[Jeremy]

@Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu wrote:

are you planning on adding this link to the Web link list?? I know I’ll lose it otherwise. LOL blonde Hare you know 😉

Good suggestion Anne… it has been added to the Geocaching Software category in the Web Links module.

[Jeremy]

@Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu wrote:

I assume they reuse GC numbers once a cache or event is archived, too?????

Nope, they are definitely not reused. In fact, a unique waypoint code is assigned as soon as a cache is submitted, so even caches that never get approved or published are “holding” codes forever (there are probably tens of thousands of these).

[Jeremy]

@hogrod wrote:

I’ve been using the geocaching quick search for over a year and love it, though there is one thing I find different with the new search added to the WGA site. when searching a zipcode with the firefox quicksearch, if you are also logged into geocaching.com the only results you get are new/unfound caches. I find I use the FF quick search this way almost everytime I’m about to head out, that way I only am seeing the caches I haven’t done.

You caught me on this one… I actually removed this “feature” because I wanted to see all the caches in a particular location or zip code. But I can see how having the filter applied would also be useful in some cases.

So to make things as close to the FF GQS as possible, now when you search by zip code or location on the WGA site, caches found by you or hidden by you are filtered out. To see all caches, simply append a + (plus sign) to the end of the zip code or location.

[Jeremy]

@Flushingrouse wrote:

If you happen to be using Firefox for a web browser….. Check out this little linkie… You could certainly copy the GC&(() code and paste it into the firefox quick search….

See it here: http://xca.auscstrike.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=GQS&file=index

Very cool. In fact, it is so cool that I shamelessly ripped off most of the features of this Geocaching Quick Search module to create a Geocaching.com Search block for the WGA site. More than 70% of visitors to the WGA site are not using Firefox, so this feature will allow these folks to have access to a similar “super” search facility. (But having the search always visible in the Firefox title bar is definitely more convenient though… maybe someday I’ll put together a WGA Firefox search module.)

On the left hand side of all pages on the website you should now see green and yellow block titled Geocaching.com Search. Most of the commands and search types supported by the Geocaching Quick Search are also supported here… click on the View Search Syntax link for a complete list.

Note that I did add a couple new commands. My favorite is getting the nearest caches by Wisconsin location name (like city name)… if you find yourself in a town and want to know what caches are around, you can just type loc: and then the name of the town (like loc:Portage). This is much easier than trying to find out what zip code you are in, navigating on a map, etc.

[Jeremy]

Cool idea… I never would have thought of providing this feature, but it definitely seems useful, especially for folks who haven’t figured out BBCode yet (or are just lazy ;)).

After about 15 minutes of regular expression building, I have something that I think works pretty well.

Here are the rules for the auto-linking to work:

– Waypoint code must start with GC in capital letters
– Waypoint code must have a space before it, and either be “naked” like GCHZKB, or enclosed in parenthesis like (GC65B). Jamming it next to another character or word like MyFavoriteCacheGCABCD, and enclosing it in anything else like [GC1234] will not work.

If there are any other conditions under which folks think the waypoint auto-linking should work, let me know. I intentionally limited things by requiring the space in front of the GC to prevent false positives (bogus links).

On a somewhat related note, does anyone know what geocaching.com is going to do when all the waypoint codes starting with GC are used up? (It looks like all these waypoint codes may be used up by the end of the year.) Hopefully they have a plan for dealing with this rollover and it isn’t a Y2K-like situation…

[Jeremy]

@Cheesehead Dave wrote:

Does that mean you passed the DeLorme challenge as well?

Dave, you are evil! 😈 Here I thought I achieved something special and you go and crush my ego. 😉

So I spent this evening running a My Finds Pocket Query and then doing a manual map comparison to check to see if I passed the DeLorme challenge. Well I failed miserably…

I have two embarrassing “bald spots” in the middle of the northern 1/3rd of the state (maps on pg. 72 and 77 in my edition of the Gazetteer). I am also missing Wisconsin finds on 10 border maps: 57, 58, 70, 82, 92, 97, 98, 99, 102, 104. (I do have Michigan and Minnesota finds on some of these maps, but I’m assuming they don’t count… where are the official rules for this contest anyway. :))

On a postive note (for me anyway), I doubt anyone else has completed the challenge. Page 57 is almost all water (it has just a tiny sliver of land north of Kewaunee)… there is no cache on that page now, and there may not even be a place to hide a cache. There is only 1 cache on page 104 (GCG5V5) which may be gone and even if it is there looks pretty challenging.

[Jeremy]

@Decrepit wrote:

Does anyone know if there is a different sticker for out of state people or is it the same one with a different price?

It is a different sticker. It is the same design but a different color, and it says “non-resident” on the back.

Probably a better option for the out of state folks is to buy a day pass for $10 instead of the $35 non-resident annual sticker. Day passes are also available for Wisconsin residents for $7.

