I've been working with, playing with, thinking about, building, or demonstrating the wonders of technology for decades. I am a freelance consultant in Los Angeles supporting some of its most creative residents and businesses. This is a writing exercise and in truth I don't know if I will lean more toward the technical or the bizarre. Either way, expect to see some technical writing here in the near future. This is just a place for me to ramble, rant, rave, or reticulate. Got something to say about it? leave a comment.
Status update:
Most of the people i follow have already departed twitter. It hasn’t been useful for a while. now, it’s not even amusing. I’ve moved to @be3n@mastodon.social. I will still syndicate posts from this site to twitter and the twitter feed will also remain (for now). I’ve already added Mastodon syndication and feed. (assuming this posts makes it there). Exciting.
I’ve been using Ubiquiti equipment since the original PowerStation. I took it to the next level with Unifi. I slowly acquired more and more equipment until their controller software had such an incredible sight into my network and it’s workings. An insight that makes maintenance and troubleshooting effortless. Moving from the USG Pro to UDM Pro i immediately enjoy the faster speeds and the fancy touch screen panel. What i don’t like is it’s complete lack of integration with non-local controllers and the missing features in its switch component.
As you can see from this image, i am a fan of link aggregation. It is an inexpensive way to maximize existing infrastructure and improve network performance. Unfortunately, the 8 ports on the UDM are currently incapable of this feature. I was hoping to remove one of the switches from my closet as i move links to the UDM, but it was not to be. This seems like a serious oversight for a Pro branded unit. I am hoping they fix this with a future update, but will not be holding my breath.
Black Friday deals bring about RAID expansions, hand me down drives lead to more expansions. The 4TBs i pulled out of service had almost 6 years on them. Still passed SMART!
Filming the mural that is called, “The Great wall of Los Angeles.” i crashed my drone by being a terrible pilot (i need more practice in tight spaces}). I had to fish my DJI Mini 2 out of the LA River. good thing it crashed onto a dry patch and suffered minimal damage.
The Great Wall of Los Angeles is a mural on one wall of a one mile stretch of the LA River. If you don’t know that, it is the flood drainage system of Los Angeles. There was a river at one point, but now it is a concrete riverbank accented with chain link.
At first i thought i just needed to flip it over and i could liftoff. alas, i had to construct an elaborate fishing pole of entangling loops attached to a telescoping dusting pole i had. Just out of reach, it took nearly 30 minutes and countless attempts to ensnare my little mini.
The look on my face when i finally recovered my drone
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.
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.
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.
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.