Dread_Pirate_Bruce

Rather than suggesting that the cops inform their CO, you're probably best to treat the situation as one where the CO already knows about geocaching, but has not informed the rest of the department. Thus, the statement: "Your CO probably knows about geocaching and perhaps you might suggest he advise the rest of the department there is a geocache around here."

Amen. I can't emphasize how important this is. Cops have very good BS detectors and very good sneakiness detectors. If you are being sneaky, they will notice you. If you try to BS them, they will know it. The best way not to be noticed by cops is to not act sneaky, and be completely honest if questioned. My rule is to never give cops the opportunity to question you. That means you must be proactive. If you sense cop or security guards are around, approach them in a friendly, open manner and either (1) tell them what you are doing, i.e. looking for a geocache, and say "You know what that is, right?", or (2) ask them if they took the report on the incident that you are investigating.

It's amazing how much people will ignore yet another guy wearing a hardhat and a safety vest. ($10 each, Lowes) in a pickup truck working on a lamppost. I got the idea from one of the 999 similar threads here. Do a little reading and you will find tons of ideas. I especially liked the guy who carries a clipboard of phony subpoenas. Whenever he gets someone being too nosy he asks them their name, declares that it sounds familiar and hunts through his stack of papers. They usually leave quickly. -Gryffyth I beg your pardon. My subpoenas are not phony. They are real. They identify real people. They are just for a fictitious case and issued by a fictitious law firm.

I recently found myself in an area with so many muggles that the only reasonable thing I could do was cordon off the area where I was searching with yellow "caution" tape. ... As someone once said: "Don't bother me, I've got work to do."

Seen 'em before. How often does it end up under the skirt because some jamoke thinks it's silly or stoopid to put it up the pole? The ones I've seen like that are always on poles that don't have the cover at the base. By far, my favorite LPC was the one that had about 50 film cans under the base (all empty except one). You lift the cover... and they all come pouring out onto the pavement . Oh yeah, that sounds like a good time. "Martha, look at that guy." "Don't look at him George. You never know about those wackos. We don't want no trouble." Film cans? Nuts! How about marbles? Not only will they all come out, cachers will have a rollicking good time chasing them and putting them back for the next guy. "Oh, look, that guy has lost his marbles!" "Yes, but he is trying to find them."

Combine someone acting suspiciously with an object that resembles a grenade and I think you've got yourself a the perfect setup for a visit from the bomb squad. But just think about how much fun it would be watching them blow up a lamp post. I can just picture them detonating the lamp post and it taking off like a rocket!

Regarding stealth in the city: Don't draw unnecessary attention, but remember: You've got a job to do. Other people don't know what it is, but it is very important, so get it done. Don't pay them "no mind." Remember, the telephone guy does not act particularly stealthy when he does whatever it is that he does, including climbing a telephone pole and no one really cares. Regarding urban hides: The difficulty and terrain ratings and size rating are your friends. They will give you a good idea about what you are looking for. Terrain 1 is wheelchair accessible. Terrain 2.5 or more in the city means climbing, etc. The cache name is also your friend. When you get close, think about where you would put a cache so that it was not likely to be muggled or how you might disguise or hide it. Many hides are things that look like they belong right where you see them, but are just there. Favorites are fake electric junction boxes or just covers. You will occasionally find fake sprinkler heads (be careful not to mess up any real ones). Many hides use magnets to attach to ordinary objects, e.g. signs, electric boxes, downspouts, etc. There are, of course, the infamous hides under lamp post skirts or under newspaper machines. Good luck and have fun. BTW: The cache "VIEW CARRE" (GCE02C) is an absolute MUST and bring travel bugs! (It is so important that you do this cache -- it has 988 finds -- that if you have trouble, Twitter me for a lifeline at HardHabit ... which is what the HH stands for.)