[Jeremy]

This is a live report from temp cache hiding headquarters.

So far we only have 3 teams out hiding caches and could use a few more. (Where are all the people who said they were coming… :)) We’ll be here until 5pm… call ahead (414-975-1509) if you are going to show up after 5.

[Jeremy]

Dave, this person has joined the WGA within the past month but does not appear to have a geocaching.com account or be logging their finds:

sssnoopy profile

Try sending them a private message through the WGA site. If you don’t hear back in a couple days, send me a private message and I can contact them using the email address they provided when they registered as a member.

[Jeremy]

@greyhounder wrote:

This is just a reminder to those of you who have permanent geocaches in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest (and surrounding areas):

Bec, you might want to do a find and replace on this posting… change Northern Kettle Moraine to Southern Kettle Moraine. Unless of course the location of the picnic has moved without me realizing it. 😉

[Jeremy]

A big thanks to Lindsey (Coastiegirl04) for organizing this Gauntlet expedition… because of her efforts and the discussion that went on here, everyone was well informed and prepared for the adventure. I think this excellent upfront planning contributed to the relative ease at which most people completed the challenge (compared to previous attempts) and was responsible for the lack of serious injuries. I’m glad the group let some of us “veterans” (myself, Dan, Anne) tag along for the hunt and offer advice… hopefully we stayed out of the way enough that we didn’t annoy the new people.

Also, thanks have to go to the Lil Otter (and Bill) for letting her house be used as a base for pre- and post-Gauntlet activities and as a makeshift campground.

I’ve attached a picture of the group taken when we were clean and sweat free just before heading out. (It is also a find jthorson contest… he is hiding in the picture somewhere. :))

Bottom row, kneeling (l to r) Black Belts, Jakesdiner, marc_54140, Cache_boppin_BunnyFuFu, Coastiegirl04, Coastie’s Dad, goofy-2

Top row, standing (l to r) Piwko Kurczak, jvechinski, KTEC, zuma, Da Bloodhound, Lil Otter, Cachew (x2), Team Hemisphere Dancer, benny7210, Digital Dan, Team Wheezer

[Jeremy]

@EnergySaver wrote:

Not having a Palm III, I might not be right on this. But I doubt that “removing one battery at a time”, allows the one remaining battery the ability to provide power to the unit … as I’m assuming that the batteries are in “series”, which means removing one battery breaks the circuit; only if they’re in “parallel” would you still have a completed circuit.

Ron, of course you are correct. I figured you were right about the batteries being in series when I read it, but I pulled out the DMM last night and verified that this is true for the Palm III. From now on, you can answer the hardware questions and I’ll stick to the software ones… deal? 🙂

So replacing one battery at a time definitely just minimizes the time the memory is held up by the capacitor. I don’t know what the charge time of the capacitor is, but you may also want to wait some time between taking out each battery to ensure it gets fully charged (and thus will retain memory for the longest time possible).

[Jeremy]

@BigStick wrote:

I was adding counties to my state map and found that Adams and Juneau counties are reversed on the map (i.e. choose Juneau and Adams is filled on the map and vice versa). Is there a specific place to report this type of thing or is the general forum the place?

Thanks for reporting this… the problem has been fixed. The most embarassing part of this goof is that I used to live less than 10 miles from Adams County. 😳

It doesn’t really matter where you post website problems/bugs… the most important thing is that the problems and bugs get reported somehow rather than left sitting there for someone else to find. I guess the “Suggestion Box” forum would be the preferred location, and is where I moved this topic.

[Jeremy]

@Team B Squared wrote:

With my old palm m105, I have this problem with losing data when I change the batteries also. I did some research on the web and found out that there is a problem with the capacitor used for battery backup. There was a flaw in the design. I am not sure if this would be the same issue for your situation or not.

I have a Palm III series that I use for caching… and yes it uses a capacitor just like the Palm m105 to temporarily hold the contents of memory while you change the batteries. I can have my batteries out for at least a couple minutes without losing anything.

So if the capacitor is truly bad, there is nothing that can be done simply (like changing an internal battery) to fix the problem… maybe keeping one AAA battery in while you change the other will keep enough “juice” to the memory so the information in it is not lost?

Sounds like we need to open a “hospital” for these sick units (don’t you have this problem too Anne?) where a capacitorectemy is performed to get them well again. 🙂

[Jeremy]

I have reserved the Nordic Pines shelter (same one we are using for the Geo-Picnic itself) for this Saturday, July 29th. So we’ll have a dry and shady base of operations with electricity instead of trying to run the thing out of Becky’s car. 🙂

They will have the shelter open for us before 9am, and I told the park officials we’ll be out of there around 5. Like we did for the Peninsula hiding day, someone will be “manning” the shelter all day… so stop by whenever you can (even to just chat with the other cachers who show up).

Please bring your creative cache hiding ideas and unique containers!

[Author]

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