Dan Q
This checkin to GC98N1P Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #5 LOST reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Like all the other caches on this trail, the coordinates for this were spot on and I was delighted and surprised to find a most-excellent themed cache. The container was a little hard to open: perhaps there’s an emergency lever somewhere on the inside that I just couldn’t see? ;-) FP awarded. TFTC.
This checkin to GC98MZC Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #2 Four Weddings reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
I spent a long time looking in all the wrong places before I finally… swung around… to the right way of thinking. Brilliant hiding place, FP awarded.
I’d figured that this path, being listed as a bridleway, would be suitable for my bike: i.e. relatively broad and flat, no stiles, etc. I was partially right, and the path soon became a little bumpy for my mostly road-going bike, but it worked out.
On account of the pandemic, I’d expected my fortieth birthday to be a somewhat more-muted affair than I’d hoped. I had a banner, I got trolled by bagels, and I received as a gift a pizza oven with which I immediately set fire to several pieces of cookware, but I hadn’t expected to be able to do anything like the “surprise” party of my thirtieth, and that saddened me a little. So imagine my surprise when I come back from an evening walk the day after my birthday to discover than an actual (remote) surprise party really had been arranged without my knowing!
Not content with merely getting a few folks together for drinks, though, Ruth and team had gone to great trouble (involving lots of use of the postal service) arranging a “kit” murder mystery party in the Inspector McClue series – The Diamonds, The Dagger, and One Classy Dame – for us all to play. The story is sort-of a spiritual successor to The Brie, The Bullet, and The Black Cat, which we’d played fifteen years earlier. Minor spoilers follow.
Naturally, I immediately felt underdressed, having not been instructed that I might need a costume, and underprepared, having only just heard for the first time that I would be playing the part of German security sidekick Lieutenant Kurt Von Strohm minutes before I had to attempt my most outrageous German accent.
The plot gave me in particular a certain sense of deja vu. In The Brie, The Bullet, and The Black Cat, I played a French nightclub owner who later turned out to be an English secret agent supplying the French Resistance with information. But in The Diamonds, The Dagger, and One Classy Dame I played a Gestapo officer who… also later turned out to be an English secret agent infiltrating the regime and, you guessed it, supplying the French Resistance.
It was not the smoothest nor the most-sophisticated “kit” murder mystery we’ve enjoyed. The technology made communication challenging, the reveal was less-satisfying than some others etc. But the company was excellent. (And the acting way pretty good too, especially by our murderer whose character was exquisitely played.)
And of course the whole thing quickly descended into a delightful shouting match with accusations flying left, right, and centre and nobody having a clue what was going on. Like all of our murder mystery parties!
In summary, the weekend of my fortieth birthday was made immeasurably better by getting to hang out with (and play a stupid game with) some of my friends despite the lockdown, and I’m ever so grateful that those closest to me were able to make such a thing happen (and without me even noticing in advance).
I’m unlikely to get a graduation ceremony like last time (on account of social distancing and whatnot), but I get a certificate to acknowledge my most-recent qualification.
I last handed in a dissertation almost 16 years ago; that one marked the cumulation of my academic work at Aberystwyth University, then the “University of Wales, Aberystwyth”. Since then I’ve studied programming, pentesting and psychology (the P-subject Triathalon?)… before returning to university to undertake a masters degree in information security and forensics.
Today, I handed in that dissertation. Thanks to digital hand-ins, I’m able to “hand it in” and then change my mind, make changes, and hand-in a replacement version right up until the deadline on Wednesday (I’m already on my second version!), so I’ve still got a few evenings left for last-minute proofreads and tweaks. That said, I’m mostly happy with where it is right now.
Writing a dissertation was harder this time around. Things that made it harder included:
It feels like less of a bang than last time around, but still sufficient that I’ll breathe a big sigh of relief. I’ve a huge backlog of things to get on with that I’ve been putting-off until this monster gets finished, but I’m not thinking about them quite yet.
