User:Macronencer

Macronencer

59 / m / 57,-2

Announcement: Relocation

BIG NEWS - I have now moved from Southampton to Aberdeen,_United_Kingdom and become an "English Scot" :) I'm looking forward to exploring new territory, and getting a bit fitter in the mountains too. It's a huge step for me, since I've never lived north of London before, but, well... the far Cairngorms are pullin' me away! And when you're called, you have to go.

My first week in Scotland was quite idyllic, with beautiful sunrises and sunsets. And then Storm Arwen hit, took out my power, and hence my heating and cooking facilities and hot water as well. I was basically living in a dark fridge for 102 hours. But... as I said to my estate agent, if I can tough that one out, I can probably cope with most Scottish winters!

Journal

Current journal entries

Old journal entries archived here

Stats

Real name	Mike
Based in	Aberdeen, United Kingdom (near Turriff)
Education	Southampton Uni Maths grad, 1986
Vocation	Software developer
Avocations	Composer, Musician, Writer, Time lapse and Landscape Photographer, Anagrammatist, Cruciverbalist, General Butterfly-Minded Mr Toad.
xkcd history	Fan since the first mention on BoingBoing in 2005
Home turf	Approximately here (since November 2021)
Trivia	I can close my nose without touching it, which makes me fart-proof. I eat at least a hundred times my own body weight every century. I'm a full-time sceptic, part-time father, one-time rock star and all-time champion awful punster. I and a few dozen others once rode a rollercoaster naked, and I have a Guinness World Records certificate on my wall to commemorate it. According to the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, 10^7500 copies of me were created in the five seconds it took you to read this sentence. So be thankful each copy of you will only ever have one (or zero) copy of me to deal with, unless matter-copying tech arrives before one of us dies.
We should:	Change the "12" to a "0" on standard analogue clock faces – because why would the number reset a whole hour after "a.m." becomes "p.m."? Rename the octave "the heptive". C to C is seven steps, not eight, and besides, including the word "hep" would make music more groovy. Abolish DST. I stand firm on this, despite living near the Greenwich Meridian where DST-based Time-traveller_achievements are easier. Ban the use of illogical signs – for example, the "it's forbidden to prevent people entering" sign.

Geohashing Song

I've also written a song about Geohashing, and had it played on a local radio station in Southampton. Click this image for the official video

My Hashscot

This is Chuck, my hashscot. Being one of the greatest adventuring scientists who ever lived, rather exhausted after his voyage on the Beagle, family tragedy and the years and years of work on his well-known book, this 200-year-old explorer decided to take it easy, and now travels to random locations with me.

He enjoys looking at the countryside on our travels, and gets rather animated when by chance we spy a finch or lowly earthworm. I often have to remind him to calm down before he punctuates his equilibrium. I am looking forward to the day when my bicycle chain breaks so I can ask him, in jocular fashion, to go and find the missing link.

Planned Hashes

None at present

Hash Log

Coverage

• Background colours on left-hand grids are actual black body radiation colours ranging from 1000K to 40000K (source)
• Background colours on middle grids are based on those for the left-hand ones, but are slightly lighter.
  
• Gold cells on Minesweeper grid indicate ribbons present on this user page. It was too fiddly to track every grat that was eligible for a level, so instead I just always have one for my home grat, plus one for the highest level (if higher than the home grat). Once I achieve an 8, that latter rule will probably disappear and I'll just have the home grat, plus any that are at level 8.

Hashes Reached

	-4	-3	-2	-1
58	x	x	x	x
57	x	x	2	x
56	x	x	x	x
55	x	x	x	x

	-3	-2	-1	-0	0	1
52	x	x	x	1	x	x
51	1	1	4	6	x	1
50	x	4	15	4	x	x

Expeditions

	-4	-3	-2	-1
58	x	x	x	x
57	x	x	3	x
56	x	x	x	x
55	x	x	x	x

	-3	-2	-1	-0	0	1
52	x	x	1	1	x	x
51	1	1	5	6	x	1
50	x	5	17	4	x	x

Minesweeper Tallies

	-4	-3	-2	-1
58	x	x	x	x
57	x	x	0	x
56	x	x	x	x
55	x	x	x	x

	-3	-2	-1	-0	0	1
52	x	x	x	2	x	x
51	2	4	6	4	x	0
50	x	4	5	3	x	x

Map

Map of my expeditions on Google Maps - to 045
(GREEN = Successful / RED = CNR / BLUE = Special (Origin Geohash etc.)

