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Golden Bear thoughts

 

Having never really spent any time on the Berkeley campus, but to use their libraries a few times in college, here are my thoughts, as helpful/helpless as they are:

 

1) My guess is that you draw a clock on the ground at the golden bear location OR the center of the clock tower.

 

2) The 12 of the clock-on-the-ground points due south, from the hint #3 on the cache page

 

3) The golden bear is found probably where George found that plaque, but as the first hint says, the Golden Bear is NOT the object that is being searched for. The object being searched for is a fountain as in the hint 1.

 

4) Noting the comments about good use of numbers and such on the logs of the finders... Those have me baffled.... unless the way to read it is that, IF the placement of the plaque lists a TIME it was placed, the HOUR hand would point in the direction of the cache (12 being south, and 1 being 15 degrees west of south, and so on) and the total distance to walk is less than a 10 minute walk (real time) to get there. 10 minutes of distance is too big an area.

 

5) I got this from a Web Site

 

The center of student life is Sproul Plaza, opening off Bancroft Way at Telegraph Avenue. It is easily reached from the Downtown Berkeley BART station by walking up Center Street and following Strawberry Creek though the eucalyptus groves to the lower half of the plaza. The plaza's upper half, fronted by imposing, neo-classical Sproul Hall (the administration building) was the site of the first Free Speech Movement sit-ins. It was here that in October, 1964, FSM leader Mario Savio mobilized a massive, two-day student protest from the roof of a police car containing arrested student organizer Jack Weinberg. In fact, the front steps of Sproul Hall are now called the Mario Savio Steps. Look for the plaque, set into the center of the top step fronting the plaza. Still bustling in these less momentous times, upper Sproul Plaza is filled with recruiting tables at lunchtime.

 

6) The chemistry building is Lewis Hall (and the one behind it), and it’s on one of the “box” streets, so if there is a fountain there? If the clock is centered at the union it would put it at 7/8 or 4/5 (depending on if you thought about reading the clock from heaven or hell) icon_wink.gif and if you center the clock at the clocktower it is at 9 or 3.

 

...of course, all of this may be wrong...

 

[This message was edited by TeamJiffy on March 31, 2003 at 11:11 AM.]

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Re: Golden Bear

I think Joani was a bit obsessed with this one as well. I wouldn't be surprised if she wanted to go up there with you. icon_smile.gif

From one of the comments, Joani thinks that you should move the clock to 10:28, point the face of the clock south and then follow the little hand. I'm not sure where that points because I don't have a map handy. Mary, does that happen to point to the place that you are considering as a possibility?

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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More golden bear thoughts

Might the Hearst Museum be considered public land? It's also right in line with the little hand of the clock if the clock is at ten something. One other funny thought I had, be never went over to check it out is in that same direction. If you look at the map, there is an X marks the spot area that is to the south south east of the clock tower. I thought it would be funny if the cache was there. It made me wonder if there was a fountain in the center. Anyway, enough random thoughts.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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quote:
Originally posted by Marky:

Anyway, enough random thoughts.


I was looking in that direction and noticed:

The 1914 Fountain. I'll bet it's over there. I zoomed in on it and it looks highly suspect. I just don't know when we will go back to check it out.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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I am so far away from Berkely...ah the memories. Um I am kinda new, but when I read "Golden Bear" I immediately thought of a Golf Course. (Jack Nicklaus apparently designs them) And he is called the "Golden Bear". I don't have a clue about this but maybe it has something to do with a golf course. I'm a comin home soon so I might brave a trip to Berkely. Its gotta be warmer than where I am at the moment...it started snowing again yesterday. Snow makes a "1" level cache a "4" (in my opinion). A metal detector would be helpful for ammoboxes in the snow.

I don't golf but know many who do. Maybe that has something to do with it.

Good luck

MtM

 

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This Space Intentionally Left Blank

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quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:

How about a mini geoevent at UC Berkeley?


I know Joani and I would be up for that. icon_biggrin.gif You thinking Saturday? Our Sunday is too busy, but Saturday is probably free. icon_smile.gif

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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The golden bear on the tower (gift of class of '29) is almost certainly it - I spoke to a person who works with me, who went to Berkeley, and he went on and on about that bear.)

