Kind: Collections

Summary

This month saw me share the Story of Scgary: how my childhood friend Gary and our various adventures together had become part of the mythology of roleplay scenarios used in the training of helpline volunteers at Aberystwyth Nightline.

I also shared news of a piece of interactive fiction produced for Halloween by my team at work, a parody of what websites are like in 2018, a Black Mirror-esque short story, a YouTuber who’s engineering cybernetic augments to sense and react to the physiological signs of her arousal, and tips on winterproofing your vagina (sarcastic, obviously).

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Articles

• The Story of Scgary *

Notes

• Today, @bodleianlibs releases Shadows Out of Time, a Choose-Your-Own-Destiny story. It’s amazing – go read it: https://s.danq.me/Np #halloween #InteractiveFiction *
• Big Blue (@IBM) to buy @RedHat. Developers risk being… marooned.

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• Websites in 2018 * †
• The Expert: Wrong Angle †
• Grenfell Tower: The fires that foretold the tragedy †
• Linda Liukas, Hello Ruby and the magic of coding †
• A 2016 version of the 1914 Isochronic London/World travel times map
• Forza Horizon 4 is really very British †
• It’s time to winterize your vagina * †
• Escape from Spiderhead * †
• SQLite Code Of Ethics (formerly Code of Conduct) †
• Rehabilitating Google AMP: My failed attempt †
• #youbroketheinternet So We Got Tracked Anyway †
• SHE BON : Sensing the Sensual * †

Summary

This month, I shared photos of a mystery box I discovered in a meeting room at work which turned out to be an adapter to a proprietary kind of 13A plug socket and developed a software tool which pixel-scrapes open mapping data to estimate what percentage of a given graticule (degree of latitude by degree of longitude) is covered with water, which could be expected to affect the challenge level for geohashers based in that graticule. This coincided with two consecutive-day geohashing expeditions of my own: one to East Adderbury (with accompanying vlog) where I met some cows and was served an unexpected number of eggs at a pub, and one to the South Downs National Park (with accompanying vlog, and via three geocaches: 1, 2, 3).

I also attended Oxford’s first ever IndieWebCamp and achieved a life goal when my local radio station asked me on-air to stop texting them puns.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Articles

• The Mystery Button-Box *
• How Much of My Graticule is Covered With Water? *

Checkins

• Geohashing expedition 2018-08-23 50 -1 *
• Dan Q found GC5P5KN SDGT South Downs Way Mile 20 *
• Dan Q found GC2X5BJ Small Down Boogie 3 *
• Dan Q found GCTNZ6 V’s own @ M4 – J13 *
• Geohashing expedition 2018-08-22 52 -1 *

Notes

• One off the #bucketlist this morning when local radio station @JACKfmOxford said, on-air, “Dan, please stop texting us puns.” *

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• Swiss startup Energy Vault is stacking concrete blocks to store energy — Quartz
• Oxford IndieWebCamp is go! *
• Before You Turn On Two-Factor Authentication †
• Battle of the Bulge: Why We’re So Fascinated by Superhero Codpieces
• No.33: Twatt

Videos

• Geohashing near Winchester (2018-08-23 50 -1) *
• 2018-08-22 52 -1 Geohashing expedition to East Adderbury *

Summary

In July 2018, I did a little geocaching and shared an awesome Pride GIF and an old advert.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Checkins

• Dan Q found GLWG7T19 Blind-House Lacock Revisited *
• Dan Q performed maintenance for GC7R0HB The Fairy Elevator
• Dan Q posted a note for GC54KVD Oxford Medical History #2: Grey matter

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• AWOOOOO †
• Ambition
• Cyborg Time With Kimiko Ross †
• Why your brain never runs out of problems to find
• Happy Pride Month! †
• Test Your Awareness : Whodunnit? †
• Cropmarks 2018
• Frigid †
• The Alice and Bob After Dinner Speech †
• Einstein’s theory still passes the test: weak and strong gravity objects fall the same way †
• How To Play – Carcassonne †
• The Insane Story In The Background Of Arrested Development