Totals

All distances in km

Co-ordinates Reached		39
Co-ordinates NOT reached		6
Saturday 4pm Meetups		8
Hashers Met		11
Total by ferry		45
Total by rail		276
Total by car (ICE)		3155
Total by car (BEV)		1510
Total by bike		156
Total on foot		73

History

Seq#	ID	Location	Information						New People
045	2023-03-04 57 -2	Newseat Community Woodland, Inverurie				68		2
044	2022-06-28 57 -2	Gight Woods Nature Reserve				31		3
043	2022-05-27 57 -2	Industrial Estate, Oldmeldrum				96		0
042	2020-05-21 50 -1	Hanover Buildings, Southampton				20		0
041	2020-03-20 50 -1	Fritham, New Forest				125		2
040	2020-03-20 50 -0	Oxen Down, East Dean				57		4
039	2020-03-14 51 -0	Bramshott Drive, Hook				142
038	2020-03-13 51 1	Betteshanger Park, Deal, Kent				502		4
037	2020-03-11 50 -1	Burley, New Forest				90		4
036	2020-03-10 50 -0	Queen Elizabeth Country Park				84		4
035	2020-03-09 50 -2	Winfrith Newburgh				210		2
034	2020-02-29 51 -1	Bentley Wood, West Tytherley				85		3
033	2014-05-03 50 -1	Berry Business Village, Hedge End				6
032	2014-04-27 52 -0	Biggleswade Rugby Club				377
031	2014-04-23 51 -0	Marlow, near Reading				225		3
030	2014-04-17 50 -1	Fox and Hounds pub, Bursledon				3
029	2013-03-24 50 -1	Fritham, New Forest				75		4
028	2010-02-17 51 -0	Thame, Oxfordshire				10
027	2009-11-17 50 -1	Forest of Bere				24		1
026	2009-10-31 50 -2	Long Crichel, Blandford Forum				130
025	2009-10-24 52 -1	Aston-upon-Trent, near Derby				86
024	2009-10-23 51 -1	Hockley, Winchester				55		1
023	2009-10-18 51 -2	West Kington, Chippenham				241
022	2009-10-18 51 -3	St. Bride's-Super-Ely, Cardiff				76		1
021	2009-10-13 50 -1	Chandlers Ford, Southampton				28
020	2009-10-11 51 -0	Stedham, Midhurst				138		2
019	2009-10-02 51 -0	Highmoor Cross, Reading				197		4	thepiguy,srs0
018	2009-09-29 51 -1	Ashmansworth, Hampshire				132
017	2009-09-27 50 -1	Eastleigh				33		2	davidc,Dee,JonRead
016	2009-09-18 50 -0	South Harting				100		4
015	2009-09-13 50 -1	Hilsea recreation ground			43	0		3	Maoi-taoi
014	2009-09-10 51 -1	Litchfield				136		6
013	2009-09-06 50 -1	Harbridge, New Forest				63	46	2
012	2009-09-02 50 -2	Iwerne Minster				195
011	2009-08-30 51 -1	Barton Farm, Winchester				59			Mapaholic
010	2009-08-15 50 -1	Bierley, Isle of Wight		40		12	68		DavidMiller
009	2009-08-10 50 -1	New Forest, near Hythe		5		19	15
008	2009-08-08 50 -2	Chesil beach, Portland, Weymouth			233	0	16	1
007	2009-08-07 50 -1	Field near Rockbourne				0	9
006	2009-08-01 50 -2	Charlton Marshall, Dorset				148		1	04housemat,Mahahahaneapneap
005	2009-07-27 50 -1	Romsey, Hampshire				192		1
004	2009-07-27 51 -0	Flitwick, near Luton				248
003	2009-07-22 50 -0	The Road To Bognor				93	2
002	2009-07-18 50 -1	Hambledon Cricket pilgrimage!				49		9
001	2009-06-28 50 -1	Hedge End Recreation Ground				5			Sermoa

Retro Hashes and Special Expeditions

Seq#	Date	ID	Location	Information
R001	2009-07-27	1965-05-06 51 0	Origin Geohash achievement In a field next to Hylands Park, Chelmsford
R002	2020-03-09	1965-05-06 50 -2	Displaced origin geohash achievement On a footpath by the River Frome a stone's throw from Dorchester. Did not reach due to flooding. IAMNB.

Calendar - 2022 and 2023

Note: Retro hashes not counted here, but all standard expeditions are counted, whether successful or not

2023	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Jan
Feb
Mar				1
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

2022	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May																											1
Jun																												1
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

• Previous years can be found here

Long-term Intentions

Origin Displacement Retrohashes

Earn various Displaced origin geohash achievements (some of these are rather ambitious, I'll admit!)

