Tag: rant

#0043: My experience running TTRGP games

Otto

#0043: My experience running TTRGP games

Preamble

The date is July of 2026. Hot as fuck summer (32°C indoors), and all I have to keep me cool is a broken desk fan that I found on the side of the road two years ago and “temporarily fixed” as I write this. It’s still waiting for its proppah fix… any day now.

On point. Well basically, a former work-friend of mine is coming back into town, and we want to use his visit as an excuse to play some D&D with 2 other workmates. So me and 3 players. In essence I wish to document the high-level experience that I had here, as well as reminisce on previous campaigns. However, I will leave out the nitty-gritty details of the play sessions themselves. That is for another article. THIS article is for venting about people.

As an aside: I hope you like the AI assets in the title graphic; as I make considerable use of it in my campaign. For example this picture above is of my campaign’s Roll20 splash-page. I find AI useful for generating visual assets to spark both the players’ imaginations, as well as my own. I know it is a contentious issue today, especially with artists; and people are quick to become tribal on such matters.

However, if it makes you feel any better: they have yet to receive a penny from me. At least at the time of writing this. A time after I have made considerable use of it to generate lots of images for settings, items, and characters. Mostly using a free account, and only recently a free trail. It has its place in my opinion. And I am happy to enjoy this (in my opinion) non-sustainable technology while it lasts.

NOTE #1: The original title here is: “Running my first TTRGP game”. Decided to clarify the title post-hoc for messaging accuracy. But it wasn’t worth doing all the required down-flow edits/re-writes.

NOTE #2: While digging into my dormant TTRPG files for this article, I found an old folder filled with Tumblr “Lucky Star” memes in it from ~2016. And since my old Roll20 account has Izumi Konata as its avatar. Seems natural to include them here. Enjoy.

My previous experience with TTRPGs

Now I know the title says “first”, but I have GM’ed two games before. (Lies I know, every day I drift further from God.) Both were during the 2020 lockdowns. The actual first game was a D&D5e module called “Lost Mine of Phandelver”. It came in a beginner box kit: with dice, character sheets, and a basic rulebook. It was a good buy to just get started. That campaign ended with a random encounter as the headless party of 3. (1 old-school friend and 2 of his friends.) Met their end travelling out of Phandalin to a random map marker. I think it was a wizard’s tower with a juvenile green dragon living there. They got murked by rolling an Owl Bear that came at them like a steam train. And they did not appreciate the idea of a tactical retreat. More on this later.

The second game I ran was a home-brew game of Shadowrun 6th edition. I called it Neo-London. Fantastic setting! Magic and Machines, within a corporate dystopia. Where actual wizards could be wage-slaves, working the Chinese 996, writing endless documentation on a new experimental magic drug that reverses ageing but only in Dwarfs — until a Shadowrunner mercenary terrorist-for-hire with two pogo sticks for legs breaks into your office block and shoots your co-workers to death, before beheading the security droid with a fucking samurai sword. And coming fo-yo ass. Shieeet! And you were only 5 days away from retirement.

Anyway Shadowrun has a great world but a shit rulebook. It has more spooling and grammar mis-steaks than the shit I write. Which is an achievement. If you really want a laff check out their errata document. All 10 pages of it! (Well 9 minus title page). That’s still too much. The latest one I could find is their 2019 August errata doc. (EDIT 2026-10: found another one. Errata 2020-feb.) And I have found many errors in the core rulebook not mentioned in this document. (Off the top of my head) I remember referencing of the “wild dice” mechanic, which is not featured in 6th edition. I believe it is an erroneous copy-paste from the 5th edition rulebook. The point is the rulebook is very poorly written and edited. I found numerous errors on my first read. I found numerous errors on my first read. (That’s an inside joke. Read their rulebook and you’ll get it.)

The superior 1st Edition logo 😉
SR6-Core-Rulebook-Errata-Aug-2019
SR6-Core-Rulebook-Errata-Feb-2020

This game suddenly ended in a very similar manner as the D&D one. A TPK fighting a Babayaga-esque crocodile shaman. While trying to ambush her as she was in animal form having sex with a giant crocodile familiar in her house. They saw two giant crocodiles in a house fucking in the middle of the NeoLondon wild swamp, called Hackney Marshes. I.e. an isolated area with no one around to help if things go south. They thought yeah lets jump them, and steal their MacGuffin.

Well. While the Shaman took her human form, the crocodile familiar grabbed one PC (their healer shaman I think) and she just couldn’t break away, nor was anyone else interested in helping her. The house suddenly stood up on its chicken legs (which they saw previously but ignored). Another PC (Elf Decker Face) failed a dex check equivalent and fell down off of the house and landed poorly. Hurting themselves severely. Then the Street Samurai fought and lost against the Shaman and was blown out of the window. Failed his dex check then fell off the house, and knocked prone. The Birdhouse on its turn sat down on both of them. Killing them. Leaving the last PC in the house as croc chow. Fun times.

All the while a tactical retreat was never even considered. Nor was a plan of attack for that matter. Same players as before by the way. In fairness things did go south rather quickly. But then these things tend to happen that way. You can only telegraph so much to people, before things need to start happening. I remember deciding to end it like that because I was feeling done playing with these people, and the TPK gave a clean exit point. So I decided not to pull any punches. Note, I didn’t purposefully go in trying to kill them. I just didn’t shield them from the consequences of their actions. Something that I had been doing repeatedly in this campaign to date. Letting players off despite severe misplays. Such as disrespecting regional powers: AKA local gang lords.

Illustrative example that I just made up. (It’s been too long to remember specifics from their game.)

GM: “You arrive at the boxing gym after hours, and meet the gang lord, an old man named ‘Brick-top'”.

PC: “I stare him down, walk up to him, and spit in his face. Then challenge him to a match. I have a good body stat, and have done boxing before in my backstory right GM? I should win this. Can I roll for intimidation like in D&D?”

They really should have been chopped up into pieces and fed to pigs long ago…

Okay. It wasn’t that bad. However I do remember them disrespecting and dismissing quest givers. It became frustrating, because say I want them to do this mission; however they just dressed down and dismissed the NPC who’s trying to give it to them. Then they complain that they don’t know what to do. Resulting in me either having to make the NPC act out of character in order to give them the next job, or have the job get called in from another NPC altogether. Saying that they heard about it. Only to get a response such as, “why are we wasting time with this NPC, if the other one knows everything. Why did you send us here.” It was annoying, especially when the players think that they are out collecting info/clues. When in fact they are burning bridges with every faction they encounter. By being absolute cunts to everyone… and oblivious about it to boot.

Let me complain some more to you about my Players

In the previous two campaigns that I ran, I encountered a lot of things that genuinely annoyed me to the point that I lost motivation to be a Game Master. Probably the first and most important is a lack of respect for my time and efforts. This is the master issue that filters down into (most if not) all the other issues that I have had with players.

Let’s start with: Players with bad time management and scheduling. Some of these people genuinely do not understand that the game needs to be prepared for them to play it. In other words I have to read and/or create a scenario including all NPCs, items, points of interest, and how the story webs all these aspects together, as well as prepare combat encounters. This took me from memory about 90-120 minutes prior to a session to do. (Mostly due to my inexperience running homebrews… and knowing rules.)

I have had fickle players that either do not answer simple questions regarding scheduling. “When are you free next week?”. Or if they do give a day, they’ll suddenly cancel on that day. An hour prior if they contact me at all. I have had no-call, no-shows. That then get annoyed when they are no longer invited, and the game continued without them. “I don’t understand. So what happened to my character?” WTF do you care – you ain’t playing bitch.

Less annoying but still an issue. I have had players randomly contact me on an afternoon (keep in mind lock-down) and say something like: “Me and the guys are all free right now. Want to carry on the game?” I’m thinking in a few hours, no they mean now. They are only available now, and only for three hours before what’s-her-name needs to go. They want to jump on apropos of nothing and play a couple of rounds like it’s Team Fortress 2 or something. And when I decline, due to lack of time to prepare. Then I am the problem because I am “refusing to play when everyone is available. Yet complaining about players not being available.”

Next is players with a bad attitude. I have had players treat me like a video game; expecting me to manage everything for them behind the scenes. I have had lazy players that actually have criticised me for not keeping track of their personal stats. This means remembering what equipment they have, how much money is in their purse or credsticks, how much ammunition they have left, or spell slots that they have used. I have had players expect me to keep track of all of that for them personally; whilst also running the world for everyone. While they just sit back and enjoy the ride. Lazy, entitled, and passive. What a combo meal.

When I told them that they are expected to keep track of their own equipment, I got a “..then what are you doing?” or something to that effect. They also said something akin to “then what’s stopping me from just saying whatever…”. Basically without supervision: who’s stopping them from cheating. YOU! What adult needs the childhood lesson of don’t cheat: because you primarily cheat yourself. I just remember feeling and hearing the words in my head that I am never playing with this garbage again. Because the guy was dead serious, that he needed me to manage his character for him, or else… Kept my word too. Never played with him again. Thumbs up.

Now I can honestly complain here all day but for brevity I will end on this last one. This is the lack of social cues / basic understanding player. This is the player who either doesn’t understand, appreciate, or care as to what has been created/prepared for them. Instead they want to do whatever they want in the moment. In my case it was a player playing Lost Mine of Phandelver who had absolutely no interest in going to the “Mine” wait-for-it… “of Phandelver”. They ignored all plot hooks (because they weren’t interested in the story), and then got upset when there wasn’t anything for them to do outside of it.

And somehow that meant that I was a bad DM to them. Not that they are a bad player who doesn’t comply with the social contract of a TTRPG. You are there to play the module if you are playing a module, if you made a character who is not interested in the story of the game: then you made a bad character. Re-roll. That rule also doesn’t change when playing a home-brew as well. The point is that you can’t have a PC that doesn’t have (or want) a place in the story.

Heck that logic even applies to sandbox games. Where you could make the free-roam argument. Imagine a player who immediately wanted to travel beyond the border mountains at the edge of the game map. Essentially stepping out of the story. (If you are pedantic: then it’s the location where the emergent story happens. Happy? I know I’m not.)

For example: if you were reading the RPG play-book “Island of the Lizard King”; and as soon as your boat lands on the island, you chose to get back on the boat and wait within it until it sets sail again. Maybe even opting to hijack a better boat en-route to the next isle.

Well at that point, are you still playing Island of the lizard king – if you promptly left the Lizard King’s fucking island! Is ye?! Son you’re playing Sid Meier’s Pirates at that point. Problem is, you’re not holding a 1987 floppy disk copy of Sid Meier’s Pirates, is ye? No sir. You are not. You’re holding a copy of Ian Livingstone’s Island of the Lizard King that you stole from the school library 26 years ago. You absolute head-spun Bumbaclaat! Change your ways.

image taken from: fightingfantasy.net

What I learned from running the previous two campaigns

Golden rule: set proper expectations! Do it early and clearly. If a player isn’t receptive to your rules and expectations, then they are not the players for your game. And it’s better to know that upfront, before you have invested in them. It is really as simple as that.

A) set proper expectations for the game.

This means that I need to provide players with my general CoC. (heh.) These are the rules below. However I also need to explain to them the type or format of game that I am running. What type of game am I playing? Is it a narrative-based role-playing-heavy game with theatre of the mind combat. Where your characters’ backstories are actually important, and you can pass through situations just by good acting on behalf of the players themselves.

Alternatively is the game a grindy crunchy combat-focused dungeon crawler where the player characters are just disposable cannon fodder thrown into a pit of hate and shit. A la Darkest Dungeon. Where you actually need to track exact location in combat, resources, food, drink, weight limits, etcetera. As well as have backup characters, for when inevitably they suddenly die. Having a player come in expecting one thing and getting another is a recipe for disappointment.

B) provide players with a general Code of Conduct.

I haven’t formalised my rules yet, but here goes for a rough draft.

  1. Respect other people’s time. Show up and on time. If you can’t make it, then give ample notice. If you can’t make it repeatedly, gracefully bow out. Rather than repeatedly stalling the campaign, expecting everyone to continually reschedule around you.
  2. Play the content. Play what has been prepared to play. Understand this social contract. Prior to you showing up I prepared content for you to play. Play it.
  3. No sabotaging other player’s fun. No PvP, or sabotaging other players’ plans and schemes. This quickly creates bad feeling amongst players that kills campaigns.
  4. It is your responsibility to keep track of your character. Stats, money, ammunition, equipment, and relationships.
  5. Remember that this is a co-operative game. We are all trying to play/enjoy a story together. The player and Game Master cannot have an antagonistic relationship.
  6. Do not cheat. This is common sense. But must be stated. Do not alter your stats, resources, or fudge rolls just to “win”.

Initially I did not want to provide a hard rule-set like the one above because I feared that it can be a buzz kill and put players off of playing my campaigns. However I have tried being laissez-faire, and that simply doesn’t work for me. Since I do put a lot of effort into preparation, I am prone to resentment if it is either disregarded and/or not appreciated. I realise that the players who would be put off by this simple enough set of rules, I do not want to play with. Because at the end of the day we are all playing for the same reasons I hope: a little bit of fun and escapism. It shouldn’t be this complicated. And I think these rules would help filter out a lot of the trash. To put it bluntly.

Acronyms used

AI – Artificial Intelligence
AKA – Also Known As
CoC – Code of Conduct
D&D5e – Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition
DM – Dungeon Master
GM – Game Master
NPC – Non-Player Character
PC – Player Character
PvP – Player Versus Player
SR – Shadow Run
TPK – Total Party Kill
TTRPG – Table Top Role Playing Games
WTF – Why/What The Fuck

Recent session summary and closing thoughts

I found the draft for this article in October 2026. Another abandoned write-up. Well, might as well cap this article off for posting. I had the roleplay session, it was the first one ever that I played in-person. (It was all online during lock-down.) We played a D&D5e homebrew campaign called “Into the Underdark: The Centipede express.” It was supposed to be a one-shot containing evil 6th level characters on a train to hell. However it has since spun into a mini campaign.

We played it after work, with permission, in an unused back office. It was a lot of fun honestly. A bit choppy at the start, but once the initial awkwardness and self-awareness wore off. It rolled on well. I was happy with the result.

One important thing to note about it. It really is ironic. The work-friend who actually pushed for it to happen in the first place, I ended up throwing out of the group. He ended up being one of my no-no player types. The flaky selfish idiot.

