October 2021 Patreon Exclusive VIDEO Oddcast

Anyone remember the docudrama about the power going off for a month in the UK. Goes from cheery to dark (no pun intended) can’t remember the name but it’s prob on YouTube

I also bought a Jackery (300w model) and butane stove for emergencies, plus since the pandemic started I have been building in a buffer of dry goods so I'm ready in case I need to stay home for a good while. Recently started stocking up on water, got 16L set aside just in case.

I've finally watched this (real life getting in the way), and I found the last few minutes especially relatable. I live somewhere that used to be notorious for regular power outages, so I ended up buying a few prepper-type things too, such as the portable gas stove etc... although the most useful thing I bought was an inverter to convert 12V from my car battery to 230-240V AC. Not enough to run a fridge or a heater, but enough to run/charge a few devices and a couple of fans (the outages tend to happen in hot weather). For prolonged outages I'd just start the car up and use it as a generator; it's a small car so it only burns around 0.3 litres of petrol per hour when idling.

Mat, I know I am VERY late in posting my comment, but here it is anyway. As a consultant (Software, not that it is relevant) I have worked with clients where my engagements might be month or even years apart. When I return they gush about what I created the last time and I can't even remember it. I also get praise for being "creative" or "super smart" (not just regular smart) because I use the internet as a source of information and not to watch "cat videos". (I have a cat, and I can watch her without broadband access) For the longest time I struggled with what to say to the compliments since "Your Welcome" is now seen as condescending, sarcastic and rude. So now I say: "Thank you very much for saying that." It's simple, works in all situations and is well received. In your case you could add: "Thanks for watching." as you do at the end of your videos. If the person continues you can repeat those phrases over and over again. They have a lot of mileage in them. Well, that's my advice. I hope it was not overly obvious. It took me a while to come up with a bulletproof response that plays well. Or you could say what the old American comedian Bob Hope would say to anything: "Yeah. ain't that a thing."

Great video , those boomboxes on the shopping channel show they will sell anything. I'm pretty sure if I showed that segment to a few people they would buy them.. always love your longer videos, was a bit gutted your minidisc video didn't get more views.

I am with you all the way with not understanding much of modern life; I made a comment online the other day about cats and someone replied “you’re not supposed to make generalisations really”! And not sure if it helps, but I’d guess I’m very close in age to you and my memory is comically shocking as well.

That was a delight, Mat! Sorry it's taken me a day or two to watch it. There were so many LOLs in that it didn't seem to be anything but your usual upbeat edition. Regarding your final topic, the answer to power outages is of course V2G aka V2H.

Matt I have a stupid question. Not tech-related. Did you say Cup Noodle was low in sugar? Or did I misunderstand you? If so, is that a Britain thing? I don't think we have any low sugar varieties in the States. Type 2 myself.

“If you have been, thanks for listening.” Who WAS that? Some guy on Radio 4 years ago who told gentle, funny stories?

A sad indication of how my mind works. When you said 'Overlanding' my first thought was he must be in the loft (attic).

Ok, so with the manfrotto arms, if they're not staying put when you tighten them up, you can adjust them on the collars at each end. As you tighten that knob it's basically pushing a rod down each end of the arm to then push on the ball at the end. Over time they do loosen up a little. Loosen the main knob off and then tighten the silver collars down a turn and see if that improves things. Manfrotto are also really good with spare parts so if it's just one bit you've stripped out you'll be able to get that part for a fraction of the cost of replacing the whole thing. There's also exploded diagrams available to make repair easy.

Even worse then the like comment and sub people are the ones who put 5 minutes of sponsored content within their videos!

I can’t imagine walking up to someone in public that I’ve seen on YouTube and trying to start a conversation with them. I realize loads of people do that to celebrities, but I imagine they’re just trying to live their lives and don’t want some random stranger pestering them. Makes more sense to say that kind of stuff here. So, Mat, I really enjoy your videos. But then, that’s obvious because I’m also on your Patreon. 😉

Just started watching, and got to your fireworks display story. Was immediately reminded of this scene: https://youtu.be/1zeTkNrMBIw Apparently someone got a time machine and was able to interview me in the future. 😳

Looking forward to some prepping videos. Filmed in the garden to the sound of plane noise for that authentic home front atmosphere. ;-)

Hi, I really like your channel!

