GeoGASM

[Eater of Clowns]

Geocaching - A community-driven hobby wherein people input coordinates into GPS devices that lead them to small boxes in remote or hidden areas.  The boxes contain an assortment of small items, trinkets, or note pads.  Finders of a geocache are to place something of theirs into the box and taking something out in exchange.  They can leave messages on notepads, etc, then they put the box back where they found it.  There are communities online where people can report back if they found the box, if it was difficult, or if it was missing, etc.

The community started in the relatively early days of GPS devices, before they were as ubiquitous as they are now.  It's still a nichey activity, with lots of caches being on hiking trails, etc.  Recently, GPS devices are easily available in the form of our very favorite tools of Big Brother - smart phones.

I think we should target the GeoCachers.  By necessity, the community is tight knit, keeping track of existing caches and updating them.  That means recurring themes in the boxes could possibly be remarked upon in discussions.  The activity also attracts the curious - a cache might have any number of otherwise pointless items, but they're basically buried treasure troves.

Pope cards and meme bombs are the stand by for things like this, so maybe this is an offshoot of postergasm.  Here, though, they're placed where the individual is specifically looking.  And on top of it all, we can have some fun looking for geocaches.  Hell, if we learn enough about the community, maybe we can make a few of our own.

So, is this something people would be interested in?  Which meme bombs might speak best to this group?  Does anyone know more about the activity than what I've outlined here?

Props to Richter for prodding me with a polearm to post this.

[Telarus]

Interesting idea. I'll give it some thought.

[Hanni]

We go Geocaching as a family once a month- but usually one of us is off hunting for something. I think it's a brilliant idea. The caches don't necessarily have to be in a quiet location- they can be placed anywhere, we have several hidden along our main street that 'muggles' walk past every day unaware.

The only flaw could be that most of the containers I've come across are tiny, you'd have to check before setting off to a cache how big the container was.

[Richter]

EOC brought this up during the Lovecraft Tour last week, and I think it's a great idea.  You're grabbing the attention of folks who already curious and driven enough to go our searching for one of these in the first place, so maybe better odds than our usual propaganda.  It also gives us another thing to do in the midst of postering or going on reality walkabout. 

It could be just adding leaflets or pope cards to existing caches, or like EOC said, setting up our own with larger selections of writings  (hidden library of rants?)

Couple considerations in doing this:
-Do we want to direct the cachers back here?  Granted, no larger exposure than a poster, but this IS more attention grabbing, could backfire.  We could get a pissed cubscout leader whose kids found our site and saw a load of goatsee.  (I'm presently in favor of the "Pile of links to sites about our reality tunnel" route, not just plugs for PD.)
-KEEP IT CLEAN.  Kids find these things.  Printing a load of goatsees and packing a cache with them would be ugly.

[Cramulus]

I love this idea. I meant to start geocaching over the summer but then I moved and made new friends and I drank a lot of alcohol and you know how that goes.

I think geocaching is a great spot for memebombs, pamphlets, weird art, et cetera.. for a few reasons:

1) when you find and open the box, you are paying FULL attention to it. It's treasure. It's nothing like a poster you see on the way to work, or somebody's sig on the internet, it's something you actively sought out

2) geocachers strike me as the right kind of people. They like adventure and exploration and community. They also like leaving presents for others to find.


Maybe we could whip out a brochure encouraging geocachers to take it to the next level.

[Triple Zero]

-Do we want to direct the cachers back here?  Granted, no larger exposure than a poster, but this IS more attention grabbing, could backfire.  We could get a pissed cubscout leader whose kids found our site and saw a load of goatsee.  (I'm presently in favor of the "Pile of links to sites about our reality tunnel" route, not just plugs for PD.)
-KEEP IT CLEAN.  Kids find these things.  Printing a load of goatsees and packing a cache with them would be ugly.

Yeah. Although I have to say, we do take care to make our posts SFW, combine that with people expecting a random weird place on the Internet, I think it'll be okay.

