March/April 2021 Patreon Exclusive VIDEO Oddcast
It’s time for an update. It’s a long one, so there are chapters. It might be an idea to watch it in instalments across a few days whenever you’ve run out of more interesting things to do.
There are sections about my brief Radio appearance, a camera software demo, a couple of things I’ve seen on the internet, the last of the confusing comments, annoying car cliches and finally a ‘pick of the month’ that has been around since 1884.
There’s also an audio version available in a separate post.
You’ll be glad to now that there are no April fools in this video. Unless the whole thing is one giant Rick-Roll, you’ll only find out by pressing play.
Have a great week.
UPDATE - Re-edited to make it more positive.
Comments (109)
No worries, Mat. Remember, my own opinion could be just as wrong in the end. Just keep creating that awesome content, I’ll be here!
If it offends one person then that's one person too many. I don't set out to make offensive videos - quite the opposite, I don't want to get into that game and I don't want some reputation as a controversial person. I'm just trying to make entertainment, so I'm glad you let me know and the video has now been shortened by a few minutes, for the better. Thanks again.
Got a bit mean at the end of this one, Mat. As I once heard from a British man from YouTube, ‘sometimes it’s all just a bit of fun.’
Which part seemed mean?
had to laugh at the Cars that do 0 to 60 in 5 seconds and the Harley Boys i have a Triumph Thunderbird 1700cc Motorbike and it can do 0 to 60 in about 20 seconds and has a Top Speed of about 100mph a modern 500cc bike will probably beat it, but seeing as i never go above 70mph and Ride for the enjoyment that is good enough for me i Love your little Rants so keep doing what you do
Thanks for being yourself, and making videos for us. I’ve been a big fan of you for so many years, and during this pandemic, your videos are conforting me even more. Thanks again.
Thank you for sticking with it. I’ve been rather restricted in the kind of things I can show for the last year or more due to ‘The Event’ - so I’m glad so many people hung around.
My son is getting an Audi e-tron, mainly because a) it is electric b) it has room for 2 adults and 2 kids and c) it will pull his loaded boat trailer. Also in French, étron means turd :D so soon he will be driving around in Audi poop...
My wife thinks you have a very pleasant voice :)
It seems to send a lot of people to sleep. I never know if that’s good or bad.
Just finally had time to watch this today. I'm all too familiar with the crazy comments and of course the unsolicited junk being mailed to me. I too watch a lot of car reviews, especially electric cars. I've seen plenty of Johnny's reviews too. I guess for the mood lighting I have no opinion one way or the other. As for the hard plastics, I sort of agree with you in most cases. I mean, if it isn't a piece of something you are going to be touching regularly, who cares how hard or soft it is? I do like having a fast car, though. I had a Tesla for about a year and the acceleration really spoils you. Now I'm back to driving a car that does 0-60 in 7 seconds, which isn't bad at all. It's especially funny to think that 30 years ago it would have been totally normal for a car to do 0-60 in 15 seconds or more. Nobody complained back then.
I’ve learned that I could do with keeping some of my thoughts internal rather than voicing them. Sometimes there are so many caveats that it’s impossible to explain them. As far as 0-60 goes I’m fine with a 5 second one - I’ve got one car that does something like 5.5 perhaps, it’s just I’ve seen reviews complaining that one car was so much slower than another when it turned out they were both in the 3 to 5 second area. What I really wanted to say was that when it gets down to that level it’s all more than good enough...and when it gets to 2 seconds that could be dangerous to someone who isn’t used to that kind of performance (and outside drag racers there are few who are). But yes I’m going to have to learn to cut out the personal opinions on things - I’ll just stick to positives.
I love your stuff but the car rant seemed a bit out of character frankly. One of the reasons for stguff like mood lighting and decent quality plastics is to make the car more desirable to the buyer, especially now that from a mechanical point of view you can't really buy a "bad" car anymore, there has to be a way to set yourself apart from your compeition. You could apply a lot of the stuff unnessary in cars to all sorts of products. Why do people like PCs these days that are lit up like Chistmas trees, I've no idea, but they aren't hurting me so I'm not going to moan about it.
