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hmmm, don't go caching round here then as I have never seen one secured to anything, except the ground with gravity! and yes I am in the UK

Voor zij die mij niet in Gent uit de kast hebben zien komen. Geo-Gravity = schattezoekertje = Peter Van Nuffel Antwerpse West Vlaming Ik ben te bereiken via geo.0.gravity@gmail.com

I just finished hiking the Zion NP Angels landing. The most dangerous hike so they say...I wanted a level 4 stat. I don't understand how a cache so death defying is a 4 when it appears I have 2 4.5 caches already and don't know what they are or remember them. How do I find out? I realize the terrain rating is up to the co, and a lot of reasons why they choose what they do. Last summer I climbed to high camp at olympic village in Lake Tahoe, on a broken foot (didn't know). The terrain was with the assumption one took the ski lift. it was a 1.5 rating and took me hours and was very exhausting physically. There should be a way to get permission for the alternative. Anyway, I want to know which caches I got were 4.5 and I could have fallen to my death on a 4. :} thanks

There are lots of interesting things going on behind the data sheets, a few of which a user might need to understand. Foremost of those would be the Orthometric Correction. As they processed leveling measurements decades ago (no GPS), they had to take into account the fact that perfect optical leveling around a loop of many miles will not close on itself. You need the orthometric correction to compensate for the variations in gravity. Working surveyors/engineers need to use that correction in their current work when a project has a large north-south extent or a large change in elevation. Furthermore, some theory behind what elevations mean is very relevant to understanding the current GRAV-D project that will end up, not with just more accurate vertical values, but a different kind of vertical datum. I found a tutorial that would be quite good if it didn't have so many confusions in it, like unlabeled changes in units, different symbols in the text and the equations, and a few misused terms. http://surveying.wb.psu.edu/sur351/Chapter6/c6-new.htm

I have again been trying to understand what elevation means. Probably not one person in 100,000, and very few professional surveyors, understand the answers to these questions: What does Orthometric mean? Why wouldn't a large loop of perfect optical leveling measurements come back to the same elevation at the starting point? Dynamic height? What is the geoid? Why isn't gravitational force the same everywhere on the geoid? How do you find the geoid under a land mass? Bouguer plate? What approximations are made in the definition of NAVD88? Does water flow uphill some places? (That comes back to the definition and measurement of "uphill.") I have _Physical Geodesy_ by Hoffman-Wellenhof and Moritz. I can almost read it with what college calculus and vector math I remember, but they give almost no examples so I'm not always sure I know the implications. I have Elementary Surveying by Wolf and Ghilani, but their chapter on the subject is a cut and paste of some relevant material that is not complete enough for continuity. A brief search has not found the ideal tutorial, although I did find some helpful stuff including a powerpoint by someone at NGS. Maybe what I'm looking for is a college sophomore level explanation of a graduate level subject. So does anybody have any recommendations?

Easy. I first look at said puzzle, rule out the high terrain ones(due to no equipment for it/gravity is not my friend). Then it goes off into groups: Fun "Where am I?"s, "Puzzles for later", and "Uh, what?". Some of the ones that I think should be doable do turn out to have problems where what the owner wants is not sure, or only known to them. When I hit those, I take a quick look at other ones from the owner, and skip them, because they repeat the problems overall. This problem hits many multis here, too. As an example: You go to a location, and are asked "What company are you in front of?". Sounds overly simple, but here it can be a problem. For the example, I´ll use a bakery. On one sign, it says "Stadtbäckeri Blah", but is that the name, or is it StadtBäckeri/Konditorei Blah GmbH & Co Kg, as it stands on another smaller sign. There´s the first name problem. Now it goes further: is GmbH & Co Kg as it´s written, or the longer blah for the name. I´ve had problems where it wasn´t the short one, but listed so. And that´s only a small starting problem on something that´s meant as easy. And yes, the coordinates you pull from either comes out as logical when you attempt to go there. There was one with a picture in the field, that required you to count cows on it. The owner missed the fact that what appeared as one cow, was actually 2 standing near eachother, one with his head up, the other down. and that´s just a couple small problems that toss a mystery badly off. One of the last ones I did, was a bonus for another mystery. There was several problems, that weren´t the owner´s fault, but tossed it badly off until asking for help, which he answered. (Problem was changes to the park and playground which removed hints and changed them) Surprisingly, this problem goes away a bit when I go outside my homezone. If you've attempted the puzzles (in which case you didn't avoid them ), and they have obvious major flaws, maybe a Bookmark of the worst ones would be useful. What's a tactful bookmark name...? "Caches I'm Still Working On". Maybe. Or if you have vetted all of the puzzles in the area, make a public bookmark "These are good!" of just the unflawed puzzles. I could use that (for caches I intend to try). Some of the puzzles (as in your two-headed cow example) can be solved with some guessing. That does not make an elegant puzzle, and I don't like the flawed puzzles, but I have solved some of those. I even finished a couple of Multis with stages missing, by deducing coords. Then those Multis were soon archived.