Standard Operating Assimilation Procedure Same Old Annoying Protocol Some Other Annoying Practice Set Of Analytical Practices Stop Off And Post

I love how the media likes to sensationalize. The report says something to the effect that "the system could begin to deteriorate as early as next year." Look at all the equivocation: "could" "begin" deteriorate" "as early as." It is just word games.

I recently found myself looking for a cache in the woods. Dense woods. Even though GZ was sufficiently off any path or trail that no one but a dedicated cacher could have found something as big as a refrigerator, someone decided to hide a micro. In any event, after searching for a while, I heard a voice say something like "It says 70 feet." So, I decided to sit down on a log and wait. After a while, I heard a voice say something like "40 feet that way." I continued to sit quietly. Then I heard someone say "I think someone is sitting on it." So, I asked, "What do you think I'm doing here?" We then proceeded to look for the cache. It was a lot of fun meeting up with other cachers.

I once came to a fork in the trail. The left branch went left about 10 degrees and stayed level. The right branch went right about 10 degrees and headed upslope. I could not tell from the GPS which to take. I took the left one and when the GPS said the cache was 25 feet from me, it was mostly up a vertical cliff. The other path went right to the cache and gave a wonderful downward view of the left path.

Bad information. (See http://www.snopes.com/oldwives/tick.asp) However, if you would like to help a relative of a deposed African dictator smuggle vast sums of money out of the country ...

Today I tried to do a PQ for output to a .loc file. I received a .gpx file. This was not a user error. ... I first looked at the PQ to see that I had the correct setting. I did. I created another PQ, verified the setting and ran it. I got another .gpx file. I checked the PQ as I formatted it and it was set to request a .loc file. I'm guessing that someone did something simple, but wrong, when working on the program. (Also, in .loc files, the protocol is for the coords to be tagged as "<coord lat ..." not "<cord lat ..." Thanks Bruce

The problem is that the tag for the coordinates has been corrupted. The existing programs look for the tag "<coord lat ...", but someone changed the output so it reads "<cord lat ...". Use Word, etc. to do a global search and replace. BUT ... When I tried to do a PQ in .loc format this morning, it output as a .gpx format anyway. (This is not user error as I tried it a second time, after being positive I was asking for .loc, and got the same thing.)

Never just say you are looking for a ring UNLESS you (1) have a ready explanation for why it might be there, and (2) can then find it. If you don't find it in the presence of whomever is asking, they will come back search and search and find the cache and muggle it. If you "find" the ring, there is no reason for them to look. Always have an explanation, fabricated though it is, for what you are doing. Usually I am investigating some sort of injury claim and am looking for evidence. I always ask potential witnesses, i.e. anyone who seems interested in what I'm doing, if they know about what happened or if they saw anything. I often approach them before they approach me. My questions usually drives them off. I once had a security guard actually radio in to his command post to see if anyone else had information to aid my "investigation" and they warned me that if I came upon some tupperware, to leave it alone. I have also had to explain that I am checking survey points for the new highway or sewer. (If I use sewer, I explain that because the area is environmentally sensitive, it is going to be one of the new elevated sewer lines and I assure them that no matter what anyone says, there is hardly any odor.) Of course, telling the truth to cops and land managers is rarely a bad idea. (Note, I've recently found myself caching while wearing a suit and tie and I become invisible because I look like I'm supposed to be doing whatever it is that I'm doing. ... Its better than a hardhat and safety vest.)

Absolutely sure. I did it again today (4/22/09). I don't mind the added step of a global search & replace, but I am perplexed ... and that you got <coord lat, really makes it odd.

I actually figured out what happened. (Gosh, I'm good at troubleshooting computer glittches.) It seems that at least in the ".loc" files someone changed the spelling for the slang term for coordinate. It had been "coord" as in "<coord lat ...>" and now is "cord" as in "<cord lat ...>" Opening the file in Word and going a global search and replace seems to fix things just fine.

You found a cache. Log a find. As far as I care, it is irrelevant that it has the same waypoint number. If you go back to a cache, i.e. same general hide in the same basic spot, that is a "go back," not a "find," and should not be logged as a find. This is another example of why people should contribute money to a fund that is awarded to he one with the most finds ... It gives purpose to those who worry about whether you log a find or not.

