User talk:Robyn/2008Talk

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< User talk:Robyn
Revision as of 15:22, 28 August 2008 by imported>Robyn (Moved a from talk page.)

Cover Stories

I know what you mean on the border crossings, especially when I forgot the name of Canadian counterpart to Surrey. I just told them I had (was going to) met up with some friends.
Its not like you are doing something Illegal. Anyways, best of luck on future crossings, and Ill see you at one of these hashes soon. Garyuuko 17:27, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Whoops, I had meant the Canadian side of Sumas, i.e. Abbotsford. Of course use my name if you want (Warren if you prefer), and maybe give me a heads up. I'm usually up for a ride. Garyuuko 21:57, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

Not exactly. While biking is fine and all, I prefer to ride my motorcycle. Garyuuko 18:47, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

Grouse Mountain Access

I would really love to attempt it, but unfortunately I’m busy tomorrow. Too bad, it looks like it could be really awesome! Let me know if you make it! Thepiguy 01:45, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

ASG

Ah, yes, the a/s/g graphic is sublime; I just wish I could take credit for scheming it up! I saw it on some other user's page, had a good chortle, then noticed that it was derived from the ASG template and quietly co-opted it for my own personal use.  :) --Youhas 08:33, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

haha. Yeah it started from a funny IRC conversation and things just kept going until eventually we had an ASG template and a graphic to go along with it... Oh the wonders of IRC... That air achievement is pretty impressive btw! Chrisinajar 14:02, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

North Cascades

Missed you (and Wade and a flying dinosaur) by around 10 minutes. Looking forward to meeting another multi-graticule hasher - perhaps in Bellingham in the future. Loved the rock art! --Thomcat 05:03, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Virgin graticule

Thanks for the template work; I was meaning to dig into that myself. Here's my art proposal, from the xkcd strip YouTube -- User:Thomcat

Oh, I get it, it's a cherry. That's wrongness and wrongocity in all it's wronguousness. -- Jevanyn 19:10, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Opinion sought - I'm working on categorizing all expedition pages (success or failure, along with failure reasons). Once categorized, it will be (relatively) trivial to determine the first Geohasher for each graticule. Should I throw a Template:Virgin_graticule on the graticule page for that user or users, or should we design a new ribbon or banner for this special purpose? --Thomcat 18:39, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

What You Found

Working on an achievement category for things found at the geohash site.

xkcd People, Other People, Pets, Livestock, Wildlife, Building, Tree (specify species), Money (specify amount, nationality of currency), Flower, Paved, Electronic Device, Explosive Device (shell casings, cores where they blasted a freeway through rock, bomb craters), Firearm


Richmond, Va != Siege Engine?

This may sound nitpicky, especially since I do enjoy people visiting our humble graticule or even its wiki page, but I didn't follow your logic. While the graticule has certainly been host to more siege engines than I care to count, the wiki page only mentions one, and that particular engine is a Trebuchet, which is seperate category contained within the Siege Engine category. So, in short, I would not personally categorize Richmond, Va. as a siege engine.

You are absolutely right, and I realized it after I had done it but something shiny distracted me. I knew I could count on the power of wiki to put it right. - Robyn 01:35, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

The category is temporarily removed until someone converts the entire graticule into a siege engine. -- Moose Hole 19:00, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

BC Grat Chart

Flattened, but the links work... Would this be better for you, Robyn? Other than the fact that you finished the part that I just left as ranges, I don't really see the difference. Except that Surrey is green.

Some of the links are blue and work is all; Surrey, Vancouver and Kelowna, I think.-Wmcduff 17:23, 25 August 2008 (UTC)

Progress towards Regional Geohash for British Columbia

Chart in progress. I don't really intend to do this. I just want to show how ridiculous it is.

