Hugh Jazz

I liked 'em and did a handful. They were like icing on the cake of a regular caching expedition. "Hey now that we've bagged all three caches on the shores of Lake Travis, let's boat over to this really neat 'circular house' up on the cliff overlooking the lake, if we get your picture with your GPS and the house in the background, you can snag a locationless find for it, and another smiley." Cool. Who could pass a yellow Jeep without thinking of bagging a locationless? My heart still races when I see one in the parking lot. It was a defining property of geocaching. Yes LCs live on at Waymarking.com and also at terracaching.com, and probably elsewhere, but somehow I don't think it'll be the same. Us old timers will recall the days of LCs fondly, and the newcomers will only scratch their heads at how we could have ever logged a smiley for them. I may run out today and see if I can bag a few before the final curtain falls on this fun aspect of the game.

The Lowracer geocoins have arrived. Those who pre-ordered should be getting theirs soon if you don't have them already. I have 50 LE coins in antique silver. Some of the LE coins may be available in special geocaches around the USA in the coming months. Some of the LE coins may be auctioned on a certain "e" auction site. Add userid (commercial content deleted by moderator) to your favorite sellers to see when these may become available. Thanks to all who pre-ordered for helping make this unique geocoin a reality! -mark aka Hugh Jazz, aka lowracer.

I got 53 lowracer coins in the mail today! (3 bronze and 50 antique silver) Whoop! Hint: come caching around Wichita KS if you want to find some Lowracer LE coins.... Or watch a certain "e" auction site for sales by user ID: "guerilla.marketing" ...

Novus plastic polish works too. Depending on where you live you can find it at the Container Store. You'll need 3 bottles, numbered 1,2,3. Use in reverse order.

The only way I'd encounter a bear in Wichita is if I accidentally key the coordinates wrong and end up in the Sedgwick County Zoo instead of Sedgwick County Park. In any case the zookeepers frown on zoo patrons shooting any of the animals regardless of how scary they look. Black bears are known to roam into the southeastern corner of Kansas from Missouri and Arkansas, but none so far (to my knowledge) have made it as far as Wichita.

Yes, absolutely. I won't know a cache is LAME until I go do it, at which time I've just done a lame cache. If the cache owner had a way of marking it as Lame, then if I could filter those out, that would save me the trouble of finding another lame one. For the humor impaired: This post is of course in jest. Who would label their own cache lame?

I also find this phrase unacceptable. As with these emoticons, which IMHO should be banned as they are disrespectful and offensive:

Hear, Hear! My personal fave!

And who could ever forget The "Great Texas Secession?" http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php...opic=86256&st=0 Yes it officially started in Dec 2004 but really built up a head of steam in 2005. Funny how Texans get really passionate about this game.

You can also filter them out quite easily using GSAK. What would be good would be a separate category for Lame caches. Those are very difficult to filter out using any means. A separate category would really help there.

A $10 bill. I used it to buy a really big dish of Amy's ice cream. If you haven't been to Austin and had Amy's ice cream, you won't understand. Go there now.

It's a cheap hobby and I just like to go out and find ammo cans with swag in them, occasionally (but not always) with a decent view or interesting hike along the way. I don't mind having parking coordinates (and I'll use them if offered) but they're not absolutely necessary. I can usually figure out how to get there with my 60cs autonavigating over roads, or by using google maps if not. I like to find a creative hide every once in awhile. Hide me a fake bird bungee-corded to a tupperware under a bridge, hide me a small cache in a pair of sneakers hanging from a high tree branch, or hide me a capsule the size of a grain of rice in a place that a cacher would find it quickly, but a muggler would never know. Just don't be cruel.

I have seen this type of ammo can at my local surplus yard, and wondered how well they stood up to the elements. I may have to buy some now. I like that paint scheme.

I really wanted Hugh Jass, but some Hugh Jass already took it.

$$$ What's your time worth? Time you spend futzing around trying to get all the caches in the state downloaded? Keeping that list fresh? You could just pick up your 3G phone and put in your current coords and be done with it. People often balk at the expense of something until they figure out how much time they spend doing it the hard way. Remember, you can always make more money but you can't make more time!

Of course! You're not a lawyer, by any chance, are you?

Much of the do's and don'ts list goes away if you use a place like TheCachingPlace.com which handles the pre-ordering, manufacturing, and fulfillment for you.

The Rules of Geocaching as stated on geocaching.com's FAQ page are very clear: 1. Take something from the cache 2. Leave something in the cache 3. Write about it in the logbook There is no indication that ANY of these rules are optional. Yes I know that later in the forums some have said that only #3 is really important, yet the rules remain as stated on the official FAQ page. Until such time as they change, they ARE the rules. If you break the rules you are a rulebreaker and a rebel. So if you don't take something and leave something as well as sign the log, you simply may not claim a find! These rules are not open for interpretation. The 'founding fathers of geocaching' intent was very clear on this matter, and they have left us many writings which confirm their intent. And fortunately they are still alive so we may ask them why if the rules have changed, haven't they been changed on the FAQ page? As for the quality of swag degrading over time, that's a well known phenomenon called "The Tragedy of the Commons." Google that phrase and you'll understand the forces at work there. Cache content quality degrades over time, it's a given.

I carry a customized Glock 21 with a Scherer 28-round extended magazine, loaded with .45 cal Federal Hydrashok hollow points to help with the over-penetration issue. Yes it's a little harder to conceal but with 28 rounds plus one in the pipe, I figure I can stop just about any likely number of gang bangers I might be attacked by while out on the trail. And the extra length of the Scherer magazine helps control muzzle flip so I always stay on target. I probably should but currently I don't carry a spare mag, and with a round in the pipe there's no need to rack the slide. Just draw, aim, and watch 'em run (or drop). I practice every two weeks with this setup. I live only a half mile from a great shooting range.

Don't laugh, a frozen Canadian pool noodle is legally classed as a lethal blunt force weapon. You'll need to register that!

I like this idea.

I've queried the contact at LMCO about the availability of the new satellite for civilian use, and he referred me to this page to answer questions about GPS operation and the new satellites: http://www.navcen.uscg.gov/ But that page is so jam packed with information that I can't immediately find the answer. Anyone interested want to join in the search, jump right in. Maybe with several sets of eyes we'll find it.

This same topic is being discussed in the Off Topic forum. Shouldn't the duplicate topic be closed or merged?

I like winter caching because all the bugs are dead or hibernating or frozen solid or vacationing in Florida or whatever they do in the winter. I agree it would be neat to be able to search profiles and sort by interest. But that's probably way down on the priority list...