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Prairie Jeepin

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From the Orlando Sentinel today:

 

Bomb hunt yields harmless box

 

While investigating a bomb threat at the Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand, deputies found a "suspicious package," :D sheriff's officials said.

 

Using a bomb robot, deputies determined that the box found near Alabama Avenue and State Road 44 was not an explosive. :D 

 

When they got a closer look, they figured out that it actually was part of a high-tech treasure hunt.  :D Investigators said the "geocaching" box, which contained some papers, was likely left as part of the hobby whose participants rely on global positioning data to find clues.  :P

 

The box was not related to the bomb threat, deputies said. Deputies evacuated all three Volusia County courthouses after receiving the threat but found no explosives.

 

ROTFLMAO!!!!!!

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Greeting all,

 

I have been giving the whole issue of creating a Manitoba Geocaching Association a little thought. The purpose of this association would be to promote the sport of Geocaching in Manitoba via improved communication and to provide information to the public about our activities and the sport of geocaching.

 

The benefits could include a no cost centre for local geocachers to get information about the sport as it evolves, provide a central location to retrieve geocaching resources, assist in cache planning, provide links to other similar associations, promote organized events such as CITO or Geo-rallies. Other activities could include Meet and Greets, Family Days, Training Sessions, Open forums and discussions and any other activites sponsored by the participants.

 

This association should be able to operate without any fees being required with the help of a few rabid geocachers with a little time and patience to spare.

 

The staring point for the development of any association is the establishment of need. At this point I would ask that anyone supporting this initiative please step forward and make their interest known. If there is sufficient interest than discussions could continue.

 

If you support this initative please drop me a line at skavenlak@hotmail.com or through this forum. I am assembling a list of those cachers willing to participate. This list is developed solely for the purpose of establishing interest in a local association and will not be distributed in any way.

 

I hope to hear from the local community soon.

 

Cheers,

 

Skaven :D

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Wow, its great that people want to get an association started. Truth be known I have been working with Dani_Carriere on this and we have come up with starting draft on the association and we're nearing completion of the website. I will be grabbing some co-ordinates from the venue we will be hosting the event for today, and hopefully it will be approved by this weekend. It will be held in March, and it will give everyone a chance to meet the community and express their opinions on how they would like to see the association set up. M.I.

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I’m new to caching. I am really excited by the sport having just found my first on the 5th of January. It would be nice to have a meet and greet night out so that us newbies could get some tip from the pro’s. I was reading the earlier post with a reference to a Pub night. I like this idea but I feel that those who have kids as part of the team will miss out (I don’t have kids, so I don’t know what others think? To me a Pub is fine.) Maybe an afternoon of sledding at a local hill could be arranged.

 

I am interested in helping to, or organize(ing) this event. I am fairly busy with work and school so I don’t always have a chance to read the forums. If you want to contact me just email me as it seams that I am a slave to my e-mail jon@omegaeffects.com thanks.

<_<

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Hey MB gang!

 

I just was poking around for the first time in the Forums section and thought I'd post to let you all know I'm lurking around here.

 

Intersting stuff for me on the Geocaching and Ham Radio Forum. I've been using a GPS for 4 years with some Amatuer Radio equipment to track my truck on the internet. If ya want to watch me travel around, do a google search for VE4MHZ-14 and you'll find me. If I'm in some strange place, I'm probably geocaching.

 

I submitted a new cache this past Friday and it still hasn't been aproved. I've never had to wait over 4 days before. I wonder if the volunteer cache approvers are really back logged or if they've got quite a few gone on vacation? Anyone else had a similar or longer wait?

 

Thanks!

MHz :mad:

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Two things. First approvals for caches is taking 3-5 days. Second, there is a guy who deals in surplus miltary gear at Westbourne. Ammo cans for $6 or $10 (.30 and .50 cal respectively). Can provide number to those interested. Ammo cans from United Army running for $24.

 

Skaven :mad:

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:mad: $24 for an ammo can??? That's insane!

 

I remember the good old days when we could pick them up (here in the US at least) for $3 or $5 for the 30 and 50 cal cans. That was before geocaching became so popular. Now they know there is a demand for them, and the price has gone up. Even still, the 50 cal cans are around $8 here.