Some of us, Mat, pay good money to see Spitfires looping the loop at air shows, so having one doing it over your house for free is nothing to complain about! Seriously, I enjoyed your catch-up as always, especially the boombox ad. I loved the part where the presenter started to describe how it sounded but before any adjectives could form said 'ooh, it's got a handle!' then gave up on describing how it sounded. I empathise with your annoyance at being 'man-splained' to - it is almost always men. I once commented elsewhere that that two marks of Spitfire were externally identical. Big mistake - some people seem to know the positions of individual rivets. I'm still living that one down. Thanks and keep up the good work!

I also hate faceid. My biggest problem is with the soli radar sensor nonsense on the pixel 4xl that I have. Its supposed to wake up the phone when you pick it up but it never works, so you are always trying to hit buttons to make it wake up and start the unlock process, and then it wakes up and you end up sleeping it again and its just a pile of stupid. masking just piled on the suck. I nearly went back to my Pixel 2. I'm planning on making a day one order of the Pixel 6 Pro later this month just to get finger print unlock back.

The only person who should be allowed to start a video with all that "Don't forget to like and subscribe!" nonsense is Zack of Dropping Science.

Nice one, Mat. Another highly entertaining and amusing Oddcast! Your down to earth, no BS style is the reason I'm a Patron! 👍

That advert was glorious. If those boomboxes could talk, they would be saying "please kill me now." The shameless enthusiasm of the hosts was amusing and disturbing. Although a part of me felt bad that it was showing stereotypical women being clueless about technology - I cringed even as I laughed. I know those two are just doing their job to sell a product, but still...the utter lack of self-awareness on display from them is either a sign of their professionalism or a sign that they are already dead inside.

I'm with you, Mat. Videos with stupid face-pulling in the thumbnail is a massive turnoff. There are some creators I refuse to watch just because their thumbnails are so obnoxious.

😱 Thanks for releasing this on Monday morning - it starts the week off right. Shopping channels recommend videos on YT? I am getting nauseous, what is the world coming to? Although it was very irritating for you at the time - thanks for including the BTS clip about the airplanes. I'm sorry - I laughed. I must be very lucky because none of the other channels I semi-regular watch do the 'amazed face' looks on thumbnails or request for subs. On the other hand, the only other vids I watch are documentary things and who the hell are they going to kid with those baiting antics? As for viewer meet-ups - you have valid reasons for not being able to attend, flying one of them. Have you thought of doing a 'join by satellite' appearance with specific parameters? You deserve to do a voice-over spot on regular shows! It would be great to see your name on credits. I don't understand why you haven't been asked to do more of them. Feel better. Humble regards; Grace

Y'know what? I'm _kinda_ into that ridiculous home-shopping-network boombox. I wish they'd gone 110% crazypants-ridiculous with it, instead of just 75%. If I heard about a new boombox whose entire design conceit was "as many unnecessary switches, lights, meters, and knobs as we can possibly fit" I'd at least click on the Kickstarter link just to see how much they want for one.

You mentioned filling both cars, did you decide that the EV Mini wasn't working out? Having my electric car was barely beneficial during the fuel shortage as it's a pain to charge at home., I'm thinking about selling mine.

This was great fun as usual. If the kind of thumbnails you talked of actually increase the size of audience, you really have to wonder about the people that make up that audience. I won't click on a video with a stupid thumbnail out of principle! I do think I may have been one of the people you had in your sights when you talked about the those pointing out the obvious! I get just as irritated by people that make asinine remarks about a camera/ DAP/ walkman being pointless because of smartphones. Sure, the absence of the kind of full-featured DD turntables from 70s/80s in today's market may be obvious to anyone with a grasp of the economics of the (size of the) market but I'm not sure it's necessarily obvious to everyone. After all, on paper it's fairly illogical that you could buy more technologically sophisticated machines 40 years ago than now given that technology generally progresses not regresses. I'd be willing to bet that plenty of people would scratch their heads at why a turntable from the early 80s is able to do so much when today there are machines (ie Rega) for which you need to remove the platter to swap the rubber band to change speed!