Easy. I first look at said puzzle, rule out the high terrain ones(due to no equipment for it/gravity is not my friend). Then it goes off into groups: Fun "Where am I?"s, "Puzzles for later", and "Uh, what?". Some of the ones that I think should be doable do turn out to have problems where what the owner wants is not sure, or only known to them. When I hit those, I take a quick look at other ones from the owner, and skip them, because they repeat the problems overall. This problem hits many multis here, too. As an example: You go to a location, and are asked "What company are you in front of?". Sounds overly simple, but here it can be a problem. For the example, I´ll use a bakery. On one sign, it says "Stadtbäckeri Blah", but is that the name, or is it StadtBäckeri/Konditorei Blah GmbH & Co Kg, as it stands on another smaller sign. There´s the first name problem. Now it goes further: is GmbH & Co Kg as it´s written, or the longer blah for the name. I´ve had problems where it wasn´t the short one, but listed so. And that´s only a small starting problem on something that´s meant as easy. And yes, the coordinates you pull from either comes out as logical when you attempt to go there. There was one with a picture in the field, that required you to count cows on it. The owner missed the fact that what appeared as one cow, was actually 2 standing near eachother, one with his head up, the other down. and that´s just a couple small problems that toss a mystery badly off. One of the last ones I did, was a bonus for another mystery. There was several problems, that weren´t the owner´s fault, but tossed it badly off until asking for help, which he answered. (Problem was changes to the park and playground which removed hints and changed them) Surprisingly, this problem goes away a bit when I go outside my homezone.

Well I suppose the locals might form an instant opinion of a new hider whose first and only contribution to the game was a death-defying challenge for freaky cat-like climbers You could put out a much more straightforward one at the same time if that bothers you.

Robbed of what? Robbed is not the best word to use here. It's hard for me to explain what i mean exactly but i'm sure there may be some who understand. I, and i don't think i'm the only one, like the feeling of accomplishment i have after figuring out and finding a challenging cache. Seeing my name on that short list of found logs is something i would feel good about now, and for the life of the cache. For me, this feeling would begin to diminish if too many find logs started coming in from people i knew who were only able to get the cache because they were given coordinates by someone else. Yeah, i know what i accomplished and that's the main thing that should count. I also realize this is small potatoes compared to other important things in life. But in a social game/sport/hobby such as this, i also know that my accomplishment (the found log on that hard cache) would not look quite the same if it was on a page full of other found logs. I think, in the context used, "Robbed" is the word you were looking for. If I understand your theory, assuming we both log finds on the cache in the space station; Let's say you got your visa up to date, trained for months for zero gravity environment work, travelled to Russia, paid the requisite 10 million dollar fee and got a ride on the earliest rocket. Once at the space station, you searched till you found the cache, signed the log, got the crew to take lots of pictures, then headed home, posting your find at the earliest opportunity. While I met with a crew member of the rocket which carried the cache to the space station, sneaking my moniker into the logbook before it ever launched, claiming my find. You feel that your log has a certain value, and that my log would somehow diminish that value, without your consent. Robbery seems like a valid phrase to describe such an act. I just don't see it that way. From my perspective, had the two finds been reversed, your easy-peasy log would in no way lessen the experience I had in making the actual trip and finding the cache as intended. Since the experience is not reduced, and my smiley count is not reduced, I can't view your actions as having taken anything from me. I'm not suggesting that your view is wrong. It isn't. It just isn't my view. Nothing you do can change the experience I had finding a cache.