OK - point taken. I've been writing a list of things I shouldn't mention in the updates.
The car talk was hilarious. Rarely hear you swear! You’re right though. There seems to be some sort of ultra aggressive thing where men are trying to prove their masculinity. I’ve noticed that it seems like every teenager has a Golf, BMW, Merc or Audi! When I passed, everyone could only afford a 106, Saxo, Corsa.. cheap little things where it didn’t matter if you scratched it. There seems to be a need for people to show off these days.. or are smaller cars beneath them? Don’t know.. rambling..
I really like the part when you go over the weird comments and comment them, put them in context and ridicule them. I'd be a pity if you stopped doing that.
My grandad (ex-military so he was obsessed with the great outdoors and quality equipment) bought me the genuine equivalent of the mini-champ when I was 5 and I frequently took it to school. This was back in 1990 and nobody batted an eye. Not only did seeing these bring back some nice memories but made me realise how times have changed. If I sent my daughter to school with one of those now there’d no doubt be a full on armed police raid and I’d be sent to prison. Great to see they’re still about though...off to buy one right now.
No dramatic platitudes about comments from me, just a simple thanks. Thanks for the chuckles. :)
That's what for me sets you aside from the average YouTube chump to be honest - you've sussed by yourself that (and the BBC is often no less guilty - but Channel 5 and Netflix are the masters) whenever you're asked to appear on something there is often at least an 'angle' or more likely a pre-determined conclusion, and even if they consider you an expert, if you don't go along with their angle you are unlikely to get on more than once, and/or be cut to ribbons. The problem is that there are no end of unpaid, poorly paid (or just plain greedy) fame hungry experts and non-experts desperate to break into 'the meedja' and will do or say anything to start that process rolling. I should add this is more an issue with independently produced 'documentaries' (e.g. filler) than the news.
So look forward to the oddcasts - had us in stitches here. Incidentally I just assumed that laser record player comment was an in-joke based on previous history of numerous people asking you to review them?
People ask about them because they remember the brief time they were on the market (about 15 minutes in 1980 or '81, I think). *I* remember them and thought "well, this makes so much sense!" They didn't really live up to the hype and I'm pretty sure Mat has a video. And yet, it seems every time Mat does cover some sort of turntable (and he's covered a bunch!) someone comments "Hey, what about those laser turntables? They were great, cover those!" (read that in Mat's exasperated voice).
For the record, I enjoy when you go over the odd comments. They are often quite bizarre. The collection this month might be the best collection of general confusion you've shared so far. :D
1) Thumbs up for the thumbnail. Brilliant. :-) 2) Appreciate your insight on the Radio 4 interview ... I can't find it online (or at least couldn't closer to when it aired). If anyone has the URL ... 3) "Just ignore those comments!" Lol. I've followed you long enough to know that that's a non-starter. Feel free to delete the idiots and their comments. I listened to a podcast interview with Quinn Dunki of Blondihacks and she gets an extra ration of ____ because of her gender but she has no issue with deleting comments or kicking commenters. Might not be "you" but a perfectly valid option. 4) I have a nice Victorinox that I got as a graduation and your description of receiving one as a gift was spot-on. My only problem is that it's from my B-I-L ... who is divorced from my sister so I can't look at the knife without thinking of him ... so in the drawer it goes. Pre-Deadly Global Pandemic, when I wore a belt (I still wear pants, thanks) I always carried a Leatherman tool every day ... as I have for 35 years. So I appreciated your appreciation of well-made tools! 5) I love these videos. Thank you again!
Great update Mat. I guess I now know one other person who taped Bus'Diss off the radio to listen to all week in school. Growing up in north Wales - could just about pick up Piccadilly Radio. Recently recovered this gem from an old cassette: https://soundcloud.com/texsynth/bus-diss-stu-allan-1988 I did catch myself typing "nixie radio" into Google while listening to your update, then thankfully I came back to my senses.
I forgot it was called Buss Diss - I've got something like 20 SA90s of the show - Of course just the music, no DJ.