Regarding stating the obvious, Steve Jobs was famous for his "Reality Distortion Field". For example Apple were developing a tablet when he decided it would be better as a pocket size phone. I'm sure many people at Apple stated the obvious like we'll never fit all the electronics into such as small case. I wonder what new products Apple would have launched by now if he was still alive.

Haven't had that many actual LOL's at a video in a while. That was a good one, Mat. Thanks for being the grumpy old bloke we all love!

A couple wildly unrelated things brought together by your always-entertaining update. 1) Miikshi is the best ever. I'd forgotten that you were how I got hooked on those folks. Very strong Anderson vibe but not the puppetry - no Supermarionation, all hand work. And it's brilliant! And the writing and characters are brilliant! The model-making is where the Anderson vibe really is and they have brilliant set decoration to enhance that! When you posted the link to them originally, my inner transit ("public transport" for you folks over there to the east) nerd got really excited - they'd clearly put a lot of work into the details. I submitted their subway map to a site that celebrates transit maps and wayfinding and the editor was as excited about their work as my inner transit nerd was. Did I mention that I think the Miikshi folks are brilliant? And that I'm *at least* 50 years past their target demo? 2) You might overestimate how many things are obvious to people. In a particular hobby realm I am in, I see many many people asking what the best digital audio recorder is to use now that microcasettes only show up on YouTube retro-tech channels. Many of the people seem genuinely surprised when I answer "use the voice memo app on your phone". I suspect there is an age component to that like there is with many of the folks that think "vinyl is coming back!" Yeah, it is, a little, but not like 60 years ago. High growth rate from a tiny base. Sustain that rate for 10 years and we'll talk again. Loved the boombox ad. Amazing. Truly amazing that those channels still exist, but here we are. Hope you are well, Mat!

The circles on the back of your phone are for stubbing out cigarettes! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

https://frame-company.co.uk/black-14x11-frame-with-white-mount-cut-for-image-size-a4-1175x825_20.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwzOqKBhAWEiwArQGwaEb9Xt-cvIzCWxQ6z6jzGlGlgJ8kAF7WaZnuB9ccHLiv5Nc5RxMqBRoCN8oQAvD_BwE If this helps.

I used to make box frames untill covid killed my job. I could of got one done really cheap. Have a look on line under picture framing and possibly could get a box frame with glass to mount those mini discs.

Thanks for the outtake video. Very funny. I don't know why I think it's funny when other people are annoyed by something. But it is.

Omg, day of the Triffids except instead of being blind everyone is stupid. I bloody loved this, and seeing as I have zero interest in Britain's got 'talent' or the dancing one, maybe it did happen. Although I suspect they've got their work cut out for them if these people are already viewers of the likes of Love Island etc... That's not to say I'm intelligent because I don't watch low brow TV, maybe I'm just free range stupid, didn't need subliminal messages or plant pheromones in the first place.

Have you got a new watch? Interesting intro for it...

I said before that I'm 95% sure I'll be buying new phone soon. The curious thing is that to be honest, all I _really_ want is a camera upgrade...a telephoto and ultrawide lens. Four or five years ago I bought a decent pocket-sized camera (Panasonic Lumix LX-10) with the idea that it'd scratch my itch for taking better photos on the go when I don't have my "good" camera with me. It _sort of_ worked, but even something barely larger than a deck of cards was too much bulk to add to my everyday carry. In the past year, especially, I've learned that I spot a lot of potentially neat photos when I'm just out in the neighborhood running errands for twenty or thirty minutes. Otherwise? The $350 Pixel 4a I bought last year as a stopgap is filling my phone needs just fine. It's really no wonder that phone makers put "improved camera" at the top of the features list every year.

Get a box frame made and mount your mini disc players inside. Then you can move when needed.

