User talk:Thomcat

I moved all the old comments to User talk:Thomcat/OldTalk because Robyn was having trouble finding the new ones.´

Ex-mathematician?

Hi Thomcat! Sometimes I feel like an ex-mathematician -- these days almost all my work is lecturing and grading papers. I get the feeling that this isn't what OtherJack was thinking of, though. Thanks for the note! Swensonj 20:49, 18 September 2012 (EDT)

Garmin iQue

I brought my GPS with me, and the geohash gods have blessed me with two within the lower right quadrant of the Hannover graticule. I also brought a charger, since I usually use this device in my car (with it's 5V plug).

When I plugged the charger transformer into the German outlet (via adapter) and then into the GPS, I heard a Pfzzt. I cannot tell whether the damage is permanent, but the device refuses to power on. Thus, unless the geohash gods further bless me with a geohash close to me AND easily locatable with only a map (Danatar style), I believe my German Geohashing days are done. --Thomcat 12:15, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Good news! The Pfzzt must have been the transformer. GPS is up and running again. Now where's today's spot??? --Thomcat 14:45, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Journey to DE

Hey Thomcat! When exactly are you going to travel to Hannover? My next journeys there will be next weekend (Friday and Monday; both only driving through on a trip Berlin-Cologne, but I could of course stop there for a few hours) and then again for CeBIT (the whole week). Hessophanes 23:49, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Geohashers! I expect to be in Hannover, Germany from Thursday 2/19 through the end of the month. I must hash on the other side of 30W! Feel free to message me here. I *will* bring games. --Thomcat 00:28, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Yay! Another globetrotter! Statistically, you'll get a feasible hashpoint. Good luck! --Ilpadre 09:16, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Hey Thomcat. Nice to see you around. I won't be anywhere close to Hannover unfortunately, but you should find some easy hashes there. Happy hashing! :) -- relet 09:29, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Just get yourself a Niedersachsenticket and there will be something reachable somewhere. If in doubt, stop by at the IRC channel and ask for directions. And enjoy the country along the way :) Too bad Niedersachsen is too far from here to go for a hashtrip. --Ekorren 10:50, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi Thomcat, thanks for your message. For us germans distances like those between Niedersachsen and Bavaria are quite far ;-) But aniway, your suggestion of a meetup on a weekend is promising and to visit one of the "northern" graticules (seen from my homegraticule 49 11 Nürnberg) e. g. 50 9 (Fulda), 50 10 (Erfurt) or 50 11 (Gotha) by train should be possible. So, if you could manage to travel south to one of these graticules, i would be ready for a meetup on a weekend. I´ve discussed that already with dawidi and he also agreed in such a meetup. --Tomcat 19:29, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

It's a bit of a stretch (6.5 hours by train one way for us, haven't even looked at the return trip yet) but what about 2009-02-22 51 10, on sunday, in a rural area north of Erfurt, in one of Germany's few remaining virgin graticules? (I'm not sure yet that I can, or want to go, it's just a thought) --dawidi 15:01, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Quite a stretch (5.8 hours here) but it would be nice to have a meetup in that one virgin graticule. I'm considering. If we can fill a car, that's ~3 hours at a justifiable cost. -- relet 15:51, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

I wouldn't mind at all how long I'm on the train, but I could only be there for about one and a half hour at a very specific time. Guess noone else would do exactly that trip and share the ticket. :( --Ekorren 15:59, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

I may come, too, if the group is large enough. It's less than 4 hours for me (Würzburg-Schweinfurt-Erfurt-hashpoint) and I could share a ticket with Ekorren, or even with dawidi from Schweinfurt - Danatar 16:57, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Will consider it more closely when I get back to my hotel room and full internet. I have to work Saturday morning near Hildesheim. Love these German kezboards!!! --194.39.218.10 16:27, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Back in the hotel room and can display the maps AND coordinates. Sunday looks good, and I think I only have to change trains once from here to get there. More planning on 2009-02-22 51 10.

Other Deutsche Plans

Saturday 2000-02-21 in Kassel, Germany - 50 km South of my hotel. Have to work that day, but perhaps my coworker would go with?

Sunday 2009-02-22 in Hannover, Germany - 15 km North of my hotel. Preference given to meetup with German geohashers in 2009-02-22 51 10, however.

Monday 2009-02-23 in Braunschweig, Germany - 21 km NE of my hotel, along Hildeheimstrasse. Perhaps the bus goes that way?