I’ll keep it short. Firstly we had to reschedule because he wasn’t available when the other two players and I were. He gave no reason for this. Just that he couldn’t come. Then on the rescheduled day, he needed to be chased up for availability. “The game is on at 4-5 PM, is your character sheet ready?” His response, despite having more than a month to create a basic character, and OWNING all the 2014, and 2024 core books, as well as supplementals such as “Volo’s guide to Monsters”, and “Xanathar’s guide to everything”. He has spent more than £200 on books alone, yet has yet to play a game of any kind…

Anyway his response was firstly that he did not create his character yet. Yet!? Apparently he did not have any time to do so within the month’s notice that he had. In addition he said that he didn’t know if he was available today. This is scant hours before the game was scheduled to begin. Long story short, I learnt from the grapevine that he planned on going bowling earlier that day, and wanted to keep his options open by being non-committal with us. That way he could stay out longer if he felt like it.

Also when I learnt that he had not created his character yet. Despite the other two players — complete newbies having done so. I decided that the man was a complete clown-show; and dropped him from the group. Then set up an in-person game come Monday. He was also the reason why we had to go online in the first place. Incurring additional logistical work for me. Uploading and editing all the materials, as well as tech tests for the players. As they were unfamiliar with Roll20’s eccentricities. He also didn’t even create an account. He was planning on doing it on the day.

So this person, despite being the initial catalyst for running the game. Being active in the group chat in the month between inception, and game day. Buying and owning more books than I do! Having the day of the game rescheduled solely for his convenience, and having the venue changed from in-person after work to Roll20.net again solely for him. Knowing that that increased my workload, as well as cost the other players money; as they had to buy hardware to play. (One got a laptop, and the other bought a mic.) Decided that it wasn’t important enough for him to prioritise above bowling. People like him are completely lost-cause selfish. And what they don’t realise is that their selfishness actually ultimately hurts them the most. Steadily burning all their good bridges, until finally isolating them on a desert island of their own making. A bit dramatic I know, but no actually Fuck’em.

If you ever encounter players (or people) like this in general, kick them out of your game (and life if you can); as soon as possible. Because people like this genuinely DO NOT CARE about anyone other than themselves. (And even then, it is only their current self, here today. No thought is given to their future self, and their need.) The respect and reciprocity that you are waiting on, is simply not coming. There will be no sudden awakening… and to keep giving users second and third chances is folly. All you are doing is giving them another chance (that you paid for) for them to waste. Better to spend one’s core resources elsewhere. These being: Time, Energy, and Attention. Life is limited, don’t waste it on people who aren’t appreciative. Kick’em out.

Thank you for reading my therapeutic rant. (+15 mood: catharsis.)

Links, references, and further reading

https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Brick_Top
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/996_working_hour_system
https://marketplace.roll20.net/browse/bundle/9403/dandd-lost-mine-of-phandelver
https://shadowrunsixthworld.com/resources/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_of_the_Lizard_King

SR6-Core-Rulebook-Errata-Aug-2019
SR6-Core-Rulebook-Errata-Feb-2020

#0042: Creating a charging cable for a pair of Hatteker RFC-691 electric hair clippers

Otto

#0042: Creating a charging cable for a pair of Hatteker RFC-691 electric hair clippers

Preamble

This article will contain a guide to creating a basic DIY replacement charging cable. This cable is for a battery powered portable pair of electric hair clippers. Brand “Hatteker”, model “RFC-691”. A simple Chinese brand cheap pair of clippers whose proprietary charger has been misplaced. In addition to the tutorial itself, I will also opine on the value of ad-hoc crafts such as this.

Technical specifications (from device label information)

Description: Battery powered portable shaver
Brand: Hatteker
Model: RFC-691
Input: 5V DC @ 1000mA
Battery: 1x Li-ion 18650 – 1200mAh
Charge time: 1.5 hours

Hatteker RFC-691 official cable examination

The cable being replaced here is a simple DC-to-DC charging cable. It has a male USB-A plug on one end, and an IEC 60320 C7 style female plug on the other. Albeit miniaturised, polarity-keyed, and proprietary. It only has 2 lines, positive and negative. Additionally it has no active electronics. Simply passing the power directly from any standard USB-A power source to the clippers. The cable’s device is rated for 5 watts. Specifically: 5 volts direct current, at a 1 ampere max current. (It is assumed that the official cable would be built to that specification.) Very straight forward, very simple.

Why make a charge cable in general?

Why make a charge cable over buying a replacement? There are several reasons. These may include: saving time, saving money, being unable to source a replacement, or simply wanting to for fun.

With regards to saving time: it may be quicker to simply make a replacement, here and now from junk. Then it is to buy another one and wait for delivery. This is whilst also having to deal with all the potential issues that could arise within that process. One may not have the luxury of waiting the time required in order to get one’s device operable again. It may need to be working ASAP.

Now with regards to saving money. There are two factors to consider here. One is: whether or not it is in the budget. If there is no money for it, then there is no money for it. Period. It doesn’t matter how small the sum. However in my case, I simply do not want to spend the £5 odd pounds that I am seeing for what essentially is a low quality random after-market cable. One that is likely to break in a few months simply from use. Not when I can either make a better one that will last, or a free one (monetarily speaking) of comparable quality that I can then replace/fix whenever it does break.

The third reason I listed is being unable to source the exact accessory for my specific make and model. This is an issue that I have encountered after a cursory search on eBay (at the time of repair in 2025). The cable that I have found supports both model RFC-690 and RFC-692. So in all likelihood it will support my RFC-691. However it doesn’t explicitly state that it supports model RFC-691. So there is a chance that I could end up wasting time and money on an incompatible cable, even if I return it. Since I will have to pay return postage.

The fourth reason stated is for fun (aaaand profit). It’s enjoyable to make things. It is even more enjoyable to make useful things. Since one will be periodically reminded of their own abilities and competency whenever they use an item that they actually made themselves. It’s human nature. It provides a Rimworld style small mood buff: “+3 mood: used self-made tool”. (Or maybe I am just talking for myself.)

2026: Do! Not Buy.

One final reason to make this cable is that this is inline with this year’s (2026) assigned theme for my personal growth and improvement. This year’s theme is: “Do! Not Buy.” This means I am trying to focus on DO-ing more things to get to my goals, rather than BUY-ing things, that give the dopamine/illusion of progression. I am trying to build up my general skill-set experience, and simultaneously save money across the board. So make make make.

Tools and materials used

Tools:

  • snips
  • helping hands (Neilsen brand 240mm soldering aid pliers)
  • utility knife / precision knife
  • multimeter (Neoteck NTK098)
  • lighter
  • power-bank (Intempo EG0289MIX)
  • marker pen
  • nylon pry tool
  • soldering iron (Yihua 937D)
  • soldering iron wool cleaner

Materials:

  • [2x] crocodile clip jumper cables (black and red)
  • USB-A (power) cable
  • leaded solder
  • rosin solder flux
  • assorted heat shrink

PPE:

  • nitrile gloves
  • safety glasses

Build procedure summary

  1. insure that all relevant tools and materials are identified and within reach.
  2. acquire donor parts: USB-A to USB-C power cable and 2 crocodile jumper cables (AKA test leads).
  3. using snips cut off the USB plug that is not being used.
  4. using a utility knife slice down the outer insulation of the USB-A cable to expose the inner wires.
  5. using pry-tool: splay open and pull back the outer insulation, then pull out inner wires.
  6. using snips nip the insulation on the inner wires ~1cm in from the end then pull it off.
  7. twist each wire’s exposed copper strands into a tight braid.
  8. using snips cut off one side of each of the red and black crocodile test leads.
  9. using snips nip off around 1cm of the insulation of each test lead, and pull the insulation off.
  10. twist each wire’s exposed copper strands into a tight braid.
  11. plug the USB-A cable into a power-bank, and test voltage polarity of the wires using a multimeter.
  12. slide heat-shrink onto each individual wire, and onto the crocodile pair and USB-A outer cable.
  13. pair the crocodile clip wires (+/-) with their respective USB-A counterparts.
  14. wind the paired wires together into a mechanical bond (western union splice).
  15. using a soldering iron, leaded solder and solder flux – solder the western union splice.
  16. using a pair of snips: Neaten the splice profile. Remove any excess solder blobs or wire.
  17. cover the soldered splice with heat shrink then use lighter to tighten the shrink over the splice.
  18. repeat with the larger cable heat shrink to add protection and support to lead.
  19. inspect the created adaptor cable for any visual flaws.
  20. using multimeter test the outputs on the shaver, then mark them positive and negative on the device.
  21. using a power-bank, test the created cable by connecting it to the shaver.
  22. assuming success: discard waste materials from the job, and stow all tools and materials used.

Build procedure write-up

  1. Get, prepare, and test the parts.

Get a donor (known good) USB-A to USB-(irrelevant) cable. I used a random cheap power cable that came with a miscellaneous USB powered device. If you routinely buy USB powered devices, then you should have plenty of cables of this calibre on hand. As they seem to come boxed in as standard.

Cut off the irrelevant plug. Likely either a Micro-USB or USB-C plug. Then carefully slice down the outer insulation sheathing, and splay open the wires within. Unsheathe the insulation on the two wires within. If you used a data cable then they’d be more wires within. A typical USB-A to micro-USB cable contains four wires. Two power and two data wires. Typically colour coded as red (positive power), black (negative power), green and white (data +/-). Key word: typically. I recommend using a power-only cable: as they are both cheaper (to replace), and simpler to work on.

Regardless of what you have, the next step is to prep the wires and test the cable out. Splay out all the individual wires, then carefully snip the sheathing at about 1 cm down their length. Pinch this point with your finger nails and pull the insulation off. Repeat for all wires. Next use a multimeter test each wire to find the power positive and power negative. To verify the negative wire, test its continuity with the male USB-A plug’s outer metal. They are usually connected. Since this line is also typically used as a ground.

Alternatively test point the negative pin, once you have already identified the positive pin. Since it is its paired opposite. To test for positive power: plug the USB-A into a power bank, then using DC voltage mode on the multimeter test each cable until you came across something approximating +5 volts. Then do a continuity test from that wire to one of the two large edge pins within the USB-A male plug. This is the positive pin. With power positive and return identified, cut down and seal any other wires as they are not necessary.

Next prepare the crocodile clip jumper wires (or test leads as they are otherwise known). I like to use both a red and black cable to differentiate polarity. However you could alternatively just cut one test lead into 2 halves, and use both sides of it for the adaptor cable that we are making. Just have a way to mark the polarity of the otherwise identical clips. I chose to just use two differently coloured cables to save on confusion. I also have more of these cables then I need in the foreseeable future. So I had little reason to save on materials in that way. Using a pair of sharp snips, carefully nibble at each wire’s insulation at around the 1 cm from the tip of each wire. Then carefully pull the insulation off using finger nails.

  1. Setup inline heat-shrink!

This stage is the one easiest to overlook. I even forgot about it while writing this up – skipping straight to the splice segment. I have been in situations where I soldered a splice I was proud of – only to find out that I forgot to slide in some heat-shrink prior. And now facing a situation where I will have to either cut it open and start again; or just use tape to insulate the cable. Both are bad choices. There is a third choice but it involves a specialised tool: liquid insulation. You could paint the joint with liquid insulation providing that you have it to hand.

I actually made a mistake at this stage and that was that I did not employ enough heat-shrink. I used four pieces of heat-shrink. One to directly insulate each exposed copper line (yellow), one to bind the opened insulation of the USB cable (blue), and one to cover and bind the 2 crocodile lines and the yellow splice heat-shrink (red). This setup works fine. However it would have benefited from having one more large piece to cover the whole assembly.

With regards to choosing specific sizes of heat-shrink. I recommend purchasing a kit of assorted sizes, and use whichever fits the specific diameters of your wires at the time. This is because wires (in the wild) come in a myriad of non-standard sizes. (I.e. independently variable wire conductor, and wire insulation diameters.) Keep in mind that most cheap heat-shrink, shrinks to around half its default size. So size it to be snug, but leave room to allow for bumps. Sometimes you may even have to use short segments of shrink to cover just the conductor if the insulation on that wire is too thick to both snugly cover a wire’s thin conductor and bridge its fat insulation segments. This is especially true for cheap wires which skim on copper conductors, but employ a thicker insulation to give the impression of being a larger gauge wire than they are.

After doing this, then use a larger sized, longer piece of heat-shrink to cover the whole patch. This is to provide a strong protective layer for the joint. With my piece I failed to do this, thus leaving a hole into the layers of insulation which could be a path of ingress for dirt, dust, and other contaminates. I’ll just seal it with a little tape. (Not pictured.)

  1. Splice the wires together.

Next individually (and gently) twist all four wires exposed copper strands in a tight braid that resembles a solid core wire. Now pair up the wires. The positive end of the USB-A, with the end of the red crocodile clip wire. And negative with black crocodile.

Now twist the paired strands together using my splice of choice: the Western Union splice. This is done by making an “X” by crossing the 2 lengths of wire over each other. This should be done at a middle point for both wires. I will call the exposed copper of each wire between the intersection of the “X” and the rest of the wire the standing end, and the copper past the “X” the working end. Just like knot tying.

Carefully fold and twist one end of each wire’s working end over the other wire’s standing end. Repeat until the two wires are tightly twisted into each other. One tip, make sure that you are twisting the wires together in the same direction (counter/clockwise) as you twisted the individual wires themselves. This is so that they tighten, rather than loosen their structure when they are making the WU splice. Once the splice is complete: trim any excess that stands out. As this could cause an obstruction when applying heat-shrink. The sharp ends could also pierce holes in the heat-shrink once applied.

  1. Solder the splice.

Now that there is a strong mechanical (or physical) bond (or knot) connecting the two pairs of wires together. It is time to solder the connection. Making it permanent. When soldering I typically start by warming up and cleaning the iron. This is done by applying leaded solder and repeatedly dipping the iron into a metal mesh cleaner. Do this until all dark oxidation is removed, and the iron wicks solder readily. You could also apply rosin flux in this process to aid it. I personally just dip the hot iron into the flux dish as I go.

I mention this because in my opinion when it comes to soldering: preparation is of paramount importance to the successful execution of the task. Especially when using bog standard or subpar tools. As you can not rely on a tool of this quality to work readily despite poor conditions.

The actual soldering is easy enough. Apply flux to the wire joint. Then apply a little solder to the iron, enough that it adheres to iron without forming an unwieldy blob. Now line up a section of leaded solder wire to the joint. Then run the iron across the (fluxed) joint, while feeding the solder wire into the iron; and letting it melt and run into the wires of the WU splice.

Be careful to manage the heat that is put into the splice. Too little heat and the solder won’t take to the splice, too much heat and the insulation at either end of the splice will burn, melt, and curl back. Exposing more wire than desired. Perhaps more than the prepared heat-shrink could even cover. I have even had heat shrink that was placed too close to the joint shrink on me in situ. Before being positioned. So be cognisant of how much heat is actually put into the wires.

Now. Once the soldering is completed go over it with a pair of snips to remove any bumps, excessive solder blobs, or wire ends that the solder adhered to and exaggerated its profile.