 

When you get the Manitoba Geocaching group set up, you might want to consider placing a bulk order from some place like CheaperThanDirt.com or even eBay. You can get the cans cheap, but then have to pay for shipping.

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Any cachers out there from the Portage-Westbourne area coming to the meet n' greet? They'd probably manage to sell several at our MBGA event if someone could bring them. Add a couple of bucks for mileage to each and pay your way!

Thanks for the feedback. We'll be picking up a couple sometime soon for some spring caches we want to set up. Just one has to average gas into every place you go especially with the fuel prices rocketing upwards. These 0 rings. Are they rubber or what?

Looking forward to seeing some Billygoat caches- When are they coming? Any chance there will be some more in the South end of the city? Wishful thinking on our part.

Check out Peter and Gloria's new cache. Joker 1 solved it and enjoyed dabbling with Streets n' Trips 2005 doing it! Just have to take the long drive to Bird's Hill sometime to catch up on all those caches and log them. If only there were outdoor camping in hte area. Our tent wouldn't quite do the trick right now. Though last time we were there in August it hit a low of +1 or so and we managed the same temp last Saturday!

We certainly are looking forward to a little less snow. Imagine how easy caching will seem after the deep freeze is over. What is a couple thousand mosquito bites anyway? :mad:

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Just so no one is waiting for my new cache to come out. It was not approved and archived.

 

It was going to be a webcam cache using the University of Manitoba Bisoncam

http://www.umanitoba.ca/bisoncam

 

The reason it was archived was because the camera is too far away to identify the geocacher. Even though I wanted to have the cacher hold up the first letter of their geocaching user ID to make them stand out, they still archived it. Thanks to 1queenand4jokers for the idea though and 3T's&aG for helping me set it up.

 

If that's their criteria then I don't think there is a webcam in Manitoba that will meet it. You can use the Forks Cam to zoom in but the picture becomes really grainy and the camera is hard to control as it's very popular.

 

The rest of the webcams are on top of buildings like the TD etc. Not useful either.

 

Oh well, maybe some day there will be a webcam that will work for this purpose.

 

:laughing:

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So - the only way is if some of you comp geeks have an office window on ground level, bosses that understand you're not kinky, the webcam rolling all the time, uploading to a website in realtime so we can snatch it. The one aiming toward the Leg got me thinking about it but the University webcams are far better. Not many cities really have better ones. I thought the idea of the letter was fabulous.

My question to Geocaching would be why see faces if a cacher would go to the effort of making a large letter? Most of us wouldn't even recognize each other in the winter with touques and parkas anyway. I mean if we really were in it for cheating we could easily superimpose ourselves via Photoshop into any background or picture. WE are after all a wee bit hooked on technology.

I just can't imagine anyone being that desperate for logging a cache - at least I've seen no evidence in Manitoba cachers yet. This U of M one is just so much clearer than the ones they use at Ottawa's Parliament as well where you have to show a Canadian flag. I guess we're lucking out because MB got a late start in caching. :mad:

Ah well we're a class act and will probably come up with something far superior. Thanks to MHZ for trying! This cache would have been ideal for Gump since we wouldn't be able to make out his face just a big G. But the Powers That Be want to see your face! Reveal yourself...Does Manitoba have traffic webcams? I guess we could submit photos of getting caught on those photo radar traps. I have a nice one I should've framed for what it cost me to look at my rearview license plate. :mad:

Cost more than most family photos anyway.

Ah well there's my moderate rant. Do you think begging them to reconsider and promising we'll be honest would help? Works for my kids often.

Hope its nice for the weekend - maybe we'll see some of you out there tomorrow.

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Portage Princess Auto had the 50's for 12.99 so I grabbed two. Billygoat got a better deal but we were in the right neighbourhood caching so we took it. We're going to make all of you work for these though!!! Our minds have been perculating all winter on two multi-caches which we think will be total fun. Yes 300 hours is not too much thought to put into a good cache that you hope will be memorable.

Maybe next weekend we'll finish off Master Instigator's multi and tackle a bunch of Bird's Hill caches. There are about 10 in the area we have yet to do. And then we have to get back to our failures. We hit a new record for caching in 1 day for ourselves. 11 found. 3 DNF's. And a part II of a multi. Can you imagine what a team could do with more daylight hours, an unlimited fuel expense account and some warm weather?