I think you're interpreting "first to find" too literally here. In your case, an ant could be the FTF, since the phrase isn't restricted to humans. In the context of the geocaching side-game, FTF doesn't always mean "first to find." Instead, it means what the local FTF community more or less agrees it means. As I mentioned, personally I do not care about whichever way someone interprets FTF. In any case I have a good laugh at statements like e.g. the following "Everyone that finds this cache on the first day (it has been the day when an event took place) is FTF". I did not write about claiming FTF, but rather about *being* the first to find. I do not care if 100 people claim ftf - I just have a good laugh if they claim a ftf and are maybe the third to find a cache. It just sounds funny and is defying the logic of the language used. I'm aware of that and do not object. Still it is not the same as being really the first finder. Personally, I feel that the only real challenge of a first finder could be to cope with mistakes, bad coordinates etc - if there has been a beta test, this aspect is missing as is the aspect of finding the cache in its original state. Well, if they prefer to use terms that are saying something else than what is meant, let them go. I still stick with my opinion that it is misuse of terminology as often in geocaching. For example, many German speaking cachers use the phrase "einen Cache mitnehmen" (picking up a cache) even though of course they are not taking away the cache, but leave it at its hideout and do not take the container with them. Cezanne

Er zijn enkele opties: Indien het caches zijn die voor een event bedoeld zijn, HOLD"naam event" cachenaam. Als wij de caches zo binnenkrijgen kunnen we een saturatiecheck doen en de eventuele opmerking overmaken na een eerste screening. Indien het een reeks is die niet voor een event bedoeld is, zet je gewoon in de reviewernote de gewenste publicatiedatum en de vermelding dat de reeks in zijn geheel moet gepublished worden. Wat we dan ook doen is als er in een van de caches een probleem is we de hele reeks disable zo dat er zeker geen losse caches gepublished worden. Als alles dan in orde is bied je ze gewoon terug aan ter review en doen wij de integrale publish. Hopende je hier een afdoend antwoord geven te hebben groeten we je George Gravitalis Geo-Gravity Groundspeak Volunteer Reviewer voor Nederland en Vlaanderen

GoldBugGirl and Gatoulis, Both of you did great in figuring out my coin's message, so you will both be getting a free coin when they are done! I will contact you when they are ready. Here is my explanation: Front - The word at the top is "Habakkuk" written in Hebrew. The building is the Great Ziggurat and represents the Babylonian Empire. The background image is a war horse and a chariot wheel representing the Babylonian war machine. The text is from the first chapter of Habakkuk and is perhaps as relevant today as it was when it was first written. The idea in Habakkuk is that the the people of Judea and Jerusalem had become unjust and cruel. The Babylonians were used by God as a tool to bring an end to the corrupt Judean government. Back - This side of the coin shows a heart and feather being weighed on a scale. This imagery is well known from the Egyptian concept of judgement in which the heart of a person is weighed against the feather of Maat (truth). The balance shows that the person (most likely an influential citizen of Jerusalem) is weighed down with sin. The imagery also comes from the book of Daniel in which the king is told "You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting." The text at the bottom says "sun and moon stood still in the heavens." The top of the scale shows the sun and the moon in an eclipse to give gravity to God's judgement. The text in the background is from Habakkuk chapter 3. I chose to make this coin simply because almost no one would ever choose to feature the book of Habakkuk in anything. I just wanted to breath new life into a neglected passage from literature. In truth, I don't expect the average person to have any idea of what the words and images mean, I want a person holding it to find it compelling and mysterious. The text on the front is meant to be ambiguous, but giving a sense of expectation. There were some hold-ups in getting this coin minted, but now it seems to be going forward.

Welkom Geo-Gravity en Sus Antigoon. Ter info: ik heb jullie aankondiging ook gepost op het Geocaching.BE forum (link)

Hallo Belgische geocachers, Mijn naam is George Gravitalis. Ik ben een aangename belg met griekse roots. Sinds kort ben ik het Nederlands-Belgisch reviewer team komen versterken. Zoals mijn collega's reviewers stel ik mij vrijwillig ter beschikking van de geocache-community en zal ik mijn uiterste best doen om jullie geocaches op een zo goed mogelijke en snelle manier proberen te reviewen. Zoals verschillende onder jullie al zullen gemerkt hebben, en ik zelf ook, ben ik bereikbaar via volgende kanalen om op al jullie vragen te antwoorden. Twitter: @Geo_Gravity Mail: geo.0.gravity@gmail.com groetjes George