Please do not start all the names the same way. It makes things more difficult for people who do paperless caching. Some programs only recognize the first 8 or 10 characters of the name.

Yesterday I re-ran some PQs. I have always had them output as ".loc" files because I can transfer them to my GPS from my Mac with the driver I have. It has always worked in the past. Yesterday's run produced files that would not load properly. When I looked at the files, I noticed that there were no carriage returns in the new file. I also noticed the new file was coded as "UTF-8" while the old ones were coded as "ISO-8859-1." What gives? Is there any way to correct/change the coding?

I did... Actually, it was sarcasm, which is similar. And, if you did get it, there was no need for you to aim irony or sarcasm at me. But, whatever...

Here is what I do: 1. Get the zip code for where you will be. (Google is good for this if you know the name of a hotel, etc.) 2. On the Hide & Seek a Cache page for GC.com, enter that zip code and give it a 2 mile radius. 3. Select one of the caches that is returned in the list of caches. 4. Once you are on the cache page, scroll down and click on the "geocaching.com google map" that is just above the logs. This will give you a map of the area with all the caches. 5. Slide the map around until where you will be is close to the center. (How much you must adjust the map will depend on cache density and how big the zip area is.) 6. Select a cache that is closest to where you will be. Note its waypoint number. 7. Go back to the Hide & Seek a Cache page and enter thatt waypoint number in the space for find by waypoint under the other search options. This will give you a list of nearby caches, starting from where you will be. 8. I will often contact one or two people who have recently logged finds on the caches that are near where you will be and whose profile shows they are from the area. They are often willing to get together for coffee and caching.

Here is what I do: 1. Get the zip code for where you will be. (Google is good for this if you know the name of a hotel, etc.) 2. On the Hide & Seek a Cache page for GC.com, enter that zip code and give it a 2 mile radius. 3. Select one of the caches that is returned in the list of caches. 4. Once you are on the cache page, scroll down and click on the "geocaching.com google map" that is just above the logs. This will give you a map of the area with all the caches. 5. Slide the map around until where you will be is close to the center. (How much you must adjust the map will depend on cache density and how big the zip area is.) 6. Select a cache that is closest to where you will be. Note its waypoint number. 7. Go back to the Hide & Seek a Cache page and enter thatt waypoint number in the space for find by waypoint under the other search options. This will give you a list of nearby caches, starting from where you will be. 8. I will often contact one or two people who have recently logged finds on the caches that are near where you will be and whose profile shows they are from the area. They are often willing to get together for coffee and caching.

I am truly disappointed at how many geocachers did not recognize I was mocking those who worry about whether someone else "deserves" a smiley or not. Now, be honest, who among you realized my proposal was tongue in cheek? I am just glad that the one guy who wanted me to consider the TAX CONSEQUENCES of my proposal spoke to me rather than started posting about it. There is no telling where the discussion would have ended up. I am so disappointed.

Banning sprinkler caches or any other style of cache will not prevent people from testing sprinklers or other objects. The first time a sprinkler or electric box was used, the genie was out of the bottle. Even if sprinkler or electric boxes are banned and archived, it will take years before seekers stop checking. So, the question is how to protect the image of the game. The answer has several parts. 1. When hiding a cache, don't put it somewhere where a seeker may mess with sprinklers or electric boxes, or may trample vegetation, etc. (This is sort of like the prohibition on hiding caches at government buildings or bridges or tunnels, except that TPTB can't police for too close to sprinklers, etc.) 2. When designing the cache page, tell seekers things they can forego. (While not everyone reads the pages, enough do that a warning may help ... it couldn't hurt.) 3. When seeking a cache, be sensitive to damage you may cause, whether it is to sprinklers, electric boxes, flowers, etc. (Some people are stupid and will cause damage anyway, but that is not a reason not to remind seekers to be sensitive.)