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KBI

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Everything posted by KBI

  1. I agree. If anyone ever expresses such a strange opinion, let's support their right to express it.
  2. Unless you're the taxpayer paying the bill.
  3. What you consider a practical joke I consider very serious. I have the fullest respect for all LEOs, well, almost all, and even as a joke, is was pure and simple an abuse of power. I have to agree. I don’t have much sense of humor when it comes to pranks involving loaded guns or wastes of public resources. People in stressful situations sometimes react in surprising ways, and having a gun in the mix always ups the stakes. And while that LEO was busy pranking you and your buddies, were there any genuinely suspicious activities he might have detected (or prevented by his mere presence) had he been elsewhere doing his job? We may never know. I love your timeline post, though. That was funny, and true. And I understand you had no say in the prank, MM. I just don’t think this sort of thing should be encouraged, hence this post. I would be interested to hear opinions from actual LEOs on this.
  4. It looks to me like nothing more than a friendly reminder to cache owners. Not a "Your cache is about to be archived," but simply a "Hey, just making sure you’re alive out there." If they hear from you at all about your cache, they’ll probably be happy.
  5. Sounds like new evidence. Another reviewer gone rogue. But you’re three days early. Moose Mob said to wait until after Christmas to present new evidence of rogueness.
  6. Instead of a new cache icon, maybe Groundspeak could offer a special badge or banner (or whatever you’d call it) which would appear on the profile page of any cacher who earns it. Sort of like the belt loops and badges the Cub Scouts earn for completing certain achievements. Other possible achievements: The 'One-of-Each' icon (earned when you find at least one cache of each icon) The Five-Star Club The Hundred Bug Hunt The Fifty-State Club The Ten Year badge (starting next year) The 'I met Jeremy' Society The 'I’ve Been Banned' button (Nevermind – that one already exists.) Anything but find count totals. There is enough friction over that hot potato already.
  7. Things that attract me to caching, and keep me doing it: Endless variety It gets me outside I like having an excuse to play with my GPS. After all these years the GPS system is still such a novelty to me I can’t get over it – all that technology and precision, right in my hand! (If you ever want to truly begin to appreciate what we have, read the book "Longitude" by Dava Sobel.) After all these years I still geek out over the very underground-ness of Geocaching. The idea that I can waltz into a public place and help myself to a hidden thingy to which all the surrounding locals are oblivious – how cool is that? I thrill over clever camouflage. I thrill over clever cache descriptions. I thrill over any and every other bit of cleverness cachers invent, and the way that, just when I think I’ve seen it all .... Caches frequently make me laugh. I love solving Puzzle Caches. I have met some wonderful friends. I like placing my own caches. After all these years, I still get a kick out of the fact that this entire hobby is presented by amateurs – people putting out free entertainment for strangers – and that everyone is invited to participate. You get to see everyone’s idea of fun, not just what some marketing team at some company thinks you will like. I like writing my online logs. And I like watching my find counts inch ever-upward. Not just the total count, but also the sub-counts. I am particularly proud of my Puzzle Cache total, small as it is. . Things that do not matter to me one way or the other: Container size. The kinds of junk-drawer scrap one finds in caches. . I have no special love (or hate) for ammo cans, and smaller containers are not a problem just because they are smaller than ammo cans. "Micro" caches have never been a bother for me just because of their size. And if every single item of cache swag in existence disappeared tomorrow, never to be replaced, it would not affect my participation or enjoyment of this hobby one teeny tiny bit. I don’t cache for McToys. I cache for the adventure. Disclaimer: This post is not intended as an attempt to tell anyone else what to do, what to think, what to read or who to vote for. This post is also not intended as a suggestion that children are wrong or evil or silly for wanting to find trade items in caches. This post is meant for opinion purposes only. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental. Void where prohibited. Some assembly required. List each check separately by bank number. Batteries not included. Contents may settle during shipment. Use only as directed. No other warranty expressed or implied. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Postage will be paid by addressee. Subject to approval. This is not an offer to sell securities. 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Shading within a garment may occur. Use only in well-ventilated area. Keep away from fire or flame. Replace with same type. Approved for veterans. Booths for two or more. Check here if tax deductible. Some equipment shown is optional. Price does not include taxes. No Canadian coins. Not recommended for children. Prerecorded for this time zone. Reproduction strictly prohibited. No solicitors. No alcohol, dogs, or horses. No anchovies unless otherwise specified. Restaurant package, not for resale. List at least two alternate dates. First pull up, then pull down. Call toll free before digging. Driver does not carry cash. Some of the trademarks mentioned in this product appear for identification purposes only. Record additional transactions on back of previous stub. Decision of judges is final.