I still use my Swiss Army knife at least once a week and I’ve had it since I was a scout and I’m now in my mid 40s. Probably my longest owned object in regular use. 🇨🇭
I have the smaller of the two Swiss Army Knives. I bought it in America back in the 90s and brought it back home on the plane in my hand luggage. Not something you could do now! The knife is a bit blunt and bent and the toothpick and tweezers have long since gone, but I still love it. I got a Leatherman for Christmas last year which is sort of the spiritual successor to the Victorinox and just as tactile and useful. No nice smooth red plastic sides though.
Victorinox will actually service your knife for a very reasonable price. Their customer service is excelllent.
As always, it is great to have you drop into my study for a chat - we have so much in common - serial hobbyists for starters! I am sure you are correct about many remembrances being recollections of things seen in photos or in home movies; I think that is behind the 'long hot summers of our youth' because years ago, film was so slow that you could only take pictures (or 8mm home movies) on bright sunny days, so those are the only pictures and movies we have, and those are what we remember. I have a couple of much smaller versions of the Victorinox pen-knives, they used to be popular give-aways at trade fairs. You can have the red side panels replaced with your company colours and logo on. I've no idea how many you'd have to order, but something to consider for the Techmoan Merch Store! Have a great Easter weekend, Mats - and thanks for being so good at what you do.
That was a very enjoyable video. Please keep the odd comments section, it really cracks me up, especially the comment by WellBeGood. I think they were on the sauce when they wrote that!😂. You forgot one of the current car cliches, the one about how fast they go round the Nurburgring, cos that really matters in the real world driving along pot holed roads in the UK🤔. Your reaction to the typewriter ribbon made me laugh too, but in defence of the person that sent it maybe they're so young that they have never encountered tape (or typewriters) before and were genuinely excited to send you it thinking it was a tape format you hadn't discovered yet.
I’m sure it had good intentions but unfortunately it was sent to my accountants who then had to open up specially for me to pick it up - I had to leave the house at a time when it wasn’t advisable to mingle and drive a distance and park and wear a mask and risk getting the lurgie or giving it to someone etc - for an ink ribbon. So I’d really rather they had asked. If nothing else it would have saved them some hassle too.
Ah mix tapes. I never made them. We just recorded an album on the tape and filled the tape with various songs if there was any space left.
Speaking to "why do people go on the radio and television, what do they get out of it?": It ticks a lot of boxes for me. It's part of the ongoing adventure...new people, new experiences. It's part of my job: I find things out, figure out what it means, and share that with people. And I like the challenge. I've been doing this for so long that (thank heavens) I have "my audience." Great, but _if_ I think I have something of value to say, I should take advantage of these opportunities to share it with people I'm not already reaching. Figuring out how to put the idea across to people who aren't instinctively interested in hearing about technology often helps me to gain a deeper understanding of something, too. But, yeah: it's a leap into the unknown. The adventure is, sincerely, its own reward...but _sometimes_ it leads to amazing experiences that I could never have engineered deliberately.
I can’t argue with that- it was an interesting experience, one I wanted to share and about the only interesting thing that’s happened to me in living memory.
Big fan of the weird comments, keep em coming. “Stereo music is a stupid meme” is just a great odd internet post
Maybe this says more about me than it does about anything else, but I enjoy the odd comments. The irony of the "not not" guy lecturing you about Proper English is my favourite odd comment this month.
Regarding stereo music, the guy is almost right since IMO there hasn't been imaginative stereo mixing in music since the 70s; it's been mono with some stereo reverb and the odd bit of percussion maybe off to the sides. I think most people can't handle anything better these days. Ironically, all that was starting to take place when the Sony Walkman came into use and more and more people started listening to music almost exclusively on headphones. When Bohemian Rhapsody became a hit again, with Queen's almost trademark dynamic stereo mixing, it must have blown a few minds.
My first thought was that Mr. "StErEo Is A mEmE" has crap taste in music, and listens to said crap music through crap earbuds.
I sort of disagree with you on mix tapes. I don’t think they are that useless. They were really just that era’s version of a play list. You compile a tape with your favorite music, og perhaps a collection of songs for a party. Having said that, I actually think most of the (few) mix tapes I made were recorded from the radio and not from vinyls or pre-recorded tapes.