I need a moment to get my bearings again and get used to the fact that once again – and for the first time in several years – I’ll soon be not-a-student. Fun fact, I’ve spent very-slightly-more than half of my adult life as a registered student: apparently I’m a sucker it, for all that I complain… in fact, I’m already wondering what I can study next (suggestions welcome!), although I’ve promised myself that I’ll take a couple of years off before I get into anything serious.
(This is, of course, assuming I pass my masters degree, otherwise I might still be a student for a little longer while I “fix” my dissertation!)
If anybody’s curious (and I shan’t blame you if you’re not), here’s my abstract… assuming I don’t go back and change it yet again in the next couple of days (it’s still a little clunky especially in the final sentence):
Multifactor authentication (MFA), such as the use of a mobile phone in addition to a username and password when logging in to a website, is one of the strongest security enhancements an individual can add to their online accounts. Compared to alternative enhancements like refraining from the reuse of passwords it’s been shown to be easy and effective. However: MFA is optional for most consumer-facing Web services supporting MFA, and elective user adoption is well under 10%.
How can user adoption be increased? Delivering security awareness training to users has been shown to help, but the gold standard would be a mechanism to encourage uptake that can be delivered at the point at which the user first creates an account on a system. This would provide strong protection to an account for its entire life.
Using realistic account signup scenarios delivered to participants’ own computers, an experiment was performed into the use of language surrounding the invitation to adopt MFA. During the scenarios, participants were exposed to statements designed to either instil fear of hackers or to praise them for setting up an account and considering MFA. The effect on uptake rates is compared. A follow-up questionnaire asks questions to understand user security behaviours including password and MFA choices and explain their thought processes when considering each.
No significant difference is found between the use of “fear” and “praise” statements. However, secondary information revealed during the experiment and survey provides recommendations for service providers to offer MFA after, rather than at, the point of account signup, and for security educators to focus their energies on dispelling user preconceptions about the convenience, privacy implications, and necessity of MFA.
I now have no doubt that from the summit of Table Mountain is an absolutely unparalleled place from which to watch the sunset. 🇿🇦🌅😍
Eight years, six months, and one week after I started at the Bodleian, we’ve gone our separate ways. It’s genuinely been the nicest place I’ve ever worked; the Communications team are a tightly-knit, supportive, caring bunch of diverse misfits and I love them all dearly, but the time had come for me to seek my next challenge.
(For anybody out-of-the-loop, I’m moving to Automattic after surviving their amazing, mind-expanding recruitment process).
Being awesome as they are, my team threw a going-away party for me, complete with food from Najar’s Place, about which I’d previously raved as having Oxford’s best falafels. I wasn’t even aware that Najar’s place did corporate catering… actually, it’s possible that they don’t and this was just a (very) special one-off.
Following in the footsteps of recent team parties, they’d even gotten a suitably-printed cake with a picture of my face on it. Which meant that I could leave my former team with one final magic trick, the never-before-seen feat of eating my own head (albeit in icing form).
As the alcohol started to work, I announced an activity I’d planned: over the weeks prior I’d worked to complete but not cash-in reward cards at many of my favourite Oxford eateries and cafes, and so I was now carrying a number of tokens for free burritos, coffees, ice creams, smoothies, pasta and more. Given that I now expect to spend much less of my time in the city centre I’d decided to give these away to people who were able to answer challenge questions presented – where else? – on our digital signage simulator.
I also received some wonderful going-away gifts, along with cards in which a few colleagues had replicated my long tradition of drawing cartoon animals in other people’s cards, by providing me with a few in return.
Later, across the road at the Kings’ Arms and with even more drinks inside of me, I broke out the lyrics I’d half-written to a rap song about my time at the Bodleian. Because, as I said at the time, there’s nothing more-Oxford than a privileged white boy rapping about how much he’d loved his job at a library (video also available on QTube [with lyrics] and on Videopress).
It’s been an incredible 8½ years that I’ll always look back on with fondness. Don’t be strangers, guys!
