Balthasar

You might consider a small backpack. A small daypack (or, for a few dollars more, a small hydration backpack with built-in hydration bladder) would easily carry most anything you'll need and you should be able to find one that matches your size. Hydration backpacks are designed for bikers, so they're kept small by design. I'm still fairly new to geocaching, but what I carry with me depends on where I'm going. For urban caches, I don't take much more than a bottle of water and a hip-pack with some swag and a pen. For ones in the wild (which I much prefer!), I take a backpack -- either a small daypack for short excursions or a large multi-day pack for longer trips. I'm an experienced backpacker and most of the things I want with me while geocaching in the wild are the same things I bring with me when backpacking anyway.

I've been reading some logs lately and some threads in the forums where cache owners are getting heat for have apparently-inaccurate coordinates. I'm pretty new to geocaching and I haven't placed a cache yet. When I do, though (and I will!) I want to make sure I'm as accurate as possible. What's the best way of getting highly-accurate coordinates? I use a Garmin Etrex Legend Cx, which I *think* averages coordinates when standing still on its own. At least, it seems that the accuracy improves if I stand in one place. In any case, it also has an "averaging" function when marking a new waypoint. Based on my admitedly-newbie knowledge, it seems that the best way to for me to ensure accurate coordinates is to: Mark a waypoint at the cache location and choose "Averaging." Stand still for a few minutes (how many minutes?) before saving the coordinates, then Wander away from the cache and see if the coordinates take me right back to it, then Repeat, if necessary. Is this the right way to go about it with this unit?

This is going to be an auspicious first post, I think. Viruses are generally pretty host-specific -- they can infect and live in (or take over) only very specific types of cells, which means that they usually can't cross species. (You don't hear about people contracting tobacco mosaic virus, for example). Some viruses, though, are less "choosy" about their host cells. West Nile Virus is one of those. WNV is carried mainly in wild birds (the birds are actually infected with WNV and will eventually die from it). Some (but not all) species of mosquitos are also susceptible to WNV and contract the disease when they bite the wild birds. Unfortunately, humans, horses, poultry, alligators and some other species are also susceptible, so when an infected mosquito bites one of these hosts, the disease may be transmitted. Not all species of mosquitos are susceptible to WNV, but enough are that it's a public health concern. AIDS, heptatitis C and most other viruses cannot infect mosquito cells, so the virus cannot be transmitted through a mosquito bite. As common as AIDS and hep C are (and as common as mosquitos are), it's a good thing because if they could be transmitted by mosquitos, it wouldn't take long for virtually everyone in temperate or tropical climates to become infected! Mosquitos are a lot more likely to spread bacterial infections than they are to spread viruses.