  1. Apply the prepared heat-shrink.

Heat shrink should already be present on the wire at this stage. Slide it over the exposed segments then apply heat to activate it. Start with the smallest diameter segments to cover the exposed conductors, then move on to applying the larger bands that tidy and seal off the wires. Be careful not to accidentally apply any heat to heat-shrink that is not in place yet. As it will tighten and lock into place where ever it currently is. I used a simple disposable lighter for this. Alternatively you could use a heat gun or hot air rework station if you have one to hand. I KISS-ed this simple job. There was no need for anything more.

  1. Testing the hair clipper.

Before we go on. We need to gauge the status of the hair clipper. Specifically I needed to know the polarity of its two pins. To do this, just apply a multimeter across its pins. Set in an appropriate DC mode. Note the read out, then swap the probes with each other and test the pins again. Note this result.

If the result is positive. It means that the positive probe is on the positive pin; and if the result is negative, then it means that the negative probe is on the positive pin. Once the positive and negative pins have been identified: mark them on the device. This is to prevent accidentally reverse charging the clipper. Which risks damaging it, and/or the charging circuitry. (Powerbank, PSU, USB wall outlet, etcetera.)

  1. Cable test.

Test the finished cable. This involves a visual inspection. Does it look good? Fit for purpose? Is there anything notably broken on it? If it looks good; then perform a handling test. Pick it up, handle it roughly like you are actually using it without taking mindful tender care of it. Does it hold up to rough handling well? Or does it crack and fall apart? Better it breaks now, than in the moment when you need it.

Providing it passes (reasonable) rough handling. It is now time for an electrical test. I chose to use a powerbank as a power source. This is because it creates an isolated system. And limits any damage caused by short-circuits etcetera to just the created cable, clippers, and powerbank. Use a multimeter to verify polarity and electrical continuity.

  1. Final test.

With everything else worked out. Now is the time to plug it all in and see if the cable actually charges the hair clippers. Providing that the product passes this final testing. Then it is done. If it charges as expected from the power bank, then enough confidence in the cable is present for it to be plugged into a wall charger, to charge the clippers properly. Observe the first charge cycle for signs of heat build up, shorts, or any malfunctions. Otherwise: job done.

Acronyms used

AKA – Also Known As
ASAP – As Soon As Possible
CM – Centimetre
DC – Direct Current
DIY – Do It Yourself
IIRC – If I Remember Correctly
KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid
PSU – Power Supply Unit
USB-A/C – Universal Serial Bus (A type / C type)
WU – Western Union

Closing thoughts

A brief note on time. This little project was actually completed in June of 2025. This article is one of many that have been sitting in stasis for an extended time. It feels like I only did this a couple of months ago, however to my surprise, and according to the picture file names: they were taken in 2025-06. Only recently (2026-09) did I wrap up this article and make it publishable. This “wrap up”, included additional content that makes it relevant to 2026. Such as the incorporation of this year’s theme. Forgive me this deception.

With that out of the way, there is not much to say about this article or project that I haven’t already covered above. So let’s go for a more personal note. This cable was made out of junk I had on hand, and with a time limit. A family member lost the charger for the hair clippers and needed to trim their hair by Monday, it was the weekend IIRC. The point is that there was a time limit preventing the sourcing of a ready replacement. This is the perfect scenario where an electronics hobbyist should come in clutch with a DIY cable or what-have-you. (Akshully. This cable was made shortly after this time limit, I remember just charging the clippers using a bench PSU for an hour or two. But that is a less compelling story… Apocryphal story telling == More deception!)

The point is that these types of situations will emerge, they will come suddenly with little/no notice, and usually at an inconvenient time. So it pays to become accustomed to doing this type of work at the drop of a hat, and using whatever you happen to have on hand at the time. Such is the way of things. Keep in mind that a bodged solution is still a solution. Even if it only lasts as long as it takes to source a better quality replacement. As as long as it solves the problem in the moment it arises. Buying time in process. Then it is a success.

That being said the cable I created here is of decent quality, and will last as long as it is not abused, or misused. The only issue with it is that it doesn’t have the idiot-proofing; protecting the device from user error – that the original cable had. Due to the plug’s polarity keying preventing it from being inserted backwards. That’s my final point here, be cognisant of your creations’ weaknesses. And inform the user(s) of them, while also disclaiming any damages that may be caused by using the ad-hoc component that you provided. This is key to maintaining good customer relationships. From experience it often pays to overstate the risk. This is because it causes them to take active responsibility for employing it.

In the cable’s defence, as of 2026-09 I have noticed that it is still employed by my family member. More than a year after its creation. This is a genuine credit to its quality since they evidentially haven’t felt a need to replace it in the interim. How’s that for (real-world) feedback. 😀

Thank you for reading.

Personal Blog: Entry 2026-08-22 – retiring website change-log

Otto

Personal Blog: Entry 2026-08-22 – retiring website change-log

Related article: https://www.tinkerersblog.net/0036-introduction-of-a-website-changelog/

As of today, I will no longer be keeping a website change-log for the TinkerersBlog.net.

I have given the Tinkerer’s Blog change-log enough time to test its utility. And honestly, it fails a basic cost-benefit analysis. The initial idea of it being used as a means to keep track of activity within the website, and guide the users towards the general trajectory of activity done by me – does have value.

However, it is insignificant when compared to the extra work load of actually having to manage and maintain it. It genuinely adds yet another layer of friction for successfully producing content for this website. Something that I am already struggling with as is, with my busy lifestyle and its myriad commitments. As such friction must be removed/limited in order to allow me to increase my output here. This blog’s workflow must be streamlined for the sake of efficiency. And this change log isn’t valuable enough to justify its continued existence within that paradigm.

In addition. At time of writing, the current state of the change-log is out-of-date. I forgot to upkeep it during the past couple of entries. And now it would be more work than it is worth to go back and update it using dates concurrent to the previous entries’ publications. For nothing really, in terms of a return for efforts and time.

Oh well. It was a nice experiment.

Thank you for reading.

#0040: 1 Day Challenge Article: My opinion on AI technologies

Otto

#0040: 1 Day Challenge Article: My opinion on AI technologies

NOTE: This article may have used AI, but was definitely written by an ape.

Preamble

I should state that I have not written anything in a while. Predominately I blame busyness. (It is the most common form of laziness after-all.) However perfectionism is also a solid secondary as to why my output here is so low. I have strangled many articles that I found 80% satisfactory. But I just couldn’t press publish because I knew that if I just put a little more effort into them they could be great. One more read through, and rewrite, one more supporting paragraph. One more edit to trim the fat. This all adds on and exhausts me to the point that the draft gets put on ice… Citing that: “I’ll do it when I have a little more time later.”

Well. This exercise is a way of trying to kill both birds with one stone. I want to give myself a solid deadline for making an article. 1 day. From start to finish. Initial notes, media collection, 1st draft, revision edit, and publish. All in a single day. The topic I have chosen for this 1 day article is… AI. More specifically I’d like to generally opine on what I think about AI. As a technology, as a business, and its effects on our lives and culture. It’ll be a rough and ready article.

So without further ado let’s begin.

What is AI? (Or rather what do I mean when I say AI?)

AI stands for Artificial Intelligence. However (thankfully) as of 2026 we don’t yet have a True AI. Id est: a real sentient or sapient intelligence. A self aware entity capable of reflection and personal growth. What we do have is various data manipulation models and scripts that we refer to as AI. Such as Large Language Models (LLMs), or chat bots (e.g. Personal Digital Assistants). I am not going to pretend to know more about this subject than I do – which is not much.

However I am familiar with using generative AI. AI models that create a novel output. Such as text, images, and various other media. As I understand this they do this by creating internal models by copying media that is fed to them. For example ChatGPT collects information by scraping websites then reconstituting that information and passing it to a chat bot which engages the user in conversation. That’s how I broadly understand it. So if you ask it for restaurant recommendations, it will scrape Yell and Google Reviews, then present that information in conversation to the user according to their criteria. E.g. location, food-type, budget, hygiene rating, etcetera.

I will primarily continue to use ChatGPT as an example use case of AI, as it is the one that I am most familiar with by a fair margin, and it is a good generalist that does a little bit of everything. It searches like Google Gemini, it can create images like Mid-journey, it could create code like Claude-code, and so forth. It is a Jack of all trades.

Is AI good for us?

Yes, but mostly no. Hear me out.

Information veracity and reliability

Firstly AI information output can not be implicitly trusted, and hence should not be used in a professional setting. Or any setting where liability may be an issue. ChatGPT warns users of its inherit unreliability within the chat box itself. Observe their disclaimer. “ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info.” Basically they wash their hands of any liability. How the user uses this information of dubious veracity is entirely up them. As are the consequences. In my opinion this means that AI can not be used for anything of deep importance. At least not as a stand alone source. Think looking up health symptoms, or asking for legal advice.

Why is AI provided information considered unreliable?

Two main reasons pop to mind. One is “AI Hallucinations”. This is were an AI agent would just spew out inaccurate information that it just made up whole cloth, or tried to bridge disparate datums with faulty assumptions. In the YouTube example video, the AI used by these users made up reference cases that either did not exist, or did exist but the AI misrepresented the context and case law that was illustrated in the specific named case. Watch the video.

The second reason why information provided from AI agents shouldn’t be implicitly trusted is to do with its source(s). Where does ChatGPT get its information from? The Internet. Is the internet filled with bad/inaccurate/malicious information? Yes. If it is present in volume, or in publications that the AI considers authoritative. Then is at a real risk of regurgitating the bad information to its users. AI can act like a magnifier for any bad info that is already in circulation. Such as information presented by ideologically captured (once prestigious) institutions, information in a main stream media circular source loop, or information that is in such volume that it could be considered Vox Populi. This is especially dangerous when it is presented by a vocal minority speaking on behalf of the majority across multiple locations online.

AI hallucinating case law references (etcetera.)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGn1SZuhTys

How to use AI even though the information is unreliable?

I do find it rather funny, because when I was in school I was told not to use Wikipedia.org as a reference for my essays. This is because it is not considered a reliable source; due to its core nature of compiling information from the public with little in the way of information discernment and validation. Wikipedia has the same weakness as modern AI. It draws its information from the public who are inherently unreliable, and from official (e.g. main stream media) sources who have been known to selectively report/omit information in order to push agendas/narratives, based on their political affiliations.

However both can be used constructively when researching a topic. To put it bluntly: they are both a good jumping on point. They are both good for an initial orientation on a subject. As long as you can read and compartmentalise the information provided, attaching a mental asterisks to the information to flag it. So that it is not integrated into one’s world view naively. I genuinely think that many if not most people do not have the ability to do this reliably. (Myself included.) We are too prone to cognitive biases, logical fallacies, first movers advantage… etcetera.

Additionally following Wikipedia’s listed sources is very useful for learning more about a given topic, and finding more authoritative sources on information. For example a book written by the author being studied. ChatGPT likewise can be asked to list its sources. Example prompt: “Can you list and summarise Kuji-In for me please. List sources. Prioritise books as a source.”

AI’s core methodology of replacing people

AI at its core is a technology designed to supplant and replace people. It is marketed to businesses as a way to replace staff. And save money by not having to pay their wages. At least initially, it seems as of 2026 the marketing has shifted tenor from “replacing” staff, to “augmenting” staff in order to increase productivity. Marketing bullshit. At the end of the day it has the same results. The technology’s presence lowers the need/demand for staff in general.

This means that it is fundamentally bad for the economy. As it causes job losses. Especially in the white collar office worker sector. Who are usually from an upper-working to middle class background. People who constitute the largest population of people with significant disposable income. This disposable income fuels the economies of the West, especially the UK. Which is primarily in the tertiary sector. And this demographic is the primary consumer base. Who buys the daily Starbucks/Costa coffee on the way to work every day? Who buys lunch every day? Who spends the most on restaurant food delivery? Or taxi services? Or is remodelling their house every 7th year, or replacing their cars every 5th?

Is it the once in a while purchases (assuming fiscally responsible) of the lower working class or underclass (benefits people), or is it the upper classes who aren’t in significant numbers enough to drive public consumption trends. No. It’s the exact demographic of people most affected/displaced by AI. There will be negative down stream to service workers and the tradesmen that service this demographic. Damaging the purchasing power of the core consumer bulk in a service economy country like the UK, will have significant negative fallout on all sectors and people.

AI’s frivolous use cases

Whenever I see AI being advertised to consumers. (Not businesses like above.) The use case always seems to be frivolous and largely unnecessary. many times it is designed to help the user avoid putting in any effort into their own life. Consider the example official advertisements that I have cherry picked here. Look at the situations where the consumer find themselves in, and how they use the AI to get out of it, as well as their conduct and mentality. The people featured seem like low quality trash people. They lie to the people around them, they are lazy, and they are irresponsible: often leaving things to the last minute. AI is being presented here as a tool to enable idiots. Just my opinion.

Also look at the ChatGPT ad of “You can just finish the work”, notice how it cuts the user out of the loop. There is great danger in allowing a computer to remove you from the process. It aggregates all the information in the files provided, creates a presentation for upper management, and sends it. All without user oversight. Just liability/blame if anything goes wrong. I wonder what could go wrong with that? It’s all too easy to show one’s arse with this over-reliance on automation. Building habits that enable complacency.

Look at the below adverts. All for AI personal agents. ChatGPT, Meta AI, Adobe Acrobat AI, and HP AI. All different companies. However the core use case is the same. Offloading cognitive labour from the user’s brain to the machine. What people don’t realise about short cuts, is that they ultimately harm you more than they help. Offloading cognitive labour, enables laziness and is an opportunity lost at learning (and hence growing). This tech is a crutch, that will guarantee that the patient will never walk straight again.

“You can just finish the work” ChatGPT advert


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vvGAKtV_Ek

Signing off on work that you did not review. What could go wrong?

Your personal AI. The new Meta AI app.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l_2k5KrXmo

Call your wife, control your cat, change tanks idiot.

Meet Kat Dennings’s newest personal assistant, Acrobat AI Assistant


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xh2nsY9tQzs

Lie to your colleagues about work, and irresponsibly sign contracts base on summaries.

HP AI Companion


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL7kr1ckgDE

Can’t be bothered to read the reference materials, yet somehow can write loads base off of a summary.

AI and Privacy

I know that the modern man seriously does not care a lick about their own privacy. Often citing a defeatist rhetoric to justify their inaction, or active participation against their best interests in this manner. However I would feel remiss if I did not state the privacy concerns regarding AI.

One. People tell these things way too much private/personal information. Thinking that these machines are a black box, where nothing dropped into it will ever comeback to them. What people don’t realise (or perhaps do but don’t care) is that the box has a hatch that opens up at the back. And its technicians and owners see all via that hatch. Now you have strangers holding your private, personal, or otherwise sensitive information. People don’t appreciate the leverage that the masters of the tool now have over the users that do these things. At the very least, it could be used for highly effective targeted advertisement, or selling the data to third parties.