Summary

This month I attended The Lead Developer conference and used my lunch break (and my journey back to the station) to find a reasonable number of central London geocaches, as listed below. I also reshared an announcement by Garrett Coakley that IndieWeb Oxford was to go ahead in September.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Checkins

• Dan Q found GLW6DXB2 Moor or Less
• Dan Q found GLW6FZ7G Bone house
• Dan Q found GLW6FRYF St Etheldreda’s (Central London)
• Dan Q found GLW6FJQ9 A Meating place for Martyrs
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC7CDW3 BT Tower
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC4201 St Etheldreda’s (Central London)
• Dan Q posted a note for GC7Q9FF Oxford’s Wild Wolf Two
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC6HH59 Animal ! – It’s Not Easy Being Red
• Dan Q found GLW6CMKQ 16th Century Pub (Central London)
• Dan Q found GLW6CJKN Original Diva – It’s Not Easy Being Pink

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• Lateral: Game 1 with Kat Arney, Helen Arney, Simon Clark, and Sally Le Page †
• Unbreakable smart lock devastated to discover screwdrivers exist
• REPORT: Cards Against Humanity officially surpasses acoustic guitars as the most annoying thing you can bring to a party – The Beaverton
• JS Oxford Indieweb presentation – Polytechnic * †
• Rab the Giant versus the Witch of the Waterfall

Summary

This month I completed my research into Oxford’s (former) zoo and I hid a series of geocaches to commemorate it and the wolves that escaped from it once, in the 1930s. I also toured a series of geocaches near Eynsham (listed below) while collecting ‘caching supplies from the military surplus store there.

I also shared (among other things) the story of the creation of a GIF file containing text showing the hex digest of its own MD5 hash, something which might initially appear to be impossible.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Articles

• Oxford’s Long-Lost Zoo and Wild Wolves *

Checkins

• Dan Q couldn’t find GC5X8C6 Offey’s Adventure
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC6M48N A Fine Pair # 598 ~ Eynsham
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC6Q8BN Walk by the Firehouse #6
• Dan Q reported GC5VKVN Walk by the Firehouse #4 needs maintenance
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC5VKVN Walk by the Firehouse #4
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC53422 Walk by the Firehouse #2
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC531M9 Walk by the Firehouse #1
• Dan Q found GLVZ4FH9 Walk by the Firehouse #5
• Dan Q found GLVZ4C8V Walk by the Firehouse #3
• Dan Q found GLVZ47BH Circular Walk

Reposts

• Eric Sings His New Version of “FCC Song”
• GIF MD5 hashquine *
• In Defense of Arrested Development Season 4
• always true

Summary

This month I produced almost no original content, but I shared a number of interesting content from elsewhere around the web, including an explanation of the power of compound interest (and why saving for a pension early is often more-important than saving lots), a curious poem, and a short film about what would happen if all the cautionary tales your parents told you were true. More are below.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• Compound interest and retirement * †
• day-tight compartment
• Moscow Math Olympiad Puzzle
• Pyramid Scheme by Hera Lindsay Bird | Poetry Magazine *
• Optipess Guest Comic
• Coding without a keystroke: The hands-free creation of a full video game
• Cautionary Tales *
• The Tyranny of Convenience
• Are You Ready to Have Friends with Kids?
• Where does my council tax go?
• Does anyone have the right to sex?
• “Elon Musk”
• Child Abuse Ad Uses Lenticular Printing to Help Children While Remaining Invisible to Adults †
• No, Panera Bread Doesn’t Take Security Seriously
• Authority and Usage and Emoji

Summary

This month I reminisced about that time Paul made and ate a Birmingham Egg (with help from Jon) and used doing so as a comment on Web siloisation and how it may be reducing diversity of “weird” content online. I also contemplated what recent observations about neural nets might mean for our understanding of child psychology and language development (in an only slightly tongue-in-cheek way).