I never said they were useless - I just never made any - I didn’t go to parties and I didn’t have a car with a tape deck and I didn’t have a girlfriend or any friends to share music with.
I totally agree with you on the Swiss army knifes. They are really well made and a pleasure to use. It is quite overwhelming how many different models they make nowadays. In fact, they WERE originally made for the Swiss army. There are two producers: Victorinox and Wenger. The latter was bought by the former in 2005, but they still split their supply to the army between them. I also own the Huntsman, but it has some tools that I never use like the hook and the saw. I should probably have bought a different model. I agree with you that the “Cheese Master” is very cool (I love cheese), but there are probably more useful models I could choose 😉
I'm a huge fan of Swiss Army Knives. I had one when I was a kid and my interest has only grown since then. I really respect their tradition and excellent service and I think they made the right call when they decided not to move production to China. I am absolutely fine with Chinese-made products and I own some that are excellent as well. But it wouldn't be a Swiss Army Knife anymore, would it? I have a whole bunch of Victorinox and Wenger knives. Some of them I own just because I like them and for decoration. The ones I actually carry are a Minichamp Alox on my keyring. Also, I always have either the Work Champ, Swiss Champ or Swisstool Spirit X on my belt. I like tinkering with stuff, be it audio equipment, computers, bicycles, motor vehicles, airguns or whatever and these pocket tools just come in handy so often. No, they don't replace proper tools which I own as well. But more often than not, they are perfectly fine for a job and I already have them on me. Yes, you might say "the thick SAKs with all their tools are ridiculous". But I really do like the little pliers, the screwdrivers, the scissors, yes even the awl, wood saw, metal file and the magnifying glass on the Swiss Champ. Once in the dining room at work, somebody brought a can of food in the belief they'd have a can opener... which they didn't. But I had my Victorinox which does the job perfectly fine :-) I've never owned a Leatherman... I hear they are very good as well. Maybe some day...
Thank you for the update, love your rambling videos :D Worth every penny.
Re bizarre comments. The comedian Dave Gorman compiles bizarre or moronic comments from news articles into what he calls 'found poems' with often hilarious results. They're to be found in his series 'Modern Life Is Goodish', available in its entirety on YouTube.
I wonder if people tell him ‘not to worry about them’.
Of course the first gift shop I went into on holiday in Switzerland was full of Swiss Army Knives. I have no idea about getting these though customs, so bought a keyring instead!
I remember seeing Swiss army knives on sale in the duty-free shops at Geneva Airport. I couldn't believe that they'd be allowed in hand luggage after a certain incident in 2001. I'm 52 and can just about remember a time when a pocket knife (Swiss army-style only if very lucky) was considered a suitable gift for a small boy and sold in toy and gift shops. I also remember the air pistol that my Dad had had since he was a child.
Wow some of the viewers are insane!
The blatheryness is why I love these. Something very John Peel-esque about the style at times. Lots of highlights... Thomson Ronson-Johnson-Son😂🤣 nearly choked on my tea
The word "MIXTAPE". I'm 55 years old, and the first time I ever heard that word was on Friends. I taped songs from the top 40 from 1978-84, but I never called the resulting volumes mixtapes, and nor did I hear anyone else call them that. Does anyone have any memory of that word existing in the UK back in the day?
That’s a good point. Perhaps it is mis-remembered revisionism using an acquired term from the US and retrospectively applying it to the U.K. for a time period when it wasn’t in common parlance.
Always look forward to oddcasts. You aren't wasting anyone's time. These feel so organic and unfiltered. Don't stop making these and especially don't stop talking about comments, they are entertaining for sure
In response to a BBC announcement that they are planning two new soaps (which I will probably hate) I suggested that they look at Youtube to see want is popular. Channels like yours remind me of Tomorrow's World which was a must watch programme when I was at school. Your feature on video stabilisation is just the sort of thing they would be showing if the programme was still on. Regarding car reviews the thing that bemuses me is the American obsession with Cup Holder's. I have even seen people write in the comments section in American reviews of 1980s European cars as to why no one in Europe felt the need for them. Of course the other American obsession is Horsepower. A youtuber who I enjoy explained that he was selling his 300HP car because he isn't a very good driver and needs an extra 150HP when he goes to the track. Funnily every other visit to the track seems to end with him blowing an engine irrespective of the car he takes.