Above refers to service like ChatGPT the phone app, or website. Positions where the data they have is the data that users gave them via prompts. However AI that has complete access to user’s OSes, completely compromises the entire PC. From a security standpoint. This one really shivered my timbers. Who the fuck would give another person (or their agent) complete access to their private computer?

I can envision a situation where a machine sifting through a user’s files for a task: finds a media files that it flags as illegal for whatever reason. Then due to mandatory reporting policy – one in the EULA that the user didn’t read – reports the user to the authorities. Suddenly police are in your home, your PC is being seized, and reports are being made. All over what could amount to nothing. Cartoonishly extreme I know, but not outside the realm of real possibility. A more mundane example would be that the AI attaches private files to emails, shared projects, or correspondence that you may have wished it did not. It is a security risk in this regard.

ChatGPT can now complete tasks on your computer


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB6pOolO7io

What is Microsoft 365 Copilot and how to use it | Microsoft


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqH-HtQbaeU

AI damaging its own ecosystem

This isn’t an environmental complaint, although there are plenty of those in regards to data centres, electricity consumption, and water use. I am not knowledgable, nor interested enough to talk on that. This is about the information ecosystem.

I would like to put forth the idea that AI products act as parasites. Hurting the very host they need to live. The specific AI product I want to example are AI summaries built into search engines. Like Google, and DuckDuckGo. (Note: I was surprised that Bing and Yahoo did not have AI search summaries.) Consider what an AI search engine summary actually does. It scrapes the information from third party websites to then present it to the user in an edited and easily digestible format. This process completely usurps the actual NEED for the user to visit the source websites themselves. This means that the user is satisfied without visiting and patronising the underlying websites from which the information was sourced. Usually by seeing third party adverts on these sites. This results in the business of running a website becoming less profitable, and even less viable.

Meaning that the presence of the AI summary actively damages the source that it itself uses to function. Like a parasite leaching off of a host. If the parasite gets strong enough or numerous enough it could even kill the host. Which would quickly cause the parasite to starve to death (assuming it couldn’t locate a new host). These AI summaries actively starve the very websites they use for information from the funding that keeps them alive. This means that the number and quality of source websites will diminish as AI summary use expands. A true example of the enshitification of the Internet.

Who is to blame for this? Is is the avaricious corporation, or the lazy convenience-addicted habitual path-of-least-resistance walking consumer? Why not both? My point is that the core financial incentive for people to put good information on the Internet, is actively damaged by the AI search summary tool. Which needs that good information to be of any use at all. It’s actually a sad situation. A starving snake eating its own tail out of necessity. Or maybe a better analogy would be a farmer who poison his own land by driving a leaking harvester.

I’ve herd people advocate for the idea of a revenue share with the source websites to offset this market usurpation. And it might work. Maybe if companies all of a sudden decide that they care about the future, and not about short term quarterly returns for shareholders. Unfortunately they are simply not structured in a way where they are incentivised to care about the future in any real respect. Obviously this is just my opinion on this.

Is AI a business fad?

I will say little on this for risk of really showing my ignorance. What I will say is that I have seen many people compare the “AI bubble” to the “Dot-COM bubble”. Apparently in the early 2000s there was a fad where every major business felt the need to incorporate web services into their business regardless of whether it made sense for them personally, or not. It was predominantly done to acquire share holder funds, by projecting the image of a forward thinking and growing business. Regardless of whether or not the website services that they advertised to prospective share holders actually had any value within them. I think the actual dot-com bubble was about primarily web businesses that did nothing but suck up share holder money, that is until the jig was upped.

I see an analogue in AI technologies today. It seems like every company in the technology sector has AI services which they advertise proudly. Regardless of use or relevance to their primary business model. And even outside of the tech sector, every other large corporation has some kind of AI service available — many of which are useless. Just there to tell prospective shareholders that your business has a foot in AI. And hence are a modern, forward looking, and growing company. It’s all surface level appearance based marketing to make their business more appealing to the cursory inspections of shareholders.

Is AI a bubble?

As a roll on from the fad conversation, I want to briefly discuss the future of the AI from a business prospective. I have heard rumblings of an AI bubble bursting. Once the naive investor money dries up that is. This is because AI products are largely not profitable. Id Est: they do not make more money, than they cost to develop and run day-to-day. In addition I have see an image circulating around the internet of how incestuous the funding actually is with big-tech companies and AI. Observe below. This implies that the money input (from outside sources) is fading, and instead companies are playing a game of hot-potato with debt and circular funding. A game that will eventually fail once one company defaults on a loan. Which would then cause a domino effect; that could then cause the collapse of the entire sector as a consequence.

The 7 Trillion AI Gamble Is Failing. Big Tech is TRAPPED Right NOW.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OunJtLnyPT4

AI Bubble: Nvidia is looking desperate as circular financing gets dangerous | Ed Zitron


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_1vSlv32MWo

AI and social media

This is where I will throw around the term “Dead Internet Theory”. It is a theory that human users are becoming rarer and rarer on the Internet to the point that we could be drowned out by machines in the near future if we haven’t been so already. Bots communicating with bots en-masse. I personally think that it is not the case, at least not yet. However the presence of machines on the Internet is no longer something that could be denied.

Consider the YouTube comments sections. How many of those comments are from actual people? I have seen many that are obviously a chain of bot accounts replaying to each other trying to sell a product. Be it some no-name’s course, or a random shit-coin that someone wants to pump, or just some scammer’s Whatsapp. These comment chains usually come in the format of a comment that is tangentially related to the video content, that then mentions its product in passing, or asks for a solution. Then followed by reply accounts saying something like X product/service really helped me. Etcetera.

The scam adverting bots are easy to identify. However ones that are not are the political narrative bots. Let me ask you a question. Say that you are watching a politically divisive video. Then you scroll down to the comments section. How do you tell the difference between a bot and an NPC. A bot designed to mindlessly rattle off from a prescribed script. Compared to a human who is a tribally captured useful idiot online, rattling out buzz words, slogans, talking points, and rhetoric, as well as regurgitating statistics that they half remember from tribal sources. How do you tell the difference between a machine reading from a script, and a person reciting dogma? I personally don’t know. What I do see is the sheer volume of vitriol, or dare I say the word: “misinformation” on certain topics by suspect accounts.

“You are not immune to propaganda”


https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KzjHNSRgHJ8

What makes an account suspect of being a bot?

Account age, geographic location, topic under discussion, and account username formatting. That is typically what sets off flags for me. Say all the people with very strong opinions are all new accounts, with no history on the platform. Now consider that all the accounts are from areas known for having bot farms such as China or India. All commenting on a video exclusively discussing US politics. Perhaps the topic under discussing has political relevance/significance to either a national power, or group of interest who would have the resources and would benefit from shaping online discourse/discussion on the topic. And finally bot accounts tend to be made using scripts, hence they will typically have a rhyme and reason to them. A pattern, or template that they all use. For example “john-smith-8783hukhfs”. First name, hyphen, second name, followed by a random string of numbers and letters. There is no hard rules for spotting bots, it’s more of a loose criteria that increases classification confidence. Like I said earlier, it is very difficult to tell the difference between a brainless machine, and a genuine living idiot. Both are incapable of independent thinking.

Bots in the YouTube comments sections example images

(check the full size files linked at the bottom of the article)

AI, culture, marketing, and public opinion

In my view the public opinion of AI has soured across the board. With people becoming increasingly more aware of all the negative affects of AI. Exaggerated or otherwise, a cloud is gathering around the perception of AI in general. Everything from job losses, increased wealth disparity, shrinking middle-class, loss of privacy, increased sophistication of surveillance methods and software – such as facial recognition, to increased RAM and GPU costs. The blame of which is being placed at the feet of AI.

Then add to that the AI tools that actively hurt the ecosystems that they draw from such as image creation tools that use artists work to create their own renders, only to then compete with them for customers. This sentiment is especially pronounced in nerd spaces. I often see YT videos denouncing any AI use, and pointing out AI channels as inferior in quality as well as morally. AI channels are often portrayed as artistically bankrupt thieves in these circles. And within the documentary space, they are known to be rife with unchecked misinformation and historical/factual errors.

Now from the customers perspective AI products are often looked upon as being of inferior quality. Hence use of terms such as “AI slop”. Poor quality videos whose target audience are gullible, easy to dupe people. Such as AI posts on Facebook for older audiences who may lack the discernment to identify and dismiss them. Consider the reactions to large corporations when they produce AI adverts, it genuinely hurts their reputation. At least in the short term — although it could be a storm in a teacup. Genuinely hard to tell with online outrage.

Big company AI adverts that have hurt their reputations


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy6fByUmPuE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWnP9f-ceqE

AI and technical debt

I see AI tools that create code and honestly I have never seen the purpose of these. Outside of hobbyist artists who want to create a video-game while avoiding the technical side of the creation. For example a visual novel game, or a narratively driven walking simulator. For serious companies/businesses I see little reason for them to use code generation tools, because they create as many problems as they solve. what is the reason a company would want products made by a machine with no oversight. With no one in the company who has intimate knowledge of the product. Hence incurring a huge degree of technical debt making the business dependant on the AI product/service. Because without it, they’d have to fight with an undocumented code-base that is alien in formatting, styling, and structure. And the bigger the codebase, the deeper the hole. The more AI is used the more AI needs to be used to keep the cobbled together boat afloat long enough to ship deliverables.

AI personal use

I am running out of time here so I have to move on. I want to discuss AI in my life. How I use it. I use ChatGPT, Duck.AI (which uses ChatGPT), and that’s about it. The funny thing is that I have not paid a penny to use these services. Typically I either use ChatGPT as a search engine, a first call for finding information quickly. Or I use it as for basic image generation.

Yes. Gasp! Despite all the moral grandstanding that it may have seemed like I was taking up against AI use in general; I use AI every day… I just don’t value it enough to pay for it. All my use cases are rather shallow, I either use it to search and sum things up, usually things of low stakes. Or I use it to generate images for my Dungeons and Dragons campaign — something that I would not pay money for. For example commission artwork. AI use in my opinion is in a similar vein to piracy. It is not theft, not does it represent a loss of a legitimate sale. A pirate is not a lost customer. Nor is a pirate a thief. A pirate is a pirate.

I use a free ChatGPT account. Which gives around 3 free image generations a day before it paywalls me. It took around 7 to 11 generations to create a Myconid Warrior wielding Soul Edge (From “Soul Calibur 2”), and a poisoned boomerang. This was done over days because the thing kept generating it wrong. Adding in details that I did not stipulate, or taking away things that I did state on an earlier iteration. It is an annoying process, and one has to learn to accept something that is 70% good-enough, rather than wasting time, energy, and tokens, additionally prompting for decreased returns.

Look at the image of the Myconid Warrior. It took several iterations to get the sword to not be held upside-down in it’s hand. I even had to create a mock up reference image for it to use as a template. I just don’t see a reason to give them any money. Additionally if ChatGPT went away, or terminated this service. Then I would just use another free image creation to make these reference images. And if they went away too (likely because they used ChatGPT under the bonnet), then I would do without. Using official artwork or random Google images to illustrate what I am describing to my players. It is not a big loss. I think I will elaborate more on this in a dedicated article, when I do I will link it below.

Acronyms used

AI – Artificial Intelligence
ChatGPT – Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer
EULA – End User Licence Agreement
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit
HP AI – Hewlett-Packard AI
LLMs – Large Language Models
NPC – Non Player Character
OS – Operating System
PC – Personal Computer
RAM – Random Access Memory
US – United States
YT – YouTube

Closing thoughts

I am wrapping this article up as of 18:50 2026-08-15. Considering that I started this challenge at 14:00 on 2026-08-14. Already past midday for a 1-day challenge… It is safe to say that this challenge has been failed. Initial writing of article 1st draft at 12:00 2026-08-15 and published 22:16. However failed successfully. I do have an article done. Only it is a day late, and a dollar short.

This isn’t my greatest work I’ll admit. However it has revelled to me how little I actually know about this subject. Any one of the subject paragraphs above could be expanded into an essay of their own. With an equal exertion of research (an time) necessary. However this article has broadly outlined my current understanding of AI in general, as well as demonstrated my attitude towards the technology… Reading it back: I may actually be an AI Luddite. I seem to have the general depth of knowledge of a Luddite. The lack of differentiation between different technologies illustrates this well. It’s all AI baby — especially the tech that isn’t. 😉

Anyway. I’ll leave you with a relevant quote.

“I would have written a shorter letter, but I did not have the time.” – Blaise Pascal

Thank you for reading.

Links, references, files, and further reading

YouTube_comments_bots_example_1_960x2102
YouTube_comments_bots_example_2_960x1553
Screenshot from 2025-10-19 14-50-02_bot_example
AI_summary_yes_google
AI_summary_yes_duckduckgo
AI_summary_no_bing
AI_summary_no_yahoo
ChatGPT Chimpanzee Thinking Bubble
notes_1DC
ChatGPT_log_2026-08-16_analysis_of_my_1-day_AI_article_and_counter-arguments
2026-08-16_ai_article_summary_and_counterarguments_PDF_export

#0039: How to access the URL address of YouTube video adverts

Otto

#0039: How to access the URL address of YouTube video adverts

Preamble

If you are anything like me: then at one point or another you have come across an interesting YouTube advert. One that you may have wished to save for whatever reason. This article is a brief guide as to how to go about doing that. Primarily, this article is focused upon quickly acquiring an advert video’s unique URL. This is the direct address of the video itself. This can be done as and when an advert appears, without using any external tools.

However, once you have acquired an advert video’s URL – you may then wish to apply additional tools to download the video file itself. A few of which are recommended below. By the way, this method only works on desktop PCs. (I.e. not mobile device OSes such as Android or iOS.) This is because the specific steps illustrated here require a typical desktop web-browser. Although, there is very likely an alternative method for mobile operating systems; that achieves this same goal. However, that method is outside the scope of this article.

A note on the time sensitive nature of information presented herein

Please be advised: since the information presented here pertains to a specific niche functionality within the live version of the YouTube website. A website that is in a state of constant iterative development. I cannot speak to the forward looking accuracy of this information.

In other words: This method may cease to work on any given day. This is especially true if any significant changes are made to any of the website functions referenced within this method. Or even to underlying/invisible support functions not mentioned. The likelihood of which increases with time elapsed since initial publication of this article. This method works as of December of 2023.

[2026-05-14] EDITOR’S NOTE: This method works as of May of 2026. I kept the original written date in to demonstrate how long some of these articles can remain in stasis. I.e. Done. But not published for whatever reason.

What is an “unlisted video”?

