February 2023

UK Strikes in .ics Format

My work colleague Simon was looking for a way to add all of the upcoming UK strike action to their calendar, presumably so they know when not to try to catch a bus or require an ambulance or maybe just so they’d know to whom they should be giving support on any particular day. Thom was able to suggest a few places to see lists of strikes, such as this BBC News page and the comprehensive strikecalendar.co.uk, but neither provided a handy machine-readable feed.

If only they knew somebody who loves an excuse to throw a screen-scraper together. Oh wait, that’s me!

I threw together a 36-line Ruby program that extracts all the data from strikecalendar.co.uk and outputs an .ics file. I guess if you wanted you could set it up to automatically update the file a couple of times a day and host it at a URL that people can subscribe to; that’s an exercise left for the reader.

If you just want a one-off import based on the state-of-play right now, though, you can save this .ics file to your computer and import it to your calendar. Simple.

Yesterday’s Internet Today! (Woo DM 2023)

The week before last I had the opportunity to deliver a “flash talk” of up to 4 minutes duration at a work meetup in Vienna, Austria. I opted to present a summary of what I’ve learned while adding support for Finger and Gopher protocols to the WordPress installation that powers DanQ.me (I also hinted at the fact that I already added Gemini and Spring ’83 support, and I’m looking at other protocols). If you’d like to see how it went, you can watch my flash talk here or on YouTube.

If you love the idea of working from wherever-you-are but ocassionally meeting your colleagues in person for fabulous in-person events with (now optional) flash talks like this, you might like to look at Automattic’s recruitment pages…

The presentation is a shortened, Automattic-centric version of a talk I’ll be delivering tomorrow at Oxford Geek Nights #53; so if you’d like to see it in-person and talk protocols with me over a beer, you should come along! There’ll probably be blog posts to follow with a more-detailed look at the how-and-why of using WordPress as a CMS not only for the Web but for a variety of zany, clever, retro, and retro-inspired protocols down the line, so perhaps consider the video above a “teaser”, I guess?

Scottish-Mexican Fusion Cookery

I swear I’m onto something with this idea: Scottish-Mexican fusion cookery. Hear me out.

It started on the last day of our trip to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2012 when, in an effort to use up our self-catering supplies, JTA suggested (he later claimed this should have been taken as a joke) haggis tacos. Ruth and I ate a whole bunch of them and they were great.

A hand holds a crisp taco containing haggis, mashed potato, rocket, and a blob of sour cream. In the background, JTA can be seen eating his dinner in a more-conventional way: off a plate. There are glasses of wine on the table. — It wasn’t perfect, but it was pretty good: if I did it again, it’d be haggis and clapshot with a thick whisky sauce… all in a taco.

In Scotland last week (while I wasn’t climbing mountains and thinking of my father), Ruth and I came up with our second bit of Scottish-Mexican fusion food: tattie scone quesadillas. Just sandwich some cheese and anything else you like between tattie scones and gently fry in butter.

A pair of tattie scone quesadillas sizzling in a pan. — These were delicious as they were, but I think there’d be mileage in slicing them into thin fingers and serving them with a moderately spicy salsa, as a dip.

We’re definitely onto something. But what to try next? How about…

Bean chilli stovies?
Arroz con pollo on oatcakes?
Carnitas and refried beans in a bridie?
Huevos rancheros with lorne sausage sandwiched between the tortilla and the eggs?
Kedgeree fajitas? (I’m not entirely convinced by this one)
Rumbledethumps con carne?
Caldo de leekie: cock-a-leekie soup but with mexican rice dumped in after cooking, caldo-de-pollo-style?
Something like a chimichanga but battered before it’s fried? (my god, that sounds like an instant heart attack)

That Moment When You Forget Somebody’s Dead

Is there a name for that experience when you forget for a moment that somebody’s dead?

For a year or so after my dad’s death 11 years ago I’d routinely have that moment: when I’d go “I should tell my dad about this!”, followed immediately by an “Oh… no, I can’t, can I?”. Then, of course, it got rarer. It happened in 2017, but I don’t know if it happened again after that – maybe once? – until last week.

Dan, wearing a warm weatherproof black jacket and a purple "Woo" woolen hat, alongside a 9-year-old girl wrapped up in a faux-leapordskin hat and an iridescent coat, against a snowy hillside with rolling clouds. — Last week I took our eldest up Cairn Gorm, a mountain my dad and I have climbed up (and/or skiied down!) many times.

I wonder if subconsciously I was aware that the anniversary of his death – “Dead Dad Day”, as my sisters and I call it – was coming up? In any case, when I found myself on Cairn Gorm on a family trip and snapped a photo from near the summit, I had a moment where I thought “I should send this picture to my dad”, before once again remembering that nope, that wasn’t possible.

