Bruce Momjian: General Blog

The Tyranny of Money

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 08:30:01 -0400

A month ago, new Pope Francis made some interesting comments about capitalism and the overemphasis on money and financial success.

X10 Reemerging

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:00:00 -0400

After expressing concern about X10 devices no longer being produced, new devices are now reappearing in stock.

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Mobile Website Version

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 12:00:00 -0400

I have updated my website to display better on mobile devices, like cellphones and tablets.

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X10 Challenges

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 12:00:00 -0400

For the past several months some of my X10-controlled lights have been randomly turning on. I have only recently had time to research this, and after days of unplugging devices and turning off circuit breakers, I found that my Lenox heaters were the cause of the random behavior. They were producing enough electrical interference to trigger X10 devices to turn on. I installed an X10 filter on the heater and it has fixed the problem.

This certainly shook my confidence in continuing with X10, and with X10 production fading, I would love to have a flexible, affordable alternative, though I am not sure one exists currently.

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Climb the New High Mountain

Mon, 21 Jan 2013 12:00:00 -0400

As a history buff, I was aware of the secret code phrase used to signal the start of the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese in 1941. The secret code was "Niitaka-Yama Nobore 12 08" (original Japanese, movie rendition), meaning "Climb Mount Niitaka". ("12 08" indicated December 8, Japan time, which was December 7, Hawaii time.) In 1941, Mount Niitaka was the highest mountain in the Japanese empire, higher than Mount Fuji. (It is the current-day Taiwanese Yushan mountain.)

I assumed Mount Niitaka was chosen because it was the highest Japanese-controlled mountain, but today I learned that Niitaka means "new high mountain", so "Climb Mount Niitaka" literally means "Climb the New High Mountain", the "new high mountain" being the United States.

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