I'm Dan Q. I've spent the last 25+ years creating and writing on the Internet.
I work at Automattic and volunteer with Three Rings. I live with my partner, her husband, two kids and a dog. I can sometimes be found out geo*ing, cycling, or performing magic.
I believe in open source, open relationships, and opening doors to marginalised groups.
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Hour of Ambiguity
Waking during the "hour of uncertainty" at the end of European Summer Time, I find myself wondering why we no longer expect computers to tell us what they're doing about daylight savings, and when. Read more →
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My Oldest Article of Clothing
I own a shirt that I bought for 50p, 23 years ago. How on earth has it lasted so long? Read more →
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How I Learned to Enjoy Pickled Onion Monster Munch
I like pickled onions. And I like the vinegar flavouring and the onion flavouring from salt & vinegar and cheese & onion crisps, respectively. So I ought to like pickled onion crisps too. So why don't I... and can I rationally persuade my brain that it's wrong? Read more →
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Bad Names for Servers
Not for the first time, our eldest child has drawn me a network diagram. It's cute, but I've outright refused to name one of the new servers I'm provisioning after our dog. Here's why... Read more →
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Nex in CapsulePress
I've extended CapsulePress to support Nex, an ultra-lightweight smolweb protocol from the Nightfall City community. Read more →
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Firsts and Lasts
I was listening to the bats flying silently above me while I watched the Perseids, the other month. When was the last time I was actually capable of hearing their echolocation? I simply can't remember, because it didn't feel significant at the time. Read more →
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Meetup Magic
As I come to the end of a week in Mexico with ~400 of my the smartest, friendliest, open-source-loving geeks I could wish to know, I come to realise that Automattic's meetups are just... magical. Read more →
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We'll Pay You to Go (so we're confident in who stays...)
This week, Automattic made a very generous offer to employees who didn't feel aligned with the company and its leader: to pay them to leave. 8.4% of the company took it, and it's been a heartbreaking time, but we'll build back stronger, I'm sure. Read more →
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Digital Dustbusting
I've been doing a bit of tidying-up of the mess that is my personal Internet hosting. I've made a lot of progress, but the rest is probably going to have to wait until later in the year. Read more →
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More articles →
(articles are traditional long-form blog posts) -
For some reason, the breakfast chef assumed that when I asked for two eggs benedict that I might want them on two separate plates. As if I WEREN’T totally planning to scoff them both myself! 😂 × Read more →
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Found GCA8R9X Xemeneies a Barcelona #2 Foneria Giralt
An early morning walk from my hotel while I waited for the rest of my family to wake up brought me to this, another old chimney. I’ve really been enjoying discovering these relics of the industrial history of this part of the city.Unusual and well-disguised cache container! 😁 First name in a clean new log […] Read more →
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Found GC1788D Torre Agbar
My 7-year-old, who’s really interested in skyscrapers, was excited to point this one out to me upon our arrival in Barcelona on Saturday, observing that it looks very similar to “The Gherkin”/30 St Mary Axe, a highly-recognisable London landmark. He’s right, it does, and it’s a shame he couldn’t join me on this geocaching expedition […] Read more →
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Found GC6TKBN MALIP - Monument a les il·lusions perdudes
After failing to find this yesterday, I came back earlier this morning for another go. Thanks to the hint, I was pretty confident I’d been looking in the right place, and a message from the CO helped confirm this (gracias!).There are, in my mind, two significant challenges to this cache:1. It’s a challenging and unusual […] Read more →
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Found GC1BA7C Parc central del Poblenou
QEF while on my way back to my hotel after a morning of exploring the area. GPC. Read more →
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Did not find GC6TKBN MALIP - Monument a les il·lusions perdudes
An extended search bore no fruit this morning. Worth help of the hint and an initial survey I was pretty confident in what kind of thing I was looking for, but though i inspected many candidate hiding places I couldn’t quite find it. Perhaps I’d do better at a less-busy time. Read more →
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Found GCARWF7 Antigua Fábrica de Tallada i Lora
Visiting from Oxford, UK, I woke up early this morning and decided to come out for an explore before my partner and the children got up. A walk through the park brought me to this delightful piece of industrial history! With the hint, the cache was soon in hand and the log signed. GPC!× Read more →
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Parenting is about sacrifices. Here, I’m making the noble sacrifice of forcing myself to drink a delicious beer so my 10-year-old can use the customer-only bathroom at a beachside amateur football club. Such a sacrifice. × Read more →
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Me, hacking challenging Javascript at work: “Damn, I need a holiday.” Me, hacking challenging Javascript on sabbatical: “Ah, so relaxing.”× Read more →
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Found GCAG598 Mimetic - Passeig de Gràcia
QEF for the geokid and I while exploring beautiful Barcelona this wet weekend. Greetings from Oxford, UK. TFTC!× Read more →
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Enjoying a glass of cava while the kids peer down out of the window of a Barcelona skyscraper.Day 8 of my sabbatical. Think I’m doing this right?× Read more →
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This boy is excited and ready for Spain! × Read more →
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This child is eating sausages with one hand while playing a video game about eating sausages with the other. Is this life-imitating-art or the other way around? Who can possibly say?× Read more →
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Off to Spain! BRB. × Read more →
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Geohashing expedition 2024-10-22 51 -1
My sabbatical might give me more time for geohashing, so long as the numbers come up right. So let's take an expedition up Harcourt Hill with the dog (plus video)... Read more →
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More posts →
(of all kinds:
articles, 
checkins, 
notes, 
reposts...)