59,-139 59,-138 59,-137 59,-136 59,-135 59,-134 59,-133 59,-132 59,-131 59,-130 59,-129 59,-128 59.-127 59,-126 59,-125 59,-124 59,-123 59,-122 59,-121 59,-120
58,-137 58,-134 58,-133 58,-132 58,-131 58,-130 58,-129 58,-128 58,-127 58,-126 58,-125 58,-124 58,-123 58,-122 58,-121 58,-120
57,-133 57,-132 57,-131 57,-130 57,-129 57,-128 57,-127 57,-126 57,-125 57,-124 57,-123 57,-122 57,-121 57,-120
56,-132 56,-131 56,-130 56,-129 56,-128 56,-127 56,-126 56,-125 56,-124 56,-123 56,-122 56,-121 56,-120
55,-130 55,-129 55,-128 55,-127 55,-126 55,-125 55,-124 55,-123 55,-122 55,-121 55,-120
54,-133 54,-132 54,-131 54,-130 54,-129 54,-128 54,-127 54,-126 54,-125 54,-124 54,-123 54,-122 54,-121 54,-120
53,-133 53,-132 53,-131 53,-130 53,-129 53,-128 53,-127 53,-126 53,-125 53,-124 53,-123 53,-122 53,-121 53,-120 53,-119 53,-118
52,-132 52,-131 52,-130 52,-129 52,-128 52,-127 52,-126 52,-125 52,-124 52,-123 52,-122 52,-121 52,-120 52,-119 52,-118 52,-117
51,-131 51,-130 51,-128 51,-127 51,-126 51,-125 51,-124 51,-123 51,-122 51,-121 51,-120 51,-119 51,-118 51,-117 51,-116 51,-115
50,-128 50,-127 50,-126 50,-125 50,-124 50,-123 50,-122 50,-121 50,-120 50,-119 50,-118 50,-117 50,-116 50,-115 50,-114
49,-127 49,-126 49,-125 49,-124 49,-123 49,-122 49,-121 49,-120 49,-119 49,-118 49,-117 49,-116 49,-115 49,-114
48,-127 48,-126 48,-125 48,-124 48,-123

Easy Geohash

Thanks for putting me on the Easy Geohash Achievement page! I'm still a little new to the whole wiki thing, and have no idea how a template would work, but http://xkcd.com/142/ has a nice image to convey a "Piece of Cake." It's a little small though.

I love the image template! You do wonderful work. Thank you so much for choosing it! And to think, I wanted to use a picture of cake...

Finally figuring out what you username meant did inspire me. As the first holder of the title, it was your due.

Most Irritating Thing About Geohashing Algorithm

I thought I saw a "service" on here that would instant message (or email) you the coordinates once available. If not, one could be created easily enough... Of course, you would have to have a device to receive messages turned on, not stowed for takeoff and landing :-) --Thomcat 01:25, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for the "My Kingdom for a Boat" ribbon. Good job. The email service is found at http://www.geohash.info

I can send and receive e-mail from the aircraft but not SMS. And I don't know if I can send punctuation other than .

Categories, etc.

I like the category tree, all the way to root. Well done!

Dear Abby,

Most expeditions that get within 25 feet or so I am judging as "success" - that is within the tolerance of a good GPS. My present conflict - one of my expeditions 2008-06-19 47 -121 was 7.7 meters away - within my car! Before it started to rain, I walked over to the fence and leaned on it, AND chatted with the homeowner who's driveway I was parked on. Do I re-calculate my hash total and call this a success? --Thomcat 04:10, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

I say success is in the mind of the succeeder. In fact, if I were you I would write a treatise about it right on the Category:Expedition Outcomes (I don't know how to make a link to it without categorizing my user page there!) page, letting people know that if they feel their expedition was a success, they can change the category. I think you need to be wary of setting yourself up as the arbitrator of Success and Failure. But if you felt the sting of failure in that driveway, then you failed, but if you felt the glow of success, then you succeeded. I hope you're using that information from people's descriptions to categorize expeditions, as well.
I shall write said treatise. To put your category here, put it in square brackets with a colon in front of it. In fact, just edit this and see how I changed yours ;) --Thomcat 04:32, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, that will come in handy. And really good job on that treatise. I think you will prevent any hurt feelings with that, and get people to cooperate. -Robyn 04:52, 12 August 2008 (UTC)
And thank You for the idea! Incidentally, I changed that expedition to a success, with a clean conscience. --Thomcat

Virgin - we talked about putting a banner on the graticule page with the qualifying party or parties. I tested this out with Seattle. However, this makes the category page a mish-mash. See Category:Virgin_graticule_achievement. Acceptable, or another alternative? --Thomcat 18:00, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

I thought it was a little weird when I saw it listed in the Category last night, but then shrugged and said, "If Seattle wants to declare its maturity with that banner, so be it." But NOW I understand what you were asking before about the Virgin Graticule banner and I almost wrote here that you should design a new banner for that purpose. But then I realized it would still get mixed up. There are other graticules who like to display what I thought of as personal achievements on their graticule pages and, well I'm just proud the banners are being happily used. The effect of the banners will to automatically generate a list of expeditions, users and graticules who care enough about the achievements to display a banner. It's easy to distinguish among them, so no harm done. -Robyn 18:56, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Re: Templates

Thanks. I've just inverted the Land hash icon actually. :) Night hashing must be fun.. I definitely plan to do these achievements soon. We've done some night caching the other day which gave me the idea.. it's really special to scramble through unknown territory in the dark. -- Relet 09:51, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

"Actually" cold...