Continent	Country	Hash	Comments	Optimism score 0-100
Europe	Scotland	1965-05-06 57 -4	North of Dingwall. Looks like it's on a wind farm. Perhaps I'll get access?	80
Europe	Scotland	1965-05-06 56 -4	Near Rannoch Moor. Not far from a river above a dam. Might be some nice photos!	80
Europe	Scotland	1965-05-06 56 -5	Ardgour, Highlands. Up in the hills. Not too far from a road though, so perhaps doable. Approx 700m altitude, not that hard.	70
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 50 -2	Right on a footpath by a river in Dorchester	99
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 52 0	Marginally within somebody's front garden, but arguably public as within GPS accuracy of public land	85
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 54 -2	In the Pennines, on Alston Moor. The hash is about 0.5km east of the Pennine Way as it winds its way down from Cross Fell.	80
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 53 -0	Hull, waterside business park, I think, right next to the Humber - should be easy once there!	80
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 53 -1	Next to a canal and the M62 near Sheffield. Sounds inaccessible, but satellite imagery makes it look relatively easy.	80
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 51 -3	On a green (or the fairway?) on the Aberdare golf course near Cardiff in Wales :)	70
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 52 -2	Telford, not sure about access, looks like some houses but fairly urban	40
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 50 -1	On the Isle Of Wight: 100m from path, in a field - needs careful permission planning	30
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 51 -2	Dursley, 30m from a path but is in a field!	30
Europe	UK	1965-05-06 52 -3	Dyfnant Forest, Wales: In some sort of field but it looks rugged so might be accessible but I'm dubious	20
Europe	Mallorca	1965-05-06 39 3	Next to a road but not ON it. Looks like an orchard.	10
Asia	Japan	1965-05-06 35 139	A normal-looking street in Tokyo! Could be done.	10
Undefined	Hawai'i	1965-05-06 20 -156	On Maui - therefore expensive to get to. Thought it was a short walk into the hills... but it seems it might be restricted access	5
Africa	Nigeria	1965-05-06 5 6	(I liked the pattern of 5 and 6!) Only about 50m from a road, but it’s in trees, and near a house.	2
Asia	Nepal	1965-05-06 27 86	About 300m from a trail in the foothills of Mount Everest. I might try this one day if I'm feeling foolhardy.	1

Other

• Do a Buccaneer Geohash on Talk Like a Pirate Day (yyyy-09-19)
• Visit the hash point from the original comic: 2005-05-26 37 -122 - it's in the Mt. Tam state park near San Francisco.
• Do a DST-based Time-traveller achievement (there's a fair chance, as I'm not too far from the Greenwich Meridian).
• Leave a variety of unusual xkcd signs
  • One made out of ants (attempted on 2009-09-27 50 -1 without success)
  • One in ASCII binary (probably already been done)
  • One in Morse code (ditto)
  • One in Turncode (something I've invented)
• Collar someone with a boat and do a big Water geohash, probably in the Solent, or the river Itchen or Hamble.
• Buy a small boat (kayak?) and do a small Water geohash, probably in a lake or small river.
• Gain the Minesweeper Geohash ribbon because it's shiny! Probably centred on the Swindon graticule.

Completed!

• Earn the Origin geohash achievement by visiting 1965-05-06 51 0 in a field near Chelmsford
• Leave an xkcd sign in Braille
• Leave an xkcd sign that can only be seen from the right angle (like the Channel 4 logos on TV)

VERY long-term intentions

• Complete a hash expedition in all 64,800 graticules. Hey, I'm a life-extensionist and I think big, what can I say? The real question is: centuries from now, will geohashing exist? Come to that, will the Dow Jones exist? I think Gene Roddenberry would probably say "Let's hope not". So there ya go.

Achievement Ribbons

Ongoing

Macronencer earned the xkcd Nullaturion achievement by attending 8 Saturday meetups.

Macronencer achieved level 6 of the Minesweeper Geohash achievement by visiting coordinates in Swindon, United Kingdom and 6 of the surrounding graticules.

Macronencer earned the Two to the N achievement by attempting to reach 25 hashpoints on 2014-04-27 52 -0 and is promoted to Level 5 (Expeditions).

Macronencer earned the Two to the N achievement by reaching 25 hashpoints on 2020-03-10 50 -0 and is promoted to Level 5 (Coordinates reached).

Completed

Macronencer earned the Ambassador achievement by obtaining permission from Mr. McLeod, son of the land-owner to access the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-08-07.

Macronencer earned the Ambassador achievement by obtaining permission from Mike Williams, president of Biggleswade Rugby Club to access the (52, -0) geohash on 2014-04-27.

Macronencer earned the Circus Geohash Achievement by juggling at the (51, -0) geohash on 2010-02-17.

Macronencer earned the Consecutive geohash achievement by reaching 2 consecutive hash points starting on 2009-08-07.

