2011 WEEK 28: Hidden Treasures

Way back when, around the time that I became a proud iPhone owner, I downloaded a bunch of Apps with the intention of being more productive, more technologically in-touch and more adventurous. Of course, half of these Apps have been gathering digital dust ever since. But this week we took one of those forgotten relics for a test-run. The App is Geocaching!

For those of you unfamiliar, Geocaching uses the GPS technology of your handheld device to lead you to hidden caches of treasure left by other users. On booting up the App all you need to do is click on "Find Nearby Caches" and a list pops up detailing caches in your area together with how far away they are, a GPS Google map locator and a description of the hide. Each hide is categorized by level of difficulty and type of cache with some being puzzles that have to be solved in order to unlock the GPS coordinates and others being a series of caches linked together to form an entire treasure hunting adventure.

Being total newbies, Mel and I decided to go for individual caches all of which were ranked at pretty much the lowest level of difficulty and were all within walking distance of our home.

Finding the genreral location of our first cache in the West End of Vancouver was easy. Finding the specific spot where the cache was hidden wasn't so easy... We spent a few minutes shuffling around, our eyes gazing at the iPhone before a nearby "uniformed stranger" pointed us in the right direction (any more detail of this stranger's identity and it would give away the hide!).

Somewhere in here there be hidden treasure mateys!

Not exactly "pieces of eight" or "a king's ransom" for us to retire on but this is what we found:

We added a lollipop to the treasure trove and headed off on our merry way in search of cache #2 mysteriously known as "***** House Blues"...  It was somewhere near this heritage home:

Nestled in the shadows of this noble turreted dwelling...

Again, despite the difficulty level of only "1" we still spent a few minutes wandering up and down searching bushes, looking underneath benches, etc. until we found this little package hanging from a hook:

This is what we found inside:

Inside most caches is a tiny little log for treasure seekers to record the date of their discovery.

Mel added an entry for our treasure find and then we were off in search of cache #3 with the intriguing title of "Cache De Vine".

I immediately knew where the general location of the cache was hidden based purely on the use of the word "Vine" in the title. Finding the actual hiding spot was... well difficult to say the least! We spent a good 20 minutes drifting around a street corner like a couple of idiots. The GPS tracking is good but its not THAT good. In other words, it gives you a location within fifty to one hundred feet but it doesn't pinpoint the exact spot. Further confounding us was the cache description which referred to the hide as a "magnetic micro". We weren't exactly sure what that meant other than it was probably small and it was more than likely stuck to something metallic.

Underlining just how popular Geocaching has become, another stranger passing by pointed us in the right direction. Based on the grin on his face, I'd say he's seen many a fool shuffling back and forth, iPhone or Blackberry in hand, who needed guidance.

This is what a "magnetic micro" looks like and this is what was hidden inside...

If you have a thirst for mystery and uncovering hidden secrets or you're looking for a new way to explore your city then I highly recommend Geocaching. The App only costs $9.99 in the AppStore.

DISCLAIMER: Vignetting and cropping used in all these photos to help preserve the mystery!

Until next time folks...

Smile! You're on camera!

A friend of mine is currently doing her under-grad in Philosophy at Simon Fraser University. In conjunction with her studies she is also a Teacher's Assistant and this week she found herself teaching a class that gave her cause for concern... The subject of debate was whether or not security cameras should be installed in classrooms and recreation areas at schools and universities.

The cause for my friend’s concern? …The debate was a non-starter because out of two classes of 30+ students each, not a single one of them had a problem with their every movement being filmed and recorded.

Say what?!

When did we become so accepting to this invasion of privacy, of what represents a significant infringement on our basic human rights? Is it ignorance? Is it apathy? Or, in a post-9/11 world, is it that we have become fearful and paranoid of danger lurking around every corner? Do we now feel more secure knowing that someone, somewhere is always looking out for us?

This latter point, in my opinion, is nonsense. Yes, the presence of a camera may deter some but 24/7 video surveillance for the most part, does not prevent crime, it merely increases the odds of the perpetrator perhaps being caught in the act once they have committed it. At best, it provides us with the illusion of safety and security.

No, there’s a deeper issue here. It’s not like these students are passionately in favor of being watched all day. They are merely accepting and indifferent to this reality and have rationalized it as something not to get into a fuss over. It’s a part of our world now like iPhones, GPS units and Facebook.

And you know what? I think mass media has a lot to do with this acceptance. Now you might think I’m going to point the finger squarely at the sensationalized manner in which news programming is now delivered. Afterall, one only has to watch the news for 15 minutes to lose sleep at night worrying about whether or not your alarm clock is giving you brain cancer or whether the fact that you’re worrying about said alarm clock is going to give you an ulcer… And what about that neighbor across the street? He’s so god damn normal there must be something up with him, right? I’ll bet he’s downloading child porn for breakfast, stealing your identity for lunch and plotting to over-throw the world and establish a New World Order for dinner!

Then again, perhaps our increased comfort factor with video cameras on every corner has nothing to do with fear, at least not the kind stemming from what lurks in the shadows waiting to cause us harm… Maybe, just maybe, it comes from being bombarded with “reality”… Movies like “Cloverfield” and “District 9” bend over backwards to create the look and feel of a “hyper reality”. Good old-fashioned fictionalized drama on TV has been replaced by the everyday. Whether you’re a has-been celebrity, an expert at building choppers, hunting down felons, fishing for crab in the Bering Sea or struggling to raise 8 kids, everyone and their dog can now be the star of their own show.

The number of people carrying a camera and the ability to capture life as it unfolds is growing exponentially. Let’s face it, you’re just not one of the cool kids unless you have a phone or an iPod capable of recording 16-bit high-definition video. The news outlets now encourage their audience to be freelance reporters on anything they are lucky enough to witness. We can film our friends getting drunk at a party and embarrassing themselves and in 5 minutes we can share it with the whole world by broadcasting it on youtube and linking to it via blogs, facebook and myspace.

Big Brother may be watching but his face is now that of you and I. Perhaps our acceptance of security cameras watching our every move stems not from our desire to be safe but our unconscious desire to be a somebody in a world of nobody’s…