Chilling with some SOM

November 8, 2009 12:12 am

What a busy weekend cleaning up the house with Mary.  Slowly I am getting my life back in order after moving for the 3rd time this year.

It feels good to listen to a some Sisters of Mercy, relay with a glass of wine and see what city council has in-store for us next week…

And there it is:

*1562 Authorize Grant Agreement with VOZ: Workers’ Rights Education for $50,000 to operate and maintain their day labor hire site in Portland as approved by Council  (Ordinance)

Good ‘Ol Randy slipping something by in the consent agenda that is politically unpopular.  Now I am not saying that there should not be a Day Labor center… just that the citizens have a right to have a say on this issue.

But enough with city stuff right now.  I have some PERL code to write for Forward Support to do credit card processing with A.net that will collect all the SOS requirements for political contributions.  I kinda look forward to this as it has been some time since I have used some of my code-fu.

Though for those that are really looking for a good time… check out ORESTAR for the new candidate filings… oh how I love transparent government.  Which remnds me of yet another PERL script I need to write for FS.

Emergency Ordinances on the Consent Agenda

October 28, 2009 12:08 pm

One thing I learned on Amand’s campaign that was when looking at the Portland City Council agenda.

Emergency ordinances only get one reading and become effective immediately.  When an item is on the consent agenda it is grouped in with all the items and voted as a block.  I have learned that commissioners rarely look at the consent agenda… unless they want to slip something through.

Take for example this emergency ordinance that will cost the city $35,000

Show me more… »

Cracking a NUT with code

November 18, 2008 9:48 pm

I got the gear that I lent to Amanda’s campaign back and am getting it set up for a project that me and a few friends are doing.  Today was mainly getting the PowerCom KIN-1500AP UPS up and running.  I ended up having to write some code to get the shutdown working properly.

See:

#! /usr/bin/perl
# little script that will wait till batteries are almost dead to power down
# if power comes back before then then NUT is restarted
# min battery level to start shutdown
$min_battery_level = 80;
# seconds to wait between poll of UPS status
$poll_interval = 10;
$upsc_bin = "/bin/upsc";
$logger_bin = "/usr/bin/logger";
$upsname = "black@localhost";
$ups_status = &get_ups_status();
$ups_battery_level = &get_ups_battery_level();
`$logger_bin -t $0 "called by NUT"`;
`$logger_bin -t $0 "UPS_STATUS is $ups_status"`;
`$logger_bin -t $0 "UPS_BATTRY is at $ups_battery_level"`;

while ( &get_ups_battery_level() > $min_battery_level ) {

   ### The UPS is back on line and we can exit
   if ( &get_ups_status() eq 'good' ) {
      `$logger_bin -t $0 "UPS_STATUS is good."`;
      `$logger_bin -t $0 "Restarting NUT and exiting $0"`;
      `/etc/init.d/nut restart`;
      exit 1;
   }
   else {
      foreach ( `$upsc_bin $upsname` ) {
         if ($_ =~ m/ups\.status/) {
            `$logger_bin -t $0 "$_"`;
            $ups_battery_level = &get_ups_battery_level();
            `$logger_bin -t $0 "battery.charge: $ups_battery_level"`;
            sleep $poll_interval;
         }
      }
   }
}
# If we get to this point the battery is really low and we need to shutdownp
`$logger_bin -t $0 "battery.charge is below $min_battery_level"`;
`$logger_bin -t $0 "Shutting system down"`;
`/sbin/shutdown -h -P now`;
########################################
sub get_ups_battery_level() {
   foreach ( `$upsc_bin $upsname` ) {
      if ($_ =~ m/battery\.charge/) {
            $charge = $_;
            $charge =~ s/(.*)(\:\ )(.*)/$3/ ;
            chomp ($charge);
      }
   }
   return $charge;
} #End of sub get_ups_battery_level()

sub get_ups_status() {
   foreach ( `$upsc_bin $upsname` ) {
      if ($_ =~ m/ups\.status/) {
         if ( $_ =~ m/OL/ ) {
            $status = "good";
         }
         else {
            $status = "bad";
         }
      }
   }
   return $status;
} #End of sub get_ups_status()

The CNC machine is working great.  I am still learning the intricacies of CAM and gcode… well that and waiting for the variable speed controller and mill ends to arrive.  I emailed the city to find out the process for selection on the CRC.  This week they are reviewing the applications and the beginning of December is when they will interview.  Jonathan over at Bikeportland.org posted a very telling story of why I feel that Citizen oversight of the police service is necessary:

PSU Cycling