infiniteMPG

Here in the Tampa area, someone stole a bronze bull statue from in front of a high school. Might not seem like much until you find out the statue weighs in at over 400-lbs. A little plop of concrete won't stop someone intent on removing or damaging. And as was stated in a previous post here, if they have bad intent and they can't steal it, they will find something to do to it.... Where the Wild Things Are.... my son's absolute favorite #1 book when he was young

I've got a hide that's one of those tall ammo cans and I just bought a cheap-o bicycle lock and carried it into the woods and locked it to a tree. Don't know how many people go for long hikes in the woods with bolt cutters but if they're that determined I'd imagine they would probably consider cutting the tree down, too

As long as it's not about to start a fire in some office building then we'll just learn to live with it for now... If you didn't mind the government owning 60% of Groundspeak and replacing all the management, I know where you could pickup around $95.7 billion...

Was just doing a refresh on the forum pages and it seemed to sort of freeze up and then got the following error : PHP Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 45 seconds exceeded in E:\Inetpub\forums\GC\ips_kernel\class_db_mysql.php on line 457 PHP Fatal error: Maximum execution time of 45 seconds exceeded in E:\Inetpub\forums\GC\sources\ipsclass.php on line 1111 Just thought I'd pass that along.

Good point... step one for questionable log entires should probably be to contact the person logging them. I'd bet in most situations there's a good explanation. Then again, other then "punish the cheaters and protect the sanctity of the game", what is to be gained??? Not like they're gonna win something when they get away with cheating If it's blatant and it bothers someone then go for it. Then again, the GC rules state an owner should delete any logs that "appear" to be bogus... does that mean if a log entry looks bogus but they really did find it we should delete it? <jk> July 14 by somecachername (1234 found) Jumped from a commercial airliner after discovering the person beside me had swine flu. Managed to snag a small blanket on the way out the door and constructed a makeshift parachute. As I was about to touchdown a strong updraft blew me into this large oak tree. As I slid down the branches towards the river, I managed to stop my fall by grabbing something hanging from the tree, which turned out to be the cache container. I quickly signed the log with invisible ink as to not disclose my identity, dropped into the river and swam my way home. TNL1M$

NO WAY!!! This debate has gone on endless in the forums.... you're about to hear the points like the following : - How often will you check on caches? After each log entry? - What if someone signed the wrong place or you can't make out who all signed the log? - What if someone used a signature sticker and the sticker fell off the log sheet? - Is it cheating if someone signed everyone's name for the whole group caching together? - What if someone found the cache but signed people's names in the log that weren't there? - What if someone removed some log entries while they were there or a page fell out of the book? - How do you validate signatures in a wet/damaged log book? - Who does it hurt if people sign bogus log entries? There are people (like me) who own hundreds of hides some of which are long paddles or hikes and we work full time and get hundreds upon hundreds of logs a week. Let;s just imagine there is one hide you need to check on for some reason, DNF's or something. This is me : - PQ and load coords - Travel to GZ - Find cache - Check that contents are intact and not damaged - Re-hide and camo appropriately - Done Now how does that happen when you want to check signatures : - PQ and load coords - Print out log sheets (you can only download a limited number of logs with a PQ) - Travel to GZ - Find cache - Check that contents are intact and not damaged - Open log book and start comparing signatures and dates to log entries (and trust me this isn't easy as many people do not sign very legibly). Validate all signatures and then investigate each questionable signature. - Re-hide and camo appropriately - Return home. - Contact any cacher that may be questionable if they actually signed it or maybe you couldn't find or validate for some reason (damaged book, signed on wrong page, illegible, etc). - Try to validate they found the cache by some other means. - If you can't validate signature and find delete log entry and deal with a ticked off cacher if you delete someone's log and they actually DID find it. - Done Doesn't sound like fun to me and this is supposed to be fun. If you have something throw up a red flag then check. Other then that just have fun. If you have fun being the log police then by all means, go for it.

Also the standard holder for the MAP60CSx that works on the bike mounts also work in the fully adjustable suction cup mounts which work great on the top of a kayak. Of course I tether it when doing this as it's been bumped into the drink before and don't want to test if I can grab it faster then it can sink....

