[Az-Geocaching] Cache contents Rant

[Trisha]

Steven, and all on this thread about junk in caches:

There was a cache near Kingman (Holly Moses) where I actually logged
something about the "devolved" state of the cache....was all junk.

What you are running up against is what some of us awhile back
jokingly termed "The Second Law of Caching Dymanics": 

"In Time, all caches will devolve and entropy will be achieved."
(Credit for this quote is given to Steve of Team Tierra Buena on the
azgeocaching website.)

An obvious knock-off of the actual second law of thermodynamics
(Degradation of Energy; states that the quality of the energy in a
closed system (which can never be created or destroyed according to
the First Law of Thermodymanics) will be degraded irreversibly and
seek their most probable distribution, i.e. entropy)

While frustrating and perhaps somewhat inevitable, we are fortunate
that we are not in a CLOSED system....TRADING UP and CACHE Maintenance
are two things that can help keep caches from "devolving"....
kind of like injecting new "energy" into the system. (Hm, seems like
that must violate some theory or other...?)

But, along the same lines as the awe and wonder and anger we have at
the stupidity of people who ignore fire restrictions (also known as
IDIOTS), I hypothesize that there are always going to be a sufficient
quantity of selfish or lazy people out there, which will cause those
of us who are concerned with maintaining geocaching at a high-quality
level a good deal of angst and anguish. Degradation may ultimately win
out over good intentions and added energy; only TIME will tell!

The previous "rant" has been the product of boredom, and pent-up
frustration about "devolved" caches, and a good dose of wanna-be
scientist. ha ha ha. Please read with a bit of humor (and truth) in
mind.

Take care, everybody

Trisha "Lightning"
Prescott


On Tue, 8 Jul 2003 06:52:00 -0700 (MST), "Steven Stringham" wrote:

> 
> I love the trading aspect of this game.
> 
> I am really curious as to what others see as valid things to "trade"
> in a
> cache. While not all the things I put in a cache are really useful,
at
> least they are not (in my humble opionion) pure junk.
> 
> A marble in a micro,  for example is fine. I also like to see
> personalized
> cards. Dollar stores are my friend.
> 
> My kids have taken to collecting some of the items found in caches
(my
> oldest daughter has started a keychain collection - and has found
some
> interesting ones!)  And, I try to make sure that I don't trade down.
> Some
> stuff is just cool (the navy lanyards from Team AZCOWilliams). I love
> these kind of trademark items. Or the Team sanddollar's token.  Other
> stuff is great too. I have taken some items from caches and turned
them
> into travel bugs. I love it.
> 
> But, I have seen some really junky stuff in some caches. What the
heck
> are
> some people thinking when they put a used movie ticket or a used gift
> card
> in a cache?  Or broken parts of some old electronics?  This is what I
> have
> found in caches recently. I really don't get it. Do they really think
> that
> somebody will want a used movie ticket to some third rate movie from
> months ago? I have seen logs of others that say they have "cleaned
out
> a
> cache" and replenished it, because the contents were so under par. I
> should have done this on these, but I was low on cache stuff. So, I
> ended
> up TN/LN/SL.
> 
> Are others surprised by these kind of items as well? Should I have at
> least cleaned out the junk, so that the next person didn't have to?
> 
> StringCachers
> Steven Stringham
> 
> 
> 
> -----------------------------------------
> http://stringham-family.org/
> ____________________________________________________________
> Az-Geocaching mailing list listserv@azgeocaching.com
> To edit your setting, subscribe or unsubscribe visit:
> http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching
> 
> Arizona's Geocaching Resource
> http://www.azgeocaching.com