iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 07/09/2026

When your script to produce weather charts doesn't go quite as planned...

Random lines and patches in a variety of colours

Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 31/08/2026

More QMX+ progress. The GPS works with the antenna outdoors. So time and location are updated automatically. I've also been heard on WSPR so the transmitter works too. About 1000 miles / 1600 km with 1w is a good start. #HamRadio

QRP Labs QMX+ Amateur Radio transceiver transmitting a WSPR signal

WSPR map showing reception of a 1w signal from a QMX+ transceiver at approximately 1000 miles/1600 km

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 28/08/2026

Lunar eclipse as viewed from Lancashire 🤣

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 20/08/2026

We went to watch the end of stage 2 of the Women's Cycling Tour of Britain this afternoon. The cycling was over in about 30 seconds, but the rest of the afternoon was fun.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 10/08/2026

The highest washing line I’ve seen has an amazing view. We’re staying in the 24th floor but you have access to the roof (33rd floor) to hang your washing and enjoy the views at the same time.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 09/08/2026

Another evening another meal. @wgoodf.bsky.social will be pleased to hear that we're having blood duck - that's duck cooked in its own blood to make the gravy.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 09/08/2026

Cantonese opera. I can't understand a word of it, but then I don't understand a word of most operas.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 09/08/2026

This is a new experience. Breakfast at the Opera. Cantonese opera to be precise. The opera starts in 30 minutes so we’re busy eating now.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 08/08/2026

I just found out - all pig meat is used to make pork mince, so beautiful bacon is mixed in with everything else 😰 Did you mention Chinese meal? This was my birthday meal a few days ago ..

Large round table with 28 people sitting eating a Chinese meal.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 07/08/2026

I’ve just lost my durian virginity 🤣 I’d always been to scared to try before. Opening the box unleashed the smell. I was given a glove to wear and then it was the point of no return! After all that it’s OK. A bit mushy and quite sweet. Luckily you don’t notice the smell when eating it.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 07/08/2026

Cool looking Transformer in a Chinese shopping mall.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 07/08/2026

Waiting at the traffic lights and look what pulls up next to us. It’s a parcel delivery vehicle. I’ve seen them driving around but never been next to one on its journey.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 05/08/2026

This chonky boy with a short tail is Chinese. The Chinese word for cat is māo which I’m told it’s pronounced like meow.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 04/08/2026

Celebrating my birthday Chinese style. It was actually a double party - my great-niece Muchen is 16 today. And two bottles of Maotai bought from the factory as one of my presents!

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 02/08/2026

Another evening another banquet. Not sure what kind of fish it is or how they made it look like this but it’s sweet and sour and very nice. As usual plenty of maotai for toasting!

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 02/08/2026

Matcha tea - Chinese style. You add, rice crispies, peanuts, floaty balls (don’t known what they are), chopped chives and sugar/salt if you prefer.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 02/08/2026

I’ve seen unnamed package delivery vehicles twice now. Once on a busy rural road and once parked outside our apartment complex. So they are happy travelling fairly fast (50km/h?) and navigating through busy city streets. It’s weird seeing a box on wheels driving round!

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 01/08/2026

Who needs a new laptop when your car has a built-in 15.6" touch screen? Chinese BYD car. Don’t know the model because it’s in Chinese characters. It looks like at least some UK BYD models have a similar display. I didn’t have time to see if it would boot Linux from a memory stick 🤣

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 31/07/2026

I didn’t have wild swimming in a Chinese river on today’s bingo card. Luckily tropical rivers are pretty warm so it was a nice break from the incessant humid heat at this time of the year. The views were much better but I didn’t have a waterproof case to take my phone near the river.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 30/07/2026

Anyone else got traffic light timers? I’ve discovered that Chinese sat nav knows when traffic lights are going to change. The image shows that the light ahead will change to green in 39 seconds. Route planning can take this into account to plot the fastest route in a city.

A navigation screen shows a car traveling at 46 km/h, with directions to turn right in 2.4 km onto Weilin Avenue and an estimated arrival time of 17:27 after covering 4.4 km in 13 minutes.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 28/07/2026

Welcome to the modern world! I’ve heard people talk about matcha recently, but never had it. Then we had “Chinese coffee” which I’ve had numerous times on previous visits to China in the last 10 years. Today I discovered that Chinese coffee is really matcha! The base is green tea powder

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 28/07/2026

Where did the Teletubbies go? After their rise to infamy 20+ years ago I didn’t see much of the Teletubbies. Or maybe my kids outgrew them and we didn’t watch those channels any longer? Anyway, I found them again - they moved to China!