  8. Briansnat; We know that, because you want to give this method a fair chance during its upcoming trial when you visit your in-laws, you will follow it carefully and in good faith. My suggestion is that you print out Sbell's post above and keep it with you for easy reference. Remember: If the method doesn’t work for you, your report will be more convincing the more detail you can provide. And if it DOES work for you – we know you’ll give an accurate report about that too. I'm impressed that you have finally decided to give this thing a chance. I always prefer to at least try to solve my problems instead of just griping about them, and I’m happy to see you have chosen that path here.
  9. I have your car towed all the way to your house and all you've got for me is lite beer? Solving a puzzle is doing the cache owner a favor?
  10. That's entirely possible. Filtering out all micros with a D or T less than two could very well result in a a reduction in the number of available caches to the point that the all of the remaining caches within a feasible driving distance would be found in a couple of weekends. That sounds reasonable, so let’s suppose your estimate is accurate: Presumably, then, a discerning cacher like Briansnat would be grateful for two full weekends of relatively disappointment-free caching. He could then begin his third caching weekend with Step Two of the suggested method, secure in the knowledge that he can still make sure he doesn’t miss out on any awesome caches. Why wouldn't he want to enjoy those two awesome weekends? So much to gain. What would he lose?
  11. I think it goes like this. Since most stinkers are micros and have a low terrain and difficulty rating, run a PQ filtering out all micros with a terrain and difficulty level of 1.5 and lower.Have you ever tried it?Not interested because I thoroughly enjoy many micros and low terrain/difficulty caches. I include some among my all time favorites. It's kind of like using a guillotine to give a haircut. Really? So if gc.com decided to no longer list micros or any caches with a D or T level less than 2, geocaching would be dead to you? You honestly can't do without those caches and still enjoy playing the game with the much higher ratio of caches that you'd like made available? When you say things like this, it shows me that after all these years you still don't understand the benefit of the easy-peasy method to you. You're ignoring the benefit just so you can complain about the small downside that you always bring up. He's not likely to answer that. Not soon, anyway. I assume he's too busy taking me up on my suggestion.
  12. I have no problem with that. I can work around it. If I ever find and log such a cache, I will also log it as a smiley on one of my own caches, with a full explanation and a link to the anti-smiley cache. Those who do not already own a cache may wish to create one just for that purpose. A quick, plain and simple hide. A parking lot LPC, perhaps. My find count is not a game score. It is a history, and I like my history to be accurate.
  13. Remember, kids: Cheaters never lose; losers never cheat.
  14. It may be fine for you to miss out on good caches in an area but I'd feel rather disappointed, especially if it's an area I can't go back to -- maybe I'm going to only get a once in a lifetime chance to visit the Adirondacks, and will never go back. Can you guarantee that there are going to be plenty more equally awesome caches that I will find while I'm there? Can you guarantee yourself that you won’t be disappointed in a new and unfamiliar place without first doing some kind of homework? I don't mind some homework, but come on, 96 hours! That's a lot to ask of a person. You spend 96 hours selecting a restaurant?
  15. It may be fine for you to miss out on good caches in an area but I'd feel rather disappointed, especially if it's an area I can't go back to -- maybe I'm going to only get a once in a lifetime chance to visit the Adirondacks, and will never go back. Can you guarantee that there are going to be plenty more equally awesome caches that I will find while I'm there? Can you guarantee yourself that you won’t be disappointed in a new and unfamiliar place without first doing some kind of homework? When you’re on vacation and you want to eat out do you consider your personal preference, ask for recommendations, read the restaurant signs and check the fullness of the parking lots? Or do you blindly walk into any restaurant at random and then whine that "this is a Taco Bell, I wanted ambiance and crab legs, DANGIT!" I don't know about you, but I always "filter fast food out of my PQ" when I'm on vacation. Those who refuse to take responsibility for their own entertainment have no grounds to complain when they become disappointed.
