Bullfrog Eh-Team

JP is a regular at the pub, and [/u]almost always answers correctly! Therefore, to his tribute, a geo-puzzle - "If Alcona Beach were indeed the centre of the Northern Hemisphere (as in 'The North Pole') as JP would have us believe - The corresponding, newly adjusted 'South Pole' would be approximately 2000 km from Perth, Australia. What would the 'current' compass bearing be from Perth to the newly proposed 'South Pole' (ignoring any relevant declinations) ? Are there any OZ lurkers in the Geopub tonight ?"

WOW! - 2H2G - Your 'tag line' adds considerable credibility to your response ! ("vague assumption", "debatable figures", "inconclusive experiments", "problematic accuracy"). I'll hold fast with my original answer of 8 cm of clear ice, for a single 'cacher' (or 'trooper'); without a 'light truck', or any assocuated 'equipment', other than winter clothing and of course, a hand-held GPS and perhaps a cuppa Timmy's.

Last I heard, that still may not be thick enough to support Juicepig. Even though you could easily drive a light truck across it. TOMTEC Not sure about Juicepig (What shoe size does he have?); but 0.4 m would easily support most trucks. If I remember correctly, in the early 1960s we used to put the township grader out on Wawa Lake to clear snow for an ice-track for our Sports car club if there was at least 1 ft. of 'clear' ice. And then several sports cars (VW's, Sprites, MG3, and my Econoline van) had a great time. I believe fully loaded logging trucks would use ice-roads North of Kenora, if there was 3 feet of ice. I know I've walked on what is referred to as 'Rubber Ice' that was 2 inches thick. 'A Very scary experience'. I'd say the safely recommended ice thickness for the average adult (unsupported by snowshoes) is about 8 cm.

I'd say the 'Precambrian Shield', with a basal area of just under 5 million square km. would have the largest mountain base (if measured at it's 'exposed' base). It certainly extends even larger beneath the currently exposed base, as many adjacent mines are well aware of. How deep were you considering ?

You got it right MOOP; Sticky Moose is a very energetic, community minded individual and deserves serious credit for attracting the interest of local (WGS), provincial (COG), and national (CTV), geocaching enthusiasts. The Geopub Quiz Torch is now passed to you. I would agree; the Mort25 farce raises interesting issues (but, not for this forum line).

Why "Thank You" Geezer55. My GC question - Which geocacher was responsible for establishing the 'Geocaching Capital of Canada ?', and where is this 'Capital' located ?

Sometimes it is just as well, to not blend in. On more than one occasion, I have recruited the assistance of those who ask or wonder what I'm doing; by indicating that I'm looking for a rare blue flower, that apparently has been seen in this area. Those concerned, will usually offer to assist in the search, giving you plenty of time evaluate their true interest in your search, and to to decide if you wish to more fully explain your presence. Others will merely accept your explanation, and then move along, letting you continue your private search. And, of course, moving from place to place to get better reception on that 'cell phone' I've been using, is another reasonable explanation for my meandering among muggles.

That's easy - "Geezer55" gets some credit for finding the Kootenay Pass. When ? - Well, he found it (again) just last summer, on his quad And he was 'long after' the Kootenay Indians.

One more vote for GSAK on the pewter and Cache-mate on the mobile. My mobile is an HP iPAQ.

Not me !

I think I see the smoke over the horizon.....

Sorry ! Guess I was thinking outside the box again. I'll bow to Dano's concrete hand's-on instrument. Go to it Dano.

Danoshimano is the closest. I was looking for the olmec hematite, which in fact did use a loadstone, and dates back to 1000 B.C. Take it away, Dano! Guess I thought 'shadows' might have been used to indicate directions before 1000 yr BC ! Oh Well, I'll try harder next time.

Earliest form of a functional compass ? How about 'a shadow' ? The sun casts a shadow along a measurable path - creating one point in time and then another point in time, of the observers choice. The difference in the location of the 'points' then provides a 'direction' to follow - hence the the SHADOW is a 'functional' (read moving, not fixed') compass. Or, is this response just too geographicly, chronologicly simple ?

I'm using GSAK on the desktop pewter and Cachemate on my HP PPC. I use Active-sync to bring the .GPX file (hints included!) directly into the PPC. Absolutely no problems for a year and a half now - I'm very satisfied. I understand the same would work with your Palm.

Interesting ! 'Treefrogeh' and I were caching together ast evenig, she with her 'Legend' and I with my Map60CS. For the first time ever, her Legend screen suddenly went blank, and had only a single residiual vertical line left. We thought in terms of a battery failure, and merely shut it down, continuing with only the Map60CS. A few moments later, we refired the Legend and all was well again. No high voltage lines nearby. Hhmmmm ?

There will be loads of geocachers headed to Wilberforce on October 27th. A full day of geocaching, followed by the evening event GC15ZVK - 'In Pusuit of a Repulsive Potion'. Sticky Moose and Moonaloon have promised an equally exciting event to match last year's Hallowe'en event. Check it out ! A 'team' from Muskoka is coming over, as well as others from COG headquarters - Simcoe Region.

I was looking for Up, Down and South. Trust a 'caper' to be outside the box too! Over to you 've1bvd'.

South? Sorry Dano - You have to think outside the box.

Sorry about the delay ! But here is the next pub question! When standing at the 'North Pole', what choice of 'basic directions' (no fractional directions) do you have, to move away from the pole ?

Either 'The Champlain Sea' at 12,500 years B.P.; or 'The Nipissing Great Lakes' by 6,000 years B.P. ?

Would that be Lake Agassis?

Some geocachers even avoid FTFs; perhaps because they want others to verify and prove that the listing is correct, etc. before they try it. Perhaps they also avoid the new car models, until that new gizmo has been proven out. Don't we all do this when a new GPSr comes on the market ? We prefer to seek out the untried and untested FTFs, perhaps to test ourselves without the advance knowledge that all is well. In four such FTFs we were actually able to assist the cache placer to correct blatant errors that the reviewer had overlooked (The originally posted longitude co-ord of one such cache was 6.2 km. off track!). We see FTFs as a challenge to geocachers, not so much for the number count; but for the chance to attempt original and as yet untried caches. I suppose we all have different motivations for this great sport of geocaching ? What's yours ?

Unlike the 'downtown' city areas, once you've done most of the available geocaches in your own general area; you get interested in the FTF's available in neighbouring areas. As a husband and wife team of retirees; we have often read a newly published cache; dropped everything, and headed out to 'raid' the next county. Other than caching while on holiday; we now regularly drive 50 to 150 km. each way from home, to see if we can get another FTF. So far at 43 FTFs over 369 caches; we're pushing 11.7%, and proud of it. What's your FTF percentage ?

Seems we're getting a little off the topic, as the big city teams vie for the number crunching - But, 'Wilberforce and the WGS' in central Ontario, still HAS the title, "Geocaching Capital of Canada". Kudos to 'Sticky Moose' for her early sense of cache-pertise-promotion. I even met geo-cachers in the Maritimes last week who enviously asked if we lived close to the Geocaching Capital of Canada.