I'm Dan Q (he/him). I've spent the last 26+ years creating and writing online.
I work as a software engineer, and I volunteer with Three Rings. I live with my partner, her husband, two kids and a dog. I can sometimes be found geo*ing, performing magic, or recording the most pointless podcast.
I believe in open source, open relationships, and opening doors to marginalised groups. Black lives matter. Trans
rights are human rights.
Be nice to humans, human.
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BeepAlive - keeping my soundbar from going to sleep
My dog ate the remote for the soundbar on my TV/media centre, and it keeps going into 'sleep mode'. So I wrote a software tool that periodically makes an inaudible noise to trick the soundbar into staying 'awake'. That's how a hacky engineer like me fixes a hardware problem with a software solution! Read more →
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(Feeling Fucking) Fabulous in Blackpool
This year, MEEK's Fabulous has been stuck on a loop in my head, but I only just got around to watching the music video. Which, to my delight, is shot in the region of what I reckon is Britain's gayest pub crawl. Let's take a tour together... Read more →
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Contactless Transport in London vs Paris
Paris is rolling-out contactless tap-in payments for its transport network. Sounds like London's... except that Paris's includes a "convenience tax" that seems to disproportionately target short-term visitors. What might this say about each city's relationship with tourism? Read more →
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"You saved my life!" (or: how my kids briefly thought I was a superhero)
A misunderstanding by my kids this weekend briefly made them think that I'd pulled a stranger from a burning building... when in reality I only lent him a mobile phone charger. Read more →
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Hashcard #2
I received my tenth "postcard from the Internet", which also happens to be my second geohashing "hashcard". How lovely! Read more →
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The secret API I used to tell LeShuttle about different outbound and return passengers
Channel Tunnel operator LeShuttle's website wouldn't provide a working UI to specify that I'd have different passengers in my car for the outbound and return journeys. So, obviously, I reverse-engineered their API and pushed the information to their database directly. Read more →
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How I (Don't) Collect Blog Statistics
I used to collect analytics information about visitors to my website, and I've tried a lot of different ways of doing it over the course of a couple of decades. But nowadays I don't collect any at all, and I think that's better. Read more →
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Recreating a 1990 Book Cover (in HTML + CSS)
This weekend, I became briefly obsessed with the graphic design of the cover of a manual of a piece of software released in 1990. So I re-created it in HTML + CSS, as you do. Read more →
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My piano came home from the hospital
Five months ago, my house flooded. This week, the first completed repair work has been completed: fixing the upright piano that filled with water. The piano's back with us, in our temporary accommodation, and I couldn't be happier about it! Read more →
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More articles →
(articles are traditional long-form blog posts) -
Found GC8ZYPV AMAGATALL MAS CARGOL - Camps
I’ve been doing what remains of the Ruta Pels Volants del Mars De Salort series of took a diversion to find this cache. The impressive host didn’t need a hint – she’s pretty easy to find!The cache container is absolutely excellent. Amazing camouflage! It’s a shame this is my 1001st find and not my 1000th […] Read more →
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Found GC6QV1F #17 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
A quick and easy find in a now-familiar hide and container format.And while perhaps not as memorable as my walk through the abandoned olive groves to find the damaged cache GC6QTTM therein, this find was memorable fire a different reason: it’s my 1000th cache found!Struck a pose for a victory selfie to celebrate. FP awarded […] Read more →
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Found GC6QTTM #5 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
It’s increasingly looking like this series might be in need of some love and attention. With numbers 3 and 4 completely absent and a nearly two year gap since 5 was last logged – coupled with my bad luck so far this morning – I wasn’t optimistic of a find here.I enjoyed the walk, though. […] Read more →
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Did not find GC6QTRY #2 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
A second disappointing search with nothing to show for it. Maybe I didn’t finish waking up yet this morning? Read more →
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Did not find GC6QQXW #1 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
A disappointing start to this morning’s walk. There’s an obvious host that I spent some your poking under without success, after which I turned to the trees to see if they could help. But no luck for me. Maybe on my way back to the car, time-permitting! Read more →
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Found GC9D4V6 29# CAMINS DE MONTBRIÓ (PARC SAMA)
A quick find after a visit to the gardens with my family. Sneaky container: I like it. We’d accidentally parked the car almost next to the cache! Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK, and TFTC/GLA! Read more →
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Found GC6QTWA #13 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
Finding the cache was easy. Reaching around to pull it from its hiding place was harder! But soon I had it in hand. This has been a lovely morning walk.Now I should have some breakfast and make my lazy children get out of bed!TFTC/GLA. FP for the series in general (as experienced so far). And […] Read more →
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Found GC6QV11 #15 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
I was glad if the shade provided by the trees along this delightful footpath. Working up a bit of a sweat out here! Had to break from the footpath and kick through some undergrowth to reach the GZ this time, but the coordinates were spot on and I soon had the cache in hand.Logbook has […] Read more →
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Found GC6QTVF #9 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
A quick and easy find once I spotted a likely hiding place. Starting to feel like I should have had breakfast before I set off! TFTC/GPA, and greetings from Oxfordshire, UK. Read more →
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Found GC6QTVM #10 RUTA PELS VOLTANTS DEL MAS DE SALORT
My family and I are on holiday staying nearby. I came out this morning to explore and try to find a couple of local geocaches while the children were still asleep. This was the first.I needed to walk around the GZ a few times before I saw the cache, with its vantage point over this […] Read more →
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They love RSS
unstory claims that people who, like, me, announce their love of RSS in footers etc. don't actually love RSS, and couldn't handle operating the protocol 'by hand'. unstory is wrong, at least in my case. Read more →
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Found GCB1918 Peggy Bedford's blocked gate
I’m staying in the Thistle Hotel around the corner before a flight in the morning, and stepped out to find this cache – and some supper – before bed. Sorry to hear about your muggle troubles, but this current (new) container is a good one: needed to say the hint out loud a few times […] Read more →
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Geohashing expedition 2026-08-07 51 -1
A successful expedition to a hashpoint in a field, while travelling to Heathrow Airport on a Friday evening! Read more →
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Normal F***ing Sunglasses
DuckDuckGo have gotten into the smart glasses game, and they've come up with a pair that, dare I say it... I would actually buy! Read more →
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You're Pronouncing JPEG Wrong
Fighting about the correct way to pronounce GIF is so last decade. Let's fight about how to pronounce JPEG. Read more →
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More posts →
(of all kinds:
articles, 
checkins, 
notes, 
reposts...)