Red links

Well, I missed Valentine's Day, but I saved a page for you. 64,-149. Happy belated Valentine's Day! --joannac 00:57, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

My very own red link, thanks. --Thomcat 14:45, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Failed --> Thwarted

I've always disliked punching people's expeditions with "failed". How about Category_talk:Expedition_outcomes#.22Failed.22_Should_Be_.22Thwarted.22?

So I'm glad we are doing this now. I've actually, while going through people's pages, found that a new category might be warranted, something like Not Reached - User error or Got lost or something like that. --Virgletati 20:55, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Most active

I think the Atlanteans are itching for an update on the Most active graticules page. -- Jevanyn 19:44, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Heh, yeah. Give them their glory. You'll probably never have to change the number one spot again. -Robyn 19:57, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

You given up? If you don't want to update it, offer the job to NWoodruff. It's kind of embarrassing not having April's results announced by the end of May. -Robyn 16:48, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Why update this page anyway? There are automatic daily statistics. Or is there a significant difference? -- relet 17:55, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Either update it or officially close it off. And it's good for a human to do things like check that pages have the right caegories. What should be the date at which all expeditions are assumed to be in, and graticules eligible to take their ribbons? The 10th? -Robyn 18:04, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

2009-05-02 48 -122

Coming? -Robyn 19:48, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

xkcd-100

I added an optional distance parameter to the ribbon. -Robyn 20:39, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Geohashing Calendars

Make sure you check out this page so that we can send you your order. Deadline is December 18th. Thepiguy 18:53, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

You here?

I swear I have a message somewhere saying that you are in town this week, but I can't find it. I'm off work today, probably working tomorrow, but not all day, and can't guarantee I won't be in another province after that. Today's Surrey is probably accessible if you're up for a long drive and a gloomy weather hike. -Robyn 13:34, 20 July 2011 (EDT)

Yes, I am typing from rainy Vancouver at this moment. I passed on yesterday's lengthy drive, hoping today would be better... but of course it isn't. Fingers crossed for Friday! --Thomcat 09:55, 21 July 2011 (EDT)

And it looks as if I may be available Friday. -Robyn

I should have made a stab at Wednesday; today's Surrey is in the woods behind some estate, though nearly on the way south. I might be back in a few weeks, though, for a better spot. --Thomcat 13:49, 22 July 2011 (EDT)

Germany 2012

Hi,

welcome back to Germany (as soon as you arrive) ;) I might consider joining a meetup but probably only if it's not too far from the german Baden-Württemberg - bavarian border. --Ekorren 08:30, 15 February 2012 (EST)

I arrive in the afternoon of February 26, and would be willing to make an evening visit on Sunday. Pulling up the map, I see that Monday Feb 27 has a nice geohash less than 10km from my hotel in Nürnberg. I will edit the discussion there and see what happens next. --Thomcat 10:37, 24 February 2012 (EST)

Thomcat #

There's a ribbon for it?? OtherJack 02:40, 4 April 2012 (EDT)

Not officially... see also Meetup graph, and welcome to the web. --Thomcat 15:01, 6 April 2012 (EDT)

Congrats on the DC success!

I've walked up that trail a ways from Georgetown before, but I don't think I got quite that far. Sounds like it was a good time.

And just to let you know, there is another, spiffier-looking graticule chart thing in existence for Washington (state), which folks actually seem to update. So you don't have to worry about maintaining yours. But of course you can if you want. (I just noticed yours now...)

--OtherJack 02:31, 8 June 2012 (EDT)

Yup, but mine's got *history* baby!  :) I'll probably keep it around until I geohash all the missing spaces. --Thomcat 07:30, 8 June 2012 (EDT)

Speaking of which, thanks for updating the spiffy one in Yakima - but are you sure you want to give it to them? I don't dispute that they succeeded at having a good time, but they only got within 300 ft of the hashpoint... --OtherJack 14:05, 13 June 2012 (EDT)

Okay, good point, I should have read that more closely. I want Yakima SO BAD!

(Actually, I want all of Washington, and now Washington D.C. East as well). --Thomcat 14:09, 13 June 2012 (EDT)

Freedomhash

Glad to see you made it out! If you want to avoid the "whoops, forgot to check the website for other expeditions" issue in the future, you should go into your preferences on the wiki and set it so that it emails you when someone modifies a page on your "watchlist", and then add the Seattle page to said watchlist (by clicking "watch" at top.) That way, if someone posts on either the Seattle talk-page or the Seattle main page (almost always expedition planning) you'll get bugged about it. It took me a while to figure that out... -- OtherJack 03:31, 5 July 2012 (EDT)