 

There is also a tiny patch of earth - just a couple of inches wide - in another part of the plaza, that is interesting - it is a little circle of earth, whose surface, and the column of airspace above it, is declared to be part of no country, and of nobody's jurisdiction. An island of public land in a sea of ownership, indeed!

 

-Jif

 

[This message was edited by TeamJiffy on April 01, 2003 at 06:56 AM.]

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Phooey - our Saturday is completely booked! icon_frown.gif Anyone for *next* weekend - can the cache wait that long? I certainly understand if the interest level is high and people want to do it this weekend, too...

 

-J

 

[This message was edited by TeamJiffy on April 01, 2003 at 06:57 AM.]

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quote:
Originally posted by TeamJiffy:

The golden bear on the tower (gift of class of '29) is almost certainly it - I spoke to a person who works with me, who went to Berkeley, and he went on and on about that bear.)


I looked all over the area around the base of the golden bear tower and didn't find the cache. Of course, that doesn't mean it's not there, just that I didn't find it. Also, the first hint, "I am not the golden bear", confuses me. By "I" in that first hint, is it refering to the actual cache, the original coordinates, or what?

quote:

There is also a tiny patch of earth - just a couple of inches wide - in another part of the plaza, that is interesting - it is a little circle of earth, whose surface, and the column of airspace above it, is declared to be part of no country, and of nobody's jurisdiction. An island of public land in a sea of ownership, indeed!


That sounds interesting, but doesn't sound like a likely place to hide a cache (but not having seen it, I wouldn't know). It sounds like it would be too public a place. Definitely worth investigating though.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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quote:
Originally posted by TeamJiffy:

Phooey - our Saturday is completely booked! icon_frown.gif Anyone for *next* weekend - can the cache wait that long? I certainly understand if the interest level is high and people want to do it this weekend, too...

 

-J

 

[This message was edited by TeamJiffy on April 01, 2003 at 06:57 AM.]


 

Well, who is actually interested in giving this a group shot? Saturday is usually my bike riding day so Sundays are better. Next Sat/Sun we'll be in Monterey so that's out.

 

If we had a good group together I'm sure I could shift my cycling to Sunday.

 

george

 

39570_500.jpg

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

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I'm game, pretty much any time, probably. I've been looking at this in 15 min spurts during periodic errands.

 

I believe the fountain is just the little 1905 non-working water fountain at the posted coords on the plaza immediately north of the Campanile. It's pictured w/ Bucky Badger in my 1/18 log.

 

Au Be Ar, I read as gold be argon (all gone).

 

School is back in session from Springbreak. Remember that 4/12 is Cal Day (a smaller version of Picnic Day at UC Davis).

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quote:
Originally posted by bthomas:

Remember that 4/12 is Cal Day (a smaller version of Picnic Day at UC Davis).


We'll be at the *real* picnic day on the 12th. Anyone else going to be? If so, we should try to make a run at Jimmy the Duck, the *other* annoying on campus cache we haven't gotten yet.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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quote:
Originally posted by Marky:

We'll be at the *real* picnic day on the 12th. Anyone else going to be? If so, we should try to make a run at Jimmy the Duck, the *other* annoying on campus cache we haven't gotten yet.

 

--Marky


 

Oh, I'll be there. In costume with the English Country Dancers. While you are there you might try Liberty Island (GCEF18). It is as far South of Davis you can go without getting your feet wet.

 

normanb

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Here's my thoughts on Golden Bear.

 

There is a broken fountain near the original coordinates. I believe that there is some sort of plaque on the fountain. You then use the dedication date of the fountain to tell you which way to walk using the key that 12 is south.

 

When we went after this cache the last time we did not check the fountain, so I'm not sure which direction to check on the map. I did find by doing some research that Sather Gate is considered to be public property. I noticed that it is about ten minutes from the starting point.

 

I may be totally wrong, but that is where I'm at right now.

 

Mary

 

39570_500.jpg

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

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quote:
Originally posted by mcvey:

I just read on cnn.com that they've put up

a new GPS satellite. Anybody know whether

you have to do anything special to make your

GPSr pick up a new one?


