On the morning of my 38th birthday I set out on an expedition to the geohashpoint in my graticule as a diversion from my way to work: read my full hash log for details (or on the geohashing wiki). Inspired by a spot near the hashpoint, I also hid a geocache (“2019-01-08 51 -1, 09:19”, OK049E, GC827X6). You can download my tracklog [GPX] here.
Category: Personal
There’s lots of ugliness in the world right now, so I think it’s important to share these photos…
This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
There’s lots of ugliness in the world right now, so I think it’s important to share these photos of what happened when my friend Marvin called me & said: “I’m getting married & we can only invite 100 people. You didn’t make the cut. But you can come if you come as a drunk clown.”
(1) There’s not a lot of story to tell, but for anyone who wants some DRUNK CLOWN AT THE WEDDING backstory:Marvin had a vision of a drunk clown crashing his wedding. It’s all he ever wanted. Laura was on board. That’s the kind of perfect-for-each-other weirdos they are.
(2) I arrived in a regular suit. I had the clown outfit, face paint, shavingg stuff (I had a full beard & needed to shave for the make-up) and two 40oz’s (Marvin asked for a drunk clown, so I was giving him a D*R*U*N*K clown) in a bag I hid in a bathroom next to the ceremony.
(3) I only knew a handful of people at the wedding. Didn’t know Marvin or Laura’s families. More importantly, they didn’t know me. Which made me the perfect surprise drunk clown.
(4) I didn’t want them to recognize me when I showed up as a clown — the idea was to make it feel like an actual drunk clown had crashed the festivities — so I didn’t mingle much.
(5) As soon as the ceremony was over, people were directed to another area for a wine reception. I slipped away to the bathroom with @AimieRocks, who was helping with my make-up. I shaved off the beard, did my face, got into the clown suit, and pounded one of the 40oz’s.
Total lightweight here. I was hammered pretty quickly. I’m a method actor, so I drank half the other 40oz too. Then I stumbled over to the wine reception.
(7) I barged in, marched over to Laura’s mom, grabbed her wine, downed it, then handed the empty glass back to her. CONFUSION. MILD CHAOS.WHO IS THIS DRUNK CLOWN?
(8) I accidentally shattered a few wine glasses, but I gotta say I brought a real JOVIAL DRUNK CLOWN vibe to the whole affair, so people embraced me pretty quickly, even though I kept drinking their wine.(9) Except for Laura’s dad, who called for security to escort me out. She had to tell him that I was AN OFFICIAL MEMBER OF THE WEDDING PARTY.Best Man ☑️
Maid of Honor ☑️
Drunk Clown ☑️(10) At some point, we must have gone into the vineyard to take those photos in the original tweet up above, but honestly I was so drunk that I don’t remember taking them.Anyway, I told you there wasn’t much backstory. It was an awesome wedding. <end>
ADDENDUM: just found this photo & it made me laugh. This is after security was called off, after everyone found out I wasn’t a DRUNK CLOWN STRANGER but a DRUNK CLOWN FRIEND. And everyone’s just…so…completely…CHILL. Just like, “whatevs,” as I drink more.
(12) OMG okay so I guess I have to make a SECOND ADDENDUM because @AimieRocks just emailed me some more photos from the wedding. Adding them to this thread…(13) What I wore to the wedding ceremony. (That’s not my hat, that’s @AimieRocks‘s hat, I’m *not* a hat person but wearing it made me feel like Diane Keaton.) Posting these photos so you can see the beard I had before my clown transformation. I shaved that thing off SO QUICKLY.
(14) DRUNK WEDDING CLOWN, A PORTRAIT. I hate beer so much, but I had to get in character and I feel like drunk wedding clowns drink beer??? I’ve barely had any of the beer and already a little drunk in this photo. We didn’t leave the bathroom until after I finished that bottle.