Before we go on, we need to understand something of the nature of the files that we are after. Within the context of the YouTube website: an unlisted video is a video with zero discoverability. Basically, it does not show up when using either YouTube’s video search functionality; or a third party search engine like Google, Bing, or DuckDuckGo’s video search functionality. This is because search services of this kind only return publicly listed videos. In addition, unlisted videos are also not served to users via recommendation algorithms, for the same reason. They are simply not in the pool of applicable videos. You could even navigate to a specific YT channel that hosts known unlisted videos and they would not appear.

The “unlisted” status is typically used for videos that are intended to remain undiscoverable to the general public. Although these videos can still be distributed, albeit in an alternative and limited manner by design. Broadly speaking there are three main ways to distribute unlisted videos. Manually, private directories, and distribution algorithms.

Manually. This is usually done by the video owner providing the recipient(s) with a direct URL address. (E.g. via email, Whatsapp, X, or whathaveyou). Simple. The second method is by listing the video address in a directory somewhere for selective/limited discoverability. For example using YouTube’s (comparatively excellent) infrastructure to host videos that are then linked behind a paywall in a member’s only section of a third-party website. Such as in the case of a WordPress hobby blog wanting to deliver videos to its paid membership as a premium user perk.

Imagine a blog where someone paints Warhammer 40K miniatures, and writes about their painting techniques, choice of paints, tools, and general work-flow. It’s all images and text. In addition to this they have a 3 hour long video of painting the miniature in real time, for premium members who wish to see the methods implemented in this manner. WordPress cannot natively host this video, however you could embed the video into the article, and have a banner over it asking the user to log in to access it. (Please verify this claim.)

Now, this type of thing was more prominent before YouTube started hosting members-only videos itself. Likely as a response to this exact phenomenon. Since it used to cost them money hosting and delivering the media in this manner, albeit with no reciprocal benefit. I don’t even think YT runs adverts on unlisted videos by default. “Think” being the operative word here. I just don’t see many people actually seeing the unlisted video in its default state to enable an ad to be ran on it. In addition many unlisted videos would be delivered in a particular way where a pre-roll ad would not be viable. For example if the unlisted video was an advert itself (look below).

2026-05-18_ChatGPT_chatlog:_info_on_YouTube_premium’s_video_download_function
2026-05-18_chatGPT_chatlog_image_960x1892

So why are we discussing unlisted videos? Unlisted videos are specified here because all of the videos (that I have encountered) being actively used for advertisement purposes are unlisted in status. Only existing on YouTube’s servers for the purpose of being served to an audience under select conditions. Such as a 15 second video configured for an un-skippable pre-roll ad spot, or a 3 minute skippable video designated for a mid-roll ad spot. And since these are the exact videos that we are trying to acquire, we must acquaint ourselves with the circumstances and characteristics that they are presented in, and with respectively.

Tools used

  • Desktop computer (laptop) running a Linux Mint OS
  • Mozilla Firefox (web browser)
  • (optional) OS built-in screenshot software
  • Xed (text editor program)
  • 3rd party video downloading programs/services
  • “Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express” (Firefox add-on program)
  • “youtube-dl” (Linux terminal program)
  • “turboscribe.ai/downloader/youtube/video” (website service)

Method: Step-by-step

1) Quickly pause the advertisement video before it ends.

2) Right-click on the video and choose the “Stats for nerds” option.

This will give you a pop-up containing detailed information regarding the currently displayed video. Note that, at the time of writing, YouTube’s right-click menu for advert videos has significantly less menu items than their regular videos. Including the menu item “Copy video URL”. Which is basically what we are trying to do here.

3) Look at data labelled “Video ID”.

It’s an alphanumeric code that should look something like this: “MEOZkf4imaM”.

4) Copy that code.

Either highlight it with the mouse, right-click and select “copy” from the drop-down menu. Or if that ability is disabled for whatever reason, then use the keyboard shortcuts CTRL-C CTRL-V to copy and paste the URL. You could even manually type the code into a text editor. Be mindful however: it is case-sensitive. Additionally, I would recommend taking a quick screenshot at this point for future reference. Just in case it all disappears whilst you’re faffing about with this.

[2026-05-14] EDITOR’S NOTE: YT no longer allows this text to be highlighted. Let alone copied to clipboard. It now needs to be manually transcribed by eye into a text document. This is an example of an underlying or invisible functionality that was changed in the interim of time. The loss of being able to highlight this text has made the process notably more laborious.

5) Use the basic YouTube video URL address below as a template, and swap out the alphanumeric video code within it for your one.

Example: “https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ“

6) Input this modified URL into the browser address bar, and press enter.

Done. That should bring you to the actual webpage containing the unlisted YouTube video for the advert.

7) (optional) download the video using additional tools.

At this point you may decide to use third-party tools to download the video file itself. Tools such as the Firefox addon “Easy Youtube Video Downloader Express”. Alternatively, the Linux console program “youtube-dl”: could be used to download the video by inputting the URL alone into it. Another option is to use an online website that downloads YT videos like “turboscribe.ai” – just to name a random one that worked at the time of publication. Not necessarily recommending it here.

Note: please keep in mind that YouTube itself does not want third-party services like the ones mentioned downloading its videos. As this competes directly with a paid service they provide. Namely YouTube Premium, which offers a local video download functionality amongst other services. However a YTP downloaded video is inferior to a third party downloaded video.

This is because the YTP video has a whole host of limitations imposed upon it. Such as only being viewable via the YouTube app. As well as copy-protection, and timed deletions. Basically the app functions as DRM software for the video files stored locally on your device. Curbing users’ ability to manipulate the files as they wish.

This is simply a no-go for me because the main reason I download files is to archive them. The second reason is to play the videos on random ancient devices that serve specific purposes. Such as my tinkering workbench’s android tablet which is solely used to host device manuals/documents and relevant YouTube tutorial videos. This use-case demands files not have any copy protection, nor have any app dependencies, or internet linked features such as timed deletion.

Because of third parties providing a superior service to YouTube itself in this regard; one that affects it’s bottom line. There has been a long going game of cat-and-mouse in regards to YouTube changing the technical format of how it hosts and serves its videos. This is in order to curb the utility and usability of third party tools of all stripes. In a similar vein as to how it handles/fights Ad-blockers. So try out lots of different tools and use whichever works at the time. Also don’t be surprised when the tool that you have become comfortable using for a while, suddenly ceases to work. As that is simply the way of things here. Adapt, adjust, and move on.

Example use-case: blog article

Say I want to write an article about YouTube allowing actual – I mean alleged (no sue plz) scammers to advertise on their platform. I could use the above method to acquire evidence (a copy of the video ad) that I can then store locally without limitations. This is so that it can’t just randomly disappear at a moment’s notice. Case in point – the videos are still up at the time of publication. (Probably because it costs them nothing to leave them up on YT.) However the website that the videos link to is gone-ski. AND their domain is currently (2026-05) available to purchase on the market! Double-dong done-ski!

https://self-sufficiency-network.com/energy/create-unlimited-free-electricity

Just in case they come back from the dead: I’ll say that in all seriousness – obviously these guys are NOT scammers. They just have a method of “harnessing an endless supply of free electricity in the ground” that can be used to power your house. For free. For ever. Which for some reason they can not articulate the basic principles of without invoking fanciful conspiracies of “big energy companies” hiding a “simple device” for a “100 years”. These types always tell a story, spin a narrative in this manner. Then push their audience to click the link in their bio and probably send them money at the least.

The video even ends with a odometer-style counter quickly ratcheting up numbers so you know they are serious. Evoking a sense of urgency as you sympathetically visualise your energy bill rise. With these NOT scams – they either use something like this, or a countdown timer – to evoke a similar sense of urgency. Time is running out! Limited time offer! Hurry before they are all gone! Simple FOMO. (Almost sounds like Latin, eh? Pricks.)

The whole video presentation is obviously targeting non-technical laymen people. The fear angle working especially well on the vulnerable, as it dangles hope in front of them. Hope for a better tomorrow, that could easily be attained with little effort on their behalf. A simple and accessible solution for their life problems. I hate this kind of stuff. Everything from the clueless desperation of the herd, leading themselves to slaughter; to the merciless predation of the scavengers, targeting the weak and the sick. It is a part of our humanity that I do not like dwelling on.

On a more personal note. (Feel free to skip.) Honestly I cannot relate to these types of people in the slightest. I don’t even want to put my face on the consequence-less crap that I write here. Mostly because I want it to stand on its own merits in the void. But also for privacy reasons. As I like having a small online footprint – since it allows me to be nimble in social situations and very often it gives me the opportunity to curate a first impression with a new party. Something that you cannot do when your personal life (or face) is online.

Look at these people: their faces are forever linked to this (alleged) scam for anyone willing to look them up. It is a forever black mark against them. One that could potentially undermine all future prospects. Business, employment, romance, anything – and at any time. You could be halfway through a deal, when the other party are sent this vid of you (allegedly) scamming online a decade ago. And they would be in their right to sever the relationship on the grounds that you may not be an ethical actor. At the very lest it would erode trust/credibility, making future deals less likely. It could genuinely be a reason as why a current employer may sack you, if your work requires elevated trust. Such as working with money or vulnerable people.

The internet is forever… and unforgiving. Don’t forget that. Learn from the mistakes of others. Think of it this way, imagine if any of these men walked into your shop/life. Knowing that they participated in organised (alleged) scams in the past. Would you do business with these tools, even if it happened a while ago? I personally wouldn’t – let someone else take the risk on ’em.

Video Examples

Please note: the featured videos below are used here under fair-use for the purpose of criticism.

American English version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kz3mkD6LCo

British English version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvDsH8Fkxd

Acronyms used

DRM – Digital Rights Management
FOMO – Fear Of Missing Out
OS – Operating System
PC – Personal Computer
URL – Uniform Resource Locator
YT – YouTube
YTP – YouTube Premium

Closing thoughts

Firstly, did you enjoy the mini-article within this article. It got preachy quick didn’t it?

Back on task. I like simplicity in most things as a rule. This method is not an exception. Here, I tried to use as few external tools as possible. Using only my default desktop web-browser (any will do) and YouTube’s native functionality in order to access “unlisted” videos. Couple with with common/default OS tools like a text editor, and screenshot program.

As a side and final note: I always find the comments to be interesting under unlisted videos (if they are present that is), because they tend to be made by a select type of individual. The generally inaccessible nature of the video’s homepage acts as a filter for normal people. They tend to say things that are screen-grab worthy. If they haven’t already been deleted that is. Enjoy it when you come across it. Honestly it makes me feel like a net diver. Seeing things that are a little bit off the beaten path like this. It’s cool.

Anyway. Thank you for reading.

ss_yt_eg_unlisted_comments_960x955

Links, references, and further reading

https://www.reddit.com/r/youtube/comments/jiignt/do_your_downloaded_videos_get_deleted_after_you/
https://www.yourvideofile.org/
https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp
https://turboscribe.ai/downloader/youtube/video
https://logos-world.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/YouTube-Logo.png
https://www.linuxmint.com/

2026-05-18_chatGPT_chatlog_image_960x1892
2026-05-18_ChatGPT_chatlog:_info_on_YouTube_premium’s_video_download_function

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-01-18 – 2025 Year-end review and 2026 New Years resolution

Otto

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-01-18 – 2025 Year-end Review and 2026 New Years Resolution

Preamble

Another year has come and gone, and with that: it is time to reflect upon it. What I did well, and what I did not. How I handled life’s challenges, and what decisions did I make within them and why? I have written a private end-of-year personal review document for this purpose. This is not that. This document is an extension of that one however, albeit only pertaining to project work. (I.e. hobby activities.)

A brief on Tinkerer’s Blog activities within 2025

As far as this website is concerned I did very little during the 2025 year. I do not believe this is the actual case. However it is true that I have very little to show here for that year. Just two personal blog posts, not even articles. One personal log entry in February in a similar vein to this document: a reflection on project progress. And the other entry consisted of another personal log. One pertaining to witnessing the March 29th partial solar eclipse. All in all. Not much.

Needless to say I have failed my 2025 goal of posting 12 articles. I believe this failure is due to a combination of factors. The main is simple busyness: I have been working 6 day, 60 hour weeks for a lot more than expected this year. It really helped with my monetary goals. However the time loss had an opportunity cost for every other goal. That’s my plausible excuse out of the way. Heck. Its not even really a good one, once critically examined. As unproductive busyness can be considered a form of laziness. This is because it enables procrastination. The postponement of difficult yet important tasks.

Now for the real reason for my failure. Discipline. I have been undisciplined with the time that I did have. Evidentially I didn’t have time for productive tasks, yet I had time for mindless recreation. Like playing videogames or vegetating in front of the television (YouTube) after a day’s work. I think I fell into the bad habit of putting off project work to the weekend. This weekend unfortunately is within the mystical future that never comes. Because come the weekend (usually just Sunday): there’d be another excuse for not working. Usually it comes in the form of the 3 perpetuals that I mentioned briefly here before. Time, Money, and Energy. Add head-space to that. Although I guess that’s a type of energy. Alongside: brain plasticity, mood, sleep, etcetera…

Article link: personal_blog_entry_2025_02_22

Going forward into 2026

Somewhere along the way I started stating themes for my years. A theme is something that encapsulates my general attitude for the year. It governs my general modus operandi and orients me (and my actions) towards my top two to three objectives. If not only number one. Last year’s theme was “Grind Gold”. Like in videogames. I wanted to expand my wealth by improving my primary income, adding an auxiliary income, as well as gaining knowledge of money in order to be a better custodian of the resource. So focus on money first and foremost.

With this theme I volunteered for overtime whenever it came up. Which (un)fortunately happened considerably more than expected. Especially when I became known at work as ‘the guy who does overtime on short notice’ guy. Additionally, I setup my eBay shop to declutter and liquidate value. And listened to many (many) financial audiobooks while at work. I learned a lot, the most important being how ignorant I am on the subject of proper money management. For example I opened my first brokerage account in 2024 at the tender age of mid-thirties. To this day I still haven’t learnt to utilise the trading functionalities available, other than the absolute basics. So there is still much work to be done in 2026 for this goal.

2026 theme: “Do! Not Buy.”

2026’s theme is “Do” as in “do things, not buy things” in order to progress. I bought a lot of unnecessary stuff in the year of 2025. Much of it was for projects that I intended to do later. And before I knew it I ran out of “later”, and the year concluded. As it is I am buried in materials (and just a sheer crap-load of things) that are awaiting being used in projects. Resources that could’ve otherwise stayed liquid as money and furthered my pursuit of wealth. Not to mention give me more living space.

I have given much thought to my actions in this regard; this is in order to understand why I do the things I do (or did). I bought a lot of materials for projects that I never got around to doing. Why? I think its because it made me feel like I was legitimately progressing along these projects. It was a cheap (effort wise) way to literally buy the positive feeling of progress. Accomplishment. However it is ultimately farcical. Because the moment labour-effort was necessary to keep the project going: the project’s relevance in my day-to-day life suddenly faded. And the next project became what I was enamoured with. Complete with a new (novel and exciting) shopping list of materials. I was essentially hobby hopping on a smaller scale.

