User talk:Benjw

Also see User talk:Benjw/Archive for talk prior to 2012.

2012-08-19

Hiya, I'm planning to head to Cambridge tomorrow, ostensibly to visit relatives but actually because of the prospective of consecutive double bicycle hashes. Can we meet at like 5pm then go to the hashes? Ali0sha 17:33, 18 August 2012 (EDT)

Splendid! That would be great. I'm in north-east Cambridge, up the Milton Road. Is that sort of area good for you? If so, how about meeting at 5pm at the Milton Road end of the guided busway? I'll send you an email. — Benjw  _{talk} 19:12, 18 August 2012 (EDT)

Redundant Category Information

Hi and thanks. I just spotted a correction you made to one of my pages. I was adding unnecessary category information created automatically by the "meetup graticule" template. This error is duplicated in many/most of my expedition reports now numbering 100 so it'll be a while before I fix them all. It's nice to see you're still active. Sourcerer 10:30, 22 August 2012 (EDT)

Hi Neil. Sorry I haven't been around much recently. It's probably a bit late now, but the redundant "meetup in/on" categories weren't doing any harm by being duplicated. I think I was trying to make sure that the expeditions all had the "expeditions" category and a reached/not-reached one, as that's what the various automatic lists take as their input. While we're on the subject of editing, though, may I commend to you the "edit summary" field and the "minor edit" tickbox?  ;-) — Benjw  _{talk} 13:49, 25 August 2012 (EDT)

More useful tips. Having learned Mediawiki techniques through geohashing, I now run three of my own Mediawiki sites, two small ones and one larger one. I'm keen to get things right and learn new techniques. I can write templates but bots are still a bit of a mystery to me. I have altered my preferences to prompt me for an edit summary and to make my edits minor by default. Now I'll have to remember to uncheck this if I do something more significant. Thanks. Sourcerer 15:35, 27 August 2012 (EDT)

OpenStreetMap

Hey benjw! Nice to see you again! With the OpenStreetMap achievements/categories, a weird thing is happening. http://wiki.xkcd.com/geohashing/Category:OpenStreetMap_Achievement is showing pages in it, but none of those pages are actually showing the capitalised category. I think what is happening is the capitalised template is redirecting to the uncapitalised template, so it's the uncapitalised category that's showing up, but internally mediawiki still remembers it's the capitalised template originally, and applies the capitalised category?

Hey Joanna! Sorry I haven't been around much. You're right -- a weird things is happening and I haven't the faintest clue why it would be doing that. I'll go through a few of the problem pages and see if I can fix things. — Benjw  _{talk} 13:44, 25 August 2012 (EDT)

You were right. Fixed by manually un-capitalising all instances of the old template. At least there were only 15 or so... — Benjw  _{talk} 06:33, 26 August 2012 (EDT)

Most Active Graticule Report page

Your report has been fixed this morning. Thanks for point out the errors of my ways. --NWoodruff 13:06, 25 August 2012 (EDT)

Great! Thanks very much for doing that. Looks a little less confusing now! — Benjw  _{talk} 13:38, 25 August 2012 (EDT)

Geohashing tomorrow today?

The geohash tomorrow looks quite reachable, I'm debating whether I should go for just one hash (52,-0) which would be 30miles cycling from Barnwell and back, or just go full force and try to get to (52,0) as well, making 80miles.. Seems doable. Will you be able to go to either? --Dr-spangle 20:20, 11 September 2012 (EDT)

Greetings. Wow, an 80-mile cycle would be quite an expedition. Do you do that sort of distance a lot? I did 50 miles quite recently but haven't done more than that for a very long time. Anyway, if my timing works for you then I'm certainly up for a double-cycle. It will be about 60 miles for me. Unfortunately, though, I have to go to work this morning (bah). I should finish about 1-ish, so I don't see myself leaving the house before about 2, and therefore I would be at the 52,-0 hashpoint at 3:30pm or so. Then I'd plan for the 52,0 hashpoint at 5:30pm, which leaves you with about 40 miles of cycling still to do back to Oundle, and only two hours of daylight. An alternative might be to go to 52,0 first -- then if I leave the house at 2, I can be at the 52,0 hashpoint at roughly 3pm, we'd get to the 52,-0 hashpoint at about 5pm and you'd only have 20 miles of cycling left. But that means you have a hefty 40-mile cycle to start your outing.  :-/ I'd be happy either way. What do you think? I don't have internet access while I'm at work so if you need to get hold of me, call/text my mobile. Otherwise just leave a note here and I'll see it when I get home. — Benjw  _{talk} 00:51, 12 September 2012 (EDT)

