many things, comments working.

app/helpers/users_helper.rb

@@ -1,2 +1,39 @@
 module UsersHelper
+  def avatar_url(user_id)
+    u = User.find_by_id(user_id)
+    u.nil? ? ign = :char : ign = u.ign
+    return "https://minotar.net/avatar/#{ign}/8"
+  end
+
+  def mc_running?
+    host = "play.redstoner.com"
+    port = 25565
+    wait = 300/1000.0 #milliseconds, the .0 is required!!
+    require 'timeout'
+    require 'socket'
+    r = false
+    begin
+      Timeout::timeout(wait) {
+        TCPSocket.new host, port
+        r = true
+      }
+    rescue Exception
+      # could not connect to the server
+    end
+    return r
+  end
+
+  def rank_to_int(rank)
+    r = ranks[rank]
+  end
+
+  def int_to_rank(int)
+    r = ranks.rassoc(int)
+    r.nil? ? "unknown" : r[0].to_s
+  end
+
+  def ranks
+    # Lower case !!!
+    {"visitor" => 10, "member" => 20, "builder" => 30, "donor" => 40, "donor+" => 45, "mod" => 100, "admin" => 200, "superadmin" => 500}
+  end
 end