Hallo Nederlandse en Belgische geocachers, Mijn naam is George Gravitalis. Ik ben een aangename belg met griekse roots. Sinds kort ben ik het Nederlands-Belgisch reviewer team komen versterken. Zoals mijn collega's reviewers stel ik mij vrijwillig ter beschikking van de geocache-community en zal ik mijn uiterste best doen om jullie geocaches op een zo goed mogelijke en snelle manier proberen te reviewen. Zoals verschillende onder jullie al zullen gemerkt hebben, en ik zelf ook, ben ik bereikbaar via volgende kanalen om op al jullie vragen te antwoorden. Twitter: @Geo_Gravity Mail: geo.0.gravity@gmail.com groetjes George

Training was good, Frogfoot1 have a nice holiday. I'll make you proud. @Geo_Gravity geo.0.gravity@gmail.com

Some advice we posted last fall when we were brand new. 150 finds later I'm not changing a word. 1) Hard to believe, but here's one we never imagined until an experienced cacher told us after 2 attempts - 'Lift the nearby lamp post skirt'. So, lift the lamp post skirt, turn over the rock, look in the tree stump, tree notch, tug on the fence finial, see if the bark is loose on the fallen tree etc. 2) Try for some kid friendly caches with a big container who's hint is 'stump'. Funny how this got our confidence way up. 3) Try for some easy lamp post caches being mindful of #1. 4) Bring, borrow some kids. My 2 elementary age boys are in the right age for 'hide and seek'. (Kindergartener got two of our finds yesterday!) So, sometimes its best to think like a kid. 5) GPSr merely brings you to the scene, it does NOT solve the crime. You do! 6) For a harder find, we put something at 'initial GZ' and walk toward it from several other directions from 10-15 ft away leaving something at those points. These intersecting lines usually give a better sense of the 'true GZ'. Then do #7 7) Walk back 10-15 feet from the presumed GZ and scrutinze where would be a good hiding place. It may be 10 or more feet away! 8) Events with instructed caching for noobs are wonderful. Even better when the kids score a geocoin for attending! 9) If you have a smartphone too, download the appropriate geocaching.com app and consider using both the phone and the GPSr. We found our 1st cache with the smartphone. (usually not in my possession) Besides my Garmin, we also happen to have a Geomate 'for the kids'. (usually vice versa it seems) It or the smartphone often confirms GZ for us. Sometimes due to differing indications of GZ it reminds us to be more 'open minded' about where the cache might actually be. 10) Our most recent tidbit - Don't believe every log you read or picture you see. 'The cache is visible from the road' doesn't necessarily mean that it is actually 'visible from the road'. GZ was, but the cache sure wasn't. 11) Sometimes hints are 'hints', sometimes they are 'clever hints'. 12) Buy 'The Complete Idiot's Guide to Geocaching' and read it. We did and it helped! 13) Micros & nanos are often defying gravity due to magnets. 14) It won't help with the find, but may make the DNF more bearable - Learn what poison ivy & its friends look like. 'Be very wary of vines that are hairy'

Thanks for talking me down, I just wanted people to understand the gravity of the situation. I didn't want to launch another controversy.

Actually it wouldn't have to be that heavy (approx. 1/6 gravity, you know....). Actually, wouldn't it have to be 6 times as massive in order to be the same weight on the moon? Got to think about that one... BUT at least you could ignore WIND loadings on the pole. Amongst other factors. Scrabblers: It depends on what satellites and for what purpose. GPS (Earth system) would not be good at all. They broadcast towards Earth surface and are so distant that the signals would all come from the same place if they could be received at all. A Moon based MPS nav system would be OK. Doug 7rxc

Actually it wouldn't have to be that heavy (approx. 1/6 gravity, you know....). Actually, wouldn't it have to be 6 times as massive in order to be the same weight on the moon?

Actually it wouldn't have to be that heavy (approx. 1/6 gravity, you know....). Of course, having a cache on the moon would have its advantages....you could use anything at all for a cache container as water intrusion would not be a concern...no more damp logs!