I do track days, and the people that blast down the straight and then act as a rolling roadblock in corners ruin the experience for everyone else at the track. They are also a danger to others as having to slow down unexpectedly during a corner because the car in front has erratic speed is not safe.
Mat - Re. your musings on why 'talking heads' contribute to shows: they get paid. Not a huge amount (a few hundred), but worth the trouble. Official contributors to the radio also get paid, depending on the programme. I used to work for the BBC (20-odd years ago) and one of my abiding memories was seeing Sue Perkins stumbling around BBC Scotland demanding to know who she had to speak to to get her £260 paid.
Thanks for the information. That makes more sense. If you did it regularly enough it could add up.
I kinda liked showing those odd comments that make no sense at all...anyway...
Only crazy people could object to your crazy comments stuff. Keep 'em coming, please.
Seconded.
We have been in absolute stitches watching this tonight, Matt you are so like us in your thinking 😂 😂
was the "thing for taking stones out of horses hooves" a deliberate Billy Connolly reference?
Definitely not deliberate, perhaps subconscious.
Sheila and I have had or share of local radio. Because of the Vehicle 2 Grid videos we made. We are now "low hanging fruit" if BBC Hereford and Worcester want someone to talk about EVs or V2G. Here's an example: https://youtu.be/U1lnNtrYQsE We had the radio car outside at 6:45 am to set up! And no, we didn't get paid either. We do it to spread the word, so to speak; we've done this a few times now.
That was a very good report(s) and especially impressive because it was live. If mine had been live it would have been a lot less structured than it ended up being. I don’t think I’m cut out for a career as a talking head. First I’d need to be an expert in something or have an experience that others don’t have - watching a documentary about tapes and collecting broken junk doesn’t really get me in that door.
I have owned a Swiss Champ for over 25 years, and had many of the mini knock-offs as a child. As I turn 50 next month, I sure hope someone buys me one of these.
Victorinox knives are made about 10 km away from where I live 😁. The big ones you don't see that much anymore, but I remember them as I was a kid. The valley there (Schwyzer Talkessel) is sometimes called "Swiss Knife Valley".
I imagine all the horse hooves are impeccable in that area.
Such an odd thing about RX0 II not having AF-C, like... "WTF Sony?" 😱 Just curious (as its related to stabilisation) have you checked DJI Pocket II? I remember you testing the first one(for which they fixed quite a lot in firmware over the years as well).
Yes I’ve got a Pocket 2 - perhaps I’ll demo that next time.
The Triumph TR sports cars in the 1960s had a 0-60 time of something like 18 seconds. Today's basic econoboxes can best that (with something like 11-12 seconds), which shows that acceleration is really meaningless today, as you don't need anything better than 11-12 seconds on the school run.
Yes you don’t really need a good 0-60 when you only ever get up to 20.
I really do hope you reconsider the "crazy comments" section. They make me cry with laughter. It reminds me when comedians used to read bizarre insurance claim forms out - don't underestimate how most of us consider them a highlight! The best thing about this batch is the nonsensical last comment had been edited! As if the writer thought "This needs to be clearer....there we go. Now it's fine!" which begs the question what the hell was it like before!!!? My personal favourite comment will always be the wonderfully inexplicable. "You don't want to help anyone do you? You are just a greedy man".
Another great video as always Mat! I know everyone has their own opinions but as you have the chapter points, there's honestly no reason to hold stuff back of self-censor. For me, i just enjoy the candidness and the more fun you have "raging against the machine", the more fun we have watching!
