The next two paragraphs below are from the wikipedia writeup about
the applications of the Global Positioning System (as of 5/11/09).
We are going to use them to find a cache and perform a bit of
social engineering.
GPS has become a widely used aid to navigation worldwide, and
a useful tool for mapmaking, land surveying, commerce, scientific
uses, tracking and surveillance, and hobbies such as geocaching and
waymarking. The precise time reference provided by GPS is used in
many applications including the scientific study of earthquakes and
as a time synchronization source for cellular network
protocols.
In addition, GPS has, in the words of the website gps.gov,
become a mainstay of transportation systems worldwide, providing
navigation for aviation, ground, and maritime operations. Disaster
relief and emergency services depend upon GPS for location and
timing capabilities in their lifesaving missions. The accurate
timing provided by GPS facilitates everyday activities such as
banking, mobile phone operations, and even the control of power
grids. Farmers, surveyors, geologists and countless others
perform their work more efficiently, safely, economically, and
accurately using the free and open GPS signals.
Step 1. Pick a word in the first paragragh (the
italicized one). This can be your favorite word, your
least-favorite word, your high-school nickname (Go Fighting
Tools!), whatever. This is your starting word.
Step 2. Count the number of letters in your starting word. Now,
count forward in the paragraphs that many words. As an example, if
"tool" were your starting word, you would count forward 4
words to "surveying". This gives you your next word.
Step 3. Count the number of letters in your next word. Now,
count forward in the paragraphs that many words. That gives you
your new next word.
Step 4. Repeat Step 3 until you have a word in the final
sentence (the boldfaced one). This is your final word.
Step 5. Find your final word in the table below, then use those
coordinates to find your special cache. When you log your find,
please let me know which word you used as your starting word (and
whether it was your high-school nickname).
Note: For the purposes of this experiment, "GPS" is considered a
3-letter word, "mapmaking" and "map-making" are each considered a
single 9-letter word, and "lifesaving" and "life-saving" are each
considered a single 10-letter word. "gps.gov" is considered a
single 6-letter word. Also note that the word "and" is repeated in
the final sentence. If your final word is 'and', know which one you
are looking for.
FARMERS N 45 07.160 W 93 12.551
SURVEYORS N 45 07.157 W 93 12.541
GEOLOGISTS N 45 07.149 W 93 12.539
AND N 45 07.146 W 93 12.529
COUNTLESS N 45 07.138 W 93 12.527
OTHERS N 45 07.136 W 93 12.517
PERFORM N 45 07.162 W 93 12.535
THEIR N 45 07.159 W 93 12.525
WORK N 45 07.151 W 93 12.523
MORE N 45 07.148 W 93 12.513
EFFICIENTLY N 45 07.140 W 93 12.511
SAFELY N 45 07.138 W 93 12.501
ECONOMICALLY N 45 07.164 W 93 12.519
AND N 45 07.161 W 93 12.509
ACCURATELY N 45 07.153 W 93 12.507
USING N 45 07.150 W 93 12.497
THE N 45 07.142 W 93 12.495
FREE N 45 07.140 W 93 12.485
AND N 45 07.166 W 93 12.503
OPEN N 45 07.163 W 93 12.493
GPS N 45 07.155 W 93 12.491
SIGNALS N 45 07.152 W 93 12.481