Justin Sane

http://www.af.mil/stories/story.asp?storyID=123007761 Pretty cool story out of England.

I hate to rehash this topic, but here goes. My first cache placement cost me about $80, full of cool things like a video, book, and lots of other things that suited the theme (look up the 'Loony Bin' cache). It lasted about 2 months. I was proud of my first cache, and happy to see people enjoying it. Going with the 'crazy' theme, everyone seemed to be keeping with it, then it was ransacked. I placed my second a few weeks ago (see 'Sweet Home...Utah!'), smaller and cheaper, but still packed with cool things. So far it seems like the trades have been ok, but I haven't checked the cache since I placed it. I figure I spent about $20 on that one. I've learned my lesson. As long as people enjoy finding them, I'm cool with it, but as I said on the cache page, I don't want any McCrap in it. We evolve. The data is in the strata.

I've tried a search for this, but came up with nothing. I was wondering...what, and when, was the very first Geocache? We evolve. The data is in the strata.

Well, you have to remember that this sport is pretty new, just starting a few years ago. As word spread, so did the availability of GPS receivers. Pretty soon, new caches were placed, more cachers came into the fold, etc. Heck, back when golfing became known here in the states, there was only 1 golf course in America. Now look at it. Has it become a bad thing? That depends on your perspective. Seeing as how this sport just started a few years ago, I'd say that it's grown more than any other sport in recent memory. Tennis, anyone? We evolve. The data is in the strata.

OK, so we've come to one conclusion, and that's that people are stupid. Did I use my apros..approst...that friggin' little mark correctly? We evolve. The data is in the strata.

Just the time of day and where the sattelites were when you powered on. Your satellites must have been to the west. Same thing happens to me, about 5 feet from the double glass doors. Sometimes I get a great lock, sometimes nada. All I'm looking for is a good lock in the canyons! We evolve. The data is in the strata.

I, too, am in the USAF. If you have his (or her) real name, I can contact him (or her) via secret-squirrel techniques. Granted, is this person is in transit (or at war), the chances of contact are slim. Let me know, though, and I'll see what I can do. We evolve. The data is in the strata.

Was she 'found'? Was she held captive? Did she run away? Obviously, the Salt Lake and Utah police shot blanks during this one. And this was a biggie. So, did she escape to join a cult? Was she talked into it? Was she pregnant, and afraid of her parents' reprisal? Oh, the possibilities! We evolve. The data is in the strata.

Wherever I go, I'll take my GPSr. I'm in the military. It weighs little, and who knows, it may actually help us someday. It's my companion, should I ever 'ship out'. We evolve. The data is in the strata.

I'm sure that this has been covered before, but how long should a missing bug be considered gone for good? According to cache logs, one of my bugs was picked up about a month ago by a 'casual cache finder', I assume to mean someone who's not a cacher but found the cache and signed the log. The next cache finder was a regular cacher, who confirmed that the bug was gone. Now, how long do I leave it in the (online) cache, should I archive the bug (if possible), or what? Should I hope that someday it makes its way back into another cache? What do y'all think? We evolve. The data is in the strata.

I have uploaded my image numerous times, and it still won't show up on this forum, but it does with our local (non-Groundspeak)forum. Does someone not approve of it? It's within visual limits (I've shrunk and enlarged it many times, and it's still saved on the Groundspeak server.). All it is is a fish emblem with legs, the symbol of evolution. Do I offend? We evolve. The data is in the strata.

...and my avitar STILL wont work. Dammit. We evolve. The data is in the strata.

I'm going to place my first cache soon (just gotta find time), and it's going to be a story about someone...who had some stuff...and carried it in an ammo box...and lost it...well, it sounds good in my head...at any rate, I wanted to place something that was more than just directions and clues. The cache page will tell a story, and hopefully whoever searched for it will find the story (and contents) entertaining. We evolve. The data is in the strata.

I have thought of many comments, but I've deleted them all, to keep it friendly. I live in Utah, and have seen no religious caches, except for a well known guy who put one on church grounds, and it was full of regular toys. I respect everyone's views, but I have always been of a scientific nature. I have a Darwin emblem on my truck. But I have never seen any religious material in any caches here in Utah. We all love the outdoors. And that's what geocaching should be about. Hiking, outdoorsy stuff. But part of my signature will always be the evolovefish... We evolve. The data is in the strata.

...because I am We evolve. The data is in the strata.

...that topic line was written in assumption that my avatar wasn't loaded...isn't this the avitar help line?... We evolve. The data is in the strata.

