Thursday, September 22, 2011 Lethbridge

6:30 am

The temperature is +16 C, with a high predicted of +28 C. From the Environment Canada website: Today Mainly sunny. Becoming mainly cloudy this morning. Clearing this afternoon. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. High 28. UV index 4 or moderate. Tonight Clear. Wind west 30 km/h gusting to 50. Low 12. Normals Max: 18°C Min: 4°C.

11:00 am Geocaching

I prepared a list of 5 geocaches in Lethbridge for searching. At the end of the trip I had found 4 and failed to find one, which I think may well be missing. I have sent an email to the owner of that cache asking him to check and verify that the container is still where he placed it.

The cache I created yesterday was "published" this morning and was almost immediately found by two local geocachers who often compete to see who can be the "first to find" (FTF).

• GC2XJ96 - Rose Garden CARL3

This was my first find of the morning. This took me about 15 minutes to find. I quickly determined that it was likely in one of two trees, but a careful search revealed nothing. I also checked the base of a few shrubs near the trees - still nothing. I also noticed a tree stump sticking out of the tree mulch covering the ground but there was nothing visible there. Finally I tried poking the mulch covering beside the stump and immediately uncovered the container.

• GC2W2PM - Tank CARL3

This was a puzzle cache. I had to read the details on a plaque and then compute the coordinates where the container was actually hidden. I brought my iPod2 with me so that when I had finished the computations I could access the Web and input the coordinates I had calculated into a "checker" to determine if I was right or not before going out to find the container. The checker verified my numbers and I quickly found the container under a nearby tree.





• GC2XBH7 - Short cut CARL3

I failed to find this cache. And I forgot to take any pictures!

Here is my log of this report: "This turned out to be a good search as I was joined by North of 49. We saw a few ants but no container. We had a good chat and am sure we will have more in the future. More information to come via email."

Here is the additional email: "DNF for Short Cut cache at Henderson Lake. We (North of 49 joined me) looked under a tree stump at the location but couldn't find it. The cavity goes down further than 3' but we couldn't feel anything. If that is the correct location then it may have fallen further than intended. We also looked between some of the rocks without success. You might want to check and see if the container is still where you put it. Thanks for the cache - it gave the two of us a chance to meet for the first time. Nosweat6060."

[Addendum - Sep 23/11 Yes, the owner of the cache has confirmed that it is missing]

• GC2VPBD - Bridge View - CARL3

I then drove over to the Information Centre near the city center and walked about half a kilometre to two cache sites on the edge of the coulee. This was the first site and it was an easy find in a shrub. The view of the bridge from the site was a delight.







• GC2VPBT - "Coul" View - CARL3

This was my last search of the morning. It was similar to the previous cache but another half kilometre down a trail. This time the view was of the coulee.





It was a very enjoyable couple of hours. My global total is creeping up. It is now 1,035.

9:00 PM Science

I have reread a book on the formation of the universe that I first read almost 20 years ago ("Deep Time" by David Darling). Some of the fine detail may be different today but the overall view still seems valid. The basic assumption is that of a "big bang". This is based on the observation that everything in the universe is moving away from everything else.

The other basis for speculation about the universe is what we seem to know about atomic structure. This quickly gets into the realm of quantum physics as well as Einstein's theory of general relativity. Thus the idea is to think of a way that this atomic structure could be created. What is not discussed in Darling's book is the fundamental incompatibility between quantum and relativity theories. On the other hand Darling also looks into the future of the universe - trillions and trillions and trillions of years into the future. Highly speculative, but still based on what science we know at the moment.