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 28/07/2026

East meets West Lays Pringles (at least that’s what I’d call them in the UK). Chinese flavour of Beef Pie but seemingly endorsed by Sir David Beckham. Yesterday we had Lionel Messi Garlic Bread flavour.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 27/07/2026

English is the official second language in China. Which mean many products get English names. I often wonder if I could become a naming consultant over here to help them pick better names. Today I present to you “Fly Young” tissues.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 25/07/2026

There's nothing better than enjoying a drink (30% rice wine with rosehips) with a group of rural Chinese villagers where the only common language is "nyim ju" or "Cheers". Nyim ju is village language for cheers.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 25/07/2026

It's village cooking time in very rural China. Two huge woks. One cooking pork ribs (with rice wine and beer) and the other cooking pork belly stir fry with celery, onions and garlic (and I think some rice wine too). It's 35C feels like 44C so I don't know how they do it!

House yard in town China with two men cooking pork ribs in a wok

Two men in rural China cooking pork belly stir fry in a large wok

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 24/07/2026

We’re in my wife’s village in very rural China for the weekend. We’re an hour’s drive from the nearest city that you'll never have heard of. The village has a population of about 60 people these days. We had roast duck, chicken and goose to eat. Washed down by 30% proof rice wine with rosehips. /1

Village meal in rural China with roast duck, chicken and goose. 5 villagers are also pictured

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 23/07/2026

We had a traditional Chinese tea ceremony after eating. We drank black Pu-erh tea, red tea from Yunnan and orange tea. I had a turn at making the tea. I've done it before and it's tricky to make sure you do it correctly! I think I passed the test.

Closeup of tea table, soaked tea, tea pots, watermelon and grapes

Preparing to make Chinese tea with a tea table, tea pot and cups

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 23/07/2026

Another lunch time, another Chinese meal. Not surprising as I'm in China. We started with Chinese coffee (actually tea with added herbs), then pigs feet, chicken, fish, rice porridge, beef with pepper and onions, sweet potato leaves, noodles, sticky rice and other things!

Chinese coffee in a bowl with peanuts, rice crispies and other things to add to it

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 22/07/2026

A home meal in China with friends. The bottle of baiju (58%) between two of us will make sure I sleep tonight 🤣

Chinese food - roast duck, deep fried tofu, beef and carrots, pork belly and bitters, char sui

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 22/07/2026

I'm relearning 'ganbei' with baiju. It means 'bottoms up' or down in one. Baiju is 58% proof, so even though it's only a small glass, one every few minutes soon adds up 🤣 I can still type so there's hope for me.

Chinese baiju - 58% sorghum alcohol and small toasting glass

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 11/07/2026

My view for a slow and leisurely breakfast 🙂

View in the Peak District looking over the Roaches.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 25/05/2026

Can someone remind me why we choose to BBQ on the hottest days of the year? T-5 minutes to lighting time with a feels like temperature of 40.8C. Phew!

Bright red Kamado Joe BBQ ready for lighting

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 23/05/2026

I've never watched Star Wars. Is this the kind of test you mean?

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 10/05/2026

We've been adopted! This black kitten started following us round the garden a month ago. We've failed to find her owner, so she will be staying with us now We're not pet people and definitely not cat experts so we're rapidly trying to understand cat psychology! She's now called Sunny.

A black kitten playing with a fluffy ball hanging from her scratching post.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 25/04/2026

A cheaper alternative is an emulated version. There is emulator code to run on this hardware...

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 06/11/2025

Melted UnUn 0 G6FCI 1 I've fitted a replacement for the melted cheese UnUn this morning. Looks to be working OK - SWR is 1.2:1 on 20m which is about what it was before, and I'm being heard 8500km away in China. I hope that's the end of my UnUn melting career 🤣 #HamRadio

Melted UnUn, with red and black wide, from an amateur radio HF vertical antenna

Replacement UnUn attached to the bottom of an amateur radio HF vertical antenna. Antenna is on the ground to allow the UnUn to be fitted

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 04/11/2025

That's my HF vertical off air for a few days. The UnUn didn't like me using the antenna on 160m when it's not designed for that band. Oops. I'll pay more attention to which antenna is connected to the transceiver in future 😱 #HamRadio

A melted UnUn at the base of an amateur radio HF vertical antenna

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 24/10/2025

Strange events - an air ambulance landed on Layton Rec in Blackpool this afternoon. No road ambulance there. No police to clear the landing area. No paramedics seemingly nearby. It flew back to Blackpool Airport afterwards. #Blackpool

Yellow air ambulance helicopter landed in Layton Rec in Blackpool

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 05/09/2025

Another goodie from the archive. A Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 Linux touch screen handheld from 2002-3. It has a WiFi SD card in it too. I'll have to see if I can find the power supply to see if it still works. #RetroComputing

Sharp Zaurus SL-5500 touch screen Linux handheld from 2002-ish.

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Chris - Dadmin² @chris.mcmahon.co.uk · 05/09/2025

I can see the origins of my interest in Home Assistant. 14 Dec 1979 - Algol-W code to automatically log temperature data - see the comment. I had lots of fun as QXEC4 back in the day! #RetroComputing #HomeAssistant

Mainframe computer output printed on live printer fanfold paper.

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