John Chidgey

Engineer, Developer, Podcaster. Described as a Dreamy Narrator with great pipes, and the David Attenborough of disasters.

Podcasts at https://engineered.network
Patreon at https://patreon.com/johnchidgey
Personal Blog at https://techdistortion.com

Last Notes

2026-05-12 08:51:35 UTC

This is how Politicians avoid answering questions:
“If you have nothing to say, say nothing. If you have something to say, say it, no matter what they ask.
“Better still, pay no attention to the question, just make your own statement.
“Then if they ask the question again, what you say is ‘that’s not the question’, or ‘I think the real question is’ and then you make another statement of your own.”
It’s from an episode of Yes, Prime Minister in 1984 and nothing's changed.

2026-04-30 03:52:34 UTC

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@nprofile…w0mx Thanks James. That kind of parallels my thinking that it's a fair bit of money. As an independent podcaster I don't feel the need for that kind of validation, I.e. my ego is just fine. I consider my Patrons and Supporters to be reason I keep making Causality, and even if I did win an award, paid or otherwise, it wouldn't change anything. I'd still make the show. Appreciate your taking the time to respond mate. 😊

2026-04-29 20:57:19 UTC

@nprofile…w0mx Thoughts on the Signal Awards? $285 USD for a single entry. Pay to play feels weird to me but I guess that's par for the course? Curious about your thoughts on whether I should bother.

2026-04-25 21:10:17 UTC

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@nprofile…dqw2 It's nothing too exciting it's just rebuilding my Live Streaming box. I use Icecast 2 and Liquidsoap with a custom pipe to remotely control it. Problem is that in the past four years dependancies that used to align don't anymore. Like many of these open source projects it's not just hit build and it works, alas.

2026-04-25 01:33:17 UTC

Rebuilding my live streaming system on a new VPS reminded me how long it takes to compile OCAML for LiquidSoap. Yikes!

2026-04-12 01:31:50 UTC

I'm not entirely sure this will be the total outcome, but just watching the number of layoffs globally increasing with "AI" alternatives being the reason, it makes me wonder. Firstly, is this just an easy excuse? In many cases probably, but also likely not for all cases. So in those cases where that's the real reason, when will people start to push back? The Luddites sabotaged and destroyed machinery in the early 1800s when it was taking their jobs. Will this happen soon with Data Centers? Protests at OpenAI's or Anthropic's headquarters or similar? Maybe they are and I missed the memo.

2026-04-08 05:18:13 UTC

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@nprofile…w0mx You're confused. It's okay. Just relax and give the Promite another chance.

2026-04-08 02:22:07 UTC

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@nprofile…w0mx LOL. It’s the best of the three options mate. Vegemite and Marmite are horrid.

2026-03-02 02:42:22 UTC

Also remember that stats for all of my shows are publicly available if you care or are bored. For example Pragmatic: https://op3.dev/show/91309bff-791c-5bf0-8cf8-2cd1f0f815da

2026-03-02 02:40:12 UTC

I'm honestly positively surprised that the latest episode of Pragmatic, that has been dormant for 9 months, just cracked the 900 downloads. Of course, how many are still listening is another matter, but there are still people subscribed! Thanks everyone for that! Also, I’ll be recording the next Pragmatic episode in a couple of weeks and releasing later in March.

2025-07-03 21:39:29 UTC

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@nprofile…h82d @nprofile…zn42 Thanks Dave! I'm thinking of re-purposing a MacMini (Intel) I have laying about for it this time rather than a Raspberry Pi

2025-07-01 23:06:36 UTC

@nprofile…h82d Having retired my Raspiblitz, what's your current recommendation for the easiest to maintain, self-hosted Lightning Node? Are you still using Umbrel or Start9?

2023-08-27 01:54:20 UTC

Notes for Causality Ep51 are now complete. 9 Pages. Ready to record…off to the new recording booth ❤️

2023-08-18 11:11:01 UTC

Finally the vocal booth is ready. It’s going to be a blockbuster recording weekend, with the re-record of Causality Episode 1, a new Analytical, vocal booth walkthrough and a patron special. New Causality notes are now underway too but that’s a week or so away. I’ve also started notes for the next Pragmatic.

2023-07-15 05:59:11 UTC

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@npub1jtm…rxtn I don’t have an AM radio anymore 😔