2012-09-23

Any interest in Sunday's geohash in your graticule? It looks like it's open, not too far from the road, and not a horribly long expedition for either of us (as long as I successfully navigate the bus system). I'm free that day, and I'd be up for attempting a meet-up if you are. -Haberdasher 12:46, 21 September 2012 (EDT)

Greetings. Yes, it looks nice and accessible, and I'd already thought I might go. I'd love to arrange a meetup, but I'm just trying to work out whether I will be in Hereford this weekend, which might make things difficult. More later when that's sorted out... — Benjw  _{talk} 13:35, 21 September 2012 (EDT)

Alright, no hurry. -Haberdasher 13:36, 21 September 2012 (EDT)

Okay, sorted. I'll be going to Hereford in a couple of weeks' time instead, which means I'm free any time tomorrow for more important stuff, like geohashing.  :-) I'll probably come by car, so when is the best time for your bus schedule? And do you want me to pick you up from somewhere? — Benjw  _{talk} 07:28, 22 September 2012 (EDT)

Great! Still working out the kinks of my plan, but I'll be there sometime in the early afternoon, so I have some time to explore Cambridge proper as well. I don't need to be picked up- I'll try to make this a full public transit hash- but I might want a ride to either the Newport station or Cambridge itself afterwards. And I'll likely be bringing a drag-along with as well. Also, looking on the geocaching website, it loooks like there are one or two that would qualify for a Hash collision honorable mention, which might be worth checking out. -Haberdasher 10:41, 22 September 2012 (EDT)

Not sure if I'll be able to go after all. Things are complicated. -Haberdasher 18:33, 22 September 2012 (EDT)

Things are always complicated. It will be a shame if you can't make it, but there will be more opportunities later, so don't worry. I have no plans for tomorrow (today, I guess, now) so just let me know when you know what you are doing. :-) Caches are good; there are a few puzzle caches nearby I have the solutions too, as well. Incidentally, looking at the Northampton graticule (52,-0) hash, that also looks accessible -- it's in the middle of a field, but the crops should have been long since harvested and re-ploughed, so if you want to try for a double we can go there as well. Anyway, hopefully see you later. — Benjw  _{talk} 20:44, 22 September 2012 (EDT)

I'm not coming. You enjoy. -Haberdasher 09:09, 23 September 2012 (EDT)

Ok, sorry you can't make it. Thanks for contacting me in the first place, though -- perhaps we can try again if there's another suitable one at some point. It's raining at the mo, so I may leave it a little while before going out... — Benjw  _{talk} 09:22, 23 September 2012 (EDT)

2012-10-19

A bit last-minute here, but the Northampton graticule hash for tomorrow looks doable. I probably wouldn't do it alone, if only because I'm afraid of messing up the crop field which it appears to be on, but if you're interested maybe we could work out a meet-up. I really would like to arrange one, I'm sorry that one earlier didn't work out. -Haberdasher 14:06, 18 October 2012 (EDT)

Arrgh. I'm sorry, I won't be able to make it tomorrow!  :-( No worries about the earlier attempt, though, and yes, I'd still like to arrange a meetup sometime. Really sorry this weekend is awkward. — Benjw  _{talk} 16:43, 18 October 2012 (EDT)

No worries. This weekend is an awkward one for me, too, and anyhow I know weekdays can be difficult. -Haberdasher 17:39, 18 October 2012 (EDT)

2012-10-31

Hi Benjw - if you're still planning to visit the Chesterton hashpoint today, I'm up for meeting there - around 2pm maybe? -Transhumanist 10:28, 31 October 2012 (GMT) Scratch that, I see you're planning for 4pm, that works for me! - Trans

Automated Geohashing map of hashes

I needed an automated way of creating a map of all my hashes. It was getting very hard to do it manually, and keep track of them all. So, one day I sat down and wrote the program. After I finished I found that it was easy to create a map for other people. I created one for you... [1]

You can copy this link to your main page if you would like. I have the link on my main page and so does Greenslime. It is hosted on my own web server. If you want you can view the source of the map and save it to where ever you would like.

Hi -- a rather belated note (sorry!) to say a big thankyou for creating this map for me! This is more or less what I was aiming at when I originally created the static map that you've no doubt seen on my userpage, but I stopped short of learning how to use Google maps properly, so it ended up basically just a rubbish cut-and-paste job. So I'd certainly like to use your map -- but I'm wondering whether you'd prefer it if I linked to a version on your server, or hosted a copy on my own website. The main point, I guess, would be the ease of keeping it updated. Many thanks — Benjw  _{talk} 17:07, 2 August 2013 (EDT)

2013-08-03 and 2013-08-04

If your offer to give people lifts still stands, then I'd be up for joining you for the double expedition on Saturday night/early Sunday morning. My girlfriend is also tentatively up for joining us, but says she might be asleep before we'd have to start ;-)

I'm in London all day Saturday, so doing this late at night works for me. I won't be back home until around 8pm to arrange logistics, but I'm happy to meet anywhere in the Mill Road/Perne Road/Cherry Hinton Road area (all of which are close to where I live), or I can head somewhere more central if you'd prefer. If you suggest a time and place that works for you, then I'll confirm when I get back from London.

--PaintedJaguar (talk) 17:43, 2 August 2013 (EDT)

Hello! Yes, of course the offer still stands, although I'm not sure whether to be relieved or scared that someone else actually thinks this is a great idea.  :-) Google maps reckons it's about 1h15 to the first hashpoint and then another 30 mins to the second, so does leaving at about 10pm sound reasonable? That way we should hopefully have enough faffing-around time, but won't have to wait around much if we don't faff. I'm happy to pick you up from Perne Road (or wherever) and will drop you an email via the wiki so that you have my address and mobile number. Looking forward to it (probably). — Benjw  _{talk} 18:00, 2 August 2013 (EDT)

2015-02-10

Hello Benjw. I created a bare-bones expedition page for your 2015-02-10 52 0 expedition because it would be fun to get Norwich and Cambridge into first and second place for monthly activity for February - Graticule Statistics. --Sourcerer (talk) 17:38, 15 February 2015 (EST)

Hi Neil. Sorry, I'll get around to writing it up properly some time this week! There are a few older ones I still need to write up, too. Thanks for the reminder! — Benjw  _{talk} 00:47, 16 February 2015 (EST)

Hello Ben. I have made a few more skeleton reports - as above. With the 10000th expedition coming up, it would be good to have a more accurate count. I think Cambridge is all correct now.

Please vote

Could you please update your vote on Category_talk:Not reached - Did not attempt? I rearranged the page a bit. If we get a clear vote we could go ahead on the changes. - Danatar (talk) 14:10, 29 June 2015 (EDT)

Thanks for the prompt! Done. — Benjw  _{talk} 00:32, 30 June 2015 (EDT)

2015-08-22 51 0

Hi Ben, got your message! At the moment it's a bit up in the air whether I'll be able to go to tomorrow's hash or not; I should know later tonight. If I am, it'll be for 4pm.

On a related note, I see that Sourcerer is quite active in the next graticule north, and that you've met him at least once... do you know if he's likely to be interested in straying down this far south? Huinesoron (talk) 12:42, 21 August 2015 (EDT)

Well, you've probably seen by now that Sourcerer is keen for meetups but already has other plans for tomorrow. He does often do multi-graticule trips so I'm sure if you invite him in the future he will certainly consider a visit. Anyway, let me know when you've decided whether you'll attend -- I'm not worried either way but as it's a long way (for both of us) I won't go if you don't, so please be reasonably certain you'll go if you say you will.  :-) Thanks. Looking forward to it, anyway (assuming it happens!). I might well go to 52,0 as well afterwards. — Benjw  _{talk} 13:47, 21 August 2015 (EDT)

At this point, I can say that barring unexpected events, I will be at the hash at (or slightly after, if I get lost) 4pm tomorrow. See you there! Huinesoron (talk) 17:24, 21 August 2015 (EDT)

Great! I shall say the same. I'll pm you with my mobile number in case it's needed; otherwise, see you there! — Benjw  _{talk} 17:34, 21 August 2015 (EDT)

Photo finish

And Norwich and Cambridge are neck and neck. Which one will be the most active graticule for August. Or will Mannheim pip them at the post. </horse race commentary mode> --Sourcerer (talk) 20:42, 21 August 2015 (EDT)

I suspect it will be Norwich. This weekend is a very unusually active one for me; you're usually more keen to travel. That said, Cambridge has been the most active graticule before now...  :-) — Benjw  _{talk} 00:50, 22 August 2015 (EDT)