I was prepared for the COVID shutdown, but only because I'd been following it as a tech story since the previous October. China'd had epidemics before, but when they started shutting down factories en masse, that got my attention real quick. So I wasn't exactly stocking up and prepping per se, but yeah, over the ensuing months I somehow made sure I had the sort of things people in Shenzhen were using. With the idea "Well, why not, it's nonperishable and it'll be useful even if I don't need it."

I live near a small airport, and it's common for the small planes to take off, circle around, land, then take off again. I think it's for people learning to fly, but the sound from take off comes through on the mics, and of course they do it just when I'm recording. So I know how you feel!

Regarding zoom on the mobile phone, I have the huawei p30 pro. The zoom is extremely good quality but if at full zoom requires a small phone tripod. Another good video.

Manfrotto has China'd itself down as well??? I didn't buy any camera supports for 5 years I think and it's always been Manfrotto, and those were good! My first tripod is still sturdy as rock after 20 years, and its Manfrotto. Now I see they are also starting to produce rubbish! So bad...

Miikshi finally debuts! How many years has it been since you recorded your part? Seems to my old foggy memory like several years ago that you mentioned it.

I am just one minute in and I can already say that the best youtubers are the ones who do not fake it. AvE, Dave Jones, Sam "Look Mum..." they are all really like they are natually. There is nothing wrong with how you are and how you make your videos. I find it very pleasant and it always reminds me of old BBC tech shows when they used to be really good.

I am enjoying all these updates, but this is a top one. Laughed until I cried during many sections. And yes, I don't know this world anymore either... Not being a creator of YouTube or anything, but all those click, like subscribe are cringe worthy. But I guess everybody wants to make more noise than the other guy to increase views. Sometimes I think that YouTubers and other creators will be the worlds most stressed out people in the future. Algorithm will stress them to more content, more and more often and they will die from heartburn in their studio without anyone noticing them. In the old days you'd be sitting in your office and someone would react if you are ash grey (or pale white) in the face... Great stuff Mat, have a good week and a rest

If I were ever to hire someone to record a birthday greeting - which I almost certainly will never do - it would be Mat in his "Mr. Obvious" voice telling someone that it's their birthday, a fact they absolutely already know.

Nice to feel part of the grumpy collective, a group that never meets, yet shares the same dissatisfaction with so much.

The camping lamp and AA batteries - no, I think you're not killing the planet. A light is a pretty basic thing - it should last 30 years. Any lamp with built in rechargeable batteries, most likely you won't use it much, you'll put the lamp in the cupboard, the battery will discharge, eventually go into some deep death state and kill the batteries and you'll end up throwing the whole lamp out because the thing only lights up for 5 mins and that's gotta be worse for the planet than just buying a few new AA batteries!

I'm sure you've seen this...but if you've not... https://www.retrotechuk.com/

I have two ISPs providing service to my house (I work from home so need reliable internet). One AT&T goes completely out if the power is lost and the other Google works if you power the equipment in your house. I have my Google equipment connected to the UPS I have my home networking gear connected to so I can at least go as long as the UPS battery is working.

Munch's The Scream fell into the public domain. It's been over 75 years since his death and all his work is PD now. So have at it! Or don't; 2021 could use less screaming anyway. Cheers.

My Sister said it's better to say nothing so that people won't think your stupid.

@1819 Discount Cassetteboy :) I'm completely in agreement about not wanting anything to do with seminars etc... or the general public really, some of my colleagues are more than happy to be filmed working on TV, posting away on twitter with 'as seen on BBC' tags, all the while I would see that as my own personal hell.

I also ran into minor fame and can empathize with what you said about it. In my case, I ran an events blog for my city; I'd post stuff about what I did and kind of review things. One time a guy recognized me and said something like, "Hey, you're Jayce from JayceLand" ... I kind of looked stupidly at him with nothing much to say while he smiled and nodded in anticipation ... of something. I think I thanked him or something, but I found the whole experience quite distasteful, wanted for it to not happen again, and really empathize with more famous people—I can't imagine being the popular TV weather forecaster and all the people saying hi. It all seems quite awful.

