Author: Dan Q
Dan Q is a software engineer, a director of a voluntary organisation, a trainee counsellor, a keen geocacher, and an amateur magician. He lives with his partner and her husband in a polyamorous triad, and occasionally finds time to blog.
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Magician Roles
Because I work somewhere hip enough to let people tweak their job titles, mine is "Code Magician".
LinkedIn isn't as hip as Automattic, though, because they keep emailing me sector updates... for the "Magician" sector... 😅 -
Blogging Stats
I finally got around to automating the generation of statistics about my blogging frequency. Now with interactive graphs!
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Lightboxes Without JavaScript
An image lightbox overlay with no JavaScript whatsoever? Absolutely. Here's how I do it.
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Mental Elf Day
Christmas Jumper Day at the kids' school. Because I'm the "embarrassing parent", I joined in for the school run too.
(Also for my meetings today, obviously.) -
I don't want your data
Manu doesn't want your data, and I don't either.
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FreeDeedPoll.org.uk, Punk Rock Edition
A Birmingham-based punky trio, Luxury Nan Smell, have released a song named "freedeedpoll.org.uk", in reference to my website of the same name. This was just the kind of uplifting thing I needed to hear about.
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Freezing Fog
Gorgeous freezing fog over the fields on the school run this morning.
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Length Extension Attack Demonstration (Video)
This is a video version of my blog post, Length Extension Attack. In it, I talk through the theory of length extension attacks and demonstrate an SHA-1 length extension attack against an (imaginary) website.
The video can also be found on:
YouTube
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Length Extension Attack Demonstration
Hash length extension attacks aren't necessarily intuitive without a little understanding of how vulnerable hashing algorithms work. Using SHA1 as an example, I've put together a step-by-step demonstration with a focus on teaching the underlying principles behind the vulnerability.
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Tension in the Wires
Received my physical copy of Planets In The Wires today, and I must say it was really cool of Pagan Wanderer Lu to include one of Fred "Thickie" Holden's famous Tension Sheets as a freebie.
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Emoji Reactions
I added a stupid feature to my blog.
On some posts, including this one, you can now send an "emoji reaction". Y'know, for if you're too lazy to write a comment.
The available reactions vary by post.
That is all. -
The Frosted Pane
Pagan Wanderer Lu's new album Planets In The Wires dropped today, and I just cried my eyes out at track 5 (The Frosted Pane).
It opens almost apologetically, like an explanation for the gap in new releases for most of the twenty-teens. But it quickly becomes a poetic exploration of a detached depression of a man trapped under the weight of the world. It's sad, and beautiful, and relatable. -
It Takes Two
At the weekend, Ruth and I travelled to Edinburgh to attend a tango class for which we were in no-way qualified. We learned a lot, but mostly because we knew very little to begin with!
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Household Finances Revisited
A year or two ago, my polyfamily and I switched from an "income-assessed" to a "same-residual" model for managing our household expenditures. If the former could be described as "socialism at home", the latter is more like "household Universal Basic Income".
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Pen Pals Wanted
Please will you be my pen pal for one month in 2024?