put into it. You can go out and "get" a Traditional Park and Grab, or a lamp post micro. But when you go after an Ape Cache you expend time and money that you "Earn" by working hard. Therefore, you "Earn" that Icon. The same thing goes for Puzzle caches, Field Puzzles, and many other Attributes. I will not disagree with you if you say you "Earned" those hundreds of Traditionals.
I have to agree with boisestate when he said,"I think it would get more "hits" if we had listed it as a traditional." I also think the "Field Puzzle" attribute will also slow the number of people, but not as much as a Puzzle cache. For many cachers, it's about quantity. Puzzles, Multicaches, Field Puzzles, and high DTs slow them down, so they get ignored by many. I had a cacher tell me that he could find 10 caches while I was solving one puzzle. I replied, "I solved 4 puzzles last night. How many caches have you found at night in the past week?"