Ruth, JTA, the kids and I took a snowsports holiday to the French alps, where I also found a handful of geocaches: GLV85XH3, GLV85X2Z, and GLV85W40.

And I reposted an XKCD comic about violin plots, a community of Javascript <canvas> programmers who try to get great effects into only 140 characters of code, and a fabulous vlog telling a story about an unusual first-time RPG participant.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Articles

• On This Day In 2005 *
• Neural nets respond to pranks like children do *

Checkins

• Dan Q found GLV85XH3 ??Le Sentier de la forêt?? : LA MADONE *
• Dan Q found GLV85X2Z EABDG : Margaret la reine de fer *
• Dan Q found GLV85W40 LA MADONE DU GRAND BO ! *
• Dan Q couldn’t find GC629TH EABDG : La vache qui tourne dans le Tour de France

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• Violin Plots * †
• Lure
• Dwitter * †
• Visualisation of bike rides around Tampa, Florida †
• Ride the World’s Longest Zipline in the UAE †
• Games to Play With Your Child in Which You Barely Have to Move or Talk
• Storytime: Rebel Lieutenant *
• We’ve Always Hated Girls Online: A Wayback Machine Investigation
• Faceswapping, Unethical Videos, and Future Shock

Summary

This month, I looked-back at Troma Night XXI, 14 years prior, and the impact it’d ultimately have on the future of my circle of friends. I visited Wakefield Samaritans, shared thoughts about the realisation that “early programmers” are learning to code later this generation than the last and that the nature of Internet memes has changed significantly, cried at a tear-jerking short film, and learned about the Pig War of 1859.

I also reshared a video of my sister falling off a chair, as captured by a McDonalds’ CCTV camera, that originally appeared in a tweet of hers.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Articles

• On This Day In 2004 *

Notes

• Early start: @3RingsCIC are sending me to visit @WakefieldSams this morning to talk about #technology and #volunteering. Looking forward to meeting everybody there! *

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• How the Mom Internet became a spotless, sponsored void
• Here’s The Plan * †
• Security Breaches Don’t Affect Stock Price †
• 10 Songs You’ve Heard and Don’t Know the Name Of
• How Russia’s Hilarious, Homoerotic “Satisfaction” Became a Nationwide Meme of Solidarity
• Report: 80’s kids started programming at an earlier age than today’s millennials †
• I Have a Confession to Make * †
• The female price of male pleasure
• Late
• Explain…
• The Pig War of 1859 *
• The diabolical genius of the baby advice industry | News | The Guardian

Videos

• Becky falls off a chair in McDonalds *

Summary

This month I attended a festive breadmaking workshop and I wrote about how I discovered that a Turkish university’s libraries stole the website of the University of Oxford’s and confronted them about it. I shared Elena Filatova’s latest video of her explorations of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, an article on the strange appeal of Bat Out Of Hell, and observations on the depiction of asexuality in Bojack Horseman.

All posts

Posts marked by an asterisk (*) are referenced by the summary above.

Articles

• When One Library Steals From Another *
• Bread Winner *

Notes

• Investigating a possible new bug in @firefox 57: after installing the service worker, going to an uncached page on a site like adactio.com (@adactio), danq.me, or 3r.org.uk results in a “NetworkError” and the offline page, even though the connection is fine…

Reposts

Reposts marked with a dagger (†) include my comments or interpretation.

• Ghost town 13. Night ride through the dead zone * †
• Digital Resource Lifespan
• Diary
• Jogging from the Perspective of Animals
• Interdimensional Cable
• Enabling IPv6 Support in nginx
• New Tesla charging stations could compete with Starbucks
• Bat Out Of Hell At 40: What The Hell Explains Its Appeal? *
• Male incompetence is a subtle form of misogyny
• My Sammelband has Frisket-Bite: A Short Glossary of Delightful Library Terms
• Why BoJack Horseman’s Representation of Asexuality is Important *
• London’s Transport Chief Can’t Do Early Meetings As She Uses Southern Rail