Hello all,

I'm in the process of finalizing a cache placement, but would like someone to go through a test run for me to make sure my directions and waypoints check out.

I have discussed this with Erik briefly, and since he's short on time he agreed that I should post here for volunteers.

Erik specifically mentioned LazerBlazer would probably be interested, but I'm open to whomever is up for the challenge. The hardest part will be to decode the cipher - once that's done it should all fal into place (I hope). My biggest concerns are that the decoded cipher is interpreted the way I intend it to be and that my waypoints are accurate.

I have to camouflage the cache tonight and get the last two items for it before it's placed, so it'll be tomorrow morning at earliest before it's ready for a test run.

Thanks to all who are willing to help.

BTW - cache pirates need not apply!

Thanks,

Mark (S-4-C)

I'd love to give you some help and test it. Maybe you could return the favor with one of my soon-to-be placed caches. Email me at mushNOSPAMstang@aol.com and we'll work it out.

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"A noble spirit embiggins the smallest man." - Jebediah Springfield

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I'd be glad to help. you can email me at eplossl@NOSPAMmindspring.com.

And what's a cache pirate?

The cache has been created and will be placed this morning. I forwarded the information to Mushtang and MariettaGecko yesterday and look forward to hearing from them regarding the documentation and/or the cache hide.
If all goes well I hope to get this one submitted and approved within the next few days.
Thanks for your help, guys.
- Mark (S-4-C)

Well, here goes nothing. I'm headed on out to go find this one... Wish me luck!

Thanks mariettagecko for your input on the documentation. I am grateful for the objective review. It really helps to have an outside pair of eyes on this stuff. I was blind to some of the things you mentioned.

I haven't received any other feedback, so I'm running with mariettagecko's suggestions. I've restocked the cache after his visit so it will be as noted in the description when found.

The cache has been submitted for approval.

S-4-C

[This message was edited by Strapped-4-Cache on September 28, 2003 at 12:57 PM.]

Now the question is... do I get to log is at FTF on the page?

quote:

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Originally posted by MariettaGecko:
Now the question is... do I get to log is at FTF on the page?

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I asked a similar question of ~erik~ regarding the placement and testing of this cache. In a nutshell, his advice was that since a tester actually finds it first, the right to post as such is theirs. Just don't give too much away.

Just got an email this a.m. noting that the cache has been approved. You can now post to the online log.

Thanks again for the assistance,

- Mark (S-4-C)

[This message was edited by Strapped-4-Cache on September 29, 2003 at 11:16 AM.]

quote:

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In a nutshell, his advice was that since a tester actually finds it first, the right to post as such is theirs. Just don't give too much away.

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That seemed reasonable to me, though I don't make the rules in this game, I just try to administer them.

Hey, I'm right behind you in this search, just gotta finish constructing my Beale Decoder Ring. Looks like it might be too big for my ring finger though. Maybe MS Excel can bail me out again.....

~erik~

Just an FYI.

This is an area I (and quite a few others) often go to at lunchtime, just to get away from the office.

If you happen to see a gold Ford Escort wagon with someone eating his lunch in it, it's probably me. Feel free to come by and say hello if you like.

Happy hunting!

- Mark (S-4-C)

I couldn't understand why the cache never showed up on the "new caches" list in Georgia. I had been laying low to pounce on it. Now I know why it never showed up.

quote:

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I had been laying low to pounce on it.

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Unfortunately before you can pounce on this sucker you've got to laboriously decode the cache page. Yikes! With 1300+ possible numbers substituting for letters, each letter can have 50 possible numerical equivalents. Good thing the key is provided! Decoding is easy, just takes time.

Learning about historical codes is neat. Thanks for the exposure! If you're interested in reading novels about code breaking read Neil Stephenson's "Cryptonomicon". He's also got a new book, "Quicksilver", that just came out. There's also "The DaVinci Code" by Dan Brown, which I think is still on the best seller list. That one is hard to put down, moves a lot faster than Stephenson's works, but isn't as "deep".

Thanks again for the cache. Thanks too to Smoothjazz, Pendulum, LazerBlazer, and others who've put ciphers in their cache descriptions to keep the little gray cells active.

~erik~

Trailer Man,

Was there a problem with the way it was posted, or should I have posted it differently?

My guess is that the "date placed" screwed things up. What's the proper way to do this? Please advise. I look forward to placing a few more caches over the next few months and would like to be sure they're properly posted/submitted.

Thanks,

- Mark (S-4-C)

Far be it from me to say what is correct! I was referring to my looking on the most recent caches list each day to find when it was approved. Since the cache was placed 9/20, it was earlier than the cut for that list, so it never appeared. No problem, I found it! And I look forward to the decode and the hunt.

On a good note the code is very easy to decipher , while on the other hand with so many words to sort through and numbers to go by this will be very time consuming . I hope to have it done by saturday to maybe hit it on the way to the lacy cook out.
Now if only i could figure out eriks method of partially animating the process!

Happy Hunting!
-Amazingracer

If war protesters don't believe in violence what would they do if we punched them in the nose?

As for myself, I wrote a 10 line program to fully decode it, well except for the spaces between words, I had to do that by hand, that took longer than writing the program.

All,

It's interesting to hear the different ways people are finding to decrypt the cipher. Allen, yours if the first yet that has actually mentioned writing a program.

Just goes to show how many ways you can go about tackling a problem. My own was very simple, but not too pretty. Got the job done, though.

Considering how fast some people decrypted this one, I may not go with the cipher-based cache I had planned for my next one. I'll probably just go with a well placed, out of the way hide.

Thanks for the kind words so far,

- Mark (S-4-C)