A summary on my 2025 purchases (i.e. the roll of shame)

In December 2024 to January 2025 I bought lots of camping gear and bicycle parts. Taking advantage of the January price slumps and deals. Also my new year’s zeal for the outdoors. February consisted of philosophy and chess books. Which I did not read. In March and April: I bought a (spares & repair) Tassimo Vivy 2 pod coffee machine, as well as £50 in pods, £50 in reusable pods (for myself and the household), and an extra broken machine to part out. Which I did fix, and use, and wrote 2 good articles on. One on repairing the machine, and the other on creating Americano drinks from espresso pods. Did not publish either.

May purchases consisted of more books. This time on religion, Stoicism, and a Dostoevsky box-set. Equally unread. Tool kits for working on mobile phones. I believe my Blackview A100 decided to break around now. Still broken. I also purchased a lot of first aid materials for the household as well as cases and boxes to stow them in. Got the prepper itch, and felt “unprepared”.

June I discovered an interest in better coffee. This was prompted by running out of Tassimo pods, coupled with an unwillingness to buy more expensive single-use landfill. Started watching James Hoffmann (amongst others) on YouTube. And consequently purchased a fancy grinder (£100 KinGrinder K6), pour over kettle, and drip coffee set. I have yet to use the pour over equipment, as I only use the grinder and a thermal French press. Still success. Also more books: this time a Friedrich Nietzsche box-set and several Albert Camus books. Introduced to me by watching YouTube channel “Unsolicited Advice”. Unread.

July to August: I bought multiple (cheap) solar charge controllers. Used them for making use of the large 250W solar panel I purchased the year before. Multiple USB plug kits for fashioning and repairing data cables. Two different screwdriver kits, because I just wanted them. RCD plugs, plural. Oh, and LEGO. LEGO friends sets: Mia and Olivia’s tree-house, as well as some LEGO city bundles. Stuff for the game that I was working on at the time called Toy Tactics. A basic tabletop tactics game that uses toys that the child already owns as units/pieces. It was designed as a gateway drug to tabletop games like Warhammer 40K. Unfinished.

September October. I bought parts and accessories to repair an air fryer. Fixed! Then broke again a week later. I bought plenty of Raspberry Pi stuff. Multiple computers for different tasks that I envisioned. A retro games console, a Pi-hole, a seed box, a stack of Pi’s functioning as a single “supercomputer”, etcetera. As well as various necessary accessories for them. Pi camera, micro-SD cards, micro-HDMI adapter, etcetera. I also bought a £300 E-ink monitor because the opportunity arised to get one at such a bargain price. Didn’t use any of the RPi stuff; my interest waned. Nor the monitor; as I bought it for programming and reading — and I didn’t do much of either this year. Also more LEGO, although this time it was robot sets. Two older LEGO Mindstorms NXT boxes at £40 quid a pop.

Finally November December. Here I continued the robot theme by buying accessories that allows a Raspberry Pi to interface with the LEGO Mindstorms peripherals. As well as around 10 PlayStation 2 games (for the collection). More LEGO in the form of a set of Bohrok Va (for the collection). More RPi/microcontroller peripheral boards (wanted to learn about I2C and SPI). Books (plural) on computers (found a bargain – not read). An RPi kit called the Pimoroni Scroll Bot. Got it cheap in an auction. Haven’t opened it to date. And finally a joblot of broken Casio watches and a used working unit for spares. Untouched.

Well. That was 2025. (Albeit somewhat inaccurate time-wise.) A year of mimetic desire, lifestyle cope spending, and opportunist purchases. To break that cycle I have a rule for 2026. And that is to only buy what is strictly necessary. So no more whimsical purchases fuelled by a temporary mimetic interest. Monkey see, monkey want. No book purchases either! I have a huge backlog, and one of this year’s goals is to get a library card. I want to become a book reader, not stay a book buyer. A card will help the transition along, as I can just borrow any book that catches my interest instead of buying it. Additionally the two week borrow window will incentivise actually reading the damn thing. Real deadlines tend to incentivise action like nothing else.

While I am mentioning ‘huge backlogs’: no new Steam game purchases also. I mean I write this as I am tempted to buy an ant based RTS game called “Empires of the Undergrowth”. Guess why? Watching another Youtuber. This time it’s my favourite Civ 5 Pole: Marbozir. I do not need any new computer games, I literally have hundreds available to me, and not time for them.

Going into 2026

Going forwards I have a significantly stricter budget than the previous year’s. This is to stop the silliness of these needless dopamine purchases. And to save the money for more fruitful endeavours. And considering how much crap I bought last year: I have more than enough for this year’s projects (and entertainment), and then some. I have one exception where I can purchase for a project – and that is that it has to be for an active project. The device is on my workbench and needs to get done ASAP. In addition to fitting into the budget. It can’t be for something fun that I want to work on a little “later”. Maybe this weekend. I have seen where that leads.

Do things, do not buy things.

That’s all well and good. Its a nice sentiment. However how will it actually be enacted in real life? Well, its via the day-to-day decision making. Do X, over buying Y. This is something that I have already taken on; as my mentality has changed on how I approach project/hobby work. The change coming from a keen awareness of all the wasteful spending of 2025 on projects that went nowhere.

I’ll give you two examples. A trivial case of doing X over buying Y is that I was going to buy a new calendar. Instead of dropping £2.50 to £9.99 on a calendar for my room; I opted to look online, print a free one off, and use that instead. See it’s the small day-to-day moment-to-moment decisions that matter here. Not an ideal that never really makes it’s way to daily life. Its a small effort, its trivial, but its also a single step of genuine progress.

Now the second example. I am still planning on cobbling together a working watch from the Casio spares and repairs joblot that I have. Then later doing more invasive watch mods. Think backlight LED swaps and LCD tints. However I need some specialised tools for working with watches. Things like a mini-forked pry-tool to remove the watch straps’ spring-bar (without damaging anything); and to a lesser extend other tools such as a jeweler’s hammer and pin to remove a metal strap’s link bars; or the various jigs to hold the watch parts secure.

The kit I was leaning into buying was going for £12 and had everything that I would need going forwards. However strictly speaking: I did not actually need this kit. Although it does look cool. And right now – not the mods that I’d like to do in the future – right now I do not need it to get done what I need to get done. A simple strap replacement, partial disassembly, internal cleaning, and battery replacement. And since I am not sure when (if ever) I will get round to doing the more involved mods which will require these specialised tools – I can’t justify their purchase as an honest need (right now), since I do not need them to get this immediate project finished.

Additionally my current eclectic mix of tools can be cobbled together to form a decent substitute kit. I could even go further and modify some cheap tools to specialise them for working on watches. For example sharpening a nylon plastic pry-tool – one of many I own – to make it thinner, then cut a notch into it to allow it to better encompass the watch straps’ spring-bar.

See I am trying to change my mentality from going to the store as my default primary action, to going to my store. And seeing how I can get done what I want to get done, using the resources I already have. In gaming terms, this would be min-maxing my resources. Getting the most out of what I already have. And it is only when my resources/tooling is insufficient for a given task, should I buy more.

What to expect on Tinkerer’s Blog come 2026

Lots of smaller one-session projects. Projects from my backlog. That are done and 80% written up. I am taking making pixel-art more seriously this year. Look at the title image. That is my base line ability as of today. I wonder where I will be for the 2027 post? And some programming stuff. I need to brush up on Python and C++ in order to make use of all the computers I am sitting on. Then some robotics projects. If I am shooting for the stars: they’ll even be the occasional book review. That’s the plan anyway. Y’know what they say about plans: they never survive first contact with the enemy. Anyway, consider this post 1 of 12 done for 2026.

Thank you for reading. You’ve officially read more than I have this year. 😉

Acronyms used

ASAP – As Soon As Possible
HDMI – High-Definition Multimedia Interface
I2C – Inter-Integrated Circuit
LED – Light-Emitting Diode
LCD – Liquid-Crystal Display
RCD – Residual Current Device
RPi – Raspberry Pi (a single board computer)
RTS – Real-Time Strategy (game genre)
SD card – Secure Digital card
SPI – Serial Peripheral Interface

Links, sources, references, and further reading

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-04-05 – Witnessing 2025-03-29 Partial Solar Eclipse

Otto

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-04-05

Witnessing the Partial Solar Eclipse: England, Saturday 29th March 2025 at ~11:04AM

Where to being. Well, my workplace has become severely understaffed as of late, consequently I have been working six day weeks this season because of it. Too many people have either been leaving of their own accord, and/or suspended for coming in drunk and/or high. You know the story. Anyway. Halfway through an overtimed week: on Tuesday 25th, during a break, I noticed a random news item in my Google Chrome feed. It was an article by the “Manchester Evening News” (IIRC) publication on the upcoming partial solar eclipse.

Just as a side note, look at the three mobile screenshots provided. They fitted four adverts on a small 6″ screen. Including: two inline ads, a banner ad, and even an embedded video advert (with sound) that scroll with you. What an actual crock of crap. Its no wonder why sites like this are dying. I mean despite wanting the information on it’s page: I equally wanted to leave as soon as possible.

It is genuinely hard to read the actual text itself, since it is surrounded on all fronts by distractions. Its sandwiched between some random political “news” video playing, with a pre-roll ad; a typical British inoffensive fake-friendly advert of a very American Chase Bank, or a random no-name money transfer service stacked on top of a Foxy Bingo ad offered to us by an ugly transexual clutching the phone in his talons. Oh man. The adverts take precedence over the actual content that caused the click in the first place. Its wild. It screams of desperation and failure. Honestly, it doesn’t really matter anyway, I just found it annoying and wanted to share.

Moving on. Having been informed by chance that there will be a partial solar eclipse on Saturday. I decided that I would like to actually participate in it. The driving notion here is to make memories when one can. Because life moves on quickly, and it is so very easily to allow it to pass one by in the moment, if one lives life with a passive: “they’ll be more opportunities in future” mentality. That’s right FOMO. I mean Carpe diem. FOMO’s more sophisticated and significantly older relative. Anyway, I got lucky. It was on the one day that I have off this week, and the weather report looked reasonably good for it too. Sunny, partially cloudy. For England, that’s about as good as it gets.

Now with no real equipment to speak of to actually watch the eclipse, and not enough time to procure some: I decided to utilise a basic pair of sunglasses in conjunction with squinting really good. And my Chinese smartphone to try to take some pictures. It actually worked reasonably well. Although I don’t recommend it. I still got a good dose of eye strain out of it. Still though, I managed to fully witness the partial eclipse. However the phone couldn’t take any good (detailed) pictures due to over exposure as I understand it. Too much direct light to see the details within it.

Witnessing the eclipse itself was very interesting. It was actually somewhat a more emotional experience than I expected. You could even call it spiritual if you wished and it would’ve been apt. I recall sitting alone at 11 AM in on one of those cheap stackable plastic patio chairs in the garden of a rented home. The Sun could be seen clearly. Albeit clipped close to the wall of a building, and through a thin sheet of pale cloud. The cloud actually diffusing the intensity of the light somewhat made the Sun easier to look upon.

It was a weird thing to experience alone. Celestial miracles amongst (yet above in many ways) the day-to-day mundane. I think this is the first real act of nature that I just sat there and observed in while. Like standing by and watching a storm fell a great tree. A true act of nature that I have no control over what so ever. It won’t wait for me to be ready, or pause whilst I take a break, or stop to save my life.

It was completely oblivious to the self absorbed ant that is me. It was genuinely humbling seeing these grand objects move. On a scale that a single being can not really internalise, in order to really grasp and understand. The celestial objects in question are simply too big to relate to, as is the space between them, myself, and each other. And yet here I am genuinely witnessing their intersection. It was actually really cool. genuinely awe inspiring.

Watching something like that really is surreal. From my vantage point: the Moon went from being invisible in the sky, to a small black bite in the top centre-right corner of the Sun. Then slowly and smoothly the Moon slid in and down towards the centre of Sun. It then paused once it covered a solid corner of the Sun. Before then pulling out and away, smoothly gliding down and out towards the Sun’s right.

It gave the illusion that the Moon moved in-front of the Sun from it’s right side, before then reversing out the same direction. Since it appeared to me as it both entered and exited from the right side of the Sun. Probably due to the frequent look away breaks, and fiddling with my smartphone. Trying to take a good picture. I did not watch it continuously, and my mind seems to have filled in the gaps of the Moon’s movement, giving it an (I think) impossible trajectory. An ‘L’ pattern of movement, rather than the straightish line expected.

I recall that as the Moon moved over the top right corner of the Sun, everything got colder. The day got dimmer. It might’ve been psychosomatic, but I genuinely felt noticeably cold sitting in that garden at that moment. The volume of light also noticeably diminished. Enough so that I could comfortably observe the phenomena. It was a dire reminder of how much we owe the Sun. All the energy it is freely and continuously showering us with every single day.

I remember looking around the garden as that thought rose up within me. I noticed the vibrancy of colour contained within the rough patchy grass that we call a lawn. Numberless blades of deep emerald green. Made darker and bluer by my strained vision. They spoke of vitamins and nutrition, in that moment the greeness of those plants linked me to the Sun itself. It warmed me, fed me, and lit my way. Without it, there would be nothing. Just a dead ice-ball of a world. Common sense right? Cognitively yes, emotionally… well, we as a species are so detached from nature that it is hard to say.

Thoughts like that are strange; because they bubble up from the deep unknowable darkness of the mind, to the light of the surface where they could be seen briefly before evaporating. They can even make enough ripples in the process to be actively recognised by the conscious. Yet, they are still indistinct, and somewhat formless. They operate more like wordless foggy images and gaseous feelings. An emotional vapour attached to transient moving indistinct imagery. Like a wet watercolour painting with it’s pallet freely mixing and bleeding across lines and dripping onto me as I figuratively handle it.

It is quite unlike the concrete thoughts that I am accustomed to creating and administering. I felt all the above thoughts but it wasn’t with words like I am communicating to you now. It was a feeling of significance and eureka as my mind drew links between the God’s toys above, and me below. In that moment I felt part of it. A small insignificant part, no more important than the ladybird climbing a blade of grass, or the watchful magpie in the tree nearby. But still a part. It was very humbling, and felt significant. Enough to be remembered at least. It really is no wonder why our Sol and Moon have so much religious significance. They really are magnificent.

This was a fun and meaningful way to spend a Saturday morning. Worth recording here too. Perhaps for no other reason than just to practice my writing.

Anyway, Thank you for reading.