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We hit a new record for caching in 1 day for ourselves. 11 found. 3 DNF's. And a part II of a multi.

 

I had a whack of watch notifications from you yesterday. Holy Mackeral! Talk about marathon geocaching!

 

Can you imagine what a team could do with more daylight hours, an unlimited fuel expense account and some warm weather?

 

I'm scared ... I'm really scared :surprise:

 

I think I have a good day if I can get 2 done :anibad:

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I'm happy to hear I'm not the first person to try to get a web cam cache up and running in Manitoba.

 

I'm still not entirely giving up.

 

I certainly have the know-how to setup a web cam and I can probably put the equipment together needed to run it (computer, camera, OS, Web server etc). What I don't have is a secure appropriate location with a decent internet connection (dial-up won't do) and power.

 

Does anyone know of a location that might do for this project? Wiindows in homes are not appropriate as I'm quite sure most neighbours would not take kindly to having thier house monitored on the internet 7x24.

 

Just something for people to ponder.

Edited by MHz
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A Little MBGA Anyone? (Event Cache) at 3/1/2005

Certainly looking forward to it. Any of cachers from way beyond city limits thinking of coming? We're heading out early this Saturday again for a bit of a run on the Bird's Hill caches that have sprung up in the last number of months. That is if the weather isn't too chilly. Anybody know which of those are winter-friendly? Leroy, White-tailed Trail, Kudlowicz, Monster Box, Demolings, Griffith's Hills, Forget Me Not are on our list as well as finishing up Manitoba Minutiae. Plus which of these are the longest hikes? We've got limited time before the meet n' greet so we will have to scurry I think. "Come on boys - hurry it up" is a typical Mom (I mean Queen) thing to say.

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I can help you out on that Queen. Leroy, Monster Box and Demolings are winter friendly, but they all require a bit of a hike to each one. I loved them all and I should probably refind them with my snowshoes before the white stuff is gone. :rolleyes: Wish there was more that require a hike to get to. As for White-tailed Trail it will be about a 1 km round trip hike that is winter friendly. It was fun and reconmend it. Griffith's Hills is worth the work, but you better have one of your lucky coins to find that one in the winter, and as far as I know I still have your #7 that I always keep in my pocket when caching. :grin: If you figured out the co-ords to Kudlowicz then you are half way to finding it. It will be I think the shortest walk, but man I don't know I spent an hour looking for it to be FTF, but I couldn't see it anywhere. Peter is talented at hiding caches not only from muggles, but from geocachers as well :( . As for Forget Me Not, and Manitoba Minutiae I don't know I haven't got around to doing them yet.

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Griffith's Hill is just off a X-country ski trail (approx. 2 km round trip). It's a large container that should be easy to find in the snow. Whitetail Trail should be an easy find just off a groomed walking trail. Kudlowich is well hidden but the snow is NOT a factor. ForgetMeNot is a short walk but this is another of polarbeardigger's caches that may be quite difficult to find in the snow. Leroy and Monster Box both have not been found for a while, so there may not be much of a trail. We ending up having to do some bushwacking to get to Monster Box. Demoling is also just off a groomed walking trail.

 

It's a shame that Master Instigator will be closing Manitoba Minutiae. It's about 2 1/2 km (roundtrip) from the highway if you follow MI's directions. I would assume that there will be lots of snowmobile tracks; there were lots of ATV tracks in the summer. I believe The Stuntman took a more direct route (about 1 km roundtrip) but it may have involved bushwacking & there may not be much of a trail.

 

It will be interesting to meet lots of Manitoba Geocachers at A Little MBGA Anyone? Is Gumpy coming in disguise?

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You know, I don't even know if I will be able to make it now. A family function came up and it would only allow me to attend for about 15 min before I would have to leave. Still trying to work something out so I can be there. How I see it my cousin will probably get married again in a couple of years, but this meeting is a once in a lifetime thing. Ah well, I still have to convince CherryPie to that yet.

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Maybe we should all wear "I'm Gump" or "No I'm Gump" shirts <_< Anybody could actually come as Gump I suppose - maybe I'll disguise one of my Jokers as Gump.