We don't really have much "not for kids" stuff except in the "tools for tools" thread, do we?

1) when you find and open the box, you are paying FULL attention to it. It's treasure. It's nothing like a poster you see on the way to work, or somebody's sig on the internet, it's something you actively sought out

absolutely! It's totally in line with that psychological principle that people attribute way more worth to an idea when they had to spend effort getting to it.

we could totally exploit that.

I dunno, it sounds particularly suited for things concerning the law of fives, even in the original "23" form.

[Richter]

-Do we want to direct the cachers back here?  Granted, no larger exposure than a poster, but this IS more attention grabbing, could backfire.  We could get a pissed cubscout leader whose kids found our site and saw a load of goatsee.  (I'm presently in favor of the "Pile of links to sites about our reality tunnel" route, not just plugs for PD.)
-KEEP IT CLEAN.  Kids find these things.  Printing a load of goatsees and packing a cache with them would be ugly.

Yeah. Although I have to say, we do take care to make our posts SFW, combine that with people expecting a random weird place on the Internet, I think it'll be okay.

We don't really have much "not for kids" stuff except in the "tools for tools" thread, do we?

Not image - wise no.  Murphy's Law, a "Concerned American Adult" on the site WILL stumble into one of Dok's bits about weird sex with perverts, or an LMNO inspired discussion on the finer points of victorian figging.

[Eater of Clowns]

We're the first result when someone googles Principia Discordia.  Hell, it's how I found the site.  I think if we put some references in there that piques a person's curiosity, there's a chance they'll wind up here.

And Cram just made me realize that I posted this going into the cold months.  Ahah, oops, I wish I'd put it up when I first thought of it in Spring.

[Hanni]

Ahah, oops, I wish I'd put it up when I first thought of it in Spring.

Not a bad thing, gives us all winter to hide and plan crap

Some people see geocaching in Winter as 'more fun' (especially if it snow)... they're just weird though. All the caches are waterproof so even if you went out and put stuff in it would sit there until someone found it.

On the geocaching website you can track when and who found it and whether they took anything out.

[Elder Iptuous]

Liam, those are called 'multi-caches' if i remember correctly...  the geocaching website lists whether a cache is such.  it also lists the size range of the cache so that you know whether you are looking for a 20mm ammo can, or a film canister.

this is kismet for me.... i used to geocache with a friend of mine about 4 years ago, but he moved away, and i stopped.  now he's moving back!   geocaching: GO!

[Richter]

OK, I jsut read that as "Multi - staches"

It is our damn DUTY (especially Cram) to fill some of these with 6 way mustaches.

[Eater of Clowns]

OK, I jsut read that as "Multi - staches"

It is our damn DUTY (especially Cram) to fill some of these with 6 way mustaches.

Oh my, Richter, did you...did you just invent a 6-way mustache.

I'm picturing six large mustaches, connected at the tips by perhaps fishing line, forming a ring.  The users would each then apply the mustache and create...this is just too much to handle right now.

[Elder Iptuous]

no...
he's referring to the 'staches that Cram gets in bulk from his 'stache dealer that tout themselves as '6-way' because they can be fashion per the packaging in six, and only six, configurations.

the fake 'staches are a good idea, though.  perhaps accompanies by a small handwritten list of the people that have worn this particular 'stache (which should include some famous/semi-famous names)

[Richter]

I like EOC's take better.  I am off to fashion myself a stache - mandala, and then to amaze the populace.

[Cuddlefish]

This is a great idea. My guitarist accidentally stumbled upon a geo-cache site, became curious about it, and even went out on a few searches. Ever since I heard about it from him, I was thinking of a way to incorperate some form of GASM or OMF into geo-caching. We could totaly leave some WTF moment stuff in there. EoC, I'm (more or less) in the area, and my guitarist is already into it, so maybe we could all go on a hunt for a geo-cache. I'd be totally down.