Dan Q

Kind: Reposts

[Off-topic] I’ve made a tool that helps /r/MagicSecrets folks find one another.

This self-post was originally posted to /r/MagicSecrets. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

Please forgive the non-magic talk, but I wanted to share with you something I made recently. It’s a plugin you can install into your web browser that does this (pic).

What’s that? It’s a top hat and wand alongside the name of /r/MagicSecrets folks. It’s only visible to other /r/MagicSecrets folks, of course, but it’s visible from anywhere on Reddit. So you can instantly spot fellow magicians whether they’re hanging out on /r/AskReddit or just commenting on kitten pics on /r/aww.

What it’s especially useful for is spotting folks in e.g. /r/magic when the discussion gets close to something that should only be talked about in here. You instantly know whether you should say “let’s go talk about this in /r/MagicSecrets” or whether you should simply say “this isn’t the place to talk about this.” But honestly, these last few weeks I’ve mostly just been using it to give me a smile when I spot magicians elsewhere: like when I noticed /u/Jokers247 in /r/ImGoingToHellForThis earlier this week!

Want to try it? Instructions are over on /r/MegaMegaMonitor. Apologies again for the off-topic post.

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Hi there. I’m /u/avapoet, and I made MegaMegaMonitor.

This self-post was originally posted to /r/MegaMegaLounge. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

I expect that there are many of you who would appreciate it (especially in its latest version), but haven’t heard about it yet. Basically, what it does is tells you:

  • What Mega*Lounge level people have reached (if they’re in the same or lower level than you), or that they’re higher if they’ve gotten higher than you. That’s really useful when you’re gilding people!
  • If you’re in one of a set of special secret subreddits (including the MegaLounge chain), it’ll help you to identify your (Mega!)-friends elsewhere on Reddit. It’s a great way to help build communities, because you’ll start “recognising” people that you’ve seen in the Megas (or… “elsewhere”) in the normal subs.

It’s a browser plugin that works on most desktop and some mobile platforms, and you can install it here. If you give it a go, let me know how you get on and come chat with the rest of us about it, over in /r/megamegamonitor.

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MegaMegaMonitor version 87 released – faster updates, more subreddits, friendlier error messages

This self-post was originally posted to /r/MegaMegaMonitor. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

There’s also a new numbering scheme, which will be necessary to help support the way in which new subreddits will be added to MegaMegaMonitor in future.

Upgrading

  • If you’ve already got it installed, it’ll probably update itself within a day or two. Or you can update it sooner by asking Greasemonkey/Tampermonkey to “check for userscript updates”.
  • If you’re new to MegaMegaMonitor (or if that didn’t work), instead go to https://danq.me/megamegamonitor/ and click the button to install it afresh.

New features

  • Doesn’t throw error messages if you try to use it while not logged-in at all.
  • Continues to work in your sock puppet accounts with the cached data from your primary account.
  • New “MMM” text in top-right corner (near your username). Hover over it to see if your data is up-to-date and refresh it if necessary (note that there’s a known bug where new installations say that it was updated “45 years ago”: probably an epoch problem but purely cosmetic).
  • Added /r/MagicSecrets, /r/gildeddrunk, /r/gildedtrees, and two extra-special secret subreddits to the icon list.
  • Added a feature that will show you an icon next to the usernames of other people who use MegaMegaMonitor.
  • Improved automatic data updates so that they’ll always be triggered when upgrading to a new version of MegaMegaMonitor, to reduce the future risk of ‘sync errors’.
  • 190% more unicorn meat.

Have fun, folks!

Repost posted at UTC on .

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I’m really proud of myself. Today, while out geocaching, I came to the rescue of two lost, scared, *pregnant* women stuck on the side of an Alp. I hoped that you might be proud of me too, Masons!

This link was originally posted to /r/MegaMasonsLounge. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

The original link was: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=e7d3c58e-857c-479a-a9d1-e09b1eae8fe5

Je parle un peu le français. Je me excuse pour la rédaction du présent en anglais.

I have been staying in La Tania on a ski holiday with friends and family. This morning, I fell and her my neck, so I thought I’d take a break from skiing and do some geocaching instead. The hike down the valley was hard in the fresh dump of snow, and I wished that I’d brought snowshoes! Or poles! Our even a rope! I routinely found myself wading through knee-high snow, and I’d ocassionally have to traverse drifts that came up to my thigh. I was very glad to reach the convenient break point of La Nouva, where I stopped to chat to a small yappy dog before pressing on.

Villaflou itself is beautiful: I especially love the cute little chapel at its heart. I spent some time investigating the wrong thing, looking for the cache, before eventually working out where it might be. Only the 5th person to find it!

On the way back to La Tania (an even more arduous hike by a different route that I thought would be easier but truly wasn’t) I was distracted by two French ladies calling me over. They were lost, having taken a wrong turn, and – perhaps as a result of them being 4 and 6 months pregnant, respectively – were finding it very hard to push themselves up the mountainside against what was now ocassionally waist-deep snow. Naturally I came to their rescue, using my GPSr to lead them up to the path they sought: a further arduous journey of pushing, pulling, digging, and crawling until we finally reached the outskirts of La Tania and they were assured of their safety.

