Blogs Posts by Nick McHardy

Welcome to my blog, where I cover tech, games and whatever else that’s interesting in the universe like vinyl, fusion jazz and side projects.

This website is inspired by the web of the late 90s - no, not just the style of the site - but also harking back to a time when people would set up websites (probably on Geocities or similar) and write about anything that interested them. Most of the websites looked terrible (my first few sites were no exception) but it was so liberating having your own site. So here’s my modern-day version of that late 90s vibe.

Not sure where to start? Here are some blogs to get you started:

Learning About Leadership Episode 1 (May ‘20)
The Humble Minidisc (Aug ‘18)
Why the Sega Dreamcast is the Best Console of All Time (Aug ‘18)
Common Website Vulnerability Scans Found in Logs (Apr ‘18)
On Being an Engineering Manager (Feb ‘19)

There’s also a 🍊 Garden Diary to check out. It’s sometimes updated as the seasons change.

Latest Posts

My Travels Through Video Card History

📅 Posted 2023-03-28 (1 minute read)

So I picked up a few old PC components - mostly Socket A era circa 2001 - and whilst I battle with various buggy motherboards from the era (probably due to bad capacitors which plauged everything at that time it seems), I’ve been thinking about the various video cards I’ve had over the years. Mostly were for games, although there were other applications too (and long before ML with a GPU was a thing).

Watching Evangelion like its 1999

📅 Posted 2023-02-05 (6 minute read)

I’m having a bit of a nostalgia moment. So warning, rose-tinted glasses may be in use today. Despite there being a lovely high quality version of Neon Genesis: Evangelion with a fresh (and I’m told, more accurate) dub available on Netflix, I’m going old school. My usual readers won’t be surprised at this, for I am a fan/collector/tragic of the MiniDisc, amongst many other ye olde world tech charms like retro gaming consoles.

That spoken word sample in 3 Play it Cool

📅 Posted 2022-07-07 (3 minute read)

I was drawn to a spoken word sample a few years ago, but didn’t learn about it’s source until later on. Right near the end of the track 3 Play it Cool by Crazy Penis, there’s this awesome sample about playing a b-flat trumpet. Here’s the clip: (scroll forward to 5:38) Now the time I first heard this, it sounded super cool to me. I knew it was complete nonsense but it still added a funny spin to the end of an otherwise pretty chill song.

My favourite music channels on YouTube

📅 Posted 2022-03-13 (3 minute read)

A little while ago I wrote about My favourite YouTube channels right now (in fact, that was almost exactly 1 year!) and more recently I’ve been getting into music a whole lot more. Something that accelerated this process is the purchase of a much quieter piano that can be played at night, with headphones, without really disturning anyone. It’s amazing how much more I’m able to play simply without having to worry about waking up the neighbours or causing a fuss.

Being in the office

📅 Posted 2021-12-17 (7 minute read)

There’s something a little bit magical about being in the office. I didn’t think I would say that, but I think all of this time during the pandemic working from home has made me really appreciate being in the office. I’m writing this post right now, from the office. I came in today to farewell one of my staff (sniff… it’s always a happy/sad time) and collect their equipment and security pass.

Older Posts →