The End Is Near

My iPhone Ant Infestation

I have seen some weird things on my iPhone, but nothing like what happened the morning after my son accidentally spilled pancake syrup all over it! NOTE: Those ants are inside the iPhone!

Geocaching WWFM 2007 Montage Video

Collected from video & still pics of dozens of Geocaching WWFM events held simultaneously on November 10, 2007.

Pablo Mac & Son in the Paper

Read all about it.

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot

What if Jack Bauer used AOL 3.0?

Saying "NO!" to a Police State

How do you know if the Constitution has been perverted if you haven't read it?

A Nation of Sheep

On the Way to GCR8T7

In Event of Moon Disaster

"In Event of Moon Disaster" was a proposed speech drafted by presidential speechwriter William Safire. It was intended to be read by President Richard Nixon during the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July 1969 had a catastrophe occurred that would have prevented Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin from leaving the surface of the Moon. It is considered a haunting glimpse of the worst case scenario that could have made the historic landing a much more somber one. As the mission was successful and the astronauts returned safely, the speech was never used. It also never had to be adapted for any of the subsequent landings. The last line of the speech contains an allusion to Rupert Brooke's First World War poem, The Soldier.

The speech was part of a memo from Safire to Nixon's chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman. It detailed Safire's suggestions about how the Administration would react to a disaster that would leave Armstrong and Aldrin stranded on the Moon, including a speech, presidential phone calls to the "widows-to-be," and a religious ceremony for the astronauts.

The text of the memo was as follows:

To: H. R. Haldeman

From: Bill Safire

July 18, 1969.


IN EVENT OF MOON DISASTER:

Fate has ordained that the men who went to the moon to explore in peace will stay on the moon to rest in peace.

These brave men, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, know that there is no hope for their recovery. But they also know that there is hope for mankind in their sacrifice.

These two men are laying down their lives in mankind's most noble goal: the search for truth and understanding.

They will be mourned by their families and friends; they will be mourned by the nation; they will be mourned by the people of the world; they will be mourned by a Mother Earth that dared send two of her sons into the unknown.

In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.

In ancient days, men looked at the stars and saw their heroes in the constellations. In modern times, we do much the same, but our heroes are epic men of flesh and blood.

Others will follow, and surely find their way home. Man's search will not be denied. But these men were the first, and they will remain the foremost in our hearts.

For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.

PRIOR TO THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT:

The President should telephone each of the widows-to-be.

AFTER THE PRESIDENT'S STATEMENT, AT THE POINT WHEN NASA ENDS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE MEN:

A clergyman should adopt the same procedure as a burial at sea, commending their souls to "the deepest of the deep," concluding with the Lord's Prayer.

Why I Left My Great Job at Oregon State University

Without naming names or saying anything more than needs to said, this explains it well enough to my many friends at OSU and elsewhere who have been wondering about this.

Geocaching Song

My friends at Podcacher.com sent this great geocaching song, and I absolutely must pass it along.

World English Institute in Albania

Billions of people in today's world are trying to learn English. Many students enroll in World English Institute to learn English, and as they study God's Word, their interest often shifts from English to the Bible.

Why I Archived "ID V. Ego" (GC14GMJ)

In an effort to avoid more false accusations and rumors, I'm archiving my "ID V. Ego" cache. It's supposed to be fun, but someone who seems unable to solve this puzzle cache sees it differently.

Young Engineers at Work

Early Fall Mountain Biking ROCKS!

I took a bike ride to my Land Navigation 101 cache for a maintenance visit, and shot this pic nearby. Fall is my favorite mountain biking season, for good reason.

No Smoking Bicycles

Yes, we must be told not to bring our smoking bicycles into the building. I'm glad we have someone looking out for us.

This window is just a few dozen feet from my notorious All of the Cool Cachers Log DNFs Here cache. If you haven't seen the video for this cache, watch it here:

The Funniest Joke in the World

Late Summer Biking by the River

I took a ride this morning and hit some trails by the South Santiam River that I haven't ridden in at least 5 or 6 years. I started to head down what looked like a new trail and what I found instead of a rideable trail is in the pic above. When I finally got close to the road, I passed by a "No Trespassing" sign...as in coming out of a restricted area. Bummer. At least I know the direction to take again next time.

World Bible School is Bringing It Home

World Bible School has delivered the Gospel for 35 years via postal mail and email. In 2008, WBS will introduce a new web-based online education program, "Bringing It Home."



A Pablo Mac exclusive video.

River Jeeping with Crazy Joe

Who drives their Jeep across a raging riverbed? Crazy Joe & Pablo Mac, that's who!

We Must BAN Dihydrogen Monoxide!

Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the unstable radical Hydroxide, the components of which are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.

For more information on this issue, visit this site.

Meanwhile, watch and listen to what Penn & Teller say about this pervasive chemical.

Animator vs. Animation

I wish I could claim credit for this!


Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART

From a Forwarded Email...