  16. Now that we’re talking about cache quality in addition to talking about cache size, allow me to offer this reminder: 100% of all caches are hidden by amateurs. One of my favorite elements of this hobby is that each time you head for the next cache you never know exactly what you’re getting into. Yet some folks will whine no matter what kind of free entertainment is offered. All caches are amateur-produced. The upside is that there is almost no limit to the creativity, inspiration, originality, and inventiveness one will find while caching. The guidelines for listing caches on this site are extremely liberal; they basically say nothing more than "have fun, just don’t cause any trouble." Thus, the only real limits to the available entertainment are the hiders’ imaginations. Amateurs make this possible. There is some breathtakingly wonderful entertainment here that cannot be had from ANY commercial entertainment business at ANY price. And it's all free, provided just for your pleasure, by amateurs. The downside is that, unlike the capitalist free market, there is very little natural pressure to prevent the less-then-exhilarating offerings from hanging around alongside the excellent ones. Amateur, unpaid, unpolished, untrained, inexperienced and semi-inspired cache hiders – all of us, in other words – sometimes amaze, but don’t always produce gold. You can chuck all that uncertainty anytime you like, of course. You can leave this hobby behind and pay someone to entertain you instead. Nobody is forcing anyone to cache. There are books, online games, movies, golf, cable TV, bus tours, skydiving – a whole world of commercial entertainment waiting to take your money. In the capitalist market you get what you pay for, and businesses work hard to prevent disappointment. The cool-to-lame ratio on the shelf at the bookstore, for example, is WAY above that of the typical Pocket Query. Some folks demand never to be disappointed, which is fine. But for me, it is that very uncertainty that keeps me caching. I can find five or ten or even twenty lame caches in a row and still be happy, not only because I am outside and playing with my GPS, but because I always know that the very next find has as good a chance as any to be amazingly awesome and memorable. Scientists call it "intermittent gratification," and it is a known and powerful reinforcer of addictions such as gambling. Maybe I am addicted; all I know is that the uncertainty itself makes me want to cache more, not less. Some folks share my craving for the Amateur Excitement/Disappointment Random Spin Wheel. To them I say: Ain’t it COOL? Other folks have little tolerance for unpredictability in their free entertainment. To them I say: Have you considered that maybe this hobby just isn’t for you?
  17. I think it goes like this. Since most stinkers are micros and have a low terrain and difficulty rating, run a PQ filtering out all micros with a terrain and difficulty level of 1.5 and lower. Have you ever tried it? Not interested because I thoroughly enjoy many micros and low terrain/difficulty caches. I include some among my all time favorites. It's kind of like using a guillotine to give a haircut. I think you should try it then. Get the exact details from Sbell and give it a shot -- an honest and open-minded try, not just an eye-rolling pretend-at -- and let us know how it worked for you. Either it will work for you, or it won’t If it works you’ll be a happier cacher. Everybody wins. If it doesn’t, you will have accomplished several things: You will have (1) proved Sbell wrong, (2) added one more item to the list of methods you KNOW to be ineffective, and (3) this tedious and chronically-repeated conversation will finally go away for good. Everybody wins. Either way, everybody wins. On the other hand, until you try it you really have no valid grounds to criticize it.
  18. Have they? Maybe I don't visit here often enough, but I've rarely seen anybody express that sentiment. I haven't seen it either. It happens, but these days it's rare. Calls to ban micros used to be very common, but I think cachers, and forum regulars in particular, have learned over the years to be a lot more tolerant of other people's preferences. That tolerance has made these forums a much nicer place to be.
  19. I think it goes like this. Since most stinkers are micros and have a low terrain and difficulty rating, run a PQ filtering out all micros with a terrain and difficulty level of 1.5 and lower. Have you ever tried it?
  20. Would you really do that? Predict that? Yes. Just did.
  21. Yes, I have. Your interpretation of those posts is obviously different from mine, and you clearly have no interest in examining them from another point of view. So what purpose does this exchange serve? Shall we continue to repeat?
  22. Health tip: When you put your hand inside a sock puppet, you are shaking hands with every other person who has had their hand up in there.
  23. This is very true. The number of visits to a cache is meaningless because there are many reasons that this could happen besides being good. Nope. I saw both of those. The ones I've missed were the posts where folks were trying to convince themselves, (or others for that matter), that nobody else likes a certain type of cache. All I see in the two quotes you provided was someone pointing out that there may be other reasons folks hunt a certain type of cache besides the possibility that they love them. Since many cachers have posted in these forums that they'll hunt caches which they don't love, just to keep their radius clear, then I'd have to agree with both of the provided quotes. Loving a particular type of cache is only one of many reasons folks will visit it. "Love" is your attempt at spin. "Love" does not appear anywhere in the quoted text.
  24. Your set-up premise is unclear. Did you mean to say "It has been suggested that some people prefer to find micro caches." Or did you mean to say "It has been suggested that all people prefer to find micro caches." If the former, then your claim is about as non-controversial as you can get, and I don’t see why you think anyone would find it interesting. If the latter, then not only are you going to find that one impossible to prove, but I seriously doubt anyone in these forums ever actually made that claim. And to answer your question: I have no preference.
  25. You may be right. I've certainly seen similar claims in these forums, though I've never actually witnessed it for myself. I would think that anyone coming in here espousing the belief that no one liked micros would be shouted down pretty kwick. Even the polite folks would be offering evidence to the contrary. Then maybe you missed it: This is very true. The number of visits to a cache is meaningless because there are many reasons that this could happen besides being good.
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