Two logs that made my day. The first isn't even my cache, but it is so cool that I feel compelled to repeat it here. "FTF!! But, OH what a day it was. Started the drive in on Telegraph Canyon Rd, Then on to Ajax Mine Rd. The driving was fairly easy going in my Tacoma. Got to the Orphan Boy Mine Rd turn off to head South, and my concience told me to stop there and hike the rest of the way. I've never been one to may much attention to that little voice in my head. so I drove in a ways. Not too bad. Found a spot to park, and walked the last 1/4 mile or so to the cache. Found the cache easily enough and signed the log. Took a few pictures, then headed back to the truck. This is where the day starts getting interesting. On the way out towards Ajax Mine Rd., I got the left front tire caught in a runoff wash out an the side of the road, as I was just getting the tire clear of that, I felt the left rear go over the edge. After that, it was gravity that took over, and I could'nt do anything about it. As the tires caught during the siways slide, over she went, finally landing on the roof in the creek bed. After kicking out some of the already broken glass, and getting out of the truck, I checked my phone, and I had NO cell signal, and an almost dead battery. So I fished my pack out, and a few other belongings, marked a waypoint for the truck, and headed up the road to a high spot, about 1 1/2 mi, to try and get signal. Called 911, gave them my coords, and waited. After about an hour and a half, and no sign of help, I called 911 back, and stayed on the line with them. About 15-20 min later, I spotted the DPS helicopter. After they finally found a spot to land, they loaded me up and flew me into Superior, to be met by an ambulance. I did not realise how banged up or injured I was, or could have been, because of the adrenilan rush I was on. Once in superior, it was decided that it would be best if I was flown to a neurological trauma center. So, I got a second helicopter ride to Scottsdale. Fortunatly, nothing was broken. Just beat up a bunch. And the let me go home after a few hours. Now we just need to figure out how to get my truck out of that canyon. 2008 Toyota Pickup Truck (Totaled) - Close to $30,000 Medical bills/LifeFlight Fees - close to $30,000 Vehicle Extraction/ Towing Fees - $4,800 Getting the FTF and a Smiley - Priceless Took - nothing, Left - nothing(except my truck, in the canyon) and signed the log. Dipping my personal TB for the mileage and the adventure. This will most probably be my MOST MEMORABLE cache ever. Thanks *Update - June 1, 09* The truck has been recovered. It took the towing company 10 hours, 3 guys, and 3 trucks. They could not get the 24' flatbed in anywhere near, and had to upright it, and drag it out with thier huge 4wd truck." The second is on one of my caches. YOu have to feel good about one like this. "Well my hat is off to you. I can officially crown you owner of the most and best views from caches in Payson!!! I left at four this afternoon and came off the hill in the dark. The hides were absolutely brilliant. Great first container! The last hide is wonderful. I am glad you and I think alike. I walked right to the only large cedar I could find on the east side of the ridge, climbed around sat down and said " hmm- iwould hide a cache right here." Amazingly that is right where it was. The rock placement for camoflage was absolutely incredible. I placed them all back with exquisite care because I can appreciate the effort it takes to find and arrange those rocks just so. Found a rattlesnake in the dark on the way out from the final cache, luckily he sang REALLY loud so he saved us both from a miserable afternoon. Moved the TB from stage three to stage five. I must have missed the other TB. Don't know how, but did not see it. I was in a real hurry a stage four, so I might not have seen it. Can't say enough about what an amazing series this is. Lots of work and scouting. I always love the ones on top of hills and mountains and this does not disappoint. The sunset was beautiful and the bulls were bugling like crazy as I went after stage 5. What a great day caching. Thanks so much for this multistage- Probably the best Payson has to offer! T: Coin out of Stage 5 L: TB from stage 3 to stage 5. Thanks again!"

The Colorado uses SD not microSD memory. You must push the SD in a little to click and release. The SD will not simply fall out just by gravity. Your SD slot is defective if it will drop out on its own.

Not anti-inertia either. To be honest, this book was published in 1928 and so well before the stuff it attempts to describe were understood. The mechanism for transmitting the power is very loosely described. Some of that description borders on gravity, but it's more than just gravitational attraction. That said, I'm after just the source of power rather than the mechanism by which that power moves stuff. To make this fair on those who're not familiar with E.E. Smith, I'll mention that getting the answer by reading the book is not cheating, and that some of the Skylark series are available as free eBooks. They can be downloaded in a variety of formats from http://manybooks.net/authors/smithee.html (among others). BTW, I loved the Lensman series when I read them decades ago, but I haven't been able to find more than Triplanetary as an eBook and so I might be a while before I get around to re-reading them!

Not anti-gravity, so anti-inertia? I've only read the Lensman series by EE., not the Skylark books.