A trip down memory lane: May 1, 2000

[jthorson]

Forgive the vanity and the old timer tone of this but I visited the sci.geo.satellite-nav archives. This was the news group (sort of like a bulletin board/chat room) where geocaching was born. I looked for some of my contributions and I am re-posting them here as the anniversary of the change in selective accuracy approaches.

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Here is my announcement of a party to celebrate the reduction in selective availability (posted May 1, 2000). I got many responses:

I was going to have a party to “count down” the in-accuracy but nobody I
know understands what I’m talking about, so I’ll have to eat and drink all
this stuff myself.

If you’re in the neighborhood, I’m at 43.08657N and 88.26518W +-49 feet.

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From Sep 10, 1998

Yes I was a geek back then too… I wrote a mapping program for my Garmin 12.

Thanks for the reply. GPSS wants Win95 which is beyond the 2M PC.

But here is what I have found since I first posted the question.
I’ve looked at shareware/freeware approaches.

First conclusion: the Toshiba (PC1) goes back to the land of
the useless.

However there are 2 solutions I’ve found for a minimal PC (PC2):

“Navigator” – is a lean program that fits and does the basic moving
map stuff.

“Roll your own” – After researching NMEA 183 and looking at the
existing packages I’ve decided to take a shot at it. Believe it or
not I am having great results with a program written in Procomm Plus
(a communications program) script. Its not finished yet but
I’ll post it — if and when.

Jeff Thorson

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Here is my post from July 17, 1999 (two years before the end of selective availability) that describes a GPS based game I invented:

The US Government is sponsoring a contest related to the collection of USGS Monuments!

How To Play
Play by collecting as many USGS monuments as you can find. These are embedded in cement posts or affixed to buildings: remember to bring your tools. Note: Ignore the tamper warning — It’s there to keep people away who don’t know about the contest.

How to Win
Contact your local Federal authorities and let them know what you’ve done. Pictures of your activity will help you redeem your prize. Remember, the more you collect, the more you win.

What You Win
After you appear before one of the official contest judges you will be awarded 1 – 2 years at a Federal institution. Meals included. The monuments you collected will be replaced for the next player.

Official Contest Rules and Limitations
For official rules obtain a copy of the regulations related to Federal property. No purchase necessary. Contest void in states north of the equator.

As far as I know the game was never played 😉

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A post from my first hunt going to the nearest cache (stache) in Illinois (June 6 2000)

The posting:

Stash in Bensenville, Illinois

> N 41*56.067′
> W 87*57.512′

Michael

My response:

Cheese heads in route, hide the women and children….

Jeff Thorson

Owners Response:

Noted. We are at CheeseHeadDefCon 2, which means the bratwurst is on the grill.

Michael
What you read was a posting of a cache and a log… times were simpler then 🙂

There are many other posts in the archive but this is enough.

[Trekkin and Birdin]

Thanks for sharing a peek inside “the beginning,” Jeff. I bought a pretty cool book earlier this year, Local Treasures, Geocaching Across America, and beside nice photos, the author talks about the things that led up to this goofy game we like playing. Nice to see the early stuff from someone I actually know!

[K0rpl]

Good Reading Jeff! always interested in learning more about the hobby.

[Author]

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