(15) Last three photos. I love how Laura’s pretending not to know me in that first one. The kissing photo is with another good college friend, Michal. I have no idea who I’m talking to in that third photo. <end addendum> xx
Marvin just joined twitter to tell me that’s his mom I’m hugging in the third photo in this tweet. I’M SORRY, MARVIN. But welcome to twitter. xohttps://twitter.com/MarvinSolomon8/status/1053408858196983808
(17) ADDENDUM #3: @MarvinSolomon8 just texted me the name of their wedding photographer. Shoutout to SAMUEL POTTER PHOTOGRAPHY in Paso Robles. Here’s his website:He took the three vineyard photos & obviously has a great eye. THANK YOU SAMUEL POTTER.
I was at a party this afternoon and an old friend introduced me to his wife, then told her: “honey, this is the drunk clown I told you about.”Someone messaged me asking if they could interview me about the drunk clown stuff for a TV show & we’re about to skype. I texted my mom and asked “how do I look?” This is her reply. WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN??? IS THAT A GOOD THING OR A BAD THING??? WHAT ARE YOU TELLING ME, MOM???
My grandma’s been in the hospital with bad shingles & infection. It’s been a scary, stressful week, & she’s been in bad pain. But she’s getting A LOT better. And thankfully she just got moved to rehab facility.My mom just texted me this photo she took of grandma’s new room.
A friend just texted that he’s showing these drunk wedding clown photos to his family tomorrow and I hope it brings them all closer together.
Dan Q note OK045C The Fairy Elevator
This checkin to OK045C The Fairy Elevator reflects an opencache.uk log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Dropped by to perform routine maintenance to discover that this cache has been partially muggled: the lifting mechanism has been cut and the pencils have been removed. However the cache itself is otherwise functional. As a stop-gap the cache is temporarily hidden BEHIND the tree (rather the hoisted up it); I’ll look into a proper fix as soon as I’m able.
Dan Q performed maintenance for GC7R0HB The Fairy Elevator
This checkin to GC7R0HB The Fairy Elevator reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Dropped by to perform routine maintenance to discover that this cache has been partially muggled: the lifting mechanism has been cut and the pencils have been removed. However the cache itself is otherwise functional. As a stop-gap the cache is temporarily hidden BEHIND the tree (rather the hoisted up it); I’ll look into a proper fix as soon as I’m able.
Review of Oxy Oriental
This review of Oxy Oriental originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.
Review of Ben Nevis Inn & Bunkhouse
This review of Ben Nevis Inn & Bunkhouse originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.
Iraq’s Post-ISIS Campaign of Revenge
This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
…
The next suspect insisted that he had been arrested by mistake—that his name was similar to that of someone in ISIS. A private defense lawyer explained that his client had confessed to ISIS affiliation under torture—he had a medical examination to prove it—but none of the judges appeared to be listening. As the lawyer spoke, they cracked jokes, signed documents, and beckoned their assistants to collect folders from the bench. Sahar yawned. The trial lasted eight minutes.
…
“Enough evidence—I ask for a guilty verdict,” the prosecutor said. It was the only phrase she uttered in court that morning.
…
Iraq’s well out of the news cycle and even ISIS isn’t getting the coverage it once did. But for many in post-ISIS Iraq, the battle is far from over. A country bloodthirsty for revenge against the terrorists who held Mosul, a judiciary more-interested in fast results rather than right results, and a legal system that promotes and accepts confession under torture creates the perfect breeding ground for tomorrow’s disaster.
Toddler Feelings Helpline
This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
Hello, you have reached the Toddler Feelings Helpline. Please choose from the following options:
— If Mama went to the store for a minute but you are pretty sure she’s never coming back, please mash all of the keys but mostly 1.
— If you still feel pretty messed up about how they were just going to burn the Velveteen Rabbit, please mash all of the keys but mostly 2.
— If you don’t like the way your shirt is right now, please hit a sibling for no reason.
…
Ungulation
This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
Elemental haiku
This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
Chlorine
Low road or high road?