 

I hadn't heard about this, but I'd be very interested to know the answer, too. Surely one of you obsessive-compulsive geocachers will know the answer - assuming the initial fact is accurate. I don't see why there would be any adjustment needed, since each of the general satellites sends its exact position and an exact transmission time, doesn't it? If so, it shouldn't really matter which ones are received or how many there are in terms of processing the information; it should only result in greater accuracy with more satellites received. But I'm no geek here - just speculation. Someone here must actually know the answer.

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quote:
Originally posted by The Rat:

I hadn't heard about this, but I'd be very interested to know the answer, too. Surely one of you obsessive-compulsive geocachers will know the answer - assuming the initial fact is accurate. I don't see why there would be any adjustment needed, since each of the general satellites sends its exact position and an exact transmission time, doesn't it? If so, it shouldn't really matter which ones are received or how many there are in terms of processing the information; it should only result in greater accuracy with more satellites received. But I'm no geek here - just speculation. Someone here must actually know the answer.


 

Short answer.. the new satalite replaced one that was lost so there is not net gain of satalites.

 

Long answer... well, the gps maxes at 12 satalites so it's not like you could have locked on to 13. Plus, when's the last time you had all 12 locked on? Lot more to getting a good reading than just how many stalites you have locked on. Stuff starts to get over my head at this point so I'll just bow out now.

 

george

 

39570_500.jpg

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

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quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:

Mary wants to go give Golden Bear another try tomorrow. Is anyone else interested in joining us?

 

We'd like the company.


We'll join you! See ya at 10:00 at the posted coords. icon_biggrin.gif

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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Re: Saturday Golden Bear

 

Ahhh! Just committed to going to Markytown, er San Jose, in the morning. Some of us 3-digit cachers want the volume. Good Luck.

 

I've frisked the #7 bench bear, the #3 bronze bear by the Optometry parking next to the Stadium, the #12 plaster golden bear at Oxford and Univ, the #10 behind Zellerbach, but not the cute #11 topiary. There's a Calif Hist Plaque at Piedmont Way and Bancroft by Intl House.

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quote:
Originally posted by SuperGenius:

OHHHH fizzymagic where are you?

 

Pepper

 

Horizontals where it's at!


Not unlike Carman San Diego, Where in the world is Fizzy Magic? Maybe in the think tank, planning a bigger better cache perhapps. I thought for sure he would have stopped off to hunt Get The Point? He must be a Busy Fizzy.

 

Hey Pepper, When are you going to visit. It's so cold down here, I had to put my jacket on the other day. That's about what you have up there isn't it? icon_wink.gif

 

Bill of Green Achers

 

"The [PERSON] who reads nothing at all, is better educated then the [PERSON] who reads nothing but newspapers." Thomas Jefferson

 

39570_500.jpg

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Bill,

Your just the person I need to HELP me with a math cache i'm stumped on and it's on my first page. Dohhhh it's gotta get done.

If your willing to help out a math challenged fellow cacher just let me know.

 

Pepper

Maybe fizzymagic is still out a town? One can never know what that man is up to.

 

Horizontals where it's at!

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quote:
Originally posted by georgeandmary:

_Golden Bear_

 

Ugh! We left after 4 hours. Marky and Joani stayed, I wonder how they did.


Not so golden here either. We stayed another hour to try walking 10 minutes in other directions. We had not one "ah ha" moment all day. We did, however, have a great time with you guys. Thanks for wandering around with us! Pizza was awesome! icon_biggrin.gif

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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Stupid Question from the farmer...

 

Why does Golden Bear (Au Be Ar) have three elements in the name? I understand why Gold may be there, but Berylium and Argon too? Is this a clue that the cache may be at a chemistry lab? We are talking about Bazerkly, home of the Berkeley Lab and a ten minute hike would most certainly take you to a chem-lab. It would be a gas to see someone noble enough to crack this cache. [A little geek humor]

 

Bill of Green Achers

 

"The [PERSON] who reads nothing at all, is better educated then the [PERSON] who reads nothing but newspapers." Thomas Jefferson

 

39570_500.jpg

 

[This message was edited by Green Achers on April 07, 2003 at 03:19 AM.]

