RANDOM THOUGHTS: Look for Sims on "Early Show"

Opinion

Related Photos

May 5, 2009

By Dorothy Brush / dcb1@frontier.net The Crossville Chronicle Tue May 05, 2009, 04:46 PM CDT

For all those fans of Michael Sims, Crossville’s very successful author, he will be a guest on the CBS “Early Show” tomorrow morning. He will be talking about his new National Geographic book In the Womb: Animals and a new documentary by the same name which will be aired on Mother’s Day. Tomorrow, May 7, you can start your day with Michael Sims.

When I was a little kid it was called a treasure hunt. By the time I became a teenager it was a scavenger hunt. Years passed and now my great grandchildren are all excited about geocaching. This outdoor treasure hunt is shared with their parents and is not a simple just find a list of things. Oh no, this is a high-tech activity.

Those taking part need to visit a Web site such as www.geocaching.com to locate a cache. There they find clues about the location as well as the latitude and longitude of the hidden treasure. This information is transferred to a handheld Global Positioning System and the hunt begins. Once those coordinates are transferred to the GPS unit the receiver connects with a network of satellites orbiting the Earth and the hunter’s location is established. Next the GPS shows which direction to take to find the cache.

The first version of this fun activity began in England in 1854. A national park guide put his calling card in a bottle and left it at a lake in the park. He added a note to those finding it to add their card. They did and he received many responses in his mailbox too. The British term for that receptacle is letterbox and this new popular outdoor activity was named letterboxing.

It was an article in Smithsonian magazine in 1998 that caught the imagination of Americans and letterboxing became popular here. In a short time it moved from letterboxing to geocaching.

The fun is all in the hunt because once the cache is found the treasure is insignificant. Often it is a tiny plastic toy. If the finder takes what is in the container they must replace it with something else. The best part of the game is leaving your name and address in the log book and carefully replacing the cache for someone else to find. Often there is a paper explaining the cache in case a non-geocacher finds it. Those in the know call these people muggles, borrowed from the Harry Potter books.

Amazingly this worldwide game of hide and seek is played in over 100 countries on all seven continents, including Antarctica and in all 50 states in the USA. There is a Middle Tennessee Geocachers Club at www.mtgc.org. It is estimated that there are almost 800,000 caches hidden worldwide. Hikers are big fans of the game and many of the finds are in natural beauty areas or historical and cultural places. Even rock climbers and scuba divers take part in the game and their caches require special skills to find.

The geocachers ethical creed states others should not be endangered, there should be minimal impact on nature, private property should be respected and public alarm should be avoided. The sport should be safe, legal and ethical.

One of the most noteworthy and exemplary qualities of the game is that it is a parent-child experience. What could be better than a family enjoying hours together in the great outdoors?

Text Only

Opinion

GARY'S WORLD: A birthday worthy of celebrating
Sometimes it's good to rejoice over the simple things in life. In fact, I always have been thankful for the simple things in life that bring me so much joy.

February 9, 2012
RANDOM THOUGHTS: Will the bullying ever stop?
Memories of a 1980 visit to Dachau concentration camp are seared in my mind. They all came back as I read a travel story about Boston.

February 7, 2012
LION AND THE LAMB: The conspiracy against women
One can find many major conspiracies against women throughout history. Most of these have come out of a context of male domination and patriarchal mindsets.

February 7, 2012
WE THE PEOPLE: Meet Grover Norquist
Who is Grover Norquist? Norquist is a private citizen. He has never held an elected office. Yet, he has been called the most influential man in America. Grover Norquist helped cause our economic tragedy, putting millions of Americans out of work. Grover Norquist is dictatorial and uncompromising. Grover Norquist must be stopped.

February 7, 2012
TIDBITS: Duct tape fixes everything
There's an old joke about how all you really need in your tool box is a roll of duct tape and a can of WD-40. Use duct tape if it moves and it shouldn't and WD-40 if it won't move and it should. This fabric-backed tape is one versatile product.

February 6, 2012
STUMPTALK: Democrats dishonor their history
Once upon a time, in this very land, and not so long ago, there were Democrats who were able to summon the courage to provide direction for our nation during times when strong leadership was needed.

February 6, 2012
Gary's World: Game? What game? I'm watching the commercials
Anyone who really knows me, knows that I'm not much of a football fan.

February 2, 2012
We the People: Crime and Punishment
Maybe we don’t have enough tools. Maybe we don’t have enough imagination. Whatever the reason, we in the United States seem to be confused about finding and applying effective solutions to major societal problems. We seem to have a one-size-fits-all solution: use more force, increase the punishments. Our approach seems to be based on anger and revenge instead of logical thought.

January 31, 2012
Lion and the Lamb: Football and religion
Football games and religious services have many similarities. Both deal with the human struggle toward various goals in life, the importance of both individual and group effort, liturgical celebrations that include music, singing, pageantry, symbols, bidding calls and responses, and the ingestion of food and drink. Also, those sports and religious figures that are deemed most successful, such as by filling large gathering places with celebrants, are usually given special rewards and higher remuneration.

January 31, 2012
Random Thoughts: Enjoy a ride on a Merry-Go-Round
Our first son sent a picture of a sign which told about the man who hand carved the elegant animals on a carousel in San Diego, CA. A second picture was of that son, of retirement age but still working, and his young son mounted on two of those animals. Both males wore broad smiles.

January 31, 2012
More Opinion Headlines

Opinion

Search Results

Related Photos

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Look for Sims on "Early Show"

Site Map

Contact Us