Four hours of hiking in snow, sometimes up to my waist and rescuing two lost hikers makes this perhaps the hardest I’ve ever worked for a geocache. And I loved it.

FP awarded. SL. MPLC/TFTC!

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On the way back from a cache in the Alps, I came to the rescue of two lost, underequipped, *pregnant* hikers who were stuck in deep snow. Had I not been out ‘caching, they were about to try to work out their location (badly) and summon mountain rescue. I’ve had a good day.

This link was originally posted to /r/geocaching. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

The original link was: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=e7d3c58e-857c-479a-a9d1-e09b1eae8fe5

Je parle un peu le français. Je me excuse pour la rédaction du présent en anglais.

I have been staying in La Tania on a ski holiday with friends and family. This morning, I fell and her my neck, so I thought I’d take a break from skiing and do some geocaching instead. The hike down the valley was hard in the fresh dump of snow, and I wished that I’d brought snowshoes! Or poles! Our even a rope! I routinely found myself wading through knee-high snow, and I’d ocassionally have to traverse drifts that came up to my thigh. I was very glad to reach the convenient break point of La Nouva, where I stopped to chat to a small yappy dog before pressing on.

Villaflou itself is beautiful: I especially love the cute little chapel at its heart. I spent some time investigating the wrong thing, looking for the cache, before eventually working out where it might be. Only the 5th person to find it!

On the way back to La Tania (an even more arduous hike by a different route that I thought would be easier but truly wasn’t) I was distracted by two French ladies calling me over. They were lost, having taken a wrong turn, and – perhaps as a result of them being 4 and 6 months pregnant, respectively – were finding it very hard to push themselves up the mountainside against what was now ocassionally waist-deep snow. Naturally I came to their rescue, using my GPSr to lead them up to the path they sought: a further arduous journey of pushing, pulling, digging, and crawling until we finally reached the outskirts of La Tania and they were assured of their safety.

Four hours of hiking in snow, sometimes up to my waist and rescuing two lost hikers makes this perhaps the hardest I’ve ever worked for a geocache. And I loved it.

FP awarded. SL. MPLC/TFTC!

Repost posted at UTC on .

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Club Lounge at Gatwick airport

This self-post was originally posted to /r/MegaMasonsLounge. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

On the way out to the French Alps for a week of skiing, and we had enough air miles to upgrade to business class on the way out, so I’m sat in the lounge enjoying complimentary gin & tonic and croissants. 10 in the morning, and I’m already buzzed: after a long and hectic few months, I’m really glad to be off on holiday!

Aaaand…. right before I left I put in an application for my boss’s job, which she vacated a few months ago. Should hear by the time I get back whether I’m being invited to interview, so that’s exciting too!

Anyway: just wanted to share my excitement with my favourite MegaMasons. If I’m not online much this week, you’ll know why! Have a great week, folks: love you all!

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Why are different kinds of stars found ‘between’ the spiral arms of our galaxy than in them?

This self-post was originally posted to /r/askscience. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

I was elsewhere in Reddit when somebody made the claim that the space between the spiral arms of our galaxy aren’t empty, but are simply filled with different kinds of stars (different luminoscities, etc.). I was skeptical, but other sources claim that this is true, too. However, I can’t find any explanation as to why this might be the case.

Is our galaxy unusual in this regard? Is it that stars form throughout our galaxy, but matter ejected from the bar into the arms affects the type of stars seen there? Is this a question of what forms where, or is it a clustering question? I honestly haven’t a clue, and I couldn’t find where this question had been asked before so I’m still “in the dark”… unlike the ‘dark’ places in our galaxy!

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v0.53 – Dystopika And The Mason’s Edition

This self-post was originally posted to /r/MegaMegaMonitor. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

A new version to support a certain new MegaLounge (thanks, /u/dystopika). Users who update MegaMegaMonitor without getting the most-recent data will probably see the wrong icons for a few hours. Sorry! If you’re affected, (a) update or reinstall MegaMegaMonitor, then (b) click your GreaseMonkey or TamperMonkey icon and then “MegaMegaMonitor: manually update user lists now” and you should be fine.

Adding this new feature was a drag, because my architecture’s not set up well to accommodate this kind of “mixed bag” of MegaLounge access. I’ll be revising my architecture to make this a stronger, more-flexible tool going forwards, but until then there won’t be any “extra” lounges added. I’m talking to you, /r/MegaEarth!

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Is it possible to show a list of posts by a particular subset of users?

This self-post was originally posted to /r/redditdev. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

E.g. with subreddits, I can view multiple ones at once with /r/aww+cows (for /r/aww and /r/cows), but I can’t find a way to do the same for multiple people (I guessed that /u/ketralnis+spez might work, but it didn’t). Adding all of the requested people to my friends list would work, but isn’t ideal. Any suggestions?

Edit: sorry – I might have just tagged ‘ketralnis’.

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v0.51 released – fixes all the things I broke!

This self-post was originally posted to /r/MegaMegaMonitor. See more things from Dan's Reddit account.

Turns out I shouldn’t code after I’ve been drinking. v0.50 will have not-worked for almost everybody, because I forgot what programming language I was writing in about half-way through it and tried to use a feature that doesn’t exist. And then somehow managed to deploy it and not notice. Sorry.

v0.51 fixes it. It should work again. Sorry, sorry, sorry…

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