Semicromulent Rambling

Objective Automate my existing apartment climate control system by adding a remote web interface to pre-cool my room on my way home during the summer and easy scheduling to warm my room before getting out of bed in the winter. AC interface Most Japanese air conditioner/heater units use IR controls incompatible with Nest  so controlling over IR was the only option. Unfortunately reverse engineering the IR protocol would prove to be challenging. These IR remotes are completely different than those for TVs and other appliances. Most IR remotes send single commands like "on" or "volume up" but these AC units are stateless, it's the remote that has the brains, so each time a button is pressed the remote will send the entire list of settings values.  For instance, if you just press the button to increase temperature+1 say from 24 to 25, the remote will actually send [power:on, mode:heater, temp:25, air-speed:2, air-diffuser:on, timer:off...] I won't go into ...

On every trip to Hong Kong I try to spare a day to take the ferry to Macau for the main purpose of jumping off the 233m Macau Tower.  This was my 3rd jump so the staff asked if I wanted to try doing it backwards, adding that it's a lot scarier.  After flip-flopping twice I finally committed to doing it. As you can image it's completely different from jumping forward.  Unlike facing forward, the sense of impending death is barely noticeable since you're not staring down at the ground far below.  The first few seconds feels a like the "trust" game where you fall backwards trusting that someone will catch you.  After about 1 meter of freefall your subconscious survival instinct kicks in as it realizes you should have hit the ground by now.  I won't lie, I let out a short scream at that exact moment before my conscious mind returned and realized I was secured to the bungee.  That split second when your subconscious instinct takes full control is ...

If you're like me, you may have an image of trains being a legacy of the industrial revolution chugging freight across country but that utilitarian image is naive or at least incomplete.  Modern train and subway technology rivals aeronautics and the history of these marvels of engineering is almost romantic. The Railway Museum (鉄道博物館, Tetsudō Hakubutsukan)  has done an incredible job of showcasing the progress from the first steam locomotives in the late Edo period to the recent E6 shinkansen since it's opening in 2007. The museum is located in Omiya, Saitama the city North of Tokyo about an hour away from central Tokyo. From Omiya station there's a "new shuttle" line which takes you directly to the Museum station. British-built locomotive #1 from 1871. I wonder how hard it must have been to save all these trains from being turned into ships and planes for the war. In front of most exhibits are explanations in Japanese b...