Strange that this can still happen, over a decade on. If there’s a name for the phenomenon, I’d love to know it.

Dan Q found GC8A40R Brockholes Stone Circle

This checkin to GC8A40R Brockholes Stone Circle reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Found with the elder geokid plus my mother and sister while on a layover in Preston to break up our journey from Aviemore to Oxford. We’re getting to visit quite a few some circles this half term, both old and new plus some old-but-restored, many of which have earthcache or virtual caches!

Thanks for the geology lessons and the interesting location. Answers sent already, FP awarded, TFTC.

Dan Q found GC6CTKF Cache Wars – Han Solo

This checkin to GC6CTKF Cache Wars - Han Solo reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Travelling down from Aviemore to Preston on a multi-stage journey back home to Oxfordshire, we stopped off at the visitor centre and took the tour of the wind farm. My 6 year old loves wind turbines and was really excited to see so many in one place and to get the opportunity to give one (turbine #42) a hug (pictured)!

The tour complete, I took a quick jog back to turbine #40 to find this geocache. As others have noted, it’s in bad nick – no container and damp log – but I was (barely) able to sign it.

TFTC in this awesome spot.

Dan Q found GCD6C2 Long Meg [Cumbria]

This checkin to GCD6C2 Long Meg [Cumbria] reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Ruth, the kids and I love a good stone circle. This one’s in better condition than the one nearest our house (for which I’m CO to the Virtual, GC88ZY9!). We chanced it and counted the stones twice but luckily got two different answers – phew! – before proceeding to Long Meg. Loved the original carvings and quickly found the requisite more-recent addition; message to follow with the answer. Thanks for a lovely virtual.

Dan Q found GCA1NZ4 Long Meg

This checkin to GCA1NZ4 Long Meg reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

An easy find for the geokids, Ruth and I while out on a walk with the geokids from Ruth’s father’s house in Reagill. SL, TNLN, TFTC.

Dan Q found GC2HF4T Plus Lucis

This checkin to GC2HF4T Plus Lucis reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

A quick find while exploring the city after spending a few days meeting work colleagues from around the globe. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK! TFTC/DFDC!

Dan reaches up to touch a bust of Dr. Carl Auer, Freiherr von Welsbach, Austrian chemist and engineer. — Carl Auer, Freiherr von Welsbach is, of course, best known as the inventor of the gas mantle, but he also isolated two previously-undiscovered chemical elements.

Dan Q found GC3CE1F Schubertkirche

This checkin to GC3CE1F Schubertkirche reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Saw the cache almost right away but had to stand around for a while pretending to read something on my phone while muggles passed by. SL, TFTC. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK.

Dan Q found GC5GFNB DG – Linie

This checkin to GC5GFNB DG - Linie reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

The second spectacular cache I’ve found from this CO. Absolutely amazing. Coordinates got me close, but it was only when I started looking around that I spotted something that didn’t look quite right and found the cache. Amazing work, FP awarded.

Dan Q found GC5DC7H Friedensbrücke

This checkin to GC5DC7H Friedensbrücke reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Superb cache, my favourite in Vienna so far. Love the design; I might try to make one like this back in Oxfordshire, UK upon my return! FP awarded.

Coordinates put me exactly where I needed to be. Fortunately I had exactly what I needed to retrieve the cache: it’s something I always carry when I’m caching anyway!

TFTC!

Dan Q found GC91ZZ4 Ort der Barmherzigkeit – KH Barmherzige Brüder

This checkin to GC91ZZ4 Ort der Barmherzigkeit - KH Barmherzige Brüder reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

A quick and easy find while I stopped to tie my laces. TFTC, and greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!

Dan Q found GCM8CB Urania

This checkin to GCM8CB Urania reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

I’ve been in Vienna for a week to meet work colleagues, and today – our meetings at an end and still with a few hours before my plane leaves – I decided to come out and find some local geocaches.

At the GZ there were lots of good hiding places so I reached over and around. In a few seconds my fingers touched the cache. Great!

But then – disaster! As others have observed, the magnets in this cache aren’t the strongest and it bounced free. It fell a long, long way! I rushed across the road and down to the lower level to grab it. Luckily the cache container was unharmed, so I signed the log as I carried it back to up its hiding place. What an adventure!

FP awarded for the cool container and hiding place, and for the fun story you helped me tell. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK. TFTC!

Dan Q found GCR0YM Bridge over bridge

This checkin to GCR0YM Bridge over bridge reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Found after a brief search before a company meeting here in beautiful Vienna. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK! TFTC!