I'll have you know that we nearly froze to death that day...!  ;) Ted 14:28, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

8,9,10...

No, it was just nine hashes, and eight of them which I count as reached. In that one case, I didn't even bother to get out of the car, as it was clearly in a fenced sheep pasture. The other points on the map (in Berlin) is where I started from, and how I have returned. You'll see that they are not aligned with the other hashes.

Thanks for the ribbon offer, but I am not certain which one you are referring to? I think I got all the ribbons I need (for that trip). :D

Oh, unless you mean the expensive geohash - I'm not too keen on that one. And I'm sure you'll beat me there if you do the MONSTER air geohash which you are alluding to. I'd love to see you do this one. Even though I think it's a bit more rewarding to actually put your foot on the spot and leave a few hash marks.

I still feel a bit disappointed for still not having met any other geohashers, which I did not bring myself in the first place.. seems to be our common curse. :] -- Relet 10:23, 18 August 2008 (UTC)


Re: Air Multihash - If you prefer to leave the graticules' virginity to us landlubbers, we can make you a special ribbon for the flyover. How about Petting the Graticule. ;} --Relet 13:54, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

ROTFL! I don't want to take away the opportunity for virgin hashes from other pilots, but perhaps one for the first LAND hash in a graticule that has already been sniped from the air would be appropriate. -Robyn 14:04, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

A harsh marsh...

...deserves a ribbon. :D Feel free to move it to your user page. -- Relet 12:01, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Wow

And I thought I had been busy the last few days! You put the rest of us to shame (in a good way of course!) I particularly enjoyed your accounts of the Wal-mart bike. Good luck to you, I'm sure you'll make it to another hash point soon! Thepiguy 07:48, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

As long as you keep writing stuff, I'll keep reading it! And don't let mother nature get you down! As long as you keep trying (and as long as you don't buy a $100 Wal-mart boat to attempt a water hash in the middle of the lake!) I'm sure you'll conqueror that graticule! On a side note, if Vancouver keeps treating me as well as it has been, I may catch up to you yet! =) Thepiguy 19:53, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Re: most active

As soon as we upgrade to the next version of Mediawiki, there'll be the automatic variable {{PAGESINCATEGORY:...}}, which should automate a lot of statistics. Then you'll only have to add new candidate cities to the page, and maybe change their order from time to time.

Yeah, wikis are great.. you just browse around and fiddle and do. I just happened to search for "active" (as I had your page in mind) and found two of the same name. -- Relet 21:44, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

This works fairly well for tracking graticules (though not successful geohashes - we need something that can parse multiple categories I think). I'm currently contemplating a scorecard template of some sort. Similar to the A/S/G, you can update your scorecard for hashes attempted, success, etc. Then the template can use categories (please suggest for me, Robyn!) to count those scores, and we can then visit the category page to see the overall scorecard. Or maybe I'm just full of beans...
I thought the categories "Coordinates reached" and "..not reached" would be the ones we count. Same goes for "Category:Meetup in LON,LAT" Why would it not work?
If there's anything that could relate to several categories, we just need a meta-category to contain it. I am thinking for example of "Failed - Mother Nature" and "Failed - No Trespassing" which (should) require the category "Coordinates not reached". -- Relet 21:47, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
Boy am I spacey - I was referring to individuals! Our graticule categories work well for comparing graticules, but the only thing that works for individual geohashers is a manual compare. While I can't currently think of a good automated method for counting individual expeditions and successes, I am thinking of a manual method that would allow us to compare easily - a scorecard template. We then add categories to that template to keep score (something like Category:Count expeditions 20 or Count successes 10 or Count no public access 3). --Thomcat 03:56, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
I didn't quite follow, so I just kept quiet. I guess that's why. I see the benefit of the template, but not everyone counts them the same way. Some people don't list their geohashes on their user pages, being content to have their names on the expedition pages. But that's okay. The wildly active people would probably participate, and I guess you're most interested in that. Curiously I hit success #10 on my 20th hash. If you'd asked me I would have said my success rate was one in three or four, not one in two. I guess I notice the dry streaks more than the win streaks. -Robyn 04:04, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations

