Talk nerdy to me :D
Arduino, ESP32, smart home automation. I could talk for hours. I’ve started to get into PCB design this year, and I’ve had a lot of fun with it!
Where can I learn how to link different tech through HA? Insteon switch to flip a wifi bulb. Z Wave switch to open the Shelly relay for the garage door. ZigBee water sensor trips insteon siren. Etc. Is that all YAML? Is the Ecobee thermostat worth it?
Just install HA and try it out! It’s a lot easier to do than you might think. Every vendor or connection type has its own Integration. Most integrations can be set up through the UI very easily. I have dozens of integrations.
And the automations have had a lot of work the last few years. They are getting much easier to set up in the UI without having to worry about code or yaml.
The integrations are working. I just don’t know how to cross link them…
Which esp32? There are so much options nowdays!
The ESP32-S3 has become my standard goto device. If power usage is an issue, the ESP32-C3 is a great option. And the ESP32-C6 opens up Thread capabilities. I recently picked up a device with an ESP32-P4 that I’m wanting to play around with some more.
If only the C6 was actually supported correct everywhere…
Have you done any Thread/Zigbee with an esp32? I cannot wait to get a C6 to test it!
Here’s the guide I’ve used. Super easy to do in ESPHome. I’ve only tested it, but it seems to work very well.
https://smarthomescene.com/guides/how-to-create-thread-devices-with-esphome/
Just came here to say that I love how engaged people are with their hobbies. Keep going!
I feel like I’ve found ✨️my people✨️
Aztecs.
Mixtec-Pueblo culture before European contact was vibrant, dynamic, and layered. It was reflected by its surrounding cultures of K’iche’ (Mayan), Chichimeca, Iréchikwa (Purepecha), and Otomi. Their books look like comics painted on accordions. I’ve been to Teotihuacan so I’ve seen the massive pyramids the peoples of the valley built millennia ago. I’ve read about how cities were planned and zoned then built with stone and you can still witness the logic behind those decisions today. The comida is good too.
I wish I was smart so I could learn Spanish easier.
On the words of Hernan Cortés: “Su casa es mi casa.”
Jokes aside, I am positive a Game of Thrones or Vikings-like tv show based on the birth of the Mexicas, then the expansion with finally the fall of the Aztecs would be brutally fantastic.
I always look at the Mexican flag in awe for what it really means and how it became.
Any books that you would recommend but aren’t academic?
Any books that you would recommend
Oh absolutely I got a mini library of…
aren’t academic
Nope.
“Aztec” by Gary Jennings.
https://bookshop.org/p/books/aztec-gary-jennings/784861bf1a137811?ean=9780765317506&next=t
It’s a novel about coming of the Spanish.
I had to read it when I came across an article the author wrote. He wanted a word for ‘orange.’ He wanted to book to sound authentic, and the Americas didn’t have oranges. He ended up using jacinth
Thanks, that one I had it on my wishlist.
Enjoy. He did a few follow ups, but the first is the best.
Jokes aside, I am positive a Game of Thrones or Vikings-like tv show based on the birth of the Mexicas, then the expansion with finally the fall of the Aztecs would be brutally fantastic.
It’s a cartoon but there’s Onyx Equinox which is pretty cool and plays in mesoamerica.
Onyx Equinox mentioned!! One of my favorite shows for that reason. I wish more media used Mesoamerican history and myths, they are awesome.
Just wish it wasn’t in development hell…
I wish more media used Mesoamerican history and myths, they are awesome.
Here’s one more:
It’s fully available on youtube.
Typewriters. I love these machines, and the effect they had on our societies, and how they still have a strong influence on our keyboards and typographical likes.
And they are beautiful.
Found Tom Hanks.
Oh I’d love to nerd with him about typewriters 😅
Korean cooking, specifically their use of fermented and preserved food and how it relates to their climate of very hot summers and very cold winters and also their history as tributary state to Ming China and later under Japanese occupation.
Oh, goddamn it, this is gonna take a while.
- Code. Like, I actually get real pleasure from seeing elegant and well-structured code. I have no idea why, but I’ll almost start salivating at particularly beautiful code.
- Anime. Yeah, I’m a walking stereotype, a software developer who likes anime. But have you seen Frieren? It’s so goddamn good.
- Philosophy. No, not bullshit continental philosophy. I’m talking real philosophy. Analytic philosophy. Distilled and legitimately useful logic. Which of course leads me to…
- Science. My YouTube feed is full of fascinating deep-dives into esoteric mathematical and scientific topics. Fuck yeah.
- Tabletop RPGs. Surprisingly, not a huge D&D fan, though it can certainly be fun. These days, I’m much more into story-focused systems, like Fate or Blades in the Dark. Most people I mention that to have never heard of either.
- Science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Writing science fiction and fantasy. I mean, are you surprised at this point?
- Politics. Less so nowadays, since our political system is falling apart and we’re being overrun by fascism, but I still do enjoy a meaty policy discussion.
That’s a good list for starters.
Who is the most criminally under appreciated philosopher/author and why is it Ursula LeGuinn?
Go read Joanna Russ.
imho she writes rings around the popular woman.
I will. Thank you.
Ha! My glob, she was so amazing. I had the opportunity to attend a reading she did from The Lathe of Heaven years ago, and I was struck anew not only by her creativity, but by the philosophical ideas underpinning it. A lot of people think The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas is her most philosophical work, but I actually found what Lathe had to say about control, obedience, and power incredibly compelling.
Adventure Time fan as well?
I like it, but I don’t nerd out about it.
Agree. AND. Left Hand of Darkness. Dispossessed.
