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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Two Days Offline
This week we lost Internet access for two whole days, and it was pretty disruptive and annoying! Read more →
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The Beer Token
Thanks to the success of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, we can never forget quite how much beer you used to be able to get for a fiver (plus an exceptionally-generous tip). Nowadays, it'll get you one pint, if you're lucky... and that offers us an exciting opportunity... Read more →
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MS Paint-grade QR Codes?
I hand-drew a QR code so it looks like what I did was made a maze in Microsoft Paint. But it works! Here's how. Read more →
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Details/summary lightboxes in pure HTML + CSS
For years, I've been using a HTML+CSS-only technique for popover 'lightbox' images on my blog. Now I've come up with a more-semantic way to do the same, and its HTML code is tidier too! Read more →
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Internet Services^H Provider
When you signed up with an ISP, you used to get Web space, email, shared FTP access, a nearby IRC node, newsgroups, and a software bundle. Nowadays you get a shit router, a voucher for a free month of a streaming service you didn't want, and crap customer service. Where did we go wrong? Read more →
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Quesapizza-pizza
A quesapizza is a quesadilla, but made using pizza ingredients: not just cheese, but also a tomato sauce and maybe some toppings. A quesapizza-pizza is a pizza... constructed using a quesapizza as its base! Watch me make one in a 90-second timelapse. Read more →
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Heterophonic Homonyms
On a car journey on which they'd otherwise have been fighting, the kids helped me start a collection of heterophonic homonyms - words that are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings. I've got nine of them now in English, and maybe two in other languages... can you help me find some more? Read more →
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Clapham South Deep Shelter
This weekend I once again found myself underground beneath London; this time exploring the Camden South Deep Shelter with the help of the Hidden London folks. And it was pretty damn cool. Read more →
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Lock All The Computers
I wanted a button on my desk that, when I pressed it, would simultaneously lock every computer connected to my KVM system. Here's what I came up with. Read more →
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More articles →
(articles are traditional long-form blog posts) -
We took a longer-than-usual walk on this warm Eighteenth of Bleptember morning, and the doggle's all tuckered-out. Read more →
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Sofa Time is Best Time. Happy Seventeenth of Bleptember.× Read more →
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Sometimes you really want the apparel for a band or album to exist and it just doesn't. And so, not for the first time, I made my own... Read more →
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It’s the Sixteenth of Bleptember, and our derpy doggle’s back from a playdate with her best friend… although you wouldn’t know how close they are from this picture, in which she seems to be blowing a raspberry at him as she walks away! Photo courtesy Lisa from Muddy Paws.× Read more →
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It’s the Fifteenth of Bleptember, and our young doggo has never looked so inelegant as when she lies on her back on the sofa with a dorky tongueful grin on her face. × Read more →
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A lazy Sunday morning this Fourtheenth of Bleptember provides the perfect opportunity to dogpile onto a convenient nearby human… and gradually dampen their trouser leg with your blep. × Read more →
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Is it possible to allow sideloading *and* keep users safe?
Terence Eden's upset at Google's proposed changes to Android to further lock-down the ecosystem, and I'm concerned too. Read more →
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It's the Thirteenth of Bleptember, and the bleppy young pupper is watching television. She enjoys the shows with dogs, of course, but also the ones with other animals whose silhouettes stand out against the background, like birds in flight. All Creatures Great and Small is a particular favourite.
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It's the Twelfth of Bleptember, and our little blepper has tucked herself away tidily, wrapped up in her snuggly warm jumper, to hide from the torrential rain that's beating down across Oxfordshire. Oh, and her tongue's sticking out, of course. Read more →
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When our doggo carries around her chew toy like this, I always think she looks a little like Winston Churchill with his cigar. If Churchill also wasn't able to stop blepping, that is!
Happy Eleventh of Bleptember! -
It's the Tenth of Bleptember, and this doggo is desperately trying to stay awake in case the postman comes back or something else equally interesting happens, but I reckon she's going to nod off any... second... now...
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Sometimes, you just need a Long Nap and a Big Blep.
Happy Ninth of Bleptember, Internet! -
Found the younger child not-in-bed but dancing around his room, using his pyjamas as perhaps some kind of streamers or flags.
Me: "Why aren't you in bed?"
Him: "I'm sorry; I got distracted by how amazing I am."
Hard to argue with that. -
Free Deed Poll - Demo Video
At the weekend I realaunched FreeDeedPoll.org.uk, fixing it after it recently broke and adding a ton of new features. And by the time I was going that far, I figured, I might as well make one of those video tutorials that are all the rage, too... Read more →
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Suddenly, there was the noise of somebody walking on our driveway. The doggo woke up and stood, alert, ready to defend the house from intruders. Unfortunately in her haste she forgot to put her tongue away.Happy Eighth of Bleptember. × Read more →
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More posts →
(of all kinds:
articles, 
checkins, 
notes, 
reposts...)