Crappy pictures taken using Blackview A100 smartphone

  • shot demoing sunglass use
  • sunglasses ON
  • sunglasses OFF
  • garden in spring 2025
    green green grass
  • bonus crappy pic of half-moon on Sat 2025-04-05

Acronyms used

FOMO – “Fear Of Missing Out”
IIRC – “If I Remember Correctly”

Links, References, and Further reading

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-02-22 – project review and goals

Otto

Personal Blog: Entry 2025-02-22 – project review and goals

It has been a while since I have posted anything on here. I have left this website dormant for quite a bit. Specifically it has been around 22 months since I last uploaded a post here. Yes, 22 months. That’s two months shy of TWO years! That last post is namely “#0038 – Demonstration of chess game data featured in Cowboy Bebop anime” published on 2023-04-16. Fuck me. And even before that I only posted one more in 2023, number #37 in 2023-02-26. Then another year long break until I was posting at reasonable rate. So early 2022, and backwards.

A number of things have come up in life to cause this. Primarily working full time 50 hour weeks, in addition to dealing with the miscellaneous duties and responsibilities of life. One’s that put a significant claim on our resources as individuals. However I would be remiss in blaming busyness for this failure. I have had the time. I could have put in a single hour a week easily, and that would’ve netted me around 88 total working hours for the 22 month absence. More than enough to get a few quality posts out.

Now, I am mindful of the triumvirate of endlessly employable excuses. In format they are: Time, Money, and Energy. When one fails, the other two could be employed to enable procrastination and laziness. Even in cases where two fail, one will always be there ready and willing to excuse one’s bad behaviour. Consider if someone pins you to the wall on an excuse, and it becomes apparent that you both have the money, and time to do something good for you. The excuse of not having energy is ready and willing to take up the mantle.

Realistically the past couple of years have been busy for me. However having said that, it should be noted that I am aware that busyness is actually a form of laziness. People (such as myself) use being busy as a way to excuse not doing important things. And posting here is important to me. Not that much admittedly, but it is. Rank 5-ish. I should have done more. The funny thing is, its not like I have been abdicating entirely from participating in this hobby.

Over the last couple of years I have done a lot of stuff on the more practical side. I just have neglected to document them here. Off the top of my head: I have Assembled 2 different Outsunny brand metal garden sheds, replaced a shower bar, built a functioning gaming PC from scrap, repaired and analysed a light switch, repaired a washing machine twice (2 different faults), repaired 2 desk fans, etcetera, etcetera. “Blah blah blah, yackity schmakity.” – Hugh Tazmanian Devil.

I think the main reason why I haven’t posted as much is because it often takes more effort to document and write about any given project in a meaningful manner, than it is to actually just get it done. So very often in the moment I intend to do the write up later. (Yes indeed, that fabled “later” that never comes.) But after another work week, once the weekend winds around again often my mind has moved onto the next project. Now two years later, due to my lack of diligence in managing passwords, it has resulted in data loss. Meaning that I have lost pictures of projects that I need for articles. Oh well. Ce la vie. Move on.

A lot of my failings in the past (in relation to this hobby): has not just come from simple laziness, it has also come from the dark side of perfectionism. As I write this I have currently on my computer 33 half-to-almost finished projects. Some folders just contain pictures and videos from the practical, whereas most contain write ups. Being a drafted article, with supporting notes and reference documents.

So I have been working. It’s just for some reason or another I have been consistently dropping out at around the 80% mark. The writing and refining stage of these projects. I think it is because I enjoy the practicals, so there is little discipline needed to do them. However when it comes to technical writing it is easy to get stressed and overwhelmed trying to create something of value to someone. It is too easy to fall into the granularity trap with regards to documenting details. Then get stressed and take a ‘small’ break. Then not come back to it because time ran out and I have work in the morning. It’s a problem I am going to have to judiciously navigate because I do not have an easy answer for it.

Here is one answer I have for my perfectionism. Finish what you start. Sounds obvious eh? No I mean in a single sitting. When you start drafting a section of an article, take the time (in that sitting) to finish it. I am going to do that here. I am writing this blog post in a single sitting. Rereading it for clarity, then publishing it. I am not going to take breaks and work on it over multiple sitting over multiple days. Which would be likely weekend days because I seldom work on this stuff during the work week. A known issue. Start, stop, start, stop. No momentum.

Moving forward, I intend to have published at least 10 articles this year. Yes, considering it is at February’s end now. I need to publish one article every month at a minimum to meet this requirement. It’s not too much considering that I have a large backlog of half finished projects I could cap off and publish. Additionally this dovetails nicely with another new year’s resolution, something else that I am falling behind on. Namely, it is to read 10 (serious) books. This means 10 non-fiction books. After reading each book I will provide a summary of it’s content here. Not a review by any means, more of a brief on the book and it’s teachings as I understand them. I am not going to count these “book review” (yes yes I know) entries towards the 10 post goal. However their addition will make me more actively engaged with managing this website and it’s content.

Well that’s that. Gone awhile, and now I am back. Back again. Tell a friend. Time to put my nose to the grindstone, and hit the books. T-minus 10 months.

One last note before I go. Perfectionism is kicking in right now: as I look to copy this text into the browser. I have made my point here, and communicated my thoughts effectively. However it could be better, much better. Could I just post this? Or would I be better off reading and re-reading it. Then editing it down to get it just right. To make it read better, and to to catch all those pesky grammatical errors: sitting in this text like a hidden object game. Well. Two years of unpublished articles on my desktop say otherwise. Perfect is the enemy of done. And I am done. Print.

Thank you for reading.

Links, references, further reading

  • Image “Hugh_210x240” sourced from https://looneytunes.fandom.com/wiki/Hugh

#0035: repair and analysis of a talon style folding lock knife

Otto

#0035: repair and analysis of a talon style folding lock knife

Preamble

I was recently given this folding lock knife to fix for someone. The internal mechanisms of which I found mildly interesting, so I figured it would be worth the time to document it. It may also prove useful for future reference incase I come across something similar.

Initial observations

The first thing that I noticed whilst examining this unit is the unusual blade shape. This is a talon type blade. It is a single edged, crescent shaped blade that curves forwards and terminates in a single point. It’s crescent shape, coupled with the blade edge being on the inner concave curve: give it both a visual as well as function resemblance to the talons of birds of prey. The blade is designed to roughly function in the same way: to pierce and then to hook. This shape of blade can easily convert slashing motions into pierces, due to the blade tip being the leading contact point.

The blade description above may lead you to think that the pictured example knife is a deadly weapon. And that would be the case, at least if not for my second immediate observation. Which is that this knife is a mass produced (I assume) chinese special tacticool toy knife.

It is rather cheaply made, and only really aesthetically resembles the weapon that it is aping. This pictured knife is just a box cutter. That is also it’s literal function currently. Its what the knife’s owner, who is a warehouse operative uses it for. It is also the only thing that it can be used for in my opinion.

Faults

The main thing that was wrong with this unit is that it was not maintained properly. The owner did not tighten the various torx screws on this thing as they worked themselves loose. This led to various joints and mechanisms developing too much play in them. This then resulted in the blade being seated at a crooked angle. Which in turn allowed the blade tip to scratch the handle as it was retracted into it.

Additionally due to the owner’s negligence: some of the various screws that loosened over time, fell out entirely and were consequently lost. This is rather unfortunate, because these fittings consisted of a paired torx screw and socket nut; that where sized to fit flush into the recesses of the handle plates. The socket nut especially is rather annoying to replace. Requiring a specific purchase as it is rather uncommon, and wouldn’t likely be present in any of my bins of miscellaneous salvaged hardware.

The blade itself also has an issue. The main one being that it is made from a miscellaneous soft junk metal; and the second one is that it was currently dull. So it required a basic sharpening, in order to make this knife operable. At least for the relatively short time period that the blade’s soft metal can maintain a serviceable edge.

Parts list

A complete version of this locking knife consists of several discrete components:

  • 1 x camouflage painted outer metal knife handle plate (left)
  • 1 x camouflage painted outer metal knife handle plate (right)
  • 1 x black painted metal inner frame with spring compartment insert gap
  • 1 x black painted metal inner frame with blade locking wedge
  • 1 x black painted metal finger guard with box cutter point
  • 1 x grey painted talon style blade
  • 1 x metal spring
  • 1 x metal spring compartment
  • 2 x plastic washers
  • 4 x smaller black painted metal hex screw and blind nut set
  • 1 x larger black painted metal hex screw and blind nut set
  • 1 x black painted metal trouser clip
  • 3 x black painted hex screws for the trouser clip

Tools and materials

Tools:

  • Round edge metal file
  • Knife sharpener rod
  • Torx screwdrivers (T7, T9)
  • Tweezers

Materials:

  • plumber’s grease (or equivalent)

Repair

There really isn’t much to say on the repair itself, as its pretty straight forward. I disassembled then reassembled the knife; fixing everything dodgy about it as I went.

Actions:

  • Completed knife disassembly.
  • Bent the blade locking wedge on the inner frame so that it stops the blade from folding closed more reliably.
  • Greased the blade’s damaged plastic washers to help prevent future wear.
  • Bent the blade spring’s hook into a right angle in order to get a better hold on the blade.
  • Re-greased the blade spring within the spring compartment due to presence of dry grease here.
  • Re-tightened all the screws and socket nuts that keep the housing together.
  • Added a stand-in replacement for a missing screw and socket nut pair that consists of two screws and a salvaged threaded brass insert nut.
  • Added a plastic screw and nut to help hold frame. I chose plastic so that I could cut down the screw and round off the nut easily so that it doesn’t snag the user’s hand.
  • Performed a basic sharpening on the blade using a metal file, then honed the edge using a knife sharpening rod.

The actual repair itself is hardly anything to be proud of. It wasn’t a hard repair and didn’t even take long. However this knife has been saved from going into the rubbish bin, for at least another couple of months, and that should be the main take home. This thing is ready for work again; and should stay that way for quite a while.

Before and After video demo

Before

After

Recommended modifications

1) Grinding the blade edge and sharpening.

The knife blade could use a proper grinding and sharpening: if it to be used for anything more involved than opening boxes. I recommend grinding the blade down so that the angle of the blade edge slopes smoothly up to the mid-ridge. That way the blade can have more acutely angled edge.

This will consequently make the blade sharper than it currently is. A smaller angle will also remain sharper for longer whilst in use, due to the relative thinness of the new blade edge. Even as it dulls. Although the blade will also likely become more brittle and likely to snap as a consequence of the severe loss of material this newly angled edge will require.

2) Installing a blade backstop.

A blade backstop will stop the blade from over-rotating when it is extended. It will also prevent the blade from wobbling when extended by sandwiching it between the backstop and the blade locking wedge.

This knife likely already had a blade backstop of sorts, as it already has the screw holes where on could be mounted. However it was probably lost during use. As it is the blade overextends backwards when it comes in contact with any material that resists it.

3) Thread locker on the screws.

Thread locker such as “Locktite 243” when applied to screws prevents them from slowly working themselves loose during operation, due to factors such as vibration. This will extend the lifespan of this knife when applied to the screws that hold the frames together, as it will mean that they will (largely) no longer need to be checked and re-tightened at intervals.

And since we have already established that this knife’s owner is averse to maintaining his equipment: the lower the level of maintenance this knife needs, will be proportional to the extension of it’s operational lifespan. I.e. it will last as long as it lasts, if the thread locker can keep it together for longer, than it will last a little longer as a consequence.

4) Installation of additional retaining bolts.

I think that installing a few additional bolts and nuts to keep the frame together would greatly increase the overall structural strength of this folding knife. As it would share the strain of keeping the unit together amongst more points. This would allow this knife to be used in applications that require more force.

Although one has to be careful not to drill and install any bolts within the blades seating area within the knife handle housing, or within it’s pathway. Common sense right?

Post mod roles

As it is this knife tool is weak and too dull for any real work beyond cutting the tape off of cardboard boxes. however I theorise that if the above mods are made, then one would end up with a stronger, sharper, and more stable tool.

This would then allow the tool to used in a broader array of applications. For example light wood working, or bush craft applications. A talon style blade is good in both of those applications. The sharp hooked point is good for carving detail into wood. The concave blade is good for gripping and working with rounded objects like natural woods (sticks and branches). For example: for sharpening sticks, or for feathering wood to create tinder. It is also good for harvesting (in this case smaller) plants; as the concave blade helps bundle the stems together when cutting. Like a miniature sickle.

I could go on but I hope you get the point. The issue here is not with the knife’s design, it is with it’s flawed construction. If that could be remedied (or at least alleviated), then this knife could actually become a useful tool. It just requires work to get there.

Closing thoughts

Honestly, I actually rather dislike these types of low-cost low-quality mass produced items. This knife for example: it’s low-cost promotes replacement rather than repair: as it can very quickly make many repairs in it’s owner’s eye deemed as uneconomical. And that is assuming that the owner has a mend-and-make-do mentality to begin with. Most contemporary consumers do not. They have a use and replace mentality.

The main reason why a person may want to repair these things in my mind: is either philosophical (i.e. environmental conscientiousness, fiscal responsibility, anti-consumerist sentiments, etcetera); emotional sentimentality (e.g. hand-me-down from a relative); or if they are in severe financial strife and literally can’t afford to replace a £3.99 work knife.

Now look at it’s cheap build and materials. This factor exacerbates the issue above. Chiefly because it lowers the tools operational lifespan. This is the time it is in use, before it somehow breaks on it’s owner. Hence sooner putting them in a position to make the call on whether or not to either repair or replace the tool.

I do consider a knife like this to have been built with planned obsolescence in mind. Even though the term is hardly used for mechanical hand tools like knives; as it is usually reserved for electronic or computer products.

However, consider this: if the user does no maintenance on this knife. Then there are only so many operational hours that it is capable of before completely falling apart, or at the very least becoming inoperable. It’s shoddy build quality purposefully limits this simple hand tools lifespan. And when it is over, the user is expected to then purchase another one. That is a form of planned obsolescence.

I hate preaching, but please consider not buying this kind of shite. There are better alternatives available. Such as buying second hand quality tools. I always advise that people do the requisite research first. Then spend what they can afford in order to get the best value tools that they can, for their specific use case.

I said “Best value”, not most expensive. A chrome-vanadium spanner is a chrome-vanadium spanner at any price. Just because a person pays more for a brand name, doesn’t necessarily mean that their chrome-vanadium spanner is better than the off brand one.

Nowadays, it’s rather likely that they were both made in the same factory from the same material stock. An idea that would be laughable, if it wasn’t also true. Many brands on the market don’t manufacture anything. They purchase orders from the same OEMs then label the products as their own.

*proceeds to mount high horse.

If you absolutely have to purchase at the bottom of the market because you absolutely have no more money to spend. Then spend time instead. Time upgrading, fortifying, and maintaining your tool. This is so that it can last as long as you need it to. Or at the very least extend the time intervals between new purchases.