Just a comment on Swiss Army Knives (SAK): They are perhaps the quintessential everyday carry (EDC) to[y|ol]. I have to say that the American 'Leatherman'-style has something going for it, though. For example, having the tools spread out over two handles provides for better symmetry, and a flatter profile. Like you say, the SAK becomes very thick when more tools are included. Fortunately, Victorinox makes their own "Swiss Tool" providing the best of both worlds. I EDC one, of course! 😎 But back to the original SAK: there used to be two companies making their own versions — both regarded as genuine SAKs. But competitor Wenger was bought out by Victorinox back in 2005. They kept the brand going for a while, but now the knives from that factory are only known as "Victorinox Delémont Collection". Wenger had some patents of their own, such as a clever spring mechanism for the scissors tool. Victorinox' spring will invariably break and require replacement, whereas ex-Wenger's does not. It is surprising that the superior design hasn't been implemented in the full Victorinox lineup, but is only available in the Delémont models. Also, your tip about adding the miniature screwdriver to the corkscrew tool did not work on the old Wenger's, as their corkscrew had a different helical profile..! I have no idea if this is still true for the newer Delémont models. But could be good to know if anyone tries, and it turns out not to work. 🤓 Edit: I've heard it said that the only difference between a soldier's version of the original SAK (a rather simple design compared to what's being marketed today, BTW), and the officer's model, was that the officer would get a corkscrew! Don't know if this is true, but it sounds plausible. Addendum: Patreon seems to delete a comment after "too many" edits! 🙄 Good thing I now make a habit of saving a local copy so that I can quickly restore it. That just happened here...
Been checking out Swiss Army Knife stuff on YouTube. Turns out they have new mini tools to store in the corkscrew now: https://youtu.be/blO0UKbWRko Pretty neat. Too bad you can only carry one at a time, though. 🙄
About chocolate record... I'm making one right now by my self , a crazy work but with some degree of success. In the end I can, a least, eat the chocolate
I’ve always thought launch control is the most useless feature on a car I have never seen a use for it and while I’ve never used I’ve heard it’s not even easy to set up
I can understand one supercar brand doing it because ‘why not?’ when a car costs £150,000. Logic isn’t in the equation at that level. However they’ve started sticking it on all sorts of normal cars for some bizarre reason.
Loads of things I could comment on, but I just had to echo your sentiments about "aggressive" cars. I recently found myself in the market for a new one so I've been watching tons of reviews, and all the praise of aggressive styling is so silly to me. Reminds me of all the countless Jeep Wranglers over here with "angry eyes" installed, these silly plastic bits over the headlights... It looks like a cartoon and I just don't understand!
It’s always interesting to see so many Jeep/Chrysler models in US TV shows as over here the brand is almost always dead last in reliability surveys and the only dealership I knew of within a reasonable distance of my house shut down years ago.
That bit about launch control had me creasing 😂
Thanks for the video.
Why do people review shower heads? Have you ever gone back to them and asked 'How much?' The popular ones, they get paid an absurd amount of money by the advertisers. I've been looking into this recently for work and, compared to google/Facebook/LinkedIn, etc. they command a *huge* premium but generally deliver so the agencies that are using influencers get results. If, per chance, an advertiser and your plans align, it'd pay handsomely and hence enable more of the channels normal content for us, well at least allow you to buy some of the exotic old gear - a Dragon perhaps?
To be fair, the comment about playing chocolate using a laser pickup was probably tongue-in-cheek. Those who have followed Techmoan long enough know how often the ELP is suggested for a video... 😃 Also, now I'm intrigued about the showerhead with some sort of colourful ball bearings in the handle...? 🤔 Could you do a review on it? 😶 Edit: "Aggressive cars": An evolutionary psychologist would likely have something to say about how certain car designs are reminiscent of a crouching tiger. "Grown men going on about Launch Control": The only difference between the men and the boys, is the size of their toys... 😉
I think the problem is that there are so many ludicrous but heartfelt statements in the comments - it’s totally the wrong place to post a deliberately ludicrous comment that was intended as humour. It’s like shouting ‘I’ve got a bomb’ in an airport. People are less likely to see the humour than if you said it at home on Christmas Day while holding a Christmas pudding that you’d just set on fire with brandy.
I look forward to these videos. I know that may be hard to believe but it’s true. Have a great Easter.
Just wondering how you could use the micro screwdriver to repair your specs in the wild unless you are carrying a spare pair.