Which cachers has no one ever met on the trail? We've only met 3 - PBD, MHZ, and 1T of 3T's&AJ.

So many questions...so few answers. Many put up pics but what does ERTYU look like for example and why did he pick that name?

Anyhow - thanks Peter and Gump for making our day a little easier to plan and anticipate. I don't want to miss the meet n'greet just cause we're stuck on some trail in Bird's Hill area trying to find out way out!

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There actually was an event in MB that was initiated in my town a year ago for the Turtle Island Festival. It was arranged by Turtle Mountain Community Development and the old Cache Page is HERE.

 

In fact, odd as it may be, I was just talking to the TMCDC today about this very event while picking up some items for a cache. Perhaps I can convince them to do it again at next years Festival.

 

PJ :rolleyes:

So when is the Turtle Mountain Community Festival? Maybe a bunch of us from the Greater Winnipeg and surrounding rural could descend on your area during that time as an MBGA outing. And of course do a bunch of your caches and perhaps set some up for you to do.

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My apologies for the tardy response, I have been occupied with other things of last few months and have not made it a point to check on forums as regular as previous.

 

I will have to check when this year's TM Festival is. I am usually busy working (agriculture industry) and have never been able to attend. I will check on this in the coming week for you all.

 

According to the information I have, the GPS event was only held the first year and due to a lack of participation was not continued. However, this was before caching was as widely known/practiced as it is today. I will also perhaps try to convince TMCDC to consider this again. Maybe with my help in set-up they will be more open to the idea. No promises but I will talk to "the man" and see what he thinks. I think that any idea that brings people into the community would be a welcomed thing.

 

On a side note; I will be heading to the "Peg" Saturday the 26th to pick up my daughter at the airport. I would be very interested in knowing or having directions to Princess auto, the local army surplus store, and if there is a Scottish store around, that too.

 

All I know of Winnipeg is how to get in to the airport (from #3 and Perimeter 101) and back out again. Even then I have to follow the very poor signage, so any directions provided should be pretty basic and clear and hopefully from along my route (Portage Ave) somewhere.

 

PS: My search skills are somewhat lacking in the cached plotting dept. Suggestions/recommendations of caches along Hwy #2 West or #3 South would be appreciated if anyone would mind providing the names in a short list. Ill look them up from the list for the details.

 

Thanks, I'll look into the TM Festival information.

PJ

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Hi!

 

Princess Auto is located on Panet Rd, south of Nairn. This is in the east end of the city, just west of Lagimodiere.

 

United Army Surplus is located at Portage at Colony, right downtown.

 

SIR is located just north of Polo Park at Empress and Ellice. Polo Park is on Portage Ave, just past all the signage for the airport.

 

I'm not sure this is a Scottish store, but there is a celtic store at the Forks. You can follow Portage Ave. until you hit Main St. Go south on Main. After the first set of lights, you'd make a left hand turn. Once you go under the train bridge, you'll see the Forks to your right. If this isn't a Scottish store, they may know where to find one in the city.

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We have successfully started the MBGA, and are having a vote for our logo right now.

 

You can sign up to be a member of the Manitoba Geocaching Association here.

I'd be cautious of using the logo that looks like the geocaching logo clipped to the shape of MB. GC.com has guidelines for the use of their logo.

 

Otherwise, they all look awesome! There certainly are some talented people in Manitoba.

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Thanks for the "Peg" information. I'll see what I can fit in and figure out. As it turns out I have an errand to run for a friend which will take me in through #52 north from the perimiter road. So I will be going right past the Forks. And I'll probably get lost trying to find the Airport road from the other direct LOL! (It would be so nice if one of the airlines flew into Brandon)

 

As to the MBGA; I registered. Thanks for the link. I share Junglehair's concern as to logo designs in one regard. I am not too concerned with the one she points out, I actually like that one, it is clean and simple. The one using the Provincial Coat of Arms is my concern and may be a problem -- to the best of my knowledge it is illegal to utilise, deface or otherwise tamper with or display Government Heraldic arms. I am sure I have read such rules in past research. You might want to look into this if this logo gets past stage 1 voting.

