• OMA - One, Many, All - a task management categorisation technique that is far too complex and all-encompassing to catch on

• Raspberry Pi 3B, 32bit armhf raspios bullseye on macos QEMU with working GUI - well, it took a while and it might not be optimal, but it's working. I needed 32bit to run red-lang.

• Some model railway stuff - N gauge tiny point motorisation with tiny stepper motors and an Espruino microcontroller

• Gadgets and Computing Technology - charging a dead F(X)tec Pro1-X

• Programming - separate from microcontroller programming, this is where we address proper programming languages like the Unix shell, maybe a little python, tcl for glue scripts that need a gui, and maybe a reversion to Objective-C to bring back the days of Next with GNUStep. But I'm still not convinced that REBOL / Red is not the future.
  • Currently using Chimera Linux (not ChimeraOS) as my distro of choice with gnome-shell on wayland (EDIT: switched to IceWM for a cleaner look and the ability to change the window top bar height). Chimera uses the BSD userland on a linux kernel. I love this, as I was brought up on VAX, SunOS, RisciX - very close to the Bourne shell and SystemV - apart from using bash as my interactive shell now, BSD with dinit seems to need less complexity to achieve ordinary things.
  • Oh, and some AI since we all need to know what's going on with AI. There is no such thing as AI. It's just a very big spell check engine that will complete whole paragraphs from the clues you provide to search its hidden mysterious interlinked database of other peoples content. Thankfully if we give it no agency to connect to the real world, Skynet will not come for us. Take note.
  • Server Stuff
    • Use dietpi - it's great for RPi's and x86(_64)'s.
    • Nginx (idk pronounced Engine-X) web server streams are great for hiding all your services on 443
    • Changed from baikal to radicale for webdav services as biakal is a php nightmare to set up (for me) and radicale is a stand-alone server easy to proxy to. I got stumped trying to run a radicale service on systemd (grrr) until I 'pip –reinstall'ed the radicale module as the radicale user specified in radicale.service. Took me ages that did. Works across all clients just lovely now.

• Amateur Radio
  • I am a member of RayNet UK for emergency communications if the ice melts (or more likely we have a power cut and a Russian / US invasion). This gets me out with my mobile kit doing wide area comm's for charity events mainly, but we take it seriously as we are offically linked with the emergency services and forces in the UK.
  • sbitx is an sdr transceiver sitting in my garage with an OCFD up on the roof. Because it can be connected to over the local wlan, I happily run FT8 from the sofa and am a happy bunny. For the price, this is a superb transceiver and will - being SDR on an RPi board - keep being updated with more and more fun stuff. It can also be contacted over the internet - but I'm not telling you how because you need a license.
  • Mobile ham radio - I have a D<smthg> Kenwood in the car. 50W and you can do anything on 2m and 70cm. If it's not enough with the roof magmount, pull out the 10m fishing pole with a feed-line j-pole on the top and you probably can. Especially if you're on a hill.
  • Portable is an eclectic mix of stuff - a LANCH NLH provides general 5W 2m/70cm coverage with APRS over bluetooth to an Android tablet. Family connections use the Baofeng 888SE (~3W) on private 70cm channels when we're out and about. (I have an OFCOM Supplier Light license so this is allowed in the UK.)
  • For HF Portable there is an IC-706 (MK1) which will comfortably overload the car's electrical 12V system and heat up a piece of poorly matched wire pretending to be a field antenna.

• Electronics and Music Not electronic music necessarily, but the interplay between the two,
  • Hi-Fi is a big part of my life. I listen not only to the music, but due to a {problem | not problem} with my mind, I see music as waveforms and spectra. This means I cannot listen to music on lo-fi systems e.g. youtube on a phone speaker. It just makes me upset. I've been the 'sound man' for many bands over the years, and it is the utmost fun. My home hi-fi is specified to be musically lovely and enjoyed by me. The paperwork spec's are great too, but you couldn't buy my system from Sevenoaks Hi-Fi (I worked there as a teenager) because it's not conventional or reviewed in the glossies.
  • PA When musical enjoyment is not enough TURN IT UP! Who doesn't enjoy the very visceral thrill of a bass drum in a field over a wall of PA? So when I get the chance, I still do this. I don't go to gigs much, but if I get the chance to design, deploy or run anything over 1kW I will have a happy happy day! Of course this is also highly spec'ed equipment, run within tolerance, and designed to provide a musical dynamic. More horn loading, less beam forming, if you know what I mean…
  • Music making is also great, but I've little talent and a poor memory, so getting my bass guitar to trigger midi and run plugins on the ipad keeps me happy. Doubt I'll ever get to my lauded first album, let alone the difficult second one. (Probably break up with myself over creative differences well before then.)

• Health & Wellbeing - there are few approaches better than opinionated people espousing anecdotal effectiveness as evidence of good. More impressive is when these personal outcomes are browbeaten into others, regardless of their needs or wants. So here is a list of things that have made me feel better during my ongoing search for things that make me feel better. Evidence enough - surely - for this to be the Ultimate List of Wellbeing Solutions For All. Ha.
  • Giving up Alcohol is good for some people, too. I recently discovered the four-fold illness description of alcoholism as being: physical allergy; obsessive thoughts; immature thinking; spiritual emptiness. Look here for more info - it might change your life if you're one of the lucky 10% of the population that cannot drink / drug like a lady
  • And when you're too old/fat/lazy to do anything the lycra brigade might consider proper exercise, get yourself Jeffing! You'll get in better exercise than walking and know your own style and pace are the scientifically correct ones for you. So no-one can judge. Which is important. Probably.

• Electromagnetic Non-destructive Testing of Embedded Steel in Concrete. Once instantiated as the 'SciSite Method' in the 2000's. This is a rapid assessment technique to detect the presence of corrosion on steel, while 'seeing' through the covering (non-magnetic) material. It has worked successfully on tyres and reinforced concrete. If there is a scenario where rapid pre-testing of embedded steel can be inserted into the value chain, please contact me for further details. Search the Internet for SciSite for historical information. (NB I am one of the inventors of this method. It has a UK patent.)

What is all this? A personal site of Dr Matthew Hocking PhD. AKA: @docmathoc; @m3tr0g33k (old); M0OMA.