I used to have a pair that needed tightening up regularly. It was possible for a lens to fall out once the screw had worked slightly loose, so I was regularly in need of a tiny screwdriver.
Loving the rant about cars!
Hi Mat, appreciate these off-the-cuff videos, they are incredibly genuine. Please do keep on with hanging out retarded comments from people on YouTube - it’s nice to have a chuckle at the sheer idiocy of people out there.
Mat, I'm sure you have more than 10 minutes of memories. I appreciate your lack of celebrity and your assumption of the lazy BBC staff is probably correct. I sense a distain of the corporation, of which every licence payer . . . .. Sorry for getting on my soap box. My first recordings were of the HHGTTG from radio on a crappy shoebox rexorder (which doubled as a computer drive for my ZX81). Your having a laugh attitude is most satisfying. I'm loving the the negative posts for comedy value. As for things offered to you, the 'We are Rewind' portable is yours when/if it ever arrives.
I apologise if I gave the impression of distain of the radio presenters. That wasn’t my intention, I was just explaining why I thought it prudent to do a lot of research as I was unaware which direction the report would head. I thought they did a great job considering the time crunch.
about the definitive accent and being recognized by that BBC engineer - one of the things I like is the accent and if you had mid west USA accent I would not have been so interested in the channel when I found it a few years ago. The pronunciation of the word "booklet" in particular always makes me smile.
Mat I think I never related to you so much until this video! I also always wanted a pocket knife since I was a kid. When visiting Switzerland in early 2020 I bought a Victorinox Outrider and it's been one of the most useful little tools I have, and you're absolutely right, they feel great in the hand. And they are indeed still made by hand in Switzerland, which I think makes them really worth the price.
I think you hit the nail on the head with idea of a Swiss army knife as a gift - not something I have ever considered buying for myself. Serial hobbyist probably describes me too.
That was fun, reminded me to change the battery in the clock on my Swiss Army knife. My wife has a tiny (pink!) classic model I bought her over 20 years ago, and she's very attached to it.
Thanks as always for the chuckles. I got the second Swiss army knife you had for a present and felt exactly the same. Never a more useful gadget have I got.
Some of the commentators on your channel are clearly on some other things than Covid.....
You are right Mat - the BBC guys don't know much. Part of the skill of reporting is getting the information from your sources. Especially in a wide ranging programme like that - they'll potentially have reporters with specialisms, but most of the time they are speaking to other people to help them out. You did a sterling job and it sounds like you prepared perfectly - but it also sounds like they did a sterling job asking the right questions and preparing you for what they wanted to ask. When I did Student Radio we had Five Live turn up one day and do their late night show live from our studio, and it was fascinating to watch them work.
No I’ve no complaints, they edited it really well too - couldn’t hear the joins.
Does anyone have a link to Mat’s BBC interview, please? Got as far as https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qtl3 but there doesn’t seem to be a way to find the specific episode by date/topic.
It’s this one https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000syp6 (the last five mins) - but if you aren’t able to listen to it, don’t worry, it was just a quick fluff piece at the end - no real information or substance to it.
I liked your car rant. I'm always reading and watching car reviews. It does seem that nowadays all cars have to be sporty. Whether it's a small runabout or a large luxury car it seems that they all have to have some sporty angle. It's a shame that no one, except maybe for Rolls Royce, is making a true luxury car where the main focus is comfort and effortless but silent performance.
The one thing they never mention is distractingly reflective plastics - I really don’t care what my dash feels like, I’m more interested in whether it annoys the heck out of me every time the sun is out.
That's my viewing sorted for this evening. Techmoan videos that could have been April Fools - The Bone Fone, The Atari Video Music, and of course last week's.
Cheers! That is impeccable timing, I was just this moment looking for something to keep me company while working from home on that hard last day before taking a week off. That day always seems so long!
Yes this is definitely a ‘leave it on droning away in the background’ kind of thing, rather than a ‘you must see this in an IMAX 3D cinema on day one’ type experience.
My perfect start to the month - hope you're well Mat!
I’m ok - thanks for asking. Hope you’re good too.