dumbing up
Sooooo until yesterday I had pretty much decided that (while nifty) GPS was yet another tool contributing to the dumbing down of the human race. There are exceptions to my theory of course–it’s great for constant travelers and delivery folk, cops, okay—lots of people. But it’s like every yahoo and his cousin has a GPS now just for occasional use to get around town. If you can’t figure out how to get around your hometown on your own (or by looking at a map!) then you’re kind of lazy and possibly an idiot. Again, they are neat. Probably a modern marvel. But so is Dubai.
BUT THEN…I met this crazy fast-talkin’ mother at Cave Hill yesterday asking if I had any extra batteries on me. My friends and I politely declined then got back to checking out the dead when she asked if we were at the cemetary ‘caching.’ She said, “There’s five of them here, you know. I was just wondering if you were looking for them.” Initially I was kind of surprised to learn that so many of Johnny Cash’s relatives were buried here (seriously, that’s how stupid I am.) Turns out she was talking about ‘geocaching,’ which is just about the most exciting thing I have heard about in a long time.
From the Geocaching website:
“Geocaching is a high-tech treasure hunting game played throughout the world by adventure seakers equipped with GPS devices. The basic idea is to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, outdoors and then share your experiences online…”
So as I understand it (she was talking really really fast, and complaining about her itchy scalp [new hairspray] the whole time) people literally bury boxes in the ground and geocachers locate them through clues and GPS then sign them, return them to whence they came, then log in on the website where they can earn points for each discovery. They can be located anywhere—under a tree, by a lampost, in your neighbors sock drawer…and it’s up to you to find them. I dunno. I think it’s really cool. Something different. Beats watching television.
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