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quote:
Originally posted by Green Achers:

Why does http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=41391 have three elements in the name? I understand why Gold may be there, but Berylium and Argon too? Is this a clue that the cache may be at a chemistry lab? We are talking about Bazerkly, home of the Berkeley Lab and a ten minute hike would most certainly take you to a chem-lab. It would be a gas to see someone noble enough to crack this cache. [A little geek humor]


I like geek humor. icon_wink.gif The Be and Ar just happen to spell 'bear', and I don't know if that is some kind of hint or not. I think it's just supposed to be cute.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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quote:
Originally posted by Green Achers:

Stupid Question from the farmer...

 

Why does http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?ID=41391 have three elements in the name?[This message was edited by Green Achers on April 07, 2003 at 03:19 AM.]


 

It may be a hint, but it wasn't on the orignial cache page. Since I was on of the first to admitedly try the cache I saw the orignial cache page. The elements were not listed.

 

Allison was a chem grad student and I think something she said caused the addition of the elememnts. But I don't know if it's just cute or a clue or a cute clue.

 

george

 

39570_500.jpg

Pedal until your legs cramp up and then pedal some more.

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quote:
Originally posted by Marky:

I like geek humor. icon_wink.gif The Be and Ar just happen to spell 'bear', and I don't know if that is some kind of hint or not. I think it's just supposed to be cute.

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"


Ok, Marky. Geek humor? Catch this... Argon, Noble, Gas. That was the humor - as weak as it was.

 

Remember it was really early in the morning when I posted that one... or was it really, really late? Anyway, please bear with me. icon_biggrin.gif

 

Bill of Green Achers

 

"The [PERSON] who reads nothing at all, is better educated then the [PERSON] who reads nothing but newspapers." Thomas Jefferson

 

39570_500.jpg

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Cach in Trash Out Day San Jose!

 

I've entered a cache report for a San Jose/south bay CITO day. I will let you all know when it's approved. San Jose's Anti-Litter program will be providing loaner vests, gloves, and litter sticks, as well as bags, and the Transportation Department will pick up the full bags at the end.

 

I need some ideas for a bad litter creek or park or trail or somewhere that needs our help. Anyone?

 

-------------------------------------

Becky Davis

San Jose, CA

Buy Tupperware for cache containers.

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Golden Bear

 

Heh, saw a bunch of activity on this on our watch list, thought I'd chime in briefly. At the end of our Golden Bear log, I said something like "left a small chemical description of the cache" - it's cute, not a clue, but I guess KDF liked it enough to add it to the cache name. Yes, it ties into having been a chemistry grad student, or at least to what I found lying around the lab that I could leave in the cache icon_smile.gif. Good luck to the searchers - as I said in our log, I think it's doable, but maybe not fair...

 

We're enjoying the Pacific NW - our favorite cache so far up here has been

The Pipeline*, which entailed a mile hike up a high-pressure feed pipe for a hydroelectric station. Wish we had more time for caching!

 

Good luck with Au Be Ar and others (brief plug here for our given-up-for-adoption bay area cache, Pinole Cat). Happy caching!

 

--Alison

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quote:
Originally posted by Green Achers:

Ok, Marky. Geek humor? Catch this... _Argon_, _Noble_, _Gas_. That was the humor - as weak as it was.


Oh, I got it the first time, and like I said, I liked it. icon_smile.gif I'm not as slow as I seem...

 

--Marky

"All of us get lost in the darkness, dreamers learn to steer with a backlit GPSr"

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quote:
Originally posted by mhop:

I thought all parks were public places. Well, some are less public than others it seems. I was thinking about putting a cache in Palo Alto's Foothills park, but I'm not sure when I'll be wealthy enough to do that. It's open to Palo Alto residents only.

 

http://www.halplotkin.com/MetroArticles/metro2_21_91sec1.htm

 

MHOP icon_confused.gif


 

Most of the Peninsula cities had "private" public parks that required residency to enter. Almost all of them have dropped this requirement these days. I remember fondly "Sunnyvale Mountain Park" off of skyline Drive. I did feel special that we could go there but other cities residents could not. It is now part of the MPROSD. This type of limited access is now usually reserved fo the dump. Palo Alto has kept this requirement for this park. They were wise to exclude me, of this I am certain.

 

MtM

 

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This Space Intentionally Left Blank

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This might have been brought up before, but I want to ask what the rules are regarding placement of caches. Specifically, I'm curious about the wording of the guideline that says not to place a cache while on vacation.

 

I take it that means you can't have a cache on the opposite side of the country/state/county ?

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