Image provided by: Clackamas Community College; Oregon City, OR
About The Clackamas print. (Oregon City, Oregon) 1989-2019 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 3, 2007)
Clackamas Print Wednesday, Dec.3, 2008 easure hunters find new hobby ara Huber \iting Writer the cache. Watch out kgles. Don’t forget to I Visit. ■s a child, a person ■d of being a pirate or ”jner, geocaching is her ■asure hunt. hid- fhing for pjects using Global ■ng System (GPS) is momentum each year, on City alone, there _Bre than 200 caches I ig four right here on ’ojege campus. __ pi ies are usually boxes B [with small toys, tacks, and a pen ■r to log your hen an item is [of the cache, [pected that of equal ter value ¡added in Ila The ■hiding cache is cmpible maintenance. Cachers attempt to be discreet while on the hunt, as to not let muggles, or non-geocachers, see what they are doing. It is because of the fear of cache vandalism that makes geocachers try to be private. According to the Gedcaching.com, the hobby began on May 3, 2000, a few days after the U.S. Government disabled a security feature, called Selective Availability (SA) that made GPS units less accurate by creating random errors when used. After SA was disabled, one theory states that Dave Ulmer, a Beaver Creek resi dent, placed a five-gallon bucket near his home, and posted the coordinates online. While there are many other theories regarding the birth place of geocach ing, this legend is the most exciting for Oregon resi dents. When a per son conceals a cache, they log on to geocaching.com and enter the coordinates to their hide. It is then that the cache is open to public view- e r s o f Photo illustration by Kayla Berge Clackamas Print the Web site. On the site, which lists over 680,000 cach es throughout the world, there are often clues to help the seeker find the hidden object. The deciphered clue to one of the Geocaches here at the campus is, “The cache is at ground level under small piec es of concrete.” The cache has had 94 logged visits since being placed in January 2007. Robert Taylor, a local geo- cacher, believes that campus security has been discourag ing the public from entering the area where his cache is hidden. As geocaching is a covert operation, the name used is a code name. Taylor, or “ORNITH,” has been geo caching off and on since the sport began. He also partici pated with the Clackamas County Tourism Development Commission and placed 22 caches for them, as well as one of the four here at Clackamas. The funniest thing anyone has left at one of his caches was, “A 30 lb weightlifting weight, a seriously macabre mannequin head - just about anything can be left, but if it doesn’t fit in a weatherproof geocache, you can expect seri ous deterioration in the Oregon weather.” Geocaching can be done any day of the year, in any kind of weather. The only requirements are: an adven turous seeker, Internet access, and transportation. While a GPS unit can make finding the cache a lot easier, Google maps, from the geo-^ caching.com Web site, is also an option for those who would like to try out the sport without Geocachers Lingo Cache: shortened version of the name geocache. DNF: Did not find, an acronym used to state that the cacher did not find a cache. Also used to alert cache owners of potential problems with their cache. h t h e initial investment. A map can be used on some of the simpler caches. GPS units can cost anywhere from around $90 to several hun dreds of dollars- Caches are located in many countries, on every continent on Earth. There are many in Clackamas County, and can easily be looked up using a zip code on the Web site. “It is a great activity for young and old. It teaches awareness of your environ ment. It takes you to places that many people will never see,” Taylor said. ■-* Adventure types, as well-as computer geeks, get a thrill out of discovering a cache. There are hundreds of geo- GPS: Global Position ing System, a network of satellites that work with a GPS receiver to deter mine your position on the planet. Ground zero: This is the point where your GPS unit shows that you are zero feet from the cache. Muggle: a non-geocach- er, or someone who ac cidentally stumbles upon a cache. For more information, visit www.geocache.com caches in the Oregon City area. No school for most of the month of December means plenty of free time. “Try it. You’ll like it!” Taylor said. iidents fight exhaustion with energy boosting drinks If DeVilliers finta ting posed to help with jet lag. Since the day it hit the Writer shelves, it has continued to dominate and still makes up fith finals just around 50 percent of the energy drink comer, many students are market. ting for a little legal lift, Red Bull contains taurine boost they need to get — from which it gets its name oligh those nights of cram- - and about as much caffeine nine weeks of education as a cup of coffee. This is now ■th their already exhausted the model which most of the finds. other brands base their own ■Coffee, tea. and cola just drinks on. isn’t seem Most of do tic trick these energy Imoir. and drinks do the | has left the same thing - a “That stuff is r opjjen for a little B12 here, V contender a dash of tau horrible... I felt ' the lenergy rine or guarana Ik. like the back of there and the from Red caffeine to fill my throat had 1, Roekstar. in the cracks. been burned 1 Ihroiile. Many now nster and with hot gravel come in larger p, to more 16 ounce cans or something.” I drinks like rather than the ' vis, Cocaine Red Bull model I Bllw, the of 10 ounces, ^Irgy drink but even Red Corey Stenhouse ^Ijket seems see;":; Bull sells larg Student have a com- er variations. ____ All of these J n ■theme: «ffeine, I—— have come sBal|in under fire for 'eB° ■amer’s market and the potential health risk, many bieslhai sound like they for marketing toward young W Iw(5e UP we^’ over- teens. A lot of trouble has leinascl geeks. come from the connection to ¡Ji >97, Red Bull came partying. In the end though, from Austria and most endure the bad press and !lifted|L energy drink revo- do their best not to look too ybn.Bled vvas a^aPG “bad.” ■tomia Thai drink called But then there was bating Daeng that is sup- Cocaine. 1’1 One can already imagine the trouble an energy named Cocaine has been in. Schools, par ents and news anchors all seem appalled at the marketing of this extremely highly caffeinated bev erage. The writ ing on the can is even made to look like lines of true cocaine. Beyond the drug connection and bad press is even more trouble. The ingredients in this drink go far beyond the norm Photo by Robert Crawford Clackamas Print for standard energy Various popular energy drinks are stacked on a shelf at Fred substance abuse. Where an eight Meyer in Oregon City. ounce can of Red ingested nasally as the pack can anyway, the bigger ones Bull has 76 mil just make you feel sick,” ligrams of caffeine, Cocaine, aging may suggest. Jackson said. Corey Stenhouse goes which is now called No Name, Health concerns have contains an astounding 280 to Clackamas, and has his share of late nights to power always been an issue with milligrams. Copycat companies have through. He mentions that he these powerful pick-me-ups, tried to capitalize on Cocaine’s has had most every energy but most college students have press. Blow began duplicating drink on the market, even already given up on worrying about health the second week the marketing concept from Cocaine. “That stuff is horrible, I felt they got here. the drink, and package their The majority of students energy powder in vials and like the back of my throat had even are shipped online in a been burned with hot gravel or know that when you go up, you’ve got to come down, and Styrofoam box made to look something,” Stenhouse said. Another student, Nick the higher you fly the harder like a brick of cocaine and come with a fake credit card Jackson, says he enjoys Red you crash. But now and then, a little legal boost helps get and a mirror. The powder is Bull more than the others. “It isn’t so sweet and syr the job done. meant to be put into a bev erage to give it a kick, not upy; you only need the small
