Daniel’s World 2.0: Recalibrated

It’s Saturday evening, the ThinkPad is thinking on Debian as always, and the EliteBook G3 is still elite (sorry, had to). That one’s running ReviOS — technically Windows 11, but tweaked just enough that it behaves like it actually wants to be useful. The ThinkPad’s screen is nicer, but the EliteBook is bigger and better for watching movies when I decide I’ve earned some downtime. Between them, I’ve got everything I need. I’m still a one-monitor man — partly because I like it that way, partly because I can’t be bothered rearranging the desk again. It keeps things clean. Focused. Besides, I’ve got the workbench behind me for when I need to solder things or drop tiny screws into the abyss. Speaking of tiny screws, the K6ARK Morse keys use these M3x4mm grub screws. Genius design. Absolutely infuriating in practice. They’re so small I’ve considered just weighing the whole bag and hoping for the best. Every time I drop one, I swear it phases into another dimension. Yet somehow, the keys ke...

Thursday evening. I’ve just gotten back from that physics talk thing at the university — and what an evening. One of those nights that I genuinely can’t describe properly with words. And look, I’ve never been exceptional at that. Expressing real feelings in real time? Not exactly my strong suit. I tend to find the words only in retrospect, once everything’s already happened. Recently, I've leaned into making a conscious effort to speak nothing but my mind around everyone. Turns out, that’s weirdly magnetic. People seem to gravitate toward me because I actually speak my mind without sugarcoating it. And honestly? I kind of hate that. I didn’t ask for the audience. I have maybe two people I’d really consider proper friends. Plus her, of course. And a handful of others I tolerate but don’t particularly want to hang out with. I know, very emotionally well-adjusted of me. Anyway — I digress. Back to the evening. The talk itself was… relatively interesting. The guy running it was a n...

I'm doing terribly at sticking to update schedules — it's Friday already, and oh how time flies. In classic me fashion, I’ve found myself a new small-businessy distraction: making Morse code keys for ham radio operators. Y'know, the kind of people who hike up mountains or sit in parks with tiny QRP rigs, sending dits and dahs across the world. Honestly, I love it. My first proper radio contact with one of those little QRP-Labs kit radios kind of sparked all of this, so it's weirdly poetic that I’m now building gear for that exact kind of operation. I’ve ordered a bunch of parts and printed all the plastic bits — yes, the Prusa is finally online and chugging away beautifully, now hooked up through the Raspberry Pi 3. Which is funny, because that same Pi was sort of my intro to this whole radio hobby in the first place. (Longtime readers — all 0 of you — might remember that earlier blog post where I mentioned that Raspberry Pi event at Bletchley Park. Look at us now.) ...