World War I. Gas in trenches.
Or salt shared, tears shed.
A haiku for every element on the periodic table up to atomic weight 103, and also one for the as-yet-unsynthesised ununennium, I especially like magnesium’s.
Ending on a High
For the final week of his 52 Reflect series and as a way to see off the year, Robin and I spent the last weekend of the year near Fort William to facilitate a quick ascent of Ben Nevis. My previous expedition to Britain’s highest point was an excuse for some ice climbing but I hadn’t actually come up the “path” route since an aborted expedition in 2009.
Somehow in the intervening years I’ve gotten way out of practice and even more out of shape because our expedition was hard. Partly that was our fault for choosing to climb on one of the shortest days of the year, requiring that we maintain a better-than-par pace throughout to allow us to get up and down before the sun set (which we actually managed with further time in-hand), but mostly it’s the fact that I’ve neglected my climbing: just about the only routine exercise I get these days is cycling, and with changes in my work/life balance I’m now only doing that for about 40 miles in a typical week.
For the longest time my primary mountaineering-buddy was my dad, who was – prior to his death during a hillwalking accident – a bigger climber and hiker than I’ll ever be. Indeed, I’ve been “pushed on” by trying to keep up with my father enough times that fighting to keep up with Robin at the weekend was second nature. If I want to get back to the point where I’m fit enough for ice climbing again I probably need to start by finding the excuse for getting up a hill once in a while more-often than I do, first, too. Perhaps I can lay some of the blame for my being out of practice in the flat, gentle plains of Oxfordshire?
In any case, it was a worthwhile and enjoyable treat to be able to be part of Robin’s final reflection as well as to end the year somewhat-literally “on a high” by seeing off 2018 in the Scottish Highlands. If you’ve not read his blog about his adventures of the last 52 weekends, you should: whether taking a Boris Bike from Brixton to Brighton (within the rental window) or hitching a ride on an aeroplane, he’s provided a year’s worth of fantastic stories accompanied by some great photography.
And now: time for 2019.
Note #12736
2004 called, @virginmedia. They asked me to remind you that maximum password lengths and prohibiting pasting makes your security worse, not better. @PWTooStrong
In more detail:
- Why would you set an upper limit on security? It can’t be for space/capacity reasons because you’re hashing my password anyway in accordance with best security practice, right? (Right?)
- Why would you exclude spaces, punctuation, and other “special” characters? If you’re afraid of injection attacks, you’re doing escaping wrong (and again: aren’t you hashing anyway?). Or are you just afraid that one of your users might pick a strong password? Same for the “starts with a letter” limitation.
- Composition rules like “doesn’t contain the same character twice in a row” reflects wooly thinking on that part of your IT team: you’re saying for example that “abababab” is more-secure than “abccefgh”. Consider using exclusion lists/blacklists for known-compromised/common passwords e.g. with HaveIBeenPwned and/or use entropy-based rather than composition-based rules e.g. with zxcvbn.
- Disallowing pasting into password fields does nothing to prevent brute-force/automated attacks but frustrates users who use password managers (by forcing them to retype their passwords, you may actually be reducing their security as well as increasing the likelihood of mistakes) and can have an impact on accessibility too.
- Counterarguments I anticipate: (a) it’s for your security – no it’s not; go read any of the literature from the last decade and a half, (b) it’s necessary for integration with a legacy system – that doesn’t fill me with confidence: if your legacy system is reducing your security, you need to update or replace your legacy system or else you’re setting yourself up to be the next Marriott, Equifax, or Friend Finder Network.
- It’s definitely not the first time you’ve been told. Get your act together.
Note #12733
“All #boardgames can be legacy games if you want it enough!” – @fleeblewidget, after drunkenly stumbling upon @thegodzillagirl’s label maker.
Fixing Social Media
This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.
Also: awesome news.
Note #12728
Summit of Ben Nevis with Robin (on almost the shortest day of the year) to finish off his 52 Reflect project.