On beating the Slave Lake. :D -- Relet 21:47, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Now if I could just get Utikuma Lake ... -Robyn 05:50, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

We all knew you'd get it done! Congratulations again! I also can't decide how I feel about your bike. On one hand, the picture of the mud made me want to cry, but on the other hand, I'm sure this is the most use anyone has gotten out of a Wal-mart bike in a looooong time! And thanks for helping with my categories! Thepiguy 16:31, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

I'd say you've already gotten far more than your monies worth out of that bike! I read somewhere that the average department store bike never gets ridden more than 12km. And I'm sure not many people have ever patched a tire on any of them too! Have you decided what your going to do with it once you leave? I think there should definitely be some sort of shrine. Thepiguy 16:49, 22 August 2008 (UTC)
Wow, that's like people ride it home and forget it. I'm planning on passing it on to the co-workers who will replace me and/or finding a local who is willing to garage it for the winter. There is a good chance I'll be back in next summer for more work in the area.
I've noticed a distinct lack of a sense of urgency in my desire to gt totoday's hash. It's pretty near an access road about 30 km down the highway. But I'm still basking in yesterday's success. Plus I need to do laundry and might still get called to work in the next two hours. -Robyn 17:00, 22 August 2008 (UTC)


Keep those airport geohash alerts coming. Someday they'll pay off. - Robyn 02:06, 5 August 2008 (UTC)

Trying to make a Template

I'm going to try to figure out how to make a template. It will be the Template:Achievement Description.


More Icons

Thanks for the input on the icons. Here are some more for your perusal.

I like the impala. Gallop! Gallop! What would make a good Impala Achievement? "You had to flee from the geohash."? -- Relet 10:17, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
I thought someone might just want it on their user page. One thing I was toying with was achievements for what you see (and succeed in photographing) at the geohash: ungulate, insect, reptile, bird etcetera. I was also thinking of a Moon Landing geohash, like the Origin Geohash except for the date of the first human moon landing. But that would make wild splintering into commemorative dates for everything. -Robyn 13:57, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Thanks (again!)

[Re-inserting. Please be careful not to stomp others' talk!]

Hey, Robyn -- you're really kicking ass keeping this wiki up to date with all your categorizing, achievement and other work. It's really great -- thanks! Ted 15:05, 22 August 2008 (UTC) Ted 15:14, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, Ted! I thought to be editing the section, not the page. -- Relet 17:05, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

Regarding Crisco Twister badge

None at all, please go right ahead. I put this reply on my talk page as well. Ironiridis 20:04, 22 August 2008 (UTC)


Northern Geohash

You know that your Slave Lake geohash would place #10 on the northern geohash list, right? Might be worth putting in there. -Wmcduff 00:13, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Most active graticules

I had just merged the two pages Most Active Graticules (created by you in August) and Most active graticules (note the capitalization) created by Jevanyn in July. T'wasn't even me keeping the scorecards. -- Relet 12:53, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Ack. I wonder why Jevanyn's wasn't linked to the achievememnts page. -Robyn 12:59, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Regional Geohash

First, were you meaning Robyn/Regional Geohash to be User:Robyn/Regional Geohash?

Second, well done, and I had no idea BC was so big. Mind you, the east-west variance near the northernmost BC graticule is much smaller, but BC is huge compared to my Washington or Aperfectring's Florida. --Thomcat 17:43, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

You are quite right about the page name. I've just moved it. And I never noticed how big my provine was until I did that, either. Mind you, there are a lot of graticules with just slivers, making it look bigger, but I've never been to so much of it. I'm thinking of making the bits I've been to, but not geohashed, some other colour. -Robyn 18:12, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

hmmm, echo also first question for Robyn/Graticule Hopper (1,423 bytes) and Robyn/Incredibly Crappy Walmart Bicycle (3,659 bytes). --Thomcat 18:06, 27 August 2008 (UTC)
Ayup, I'll do them, too. -Robyn 18:12, 27 August 2008 (UTC)