I snagged a good bar mount for my MAP60CSx off Ebay and the first one I got, the molded in nut pulled out so they sent me another free. Managed to fix the first one so gave me a mount for road and mountain bikes Piece of advice... make sure GPSr is clipped totally secure in clip before riding. Had mine plop on the ground from a good test of the front shocks a couple times but luckily was over sand. And once found the tight, wet, muddy, thorn riddled bike trail I was donating blood on was actually a hog trail leading into the brush. Turned and fought my way back to the main trail to notice my GPSr mount was empty. Luckily found it laying in a stream I crossed. And a friend used saddle bags and in his haste for a FTF, he forgot to clip his bag shut. Arrived near GZ and had no GPSr. Found in the road a quarter mile away, run over several times and in a few dozen pieces. No GPSr, no FTF

It was still intact and functioning perfectly when I found it except for the deep grooves on the back of it where it had been forcefully pried from it's spot, permanent double-stick taped, and they left matching pry marks and some of the double stick on the hiding spot. It could of fallen off... if you define "falling off" as someone breaking a sweat yanking something up with a claw hammer or pry bar. Much in the way that fully driven 10 penny nails fall out of a 2x4 >>> bypassing my subliminal sarcasm, someone removed it and it wasn't broken

We do all the time. Got a great bar mount for the GPSr on both my vintage Cannondale Super V-2000 and also my Cannondale road bike. But our area is notorious for industrial strength sand spurs so before we discovered armor tire liners and green slime this was a normal biking scene : And I don't even care to get into the discussion on how I was so cooked from the summer heat I sat in my Jeep AC to cool off, decided to head out and forgot I hadn't put my Super V on the rack and proceeded to run over it. Poor thing... but a tough old bike, only broke the derailleur mount and bent the rear wheel rim... whew! Good old dog....

We only use the hint when the owner provided one Since we paper-less cache using a Palm PDA and often are hiking or biking or yakkin' in the wild, when we decide on a target cache we stop (this is Florida so "stop" means "in any shade we can find") and read the PDA. When we get to GZ we don't want to have to whip out the PDA again unless absolutely necessary so we try to get what we can from the listing (and hint) before we arrive. This means reading the hint ahead of time. If we get stumped, then we whip out the PDA again but that's to read some previous logs.

Rowling has said she created the word "Muggle" from "mug", an English term for someone who is easily fooled. She added the "-gle" to make it sound less demeaning and more "cuddly". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muggle Rowling invented the word for her Harry Potter books 3 years before the first "cache" was placed.

The geo-babes would probably avoid it if it was listed as a "micro".....

Maybe trying to figure out people's intentions isn't the best of things.... just wish they'd vent their quirks with knitting or balloon animals and leave GC out of their therapy

This one needs to have Twilight Zone music playing in the background.... Been busy with work and home and kids and a bazillion other things (and sorry for not being in the forums in forever) so my cache maintenance list had been piling up. So a couple days ago I had a day away from work and decided to do a marathon maintenance run which ended up being about ten hours of work in bad weather. One of my caches was DNF'ed a few months ago and I went and checked and it was a piece of camo that was adhered to the side of something and was pretty slick. It's near my home so I checked and sure enough, it had been pried off and some of the adhesive was still remaining, the camo was totally gone. I figured some muggle thought it didn't belong so they removed it and tossed it. So I replaced it somewhere nearby with a different (and better) camo job and didn't think much of it. Until my maintenance run. While I was doing my duty maintaining caches I checked on the new camo and still sitting pretty. Then during the run I was at another cache about 5 miles away and found that hide needed a little repair so i was doing my work when I looked up and there was a nearby utility box and just tossed up on top of the box was my original camo from the hide I replaced a while back! HUH?!?!?!? Now I can understand some non-cacher stumbling across the original hide and disposing of it, but to find it at another cache location kind of has muggle-cacher written all over it. It was very secure in place where it was hidden so it took some good effort to physically remove it and the damage on the camo showed that. So I guess my question is why would someone of removed it, other then "Hey, neat camo, I'm going to make that one of my hides back <somewhere else>" but if that's the case, then why leave it at another hide's location miles away from the first? Duh? Kinda baffled by that but sometimes I not so wisely try to figure out why people do what they do....

Right now unless they are spoilers I'll let 'em stand as I believe that most people will see the maturity (or lack of) from the posts, and if nothing else I'll have fun composing witty or sarcastic little come-back logs that make their logs less irritating to future cachers (which is more of a concern to me as I don't wish for anyone or anything to discourage anyone from taking up our passion). Of course unless they get too out of hand then they're toast. Luckily I get instant log alerts at home in the evenings but I also have the ability all day at work to watch so anything too irate I can pick up on quick. And thanks CeDo's for your kind words and good friendship as that's what keeps me hiding 'em and keeping it challenging and fun. You guys need to head down to Marina Jacks this Saturday (Any Storm in a Port), Greg Billings will rock the place!