You might be interested in a video game called The Last Sovereign. I discovered it during the recent fiasco around payment processors trying to block lewd stuff, but the nsfw visuals can be turned off if you’re not into that. It’s a very serviceable RPG with turn based combat that is well balanced and engaging. But I’m recommending it because you said philosophy and it’s basically a series of Platonic dialogues between characters discussing life, the nature of man, morality, ethics, sexuality, power, and much more. I’m pleasantly surprised at how often I find myself deeply invested in the conversations. I think the writer(s) must’ve needed an outlet for their philosophical musings and chose this quirky “lewd” RPG as the medium.
I’ll check it out. I’m very much interested in video games that delve into deep topics that way. Have you ever encountered The Talos Principle series? Fantastic games that do surprisingly accessible treatises on philosophical topics while forcing you to think through pretty mind-blowing puzzles. Highly recommended.
What is a good ruleset for a table that absolutely refuses to read more than an index card of rules but will follow the lead of the referee? Freeform, story-forward, ages 14 to 65? Swords and magic.
Unrelated, what do you think about the various versions of Traveller?
Oh, you need Fate Accelerated. Six stats, five descriptive phrases that define your character (one of which is your character’s “trouble,” giving the GM automatic story hooks) and a smattering of stunts your character can perform, and off you go!
Regarding Traveller, I’ve never had the stomach for it. Me and a group once sat down to create characters, and discovered it was so rules-heavy that by the end of two sessions dedicated to character creation, we still didn’t know for sure that we’d done any of the characters correctly.
You are absolutely correct about FA. I’m reconfiguring my planned next campaign around it. Thank you so much!
My pleasure! And if you’re being the GM, remember to keep track of the character trouble for each character. It’s basically a built-in way to make everything personal for the characters, as well as a mechanic to offer them extra fate points in return for invoking the trouble.
My favorite example is this: Imagine you’ve got Indiana Jones as a player character in your game. His trouble would be, “Snakes… Why’d it have to be snakes?” He gets a fate point when you invoke it (if he accepts), but in return, it guarantees that he’s falling into a pit of snakes. Instant drama!
I’m running a Roll20 campaign for 7 players who are gearing up for a fight with a human who can change size at will.
This is set in the One Piece universe, I assume you’re familiar with it.
I want them to control a giant mecha to fight him on “equal” terms as a final fight.
Got any good RPG systems that might help with that?
Have a lot of players and they are good about following homebrew rules - and I expect this to be a one time mech fight.
I’ll probably add a mechanic for someone to “pilot” the mech and use their Devil Fruit/Haki to affect the entire mech as a full action that gives some sort of stat bonus.
Also btw I love Frieren. It’s so good! The manga is also incredible. Dandadan is fantastic too, and along with TTGL, has inspired this boss fight for me.
What is your relationship with Tolkien and his corpus?
I’ve read Lord of the Rings a few times. And The Hobbit. And his lesser-known works (e.g., Leaf by Niggle, which is just great). And The Silmarillion. And The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (which, honestly, isn’t his best). And I know what an Istari is (and why Gandalf, being a lesser Ainur, is actually so much more than a mere “wizard”). And I know that while they changed the line from “you cannot pass” to “you shall not pass” for dramatic purposes in the movie, the original line subtly says a whole hell of a lot more about who and what Gandalf is and why the Balrog should have actually been shitting itself.
So you might say I’m passingly familiar with it.
Mechanics in nature.
There’s a protein that’s basically a tiny little mobile suite that literally walks along microtubules.
Some bacteria propel themselves with a literal electric motor.
Your ears are more something that belongs under the dashboard of a helicopter than something growing organically… they can literally detect an air-pressure change caused by a pin dropping on the other side of the room, by allowing that pressure to beat on a drum connected to a chain of bones that transmit pressure into a little snail that squirts little jets of fluid over a tiny little field of grass stuck to the inside of the snail shell, and depending on how much grass wiggles, it sends a jolt over to your brain as an interpretation of pitch. AND IT DOESN’T STOP THERE! Connected to that snail are three little hula-hoops made of bone, each oriented to a different plane, and also filled with tiny grass and fluid; and when you move your head along that specific plane, the tiny grass wiggles and that’s how your brain knows which way you’re moving / gives you a perception of balance.
There’s a type of grasshopper with gears in its legs.
I love this shit.
Speaking of interesting sensing capabilities there’s also the sea turtles that can detect magnetic fields, although I don’t think people understand the actual mechanical parts yet
Aperiodic tilings! Just a couple of years ago someone discovered a single tile (down from the set of ~20000 that was first used to prove that aperiodic tiling was even possible) that can completely cover an infinite plane without ever falling into a repeating pattern.
Neat!
Old mechanical things.
The Japanese have a myth called tsukomogami. It’s the idea that things get a soul after 100 years.
And while I don’t believe that’s technically true, per se. It’s fundamentally based on something that I adore, and that’s the fact that mechanical things all age individually and that it’s something that we’ve lost with modern technology.
My go to examples are always typewriters and vintage camera lenses.
Each typewriter will age differently. Different keys will become sticky, it’ll become misaligned in different places. They develop individual personalities as they get older. So much so that forensics can actually pinpoint when a specific typewriter typed a specific note.
In terms of camera lenses it’s much the same thing. Different lenses will wear differently depending on what aperture/focal length, etc… that the photographer uses most often. Mold and discolouration between the glass elements will eventually form a unique look to a specific lense.
It’s magical (to me) and something that I am sad that we are losing with modern consumer technology based on on “throw it away and get a new one”.
Sorry. Longer than I intended. But you asked for it.
I have a lens in that age range, and you are on to something.
Machine spirit 40k lore
I’m super into mechanical watches for the reasons mentioned. Quartz (battery operated), not so much. But I’ve got a growing collection of mechanical watches and they’re some of my favourite possessions. Not because they’re flashy and make me look rich or whatever but because of the mechanisms inside.