One of my sons serves in the military. He is stationed stateside, here in California. He called me yesterday to let me know how warm and welcoming people were to him and his troops everywhere they go. Telling me how people shake their hands and thank them for being willing to serve and fight, not only our own freedoms but so that others may have them too.

Then he told me about an incident in the grocery store he stopped at yesterday, on his way home from the base. He said that several people were in the line ahead of him, including a woman dressed in a burkha.

He said when she got to the cashier, she made a loud remark about the U.S. Flag lapel pin the cashier wore on her smock. The cashier reached up and touched the pin and said, "Yes, I always wear it proudly, because I'm an American."

The woman in the burkha then asked the cashier when she was going to stop bombing her countrymen, explaining that she was Iraqi.

A gentleman standing behind my son stepped forward, putting his arm around my son's shoulders and, nodding towards my son, said in a calm and gentle voice to the Iraqi woman, "Lady, hundreds of thousands of men and women like this young man have fought and died so that YOU could stand here, in MY country and accuse a check-out cashier of bombing YOUR countrymen."

"It is my belief that had you been this outspoken in YOUR own country, we wouldn't need to be there today. But hey, if you have now learned how to speak out so loudly and clearly, I'll gladly buy you a ticket and pay your way back to Iraq, so you can straighten out the mess in YOUR country that you are obviously here in MY country to avoid."

Everyone within hearing distance cheered!

Pablo Mac's 1000th Geocache Find

My son and I Jeeped all around here with some geofriends this afternoon on a great cache adventure. We found my l000th Geocache on the summit of Snow Peak, a mountain I have been wanting to visit for a few years. I got to combine the two most fun aspects of geocaching in one trip: spending time with friends in really cool places!

Time to Give It Up

When you have stared at a puzzle cache for countless hours at home and work, yet have made no progress toward solving it, at some point you should step off, give up, and get on with life.




It's time to give up and get on with life.

Pablo Mac's 1000th Geocache Find

My son and I Jeeped all around here with some geofriends this afternoon on a great cache adventure. We found my l000th Geocache on the summit of Snow Peak, a mountain I have been wanting to visit for a few years. I got to combine the two most fun aspects of geocaching in one trip: spending time with friends in really cool places!

Real Eyes Realize Real Lies

Tampon Chandalier

I don't know which question to ask: "Why?" or "Why not?"

Pablo Mac on the Hood

I had been contemplating mounting (yes, that's the technically correct term) a huge Pablo Mac logo on the hood of my Jeep for a while. I even did a Photoshopped version during my period of indecisiveness. Yesterday I finally went for it and put it on for real. Now everybody get in line for theirs...

Cache Maintenance at GCM2YV

The Lebanon Travel Bug Rest Stop was due for some upgrades, so I knocked that out today. The cache container is mounted a little lower, and no tools are needed to access it now!

39 Ways to Live, and Not Merely Exist

So much fluff to read online these days...this piece really stands out. Enjoy!

Messing with Your Mind

Your memories are the end product of all you've ever thought and done, filtered through your perceptions and opinions. Who you are is shaped by your memories, and your memories are shaped by who you are.

A fascinating article on how we create our own memories...and some other stuff I was going to add, but forgot to...

Read on...

"Do As I Say, Not As I Do"

Want to read a real geodrama?

The owner of a geocache called Rock House Cave discovered that some cachers had taken an easier approach than she intended, so she deleted their "Found It" logs. A heated debated arose, during which I placed a note on the cache page (which the cache owner later deleted):

My impression of a true 5/5 cache is one that doesn't allow any potential for a cacher to sign the log without overcoming 5/5 obstacles. A fair number of my more difficult caches incorporate little-known and/or difficult-to-discover approaches that are easier than the more obvious ways of getting there. If a cacher stumbles upon, or studies their way to a more efficient approach than I revealed in the cache description, more power to them.

Jeremy himself (what's up with his boring profile page?) even weighed in.

I came across an interesting tidbit on how the cache owner in question had committed a similar offense on a puzzle cache a little over a year ago, so I placed another short-lived log (see the screenshot) for the 25+ cachers who were watching the cache page. As of this writing, I have received positive comments from 17 of those cachers.

You can read more of the subsequent exchange on the Emerald Valley Cachers forum.

All I can add at this point is that, although I have never found a Chubby Forest Monkey cache, I had hoped to find as many of her remote ones as possible. Until now.

Yet Another BSOD on My (OSU's) Dell Doorstop

Caused by a conflict between Windoze and an anti-virus program...sheesh. Where is my Mac Pro!?

The Elevator Lobby Near My Veal Pen

This is the elevator lobby by my office...uh...cubicle.

Slow Traffic Keep Right!

I'll admit I tend to drive within the top 20% when it comes to highway speed, but only when traffic allows. I grew up in times and places where it was understood that, unless you are actively engaged in passing another vehicle, you stay in the right lane. I am now commuting on a 4-lane highway that I used to drive daily about eight years ago. Back then, it seemed rare to see cars lined up in the left lane, with the right lane clear, but nowadays, I see examples of what you see in this pic more than anything else.

