Jump to content

Anton

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    69

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Anton

    Anyone here play Go?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Play the game of Go on these Internet Go servers!

     

    Computer Go & Go Server Resources

    http://www.usgo.org/resources/internet.asp

     

    IGS - International Go Server

    http://panda-igs.joyjoy.net/English/

    "Welcome to IGS Panda Net, the Internet Go Server, the world's leading forum for playing, watching, studying, and enjoying the game of Go on the internet. At any time, day or night, you can find hundreds of other players from all over the world and of all playing levels, from beginners to professionals. Whatever your ability, you can find opponents of similar skill to play with, and IGS provides access to the interface software to create a realistic Go board on your computer screen. IGS broadcasts live the championship matches for top professional events, including the Meijin, Honinbo, Kisei, Judan and Tengen titles and the Ricoh Cup professional pairs tournament - and daily you can watch professionals playing informal quick games with each other and with top amateurs."

     

    Kiseido Go Server

    http://kgs.kiseido.com/

    "Go is a traditional strategy game in China, Japan, and Korea. If you want to learn more about this fascinating game, we recommend you select the Learn to Play Go link above. It will take you to a tutorial which will teach you the basics of the game. If you already know how to play go and want to play on KGS, then select the Play Go Now! link."

     

    NNGS - No Name Go Server

    http://nngs.cosmic.org/

     

    "Come and play Go on the Net - one of the oldest games in the world and still the most mysterious!

    NNGS is an on-line Go club where people from all over the world can meet and play Go. We are open 365 days per year, 24 hours per day. There are no charges for membership or online time."

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Pay Garmin for corrupted file fix?

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Greetings,

     

    My Garmin 76MAP died - wouldn't stay on for more that 5-10 seconds. Talked to a Garmin Tech on the phone, and went through several key pressing routines to try to fix it. Nothing. He says to send it in to be fixed, but that the warranty period is passed. Sent it in. Had to pay $60, which was said to be a discount from the usual $99 repair fee. Invoice reads that the problem was a corrupted route file. They also replaced the cover. It only had a couple of very minor scratches, and I hadn't asked for a replacement.

     

    So who else has had to go through this silly process, and be ripped off by Garmin? How can they charge the price they do for a high-end unit like the 76MAP, and then ask for another $99 or, even $60, to fix a problem they created with bugs in their own firmware? Sheesh-Louise. What a racket. Seems to me this kind of fix should be done at their expense. It's bad enough that Garmin owners have to go back and look for firmware upgrades all the time, but this is ridiculous. Is Magellan any better?

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Confluence shot on location!

    in Education Archives (Read-Only)

    Posted

    See the mpeg clip of Dr. Joseph Kerski's visit to a degree confluence in Kansas - very cool.

     

    39N, 102W - the standard visit report

    http://www.confluence.org/confluence.php?lat=39&lon=-102&visit=2

     

    Here's the movie...shot on location...as they say in Hollywood.

    http://www.confluence.org/us/ks/n39w102v2/pic5.mpg

     

    Can you see your students using this as a model for a GPS activity near school? Yup.

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Indoor GPS?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Greetings!

     

    Check out this article about "where" the latest GPS research is taking us. It's incredible news, even for most geocachers.

     

    Indoor GPS: The No-Chip Challenge

    http://www.gpsworld.com/gpsworld/content/contentDetail.jsp?id=3053

     

    "An irresistible force is moving across our quiet landscape, a force that is expected to increase demand for GPS by over one hundredfold, from a few million to hundreds of millions of units per year."

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Cigars in a Cache

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    When Mark Twain, aka Samuel Clemence, was once asked by an interviewer to what it was the he attributed his longevity, he replied:

     

    "I refrained from smoking cigars 'til the age of nine. After that, I never smoked more than one cigar at a time."

     

    ...or something like that.

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Powerpoint Presentation

    in Education Archives (Read-Only)

    Posted

    Join the NYGPS mailing group homepage!

     

    We have tons of resources in the FILES section, including Powerpoint shows and handouts. Our LINKS section has folders set up by category. There's even one for geocaching! Our membership has expanded past K-12 teachers in New York State, and now includes educators from higher ed and around the world. There are members from USGS and professional GIS/GPS users, too.