This checkin to GC13FY2 You don't have to tremor; it's not your fault. reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
My last cache in the USA before I fly home to the UK this afternoon. Seeing the lake (which, aside from human intervention in creating a reservoir, fundamentally exists because of a millenia-old fissure along the fault line) really helps put the scale of the fault into perspective. A delightful walk to the GZ with only a smattering of drizzle plus a chance sighting of a doe and her fawn made this expedition perfect. If I find myself in this part of the world again, I shall try to hire a bike in order to better explore these trails. TFTC; FP awarded for the assistance in putting this world-famous fault line into perspective.
This checkin to GCEC8 Green Thumb reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Thanks for sharing (and maintaining) this cache, and for making it possible for me to discover this wonderful corner of the city. SL, TNLN, TFTC, and greetings from Oxford, UK! FP for possibly being my new favourite cache.
See also: video of finding the cache.
This checkin to GCRJA8 Double Secret Trailhead reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
My first US cache: greetings from Oxford, UK. I’m over here for a conference and a little sightseeing and as I woke early this morning (my internal clock still thinks it’s in Britain despite my incredibly long day off travelling, yesterday!) I figured I’d walk from my hotel to the conference centre and pick up a couple of caches on the way. I made a cache of my own in a similar style to this, recently (GC86MHH/OK04AC) but yours is way more resilient-looking. SL, TNLN, FP for being my first cache on this continent (and for it reminding me of one of my own!).
This checkin to GC6A6R5 Six Summits Challenge #5 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Second of the two caches I set out to find this morning after spending last night at nearby Wilderhope Manor to celebrate my partner’s husband’s sister’s wedding. This leg of the walk was especially beautiful, providing a fabulous view of the valley in the morning sunshine before the drizzle began, a little after 08:00. Cache was one of those where my geo-sense was tingling as soon as I was in the vicinity and the cache was soon in hand.
Cache’s pencil missing, found in bad condition nearby and returned to the container but I opted to sign the logbook with my pen rather than chance its structural stability!
Thanks for this and #6 in the series. I’d love the opportunity to return to the area and complete them all, but for now I have to get back to the Manor, have some breakfast, and begin my journey back to Oxfordshire. FP awarded for the care and attention that’s clearly gone into these caches.
This checkin to GC7B9AF Edinburgh's Other Castle reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
My partner fleeblewidget and I have been cycling around Scotland as part of celebrations of the twelfth anniversary of us becoming a couple (a relationship that started in Edinburgh). On the way, we’ve been cherry-picking some of the most-interesting geocaches to hunt for as we’ve travelled.
After cycling our last leg from Glasgow to Edinburgh yesterday, we spent today visiting parts of the city we’d not seen before, including the hidden gem that is Craigmillar Castle. Fortunately, fleeblewidget has a life membership of English Heritage and as a result of a reciprocal arrangement with Scottish Heritage, and so our entry to this wonderful medieval castle was free of charge. An extended exploration of the grounds found us the relevant spot where we took the pictures attached. Email to the CO with the challenge answers will follow soon.
Thanks for setting up this virtual and helping us discover this corner of Edinburgh. FP awarded, and TFTC!
See more posts about our 2019 anniversary break?
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.
This checkin to GC1EA55 Halamanning Engine House reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Following yesterday’s Challenge Robin adventure during which I sent my partner’s brother on an extended treasure trail covering London and Penzance, we decided to have a more-relaxed day today with a gentle hike to a few geocaches (and with a pub lunch in the middle).
This was the first of the caches we found as we made our way down from the River Valley Caravan Park where we’d been staying and hacked our way through the damp paths to this GZ. What a remarkable ruin – one of several like it, our subsequent explorations showed, but still quite remarkable how well-concealed and overgrown it is. A beautiful spot, and well-worth the journey. FP awarded; TFTC
This checkin to GCGNNT We Would Like To Thank... reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
In hindsight, visiting this cache might have been a mistake as a storm was beginning to roll in, but I got there before things got TOO hairy! I was in the vicinity preparing an adventure-trail thingy along the coast path anyway, and couldn’t miss the opportunity to head for this exciting location. And it was a real treat to see a container like this: I’ve only ever seen them before when I’ve placed them myself (e.g. GC7QG1Z). Great container, hide, and description: FP awarded. TNLN, TFTC!