I love these monthly updates and I like the fact everything is kept real, such a refreshing change from the high energy and fakery on some channels, it’s one of the reasons I’m a subscriber and Patreon. Never change Mat

Thanks for keeping it real, Mat. If you ever started presenting videos in a super-exaggerated, overenthusiastic fashion, that would be a sign that you've gone around the bend and the real Techmoan has been taken over by space aliens. Hope to never see that happen.

I don't think you should have much to fear about moving to a new phone. I've never had to set up authenticators (Authy, Google, Microsoft) again after moving to a new iPhone. All of that seems to come along with the iCloud backup that I restore. I've found the whole moving-to-a-new-phone experience to be remarkably smooth. I don't even have to re-pair Bluetooth accessories. The only things I remember having to do again are setting up Face ID/Touch ID and Apple Pay, because that stuff is stored in the security chip in the phone.

The shopping channel bit - I sometimes find myself channel hopping to one when it’s a ‘tech show’ and end up laughing at the hyperbole of the presenters. My favourite is the cheap drones they flog where they go on about the amazing quality of the camera, and it’s the worst un-stabilised 240p washed out footage you’ve ever seen. If memory serves, didn’t you include a picture of the front cover of an Argos or Tandy Xmas catalogue on one of your videos where basically everything on there is now your smartphone? Anyway, thanks again for another month of fantastic and entertaining videos, keep up the good work and look after yourself!

Me too, I think we are better people for it. I don't understand people who have everything figured out.

No matter the industry, many people feel like they need to fake it. When I am teaching my students, I tell them about imposter syndrome being something they will likley have to deal with in their careers - no matter how skilled or successful they are. It is a strange thing talking to a camera all day, something I have had to become more accustomed to, teaching from home. I may be in a zoom call with 50 students, but I sure do feel alone when I am the only one with a camera on. Much like I assume making YouTube videos feels like. You do it very well and you are quite engaging. Remember that we watch your videos, and support you here because we like being a part of the experiences you share with us. As a video viewer, this is a passive engagement, here on patreon the engagement is a little more active - some of us hope to share feedback, and be supportive. The thumbnails are silly, we all know it. But it appeals to our monkey brains. I know you said you have never used the over acted shocked face in reality, but... You have gone out of your way to buy puppets and perform countless skits while wearing a wig for literally millions of people. I lost my train of thought here... something about Al Gore's rythims I think, getting old, you know. Make sure you enjoy the process of creating your videos. If you are, I think it is a safe bet that we will enjoy watching them. ... and if you ever stop enjoying it, that is when a rethink is needed. You will always be that techno-man-guy to us.

Funniest odd cast yet! God I needed the laugh thanks

It looks like you should have revealed the lamp last as your "home nuclear power unit."

Good timing, I had no company working from home today as my wife is in the office, so I watched on the big telly during lunch break. Had loads of little things I thought of while watching to comment, can’t remember any of them now. One thing I will say, if I ever bumped into you and it wasn’t 30 seconds of awkward conversation followed by a minute of silence before one of us broke and made excuses to leave I’d be disappointed. That’s how you present yourself on your videos, if we met and you were all slick I’d feel shortchanged.

One of the reasons I subscribe to the channel and toss a few bucks into the Patreon is because you don't do all that 'HIT THAT LIKE BUTTON, SMASH SUBSCRIBE, RING BELL, BELL-END' wankery. Leave all that phoniness to the Kevin McCallister impersonators.

The only exception that I have for the whole "Like, Comment, Subscribe" shenanigan is James May on the DriveTribe videos, primarily because he says it with the most blunt delivery possible at random throughout the video, so it doesn't annoy me at all and totally fits his style.

I used to know someone who had a tie with The Scream on it. He trained people to use complex software :)

INTRO: I wholeheartedly concur!! I know youtubers are depending on it, but it just grinds my gears! «Subscribe, click the notification bell and hit like!» is now the new advertisement crap to me. Yeah, we’ll do that if we like the content. 🤷🏼‍♂️ I have never and will never do that in my videos, if people like my stuff, they’ll do all that. If they don’t… they won’t. And what am I to do with those people anyway? 🥸🤪 Keep doing you, Mat! 🤘🏼

Couldn't have come at a better time. Looking forward to locking myself away from family and work and having some me-time. Thanks.