But I head out to cache(s) not to pad my accumulation, but to enjoy nature and (forgive me) get away from the family. Geocaching gives me a chance to escape for a few hours a week. Sometimes the wife accuses me of having an affair, but I show her the tracks from my GPS, and I'm clear. The big screwed up tangle of lines showing my insane trek makes it clear that I have no idea where I'm going. If I were having an affair, it would be easy to follow...I would challenge anyone to follow the footprints I've left! Anyway, after seeing the cache, it depends on the difficulty of it. If it's easy, I think, 'ok, cool', If it's hard, my yell of triumph echoes throughout the valley. We evolve. The data is in the strata.

I took my kids out a few months ago to fix up a cache that had dwindled to 2 golf balls and an empty skittles wrapper. We brought a new container, some new stuff, log, etc, and hopefully taught them something about doing good deeds. We had a good time. We evolve. The data is in the strata.

Some people out here in Utah have signature items that they trade, or leave, in caches. the 'Where's George' bills are nowhere to be seen. As for myself, I tie fishing flies as a hobby, and put a couple into a film canister to leave in the caches I go to. I'll trade if there's something interesting in the cache, or I'll just leave the flies. I've seen a lot of junk in caches, but have never removed any junk, cause I figure someone in the past put it in there for a reason. I also have a lovely collection of baubles on my desk that I've collected from trading in caches. I can look up at them and remember the fun hikes I've been on.

As an active Cacher who is unable to attend the meeting, I would like to ask where the results of the meeting will be posted. Is there a website yet? Can the Cache-u-nuts supply some space on their site temporarily for the organization info? As far as the goals of the group should be, I would support 1)environmental partnerships and awareness, 2)a statewide geocaching group first, then divided into seperate regions if necessary, 3)elected officials if the group is large enough to warrant it, 4)no fees, but fundraising opportunities are endless, 5)volunteer work with non-profit organizations, 6) other things that show geocachers as overall good people. I will NOT support a totalitarian regime that looks down on or penalize folks who geocache infrequently or are from other states. I plan on visiting my dad in Texas soon, and am going to bag some caches. Should I be ostracized because I don't live there anymore? I would hope not. Going back to the different region idea, it would be fun if there were different regions, and some sort of friendly competition between them. Something like each region could pick a team, then each team could try to bag as many caches they can in a given amount of time or whatever. Could be fun. At any rate, I hope everyone has fun tomorrow. I'll miss not being there (like I missed UtahJean's 400th, but I wasn't invited, so what are ya gonna do?) Somebody eat a burger for me.

OK, so I'm an idiot. I realized that when I was inputting the coords on my mapping software, I wasn't using the proper format. It called for decimal format, but I was putting in degrees/minutes. It accepted my input, but I didn't realize that the numbers were different. So I went into my GPSr (eTrex Venture for those interested), changed the format to decimal, reinput those numbers into the mapping software, and it was dead solid on my house. So, instead of a massive government conspiracy worthy of Moulder and Scully, it was simply a lone gunman shooting mental blanks. Put it in the 'Duh' file.

I'm in the military and live on the base. I've taken numerous readings with my GPSr from around my house, and after plugging in my coords into various mapping websites and software on my home computer, each time the coords show up about 2 miles due south of my actual position. I know I'm getting good readings on my GPSr (no trees, good lock on many satelites). Is it possible that since the satelites are owned by the govt, they would send false signals in relation to importand military and/or govt locations? I'd be interested to see if anyone else out there has seen the same thing I have. Are the coords for the White House or Area 51 off by many miles? I'm sure there are other geocachers out there that belong to the military or govt that can check coords on various sensitive areas. The truth is out there.

Well, I'm sitting at the puter eating a popcycle, and that seems like a bad travelbug item. Or perhaps a large cactus. Not that I'd eat one, though.

The other day I was geocaching in a canyon, and getting a good lock was spotty at best. A couple times I did get a reading, but it showed my position as about 256 miles away from my nearest waypoint, which I know was only 300-400 feet away. I got my readings from only 4 satelites, all lined up in a row. Could the funky reading be caused by lack of triangulation? The unit's a spanking new eTrex Venture. In open areas it reads fine. Thanks all.

The other day I was geocaching in a canyon, and getting a good lock was spotty at best. A couple times I did get a reading, but it showed my position as about 256 miles away from my nearest waypoint, which I know was only 300-400 feet away. I got my readings from only 4 satelites, all lined up in a row. Could the funky reading be caused by lack of triangulation? The unit's a spanking new eTrex Venture. In open areas it reads fine. Thanks all.