I haven't, the only one I deleted was the one explaining exactly what the hide technique was as that really gave away the camo. Picking I would understand but I am not the only owner with these type logs from this user. And from the sounds of them they found the hides, just a little 'tude in the logs. And the only one I deleted I immediately offerred them to relog the find without the spoiler. Emailed about the "stupid" comment and also blew it off with a note log after their's but didn't delete. Only log that I deleted was the direct spoiler. The spoiler was the only one I acted upon, the "stupid" comment got a humorous response log and an email, but not intending to delete them. Not sure the goal of this cacher but definitely a little off base from the "average cacher". Text in the logs and username shows where this person stands, dude..... Just will stand and see where things go but I can also see ticking someone off and having them return and muggle caches.

There is a new geocacher here in the Bradenton/Sarasota area of Florida named demons3d that just started caching a few days ago and this is their first four logs (and since I have a load of caches here, three of them are on my hides) : Log Date: 2/14/2009 by demons3d I found the cache and this was my first time doin this. who would be that stupid to hide an ammo box near poison ivy .sheeesh Log Date: 2/15/2009 by demons3d it was an easy find but all there was was a log book dude! sheeeeeeeeeesh Log Date: 2/15/2009 by demons3d why are you people so stupid! the cashe is just a sign!!!!!!! Log Date: 2/16/2009 by demons3d the geo is actually in a skele ton and the game the guy was talkin about was polo dude everybody understands polo! The one about the poison ivy is a trip because the cache has been there for over 2-1/2 years. The one about the skeleton I deleted and emailed them saying for them to re-log their find without saying exactly how the cache is hidden as the challenge of geocaching is for each person to discover things for themselves. My question is if this keeps up do I just start blowing away logs as none of this IMHO are in good taste, do I just shrug my shoulders and move along, or what?

Slim-bob? Here in Florida it's a heavy small plastic baggie that a layer of camo duct tape around it and either a magnet inside the duct tape or Velcro to the outside. Then it can slide into rather thing hiding spots. Some people like 'em, some people hate 'em. We had a few times run across people hiking in a cache area and they have hand-held GPSr's and you walk up ready to have a fun GC chat and you say "Geocaching?" and they replay "Whut?" and you think you should of kept your mouth shut

Strip all the paint off of the ammo can until it's bare metal, clean with degreaser and send it out to be Poly-Ond coated (a nickel and phosphorus coating with Teflon impregnation) and it should last several hundred years. Of course it will end up being a rather expensive ammo can but it would be able to handle complete emersion in salt water. Then again just cleaning off any surface rust and painting with some good Krylon camo paint and make sure the rubber seal is good and it will last for the life of the hide (or until it gets muggled). I would highly recommend painting the base with the dark green camo paint, then using something like a dead tree branch with leaves or a palmetto frond, lay it on the can and give it a dusting of light tan camo paint and it breaks up the sharp edges and lines of the can and makes it blend in with the surroundings better

When you are on a cache page and you do a search such as ALL NEARBY CACHES THAT I HAVEN'T FOUND and you get the cache listing, in the upper right corner you can click MAP IT. But if you do a pocket query and click on the PREVIEW THE SEARCH but you do NOT have the option to MAP IT. It would be great to be able to map out a PQ search so you have the same abilities for the PQ that you do for a cache search done from another cache page (or from the main GC page for that matter). Just a request....

We have hosted group caching runs a couple times in places with either our caches or caches we've found and it's a hoot sometimes to see everyone within inches of a well hidden camo job and yet oblivious to it's presence. Have a multi with fake (edited as I know people who read this) and a pair of cachers went out, one had found it, one hadn't. The one who found it sent me pictures of the other sitting almost on top of it and in quite a few frustraited poses with his hand right beside the hide. Yeah, can't buy fun like that

At CacheApalooza 3 there was a cache about 50-feet deep into some 8 foot tall saw palmettos and vines near a drop off bank into some swamp, and when we arrived there were already three people on the hunt. By the time it was found there was at least 12 of us scouring over the area, we lost and found a cell phone, a GPS and a PDA and several pints of blood. If someone walked off, sat down and said "Coffee" they'd of been tarred and feathered mob-style The coffee method works but often it's a group effort so a find is a find. And I don't mind even though I'm the one yelling back "Found it!" from knee deep gator muck while bleeding from the leg cuts and swatting away the saber toothed swamp skeeters...

Had to come up with something quick. Ahhhh, if you read the text you have to solve the puzzle and then figure out what specific squares to reference. That's the puzzle part. I don't really care how they get the numbers as it used to be ALT numbers that popped up as you moved your mouse over the squares. The secret is knowing which numbers are the ones to use. You can't get them by the numbers alone, and you can't get them by solving the crossword puzzle alone, you have to know how the two work together. Ooops, you're right. Now that it's sub-pages I don't need that qualified because the ALT text would only work with IE. THANKS!

THANKS! That helps a lot. I did find a unique way of getting around the problem yesterday that I'm kind of proud of CROSSED WORDS Things are not always what they seem.... even errors....