That being said, it is an unfortunate reality that most people who do mindlessly purchase bottom of the market products like this knife: are either unable; or more commonly, unwilling to invest time in their tools. They are in many cases content to use the shoddy tool in the short time until it breaks. Then purchase another bottom of the market shoddy tool to replace it with. Repeating this loop of short-sighted wasteful false-economy ad infinitum.

*proceeds to dismount high horse.

I feel that I should somewhat qualify my rather negative sentiments against these types of bottom market products. In the past I have worked within a small recycling facility, one that primarily serviced my local community on behalf of the local council, as well as the surrounding areas. (The point is that we weren’t shipping it’s garbage in.) I worked there as a materials sorter.

It gave me a certain perspective on the sheer volume of material wastage people engaged in. For a supposedly poor community, the amount of waste of useful materials was astounding. Every night I came across hundreds (not hyperbole) of very useable tools of all kinds. Everything from: screwdrivers, knives, drill bits, and spanners, to pots, pans, skillets, as well as whole bicycles some nights. All of that thrown away for recycling.

Many of these things were in decent conditions. Conditions that required either basic maintenance such as: sharpening, some hammering, replacing a handle, or realigning, or even a simple old fashioned cleaning. Gasp! Working there made me dislike a lot of these products; as when I now see them new: I think of where they’ll likely end up in less than a years time … In the fucking trash.

I just don’t like companies purposefully making tools/products that have such a short lifespan designed into them. I doubly don’t like it when these same products are purchased, used, and then wastefully discarded, by people whom I have heard a thousand times: claim poverty. But that’s another rant entirely.

Thank you for listening. It really helps.

Term glossary

OEM – Original Equipment Manufacturer

#0025: Modifying a pair of Game Boy Advance SP earphones into an auxiliary audio dongle

Otto

#0025: Modifying a pair of Game Boy Advance SP earphones into an auxiliary audio dongle

Preamble

This article will consist of a basic tutorial on how to create a Nintendo Game Boy Advance SP (GBA-SP) audio dongle using a broken third party pair of GBA-SP earphones. Additionally I will also provide some related commentary (ramblings) on the similarities between Apple and Nintendo; particularly the way they design their products, and the way that their fanbases receive them. So if you have any old earphones you got as a child and broke yet kept, or maybe even recently purchased as spares and repair? Or if you are inclined to hear me bemoan tribal consumers and corporate avarice. Well here you are.

Creating an audio dongle

The actual conversion is rather simple. You just need to first cut the earphones off; then connect the wires as shown in the pinout and wiring diagram below.

Pinout

Audio jack
1: left speaker positive
2: right speaker positive
3: common ground

GBA-SP port
1: right speaker positive (red wire)
2: closed loop switch
3: (pin absent)
4: left speaker positive (blue wire)
5: common ground
6: closed loop switch

Now that we have the broad methodology of what to do to create an audio dongle, I’d like to talk about a few specifics.

Closed loop switch

In the pinout diagram I labelled pins 2 and 6 as “closed loop switch”. What I mean by this is that there is continuity between these two pins. This means that they are electrically connected to each other. I believe they are configured in this way in order to act as a switch when the plug is inserted into the device.

The electrical connection between the two pins effectively closes an open loop within the device. One that terminates with these pins’ respective sockets. This loop is probably used so that the device can know when an audio peripheral has been connected. This is so that it can act accordingly, by for example switching off it’s built in speaker.

Where to cut the donor earphones cord?

This might seem like a rather simple question at first. However in order to answer it, I needed to answer a few other questions before knowing where exactly I wanted to make the cut. The most important question that needed answering is does the pair of earphones actually work properly, or are they broken somewhere.

Assuming that they have at least one fault somewhere within them, where is the fault? If you can not easily identify it, yet the earphones are still not outputting sound. Then perhaps the fault is hidden. In this case, it will mostly likely be either at the earphones themselves due to snag damage; or if you are unfortunate, it’ll be located near the plug due to something akin to repeated flex damage. Please note that I am just speculating from my experience with repairing headphones.

Once the fault is found, then you must make a decision. Repair the fault, or cut if off (if applicable). In my case the fault was at the left earphone itself. I didn’t probe further than identifying roughly where it was, since I had no intention of repairing something that far down stream. I did however consider whether or not I wanted to retain the inline volume dial. After some consideration I decided to remove it. The reason for this is that I feared that the relatively low quality of the componentry involved; such as the potentiometer, or the PCB and it’s solder joints may actually negatively affect sound quality. So I just snipped it off. Didn’t like it much anyway. It didn’t feel nice to use.

What type of plug or socket to terminate the cord with?

This question was primarily answered by the materials I had available at the time. I did not have an appropriate female 3.5mm audio socket available. However I did have plenty of male 3.5mm jacks on hand; including ones that were corded. In the end I went with a jack that was colour matched (black) and that had the smallest profile.

This male jack enabled me to plug the GBA-SP into an auxiliary port on a sound system should I wish to do so. Additionally when coupled with a female-to-female 3.5mm audio adapter, it enabled me to use headphones or speakers with the dongle. This setup basically gave me the same functionality as having an adapter that terminated in a female 3.5mm socket, paired with a typical male-to-male auxiliary cord.

Soldering the jack

When it comes to soldering audio jacks like these: the first actual thing I did was prepare the heat-shrink tubing for it. Selecting the right sizes and cutting them to length. I prepared two pieces, which I thought was sufficient at the time; however in hindsight I should have prepared three distinct pieces. One to isolate each line.

As it is, it has one to insulate the central shaft from the surrounding ground pad, and one to act as an outer cover; protecting all three wires and acting as a general guard against flex damage for the entire cord. It’s good enough, but it would be better in my opinion if the inner two wires were separated by more than just the enamel coating of the wire strands themselves, as I have left them. A smaller gauge piece of heat-shrink tubing on the inner terminal to cover it’s solder joint would’ve been better.

As for the soldering itself: audio jack terminals like the one pictured can be rather tricky to wire up and solder properly. The reason for this is due to a range of factors. Factors such as: the general fiddliness and fragility of the enamel wires themselves. Although more-so the close proximity of the jack’s terminals to each other, coupled with the convex curve and orientation of their soldering pads, is what adds difficulty; as the awkward angles involved can diminish dexterity.

Additionally, the presence of structural plastic insulation between the terminals, meant that a lower heat and a shorter soldering dwell time was needed. This in order not to damage the jack’s plastics with radiant heat from the work area. Otherwise the plastic will melt and warp the plug’s general shape and structure. All these various factors can make it difficult to solder in a reliable and repeatable manner. However practice and work flow optimisations will mitigate these type of annoyances as one gains experience in this task.

An example in which I optimised the process: was by preparing the wires for soldering by removing their enamel insulation. This is because prior to this: during soldering, the enamel coating on the wires sometimes wouldn’t burn off within the liquid solder blob itself; especially with the necessary (relatively) low heat and short dwell time. When this happened, it resulted in the wire not forming a good electrical connection and/or not bonding physically with it’s solder pad.

I chose to prep the wires by burning off a segment of their enamel coating using a lighter. This had to be done in very quick manner in order to not oxidise the underlying copper strands too much. Burning off the insulation in this manner allows me to quickly solder the wires into place without worrying about any complications from the insulation.

After removing a segment of insulation in this manner, I chose to attach the wires in a way that limited any exposed segments of wire present outside of the solder joint. This is to limit any exposed conductors. Consequently, the solder joints were close to their respective wires’ insulated ends, and only used the exposed segments to get a good electrical connection within the solder joint itself. After-which I’d snip off any excess exposed wire that preceded the joint.

Testing the cable

The attentive readers amongst you probably have noticed that my repair notes contain several resistance tests of the various lines. Most I ran while working on the device, those are the numbers closer to the hand-drawn diagram. Some of which have been struck out. Discount those. The ones of interest are at the bottom of the notes. Those are the results from the post repair test.

The reason for the final test was because I was dubious of the quality of the cables that I was working with. As well as generally dubious of audio cables of this calibre. Specifically, cables that consist of a small collection of loose strands dipped in (I believe) enamel for insulation; then interwoven with additional plastic or nylon strands for strength. They all look and feel fragile and cheap. Having said that however, I should say that a post repair test is a good general practice. Even when confidence in the repair is high.

As you can see the left speaker line has a end-to-end resistance of 10 ohms. Five times that of the right speaker line, and ten times that of the common return (or ground) line. The right and return lines have acceptable resistances in general, and accurate relative resistances to each other. I expected the return common line to have half the resistance due to the doubling of the lines. However, what was unexpected was that the left line was clearly an outlier in line resistance. This in my opinion is due to either the low quality of the cable in general, or a hidden defect I did not find.

It’s not ideal, but upon testing with actual sound, the loss of volume on the left line speaker due to it’s higher line resistance was not noticeable at all. So I just left it be. The effort necessary to track the fault that is adding the 8 ohms to the line, is not worth the reward of having perfectly balanced lines for a GBA-SP’s audio. I used to call it laziness not ploughing down these types of rabbit holes. However as I have aged, I have come to understand the diminishing returns on investments that this type of perfectionism offers.

  • testing during repair
  • post repair test

Completed mod demonstration

Related thoughts on Nintendo and their Game Boy Advance SP console

Now that we have created our own DIY audio dongle, let’s talk about why we needed to do this in the first place. In other words, why the Game Boy Advance SP doesn’t have a built-in 3.5mm audio port to begin with. In order to get at this answer, let’s first discuss a completely different technology company and it’s products. As to why, I’ll let you join the dots.

Many people today (2021) credit Apple as one of the most anti-consumer consumer technology companies, specifically with regards to their product design. Although there are numerous examples I could pick out, the one relevant instance here: is the removal of the generic 3.5mm audio jack from their 2016 iPhone 7 models. Anyone who pays any critical attention to this company probably came to a similar conclusion to my own. (Proceeds to pat self on back.) This naturally being that they did so in a bid to to sell first party audio peripherals at a premium. This being to their captive audience of fruity cultists. Cultists that would happily eat that up.

Why am I mentioning this in a Nintendo article? Well it’s because peoples’ memory is generally fickle and often mired with nostalgia; and the residual emotional attachments that it incurs. This leads them to holding double-standards when it comes specifically to childhood brands like Nintendo, often holding them to a lower standard of conduct than brands like Apple. These same people forget that their friend Nintendo did the same thing 13 years prior in 2003 with the incremental release of the Nintendo Game Boy Advance Special (GBA-SP) portable games console.

A games console that had no tangible advantages over it’s Game Boy Advance (GBA) predecessor other than a few quality of life (QoL) improvements. Both consoles played exactly the same games, however the SP boasted: an internal rechargeable lithium-ion battery, and an LCD backlight. For consumers tired of repeatedly buying new AA batteries for their GBA, or always awkwardly angling the unlit LCD towards a light-source whilst avoiding glare; these were improvements worth investment. Those of you who can read between the lines, might’ve guessed that this internal battery naturally required a specific Nintendo battery charger. A theme that they continued in later products such as with the Nintendo Dual Screen portable console (NDS).

However, a more apt feature of criticism in the iteration from the GBA to the GBA-SP, is the removal of the 3.5mm audio jack. Why did they do this you may ask? Well, now I could be wrong, but the cynic in me says that it was to facilitate Nintendo selling official audio peripherals at a premium, to their captive audience of pedantic neck-beards in waiting. That’s us mate.

Laughably, Nintendo’s official response against their audience’s pushback in 2003 was basically the same as Apple’s in 2016. They both said something to the tune of: that the new device simply didn’t have the space for a 3.5mm audio jack. Apple added some device waterproofing claims to this as well. But the core reason was the same: that there’s simply no space for it. Now shut up and buy our official peripherals. Peripherals that use the same port for both audio output and power delivery. So good luck using wired headphones and charging the device at the same time. Enjoy.

To cut it short. My point is that Nintendo has proven themselves to be as anti-consumer as Apple when the mood takes them. However it saddens me that their customers are prone to look at this company through rose tinted spectacles. Often even shouting down valid criticism, yet many within the community still consider themselves distinctly different from the stock of Apple enthusiasts.

That’s what happens when one thinks with their feelings. It’s tribal fanboy-ism at it’s finest. People for whatever reason forget that an individual’s relationship with a company or business like Apple or Nintendo, is strictly transactional. Nothing more. They are not your friends. A corporation does not have the capacity for camaraderie, or loyalty. Only the capacity to take advantage of such feelings in order to sell more to the same people.

Obviously, I am not talking about the entire consumer base here, just the vocal fanatics that seem to dominate public discourse. If anything a logical or reasonable person who likes the products of a particular brand to the point of becoming brand loyal; should ideally, be even more critical (than the average Joe) of their chosen company when it strays into anti-consumer practices. Due to their investment within the brand and it’s products. They likely would wish for them to stay good, more than a person who isn’t all that invested. But that’s not the world we live in. Instead the more invested a person is in a brand, it seems the more likely they are to tribally defend them regardless of circumstance. It’s sad really.

Closing thoughts

I know what you might be thinking, this article is nice and all, but it’s also almost twenty years too late. I mean in previous years getting a hold of an audio dongle for the GBA-SP might have been troublesome or expensive. Back when (the famously litigious) Nintendo were still protective of the console. However in 2021, one could easily purchase a NEW Game Boy Advance SP audio dongle from Ebay for less than a fiver. Since Nintendo doesn’t care much about protecting the rights to peripherals for a console that old (read unprofitable). Sure, the item that you buy won’t be an official Nintendo product, or even a notable third party contemporary brand peripheral, like Competition Pro. But it’ll work. Probably.

example of an unbranded Ebay adapter

To answer that question: Yes, yes you could. You could purchase an unbranded china special peripheral for your almost twenty year old console. Alternatively you could also make use of any old and/or broken first and third party peripherals that you may already have lying around, or even purchased in a mixed joblot or bundle. Essentially converting (basically) e-waste like that into a useful cable. One made to your exact use case and specification no less. Chances are your convert will also be better quality than a bought cable depending on what materials you use to make it.

Mine isn’t, I made mine from a pair of Competition Pro earphones. But still you get my point; I bet if you made yours from a pair of official Nintendo earphones (should you happen to have them), they might be better quality. As for making something for a specific use case: I totally use mine to blast Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow’s soundtrack, via my home sound system. I do it for maximum “immersion” during my midnight gaming sessions. I also want my neighbours to know that I am cool. The banging on the wall seems to indicate that they do.

Thank you for reading.

Links, references, and further reading

https://docpop.org/2016/09/apple-learn-nintendos-headphone-mistake/
https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2016/09/no-headphone-jack-nintendo-did-it-first/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone_7#Headphone_plug_removal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_Boy_Advance_SP#Headphone_jack