 

I think that the best way to approach this logo is to utilise well recognised symbols without actually copying them or infringing upon ownership. The 4 colours and corners of geocaching, The Gx symbol which has been approved for general public use, and the bison/buffalo come to mind.

 

Simple is best as it allows for longer unchanging use, Technology changes, therefore the use of existing tools would become out of sorts down the road as gps units change &c. I wish I would have known of this contest prior to yesterday as I would have loved to be part of it.

 

Quick idea based n the items above: a Gx branded bison standing within a compass rose of the four geocaching colours, and perhaps a small scroll with MBGA at the bottom. Oh well, maybe another time.

 

Manitoban Geocachers -- please don't forget to register with the MBGA and vote for a logo.

 

Best regards to the Association for the future,

PJ

Edited by Prairie Jeepin
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Sorry about the deadline PJ, but a lot of people have already used up their 4 votes. There will be many other opportunities to design graphics for the site, so please keep your ideas in mind. I like the idea about have Bison graphics, etc. We need to pretty up the web site every once in a while and will gratefully accept what people want to offer.

 

At our membership meeting we tried to emphasize that this is OUR web site, and everyone can add pages, and ideas, and graphics.

 

As for the copyright issues, we have been listening to your conversation. There are a few of us who (I guess) are the committee (we'll post the names on the web site this week). We're coming up with a game plan to handle the legal scenarios. Keep an eye on the voting page, we'll post our solution there, once we have one.

 

Thank you for bringing this up. This is a great time for it (Long before we start hearing from the Groundspeak lawyers!).

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Sorry about the deadline PJ, but a lot of people have already used up their 4 votes. There will be many other opportunities to design graphics for the site, so please keep your ideas in mind.

No worries. If I had been around a bit more than I have recently I would have known about it and submitted something. It's my own fault :)

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HI Peter! It doesn't work for me ... and I have JAVA fully enabled here at work. Is it javascript or a java applet. I'm getting a message that says cvcs not initiated.

 

Here's the code from my JAVA console:

 

load: class xplug.class not found.

java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: xplug.class

at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.findClass(AppletClassLoader.java:161)

at sun.plugin.security.PluginClassLoader.findClass(PluginClassLoader.java:168)

at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:299)

at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.loadClass(AppletClassLoader.java:122)

at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:255)

at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.loadCode(AppletClassLoader.java:560)

at sun.applet.AppletPanel.createApplet(AppletPanel.java:567)

at sun.plugin.AppletViewer.createApplet(AppletViewer.java:1786)

at sun.applet.AppletPanel.runLoader(AppletPanel.java:496)

at sun.applet.AppletPanel.run(AppletPanel.java:293)

at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:536)

Caused by: java.io.IOException: open HTTP connection failed.

at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.getBytes(AppletClassLoader.java:260)

at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.access$100(AppletClassLoader.java:42)

at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader$1.run(AppletClassLoader.java:151)

at java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)

at sun.applet.AppletClassLoader.findClass(AppletClassLoader.java:148)

... 10 more

 

It looks as though you need the xplug.class on your server.

Edited by dani_carriere
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I will have to check when this year's TM Festival is. ... I will check on this in the coming week for you all.

I have looked into this for those concerned.

 

The Turtle Island Festival is 4 months away and there is no current plans for a Geocaching or other GPS event. However, the TMCDC Officer here will be putting forth the idea to the Festival Committee this coming week for consideration. If there is interest in such a thing, I will work with him to plan and place a cache or two that will become active the first day of the Festival for those wishing to attend in this regard.

 

If, on the other hand, there is no interest by the Festival Committee, we may still go ahead privately and place a cache on behalf of the TMCDC (Turtle Mountain Community Development Corporation) which will be activated also on the first day of the Festival.

 

Therefore, the likelyhood of a cache becoming available during the Festival, either as a part thereof or as a private venture, is most likely something to look forward to. I will keep all those interested informed as I know more.

 

PJ

 

PS - I also have plans to set out two additional caches of my own in the next few months.

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If anyone here knows how to get in touch with "Skaven," would you please ask him to reply to our e-mail? He appears to have been the last one to get my son's TB "Miz Dem" out of the Christmas cache, just before it was muggled, but it never has been logged in, and we can't get a response to our attempts to contact him. Thanks!! Team Machodoc

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