     

    I asked for the NYGPS homepage to be included in the list of links at geocaching.com, but...

     

    NYGPS

    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/nygps

     

    Anton, NYGPS Moderator

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Cachepolice...

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Greetings,

     

    The logs in question for my Observatory Quest and Historic Forts locationless geocaches have been deleted - but not by me. After reading the apology posted this morning by MrGigabyte, I decided to delete his logs from my caches. When I looked, they had already been deleted. I have no idea if there are any more to worry about or not, but I did search my other locationless caches for that username - there were none. I guess he made his own decision to delete his logs, and I agree with him. And who knows if it was his employee that posted the fake logs, or if that's just a convenient story to get off the hook? Perhaps we'll never know.

     

    There are probably other players who are using fake confirmation photos for virtual and locationless caches. If it helps combat this unfortunate abuse, and therefore helps maintain the integrity of the game, I suppose that establishing a separate category for locationless caches might be a useful strategy. Such a category could be set up to keep the find-logs for locationless caches separate from the more traditional caches, and thereby remove the incentive some players might have to produce high numbers of finds by cheating with fake photos.

     

    On the other hand, since virtual caches, unlike locationless caches require players to go to a specific location, I would be reluctant to lump virtual caches in with locationless caches. That doesn't seem fair.

     

    There has probably been more cheating with locationless caches than with virtual caches. There seems to be a group of players who dislike locationless caches, probably more than they dislike virtual caches, and maybe some of them are messing with locationless caches just to ruin the whole category, or to bug the owners of locationless caches. They have some kind of severely dogmatic attitude about maintaing the purity of geocaching by insisting there be a box of trinkets hidden in the woods, or whatever.

     

    So, my vote, if it matters, is to keep virtual caches in the main group for counting finds and hides, and to create a separate category entirely for locationless caches - like the separate category for benchmarks.

     

    Having a separate category for locationless caches might also mean that the volunteer "approvers" at geocaching.com could relax, and be a bit less intense about how they scrutinize new locationless cache submissions. It seems that most those submissions get archived immediately.

     

    There's a kind of "shoot first" attitude about approving new locationless caches working at geocaching.com. I know some of mine got iced right off the bat. This is unfortunate. Unlike some very silly locationless cache themes, which are always pointed out to me when the approvers make their cases against my new caches, I put a fair amount of thought and work into mine. Some of my locationless caches have been extremely popular with players all over the globe. Others are pretty unique, and therefore, no so easy to log (at least legitimately).

     

    Here are two examples, one common & one difficult:

     

    Diners Club - 131 logs

    http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=21289

     

    Chess for Kings - 9 logs

    http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=28365

     

    My feeling is that when you can come up with an interesting theme for a locationless cache, and can follow Jeremy's guidelines for creating one, then the approvers should be able to post your new cache with a minimum of effort and analysis. Perhaps, afterall, this little fiasco with fake photos will result in some progress in developing the sport. Let's hope so!

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Fun with GPS - article covers geocaching, and lots more!

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Here's a link to my recent article in the August issue of Monitoring Times magazine. Enjoy!

     

    Fun with GPS - includes geocaching, of course! http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/gps.html

     

    Although the hardcopy magazine's pages as found on the newsstand are in B&W, the .pdf fiile has color photos & screenshots, AND the links are hot, too!

     

    Use this link to print a copy -

    http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/gps.pdf

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Fun with GPS - magazine article by two teachers

    in Education Archives (Read-Only)

    Posted

    Here's a link to my recent article in the August issue of Monitoring Times magazine. Enjoy!

     

    Fun with GPS - includes geocaching, of course! http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/gps.html

     

    Here's a link to the .pdf file. Although the magazine pages are B&W in hardcopy, the .pdf file has color photos, and the links are hot, too!

     

    Use this link to print a copy -

    http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/gps.pdf

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Fun with GPS - article in Monitoring Times magazine

    in Ham Radio

    Posted

    Here's a link to my recent article in the August issue of Monitoring Times magazine. Enjoy!

     

    Fun with GPS - includes geocaching, of course! http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/gps.html

     

    Here's a link to the .pdf file. Although the magazine pages are B&W in hardcopy, the .pdf file has color photos, and the links are hot, too!

