Problem Bears are for the State to take care of, not you!!

This really chaps my hide. Yet another dumbshit thought he should destroy a brown bear for the sake of his family.

This story takes place in Wasilla, Alaska. Wasilla is a nice large area with tons of houses on huge multi-acre lots scattered throughout the roadways leading to other, more interesting places. Many of these lots are homesteads or parts of original homesteads where squatter rights applied for thousands of Americans in the area. Most homesteaders have what I like to call PHSS or Post-Homesteader Stress Syndrome. PHSS symptoms include, for the most part, forgetting that your property does not need to be violently defended and you are no longer living in a cabin built from your own crap, piss and assorted little sticks. Most people with PHSS deny that governments exist or can effect them, or that laws apply, and - darn tootin - their property is theirs to do with what they want. If it so happens the neighbors are doing something to encroach on your property, block your view, or cause some sort of damage to their own property which in turn negatively effects your quality of life then you have more than enough rights to handle it house to house with insults, weapons, fire, or large ugly posters instead of bringing it up to the city, state, or somebody else who is quite possibly smarter than yourself.

Today the news posted yet another story of a Wasillian who felt it was in his family's best interest to shoot a bear that liked their neck of the woods - no matter what the cost. Hunting seasons are defined for a reason by "Scientists" who study the mating and travel habits of bears and other live game in order to determine appropriate time and quantity of kills to thin out herds and packs and to control over-hunting. This person failed to really involve the government agencies responsible for this bears well being when it first started hanging around his property - instead he shooed it away himself and assumed that would be good enough. Well the bear came back, that's grounds for shooting it.. right? Below is the original story as fed down the wire to us Alaskan folk. ADN is about the only publication that's worth a dime in this state - even if they have a crappy website. I also included a related article printed last month about the same dang problem.

The Story: http://tinyurl.com/2taokh

Other Related Story: http://tinyurl.com/27wr4u

When is it O.K. to shoot a bear? I would like to think when it starts being violent or has kept you trapped in a cabin with no comms for a few days. Only then would I destroy a bear.

The Sticky Humpy

I'm talking about humpback salmon of course a.k.a humpies. I am creating a new cache as a replica to some metal fish artwork lining several walkway railings in downtown Anchorage, AK. My plan is to hide a sharpie marker near this cache and have people sign the back of the fish. I tried thinking of neat ways to add a compartment to the fish for things like travel bugs and geocoins - I may make take it offline temporarily to do that once I figure out how, or if it gets enough traffic to merit that sort of modification.

When I am finally finished the cut out fish should be painted similar to the above outline. Take a peek at the gallery detailing the creation of and placement of the Sneaky Humpy cache, as of this post there are only a few images detailing the magnet placement and glueing.

Segway to a Segway..

Last summer I wanted to try to get more Segway based tours started up in and around some of Alaskas less toured areas, like Euklutna lake. This would require the new Segway X2 (Extended Terrain) as well as a hearty agreement with the state to allow me to place recharge stations half way down the lake trail. No big deal right? I know how to use solar and wind power effectively, I know how to make it uber efficient and already did a lot of calculations on the charge rate, etc. I planned on drawing up an outhouse sized (maybe thats a bad way to mention the size) recharge booth, having some quick power tools available for the swap out of the battery packs, then hit the road to Euklutna glacier. There are a billion types of flowers, birds and activities surrounding Euklutna, however there doesn't seem to be a lot of direct tourism. This lake seems to be more of a word of mouth vacation spot.

I talked with a few peeps on getting the funding together, and found a local Segway sales rep who I could never find the time to meet up with. Or if I could, potential investors and business partners could not. I hope that some day this dream of a tootling around the Alaska mountains on personal transportation devices will happen for me, and for Skyefoil who I think would love spending all her time outdoors, away from computers, rolling in the daisies all day long and taking pictures of cute little clouds.

I have the technology, wireless displays on the instrument panel of the Segways showing streamed video from binocular cameras in the hands of the tour guide, trail maps on the display using GIS to coordinate our path with scenic and eventful views. laser rangefinders to help tourists understand the geospatial reference of what we are looking at, helping to visualize the magnitude of the mountain view and the span of the glacier face. Wouldn't this be a wonderful job? Technology + Nature + Ecofriendly Transportation.

Segway is also working on their Centaur product. This is a direct fit for tourists and locals who want to get out into the wilderness using a vehicle, but quietly and eco-friendly. Once this product is released I feel it will be a huge hit for tour agencies all over America. I expect a lot of these devices to hit Japan immediately forming of course some sort of odd sub-culture street punk gang wearing pills jackets and dressing up their hair like James Dean, PS2 Guitar Hero device strung over their shoulders for instant dueling action. You think I'm kidding?

Anybody in Alaska willing to help bring this concept to fruition, contact me!

50th Cache Woot!!

View my first 50 caches in Google Maps - My 50th Find Map. I hope you enjoy seeing this as much as I do, I've been all over Anchorage, Eagle River, and tons of great little towns on the way to Homer Alaska.

My 50th find is waypoint GC13CYE - Chief Alex 3 named after the park it is placed in, it was my first rock cache that I officially found. The placing was obvious and I am thankful it was nowhere near the sap dripping bark of the evergreens surrounding it.

On another note, my previous post about the cache 'Big Boy' just happens to be in the area Adam is visiting right now, everybody pester him to go take a picture and log one of the biggest caches in the US.