I Visited Niland, The Salton Sea, and Slab City.

Niland CA - Beach Sunset

I traveled to The Salton Sea to meet some of the alternative communities and see the incredible artwork coming from the area.  Also it’s a great place to get in some drone flights.

Niland CA - flooded streets Niland CA - Art Niland CA - Beach Niland CA - Beach Art Niland CA - Beach Art Niland CA - Beach Art Niland CA - Beach Art - Phone Booth of Love Niland CA - Beach Art - Bus Stop Niland CA - ArtworkNiland CA - Artwork and be3n credit: https://instagram.com/Christi.lugtu
Outside of the town of Niland sits the remains of a Camp Dunlap (commissioned in 1942).  All that remain are the concrete slabs that give Slab City its name.  Since the 1980s people have been camping there for free.  Now a few permanent encampments and even a few event venues exist.  There is no water or electricity or any other government services.  There is an eBike rental place, an internet cafe, a Hostel, a Library, and the East Jesus art exhibition.

Continue reading “I Visited Niland, The Salton Sea, and Slab City.”

My final visit to the Encino Avenue bridge.

Encino Avenue bridge demolition

After reading of its impending destruction, i was hoping to pay the Encino Avenue pedestrian overpass a final visit.  Unfortunately visits were discouraged. The messaging was a bit mixed, as the fence was literally tied up with string.  i took pictures without trespassing.  The 101 will shutdown between White Oak and Burbank over the weekend for the bridge’s demolition.

Encino Avenue bridge demolition - Do Not EnterEncino Avenue bridge demolition - Tied up with string

Camarillo Airshow 2022

camarillo airshow 2022

A saw some great acrobatic flying including a helicopter doing loops and barrel rolls.  The sky was full of Jets, skydivers, simulated strafing runs, a water drop, and so much more.  On the ground i was able to check out a lot of incredible machines including a jetpack and aquatic aircraft called the ICON.  There was a STEM hanger where kids could operate basketball playing robots.

camarillo airshow 2022 - coordinated flightcamarillo airshow 2022 - autonomous helicopter
camarillo airshow 2022 - classic trucks and Corvettescamarillo Airshow 2022 - custom car

Flipper software is coming along nicely!

Flipper with wifi-dev board scanning APs

Thanks to the exceptional work by justcallmekoko, RogueMaster, and many others there is now native flipper support for the unofficial Marauder firmware for the Flipper dev-board.  Marauder is firmware for the ESP-32 chipset full of security tools for bluetooth and wifi. The Flipper dev board doesn’t support bluetooth, but the wifi tools work and are usable from the flipper itself.  I cannot wait to see what comes next.

Flipper Marauder Demo

My garden keeps growing!

Home Assistant: Garden Panel

I’ve kept working on my garden. i have this sweet Home Assistant panel.  I am still working on automation, but integration is coming along nicely. I am using Home Assistant as my platform.  Most of my garden sensors are command line sensors.  I even figured out what i was doing wrong with command line switches (using capital letters).  Now that I have had my camera in place long enough, I have a pretty decent test time lapse.

**  warning flashing lights **

download time lapse

Live cam

Status update:

mama musubi 1

Mama Musubi  is something I’ve loved from my farmers market for years.  Unfortunately it was shuddered during the pandemic and still has not returned to my market.  They did open up in a shared kitchen of sorts in Pasadena called Kitchen United.  It was to this location that my desperation would bring me.  The spot is mostly for delivery drivers and doesn’t have much for customer service.  The menu is a little different from what was offered and entered by app or kiosk.  It was amazing to enjoy after the long absence, but not exactly the same thing i was craving.  Maybe i’ll try them at one of the other markets where they still operate.


mama musubi 5

mama musubi 3 mama musubi 2