     

    Use this link to print a copy -

    http://www.monitoringtimes.com/html/gps.pdf

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Cachepolice...

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Locationless caches...

     

    Personally, I think I'm worn out on the "ammobox in the woods" routine, both playing them and hiding them. Boxes are nice for kids and rookies. But gee-whiz, how many times do you have to do that until it gets old? 50? 100? 1000?

     

    I enjoy the virtual and locationless caches from both sides of the game. It's fine with me if other players just have to find a box to have fun, but I think in the long run, the box idea will have to wear out. It may go on for awhile longer, but it can't go on forever.

     

    What I think is fascinating is how players come up with new models for the game: traditional box caches, then micro-caches, then multi-caches, then virtuals, then letterbox-hybrids, then event caches, then webcam-caches, and then locationless caches. What's next?

     

    I see some players are using metal-detectors now. The GPS gets you to the location, but then you hunt for the iron, like a minesweeper. It's not for everyone, but it's close enough to be considered part of the game, and gadget-lovers will want to try it.

     

    We all know that a lot of geocachers are gadget lovers. Right? You betcha. Just like we now that a lot of geocachers are amateur (ham) radio operators, like me. There must be at least a dozen hams going geocaching in the greater Syracuse, New York area now. We talk to each other about our geocaching adventures while we drive to work in the morning. We can use ham radio to communicate WHILE we're geocaching, too. A 2-meter ham radio beats an FRS radio any day. Just ask a ham in your neighborhood to show you.

     

    Anyway... Having a separate category for locationless caches is fine. But doing that is really about keeping track of scores, and not about having fun with a GPS. Scores don't matter. Keeping the game alive & well matters a lot more. I think the reason why the Benchmark category isnt' more popular is because Benchmarks aren't created by players - no human interest there, at least in terms of players challenging each other.

     

    I wonder why Letterbxing isn't more popular? I think it's only because there's no cool gadget like a GPS to drive the interest. It's just too cerebral for the average American consumer. And... there's no box full of trinkets. Then again, letterboxing has been around since the 1800s. I wonder if geocaching will do that well?

     

    Anton

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Cachepolice...

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    I, too, got an email from cachepolice asking me to delete a log from a cheater who used a fake confirmation photo to log a find for my Observatory Quest locationless geocache.

     

    Observatory Quest - MrGigabyte log on July 3

    http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=27254

     

    And what about his logs for one of my other locationless caches?

     

    Historic Forts - MrGigabyte log on June 28

    http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.asp?ID=21378

     

    I'm no digital photo forgery expert (and don't want to be), so I was shocked and dismayed, to put it mildly. I have traded email with some people at GC.com about this fake photo, and was advised to contact the player whose photo is in question, and ask for an explanation.

     

    Perhaps I should just delete it now, and ask questions afterwards. I am still wondering who this cachepolice person (persons?) really is, how many other players may be cheating, and how many they have caught in the act.

     

    Anton

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    New York State Geocaching Organization?

    in General geocaching topics

    Posted

    Dekaner,

     

    I hope to be at the picnic to join the discussion about a NYS GC association. Afterall, I placed the first cache at Clark's Reservation! ;-)

     

    This summer is a busy one. We have lots of family plans. I'll try to make the picnic fit into the schedule, even if I can only make it for the organizational meeting at 10 AM.

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Discontinuing the Garmin V

    in GPS technology and devices

    Posted

    Seems to me that if you don't need all the fancy route planning functions, the MAP76S has more going for it at about the same price. Am I missing something here? Help!

     

    I'm thinking about upgrading from the MAP76, which was an upgrade from my earlier 12MAP unit. I don't think I care about the routing features, but I do want more memory, an electronic compass, and the electronic altimeter-barometer. That would appear to make the MAP76S a clear winner.

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

    Geocache and Field Day

    in Ham Radio

    Posted

    Set up a virtual cache for your field day site, and give away special QSL cards to geocachers who show up and ask for one to log the cache. You might also take photos of the geocachers, and post the on your website. If you want, you could even have a "logbook" for the event, which is part of both hobbies - a log like hams keep, and log like we use in caches.

     

    Anton - N2RUD

    Syracuse, NY

×
×
  • Create New...