I have come to the point where I can accept people hanging in the passing (left) lane, until someone approaches from behind, at which point, you really should move over to the slow (right) lane. Driving slow in the passing lane prompts people to pass on the right, which is more dangerous than passing on the left. And if I have to go into why that is, then stay home and don't drive. At least stay out of the passing lane unless you're passing somebody!

No "Discovered It" Logs Allowed!

I was in the vicinity of one of my seldom-visited caches yesterday and stopped by for a maintenance visit. I noticed a really nice geocoin had been sitting there since the cache was last found nine months ago, so I jotted down the number to log a "Discovered It" log later (I don't make it a practice to grab nice trackable items from my own geocaches, but rather let others enjoy a pleasant surprise when they visit them).

I thought the coin owner would appreciate some news that their coin is still there, and I wanted another cool coin icon on my profile page. I placed my "Discovered It" log on the geocoin, only to have it deleted by the cache owner with no explanation. When I emailed the cache owner, he referred me to the geocoin's page, where it says, "Discovered it" logs will be ruthlessly deleted without warning or exception."

Wow, I never saw that kind of rule before, and I'm still trying to understand the logic and motivation behind it...

Pablo Mac is (temporarily) GPSr-less!

Aliex and I went on a cache maintenance visit to Pablo's Singletrack Mind, and this is the last pic I took of my beloved Garmin 60CS GPS receiver before selling it to my nephew, DCRude.

Don't assume I'm getting out of geocaching just yet; I'm temporarily between GPS units. Stay tuned...

The Great Global Warming Swindle

Accepted theories about man causing global warming are "lies," claims a controversial new TV documentary.

The Great Global Warming Swindle - backed by eminent scientists - is set to rock the accepted consensus that climate change is being driven by humans.


"The environmental movement has evolved into the strongest force there is for preventing development in the developing countries."

- Patrick Moore, Co-Founder Greenpeace

To former environmentalist Paul Dreeson, the idea that the world's poorest people should be restricted to using the world's most expensive and inefficient forms of electrical generation is the most morally repugnant aspect of the global warming campaign. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear: if we're telling the third world that they can only have wind & solar power, what we are really telling them is, 'you cannot have electricity.'"

Cache Maintenance @ GC1254F - Essence of Forgiveness

Can You Identify This Man?

Are they, or are they not one and the same? You decide.

"National Treasure" Hits Pablo Mac's Ignore List

My son and I were heading out the door for a bike ride this afternoon when I got a new cache notification for a cache near our destination. We hurried over to try for an FTF, but, after more than a half-hour of searching for this 1.5/1.5-star cache, we deciding to give up, and then GlenMart pulled up. We hunted together for another twenty minutes or so, then we all gave up, figuring either the newbie cache owner hadn't actually placed the cache yet, and/or they made a mistake on the puzzle aspect and we were hunting in the wrong location. Yes, we had each seen both scenarios (and worse!) before.

I went home and placed a DNF log, and then received an email from the cache owner telling me, "an error was made" and to go out and try it again. The cache owner had made a simple but huge error in the puzzle, and blamed it on their GPS receiver. No apology, just blame-shifting. So as not to waste another minute on it, I will just say that this cache has made it onto my ignore list. See ya!

@ GCTRV1 - Passion of the Glass Dragon

Did a quick maintenance run to a few of my caches, and this is the only pic that turned out halfway decent. Here is the original Pablo Mac White Jeep Travel Bug at Passion of the Glass Dragon.

@ GCKW9N - Scoot Over

I replaced the missing container on Scoot Over for the second time. This area seems to have a cache curse!

@ GC1254F - Essence of Forgiveness

Rode by on a quick pre-activation check on Essence of Forgiveness.

Hangin' with Punky Bug

My beautiful daughter a.k.a Punky Bug is so much fun.

Aliex @ GCTFJ9

Aliex & I went for what was supposed to be a 2-3 hour bike ride in the sunshine, but we got rained out about twenty minutes after I shot this pic near Just for Fun. He hasn't ridden off-road in the rain, and wasn't really dressed for it, so we bailed early and enjoyed a downhill muckfest all the way to the trailhead.

Now he says he can't wait for our next mud ride!

Aliex Prepping Easter Eggs

Pablo Mac's New Bike

This is Pablo Mac's new bike, a Cannondale Prophet. It should suffice in getting me off the couch and on the trail more.

This is Pablo Mac

I will probably never have the means or opportunity to experience the great adventures I used to dream of: exploring the Amazon, Jeeping from Alaska to Rio, climbing Everest, etc., but I am able to satisfy my hunger for adventure in smaller bites through geocaching and mountain biking.

I signed up for this blog a year and a half ago and never used it. When I discovered how to blog from my mobile phone, I suddenly realized how this blog could chronicle that adventure. Stay tuned for more location pics & stories as I continue my great geocaching & mountain biking adventure story.