Macronencer earned the Drag-along achievement by dragging his friend Paul to the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-09-02.

Macronencer earned the Drag-along achievement by dragging his friend Nodders to the (50, -0) geohash on 2009-09-18.

Macronencer earned the Drag-along achievement by dragging his son (known as Micronencer) to the (51, -0) geohash on 2014-04-23.

Macronencer earned the 2020 Geohashing Day achievement by just getting out of the house during a pandemic! in the (50, -1) graticule on May 21st 2020.

Macronencer earned the GeoTrash Geohash Achievement by cleaning up the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-08-01.

Macronencer earned the GeoTrash Geohash Achievement by cleaning up the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-08-07.

Macronencer earned the GeoTrash Geohash Achievement by cleaning up the (51, -0) geohash on 2014-04-23.

Macronencer earned the GeoTrash Geohash Achievement by cleaning up the (50, -2) geohash on 2020-03-09.

Macronencer earned the 13th Hashiversary achievement by attempting a hash point exactly on the 13th anniversary of his inaugural geohashing expedition.

Macronencer earned the Land geohash achievement by reaching the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-06-28.

Macronencer earned the Leap geohash achievement 2020 by leaping to the hash point on leap day of the year 2020.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting Sermoa at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-06-28.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting 04housemat at the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-08-01.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting Mahahahaneapneap at the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-08-01.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting DavidMiller at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-08-15.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting Mapaholic at the (51, -1) geohash on 2009-08-30.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting Maoi-taoi at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-09-13.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting Dee at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-09-27.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting JonRead at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-09-27.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting davidc at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-09-27.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting thepiguy at the (51, -0) geohash on 2009-10-02.

Macronencer earned the Meet-up achievement by meeting srs0 at the (51, -0) geohash on 2009-10-02.

Macronencer earned the Midnight Geohash achievement by reaching the (51, -1) geohash on 2009-09-10 in the middle of the night.

Macronencer earned the Midnight Geohash achievement by reaching the (51, -1) geohash on 2009-10-23 in the middle of the night.

Macronencer earned the Multihash Achievement by reaching the 2009-07-27 51 -0 and 2009-07-27 50 -1 geohashes on 2009-07-27.

Macronencer earned the Multihash Achievement by reaching the 2009-10-18 51 -3 and 2009-10-18 51 -2 geohashes on 2009-10-18.

Macronencer earned the Multihash Achievement by reaching the 2020-03-20 50 -0 and 2020-03-20 50 -1 geohashes on 2020-03-20.

Macronencer earned the Origin geohash achievement by reaching the (51, 0) geohash for 1965-05-06 on 2009-07-27.

Macronencer earned the Phonebooth stuffing achievement by helping stuff a phonebooth near the (51, -1) geohash on 2009-09-10.

Macronencer earned the Pub Geohash Achievement by visiting a pub visible from the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-08-01.

Macronencer earned the Public transport geohash achievement by reaching the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-08-08 via South West Trains.

Macronencer earned the Public transport geohash achievement by reaching the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-09-13 via South West Trains.

Macronencer earned the Speed racer achievement by passing through the (51, -1) geohash on 2009-09-29 at 60mph.

Macronencer, 04housemat and Mahahahaneapneap earned the Graticule Unlocked Achievement by being the first to reach any hashpoint in the (50, -2) graticule, here, on 2009-08-01.

Consolation Prizes

Macronencer earned the No trespassing consolation prize by almost reaching the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-09-06.

Macronencer earned the No trespassing consolation prize by almost reaching the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-10-31.

Macronencer earned the No trespassing consolation prize by almost (260m) reaching the (51, -1) geohash on 2020-02-29.

Macronencer earned the There might be alligators! consolation prize by being prevented from reaching the (50, -1) geohash on 2020-03-11 by an impassable and unforeseen near-perfect simulacrum of Tolkien's Dead Marshes (and probably lurking alligators).

Gratuitous Ribbons

Macronencer, Sermoa and DavidMiller earned the Card Game achievement by playing cards at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-08-15.

Sermoa, Mapaholic and Macronencer earned the Halloween geohash by celebrating halloween with pumpkins at the (50, -2) geohash on 2009-10-31.

Macronencer earned the Musician Achievement by playing flute at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-06-28.

Sermoa, Macronencer, Mapaholic and DavidMiller earned the Party geohash by throwing a mad-keen party at the Cubicle achievement (51, -1) geohash on 2009-08-30.

Macronencer earned the Rubik's Achievement by solving a Rubik's cube at the (50, -1) geohash on 2009-06-28.

Micronencer Achievements

(my son, who may get his own page one day!)

2014-04-23 51 -0

• Land geohash
• Geotrash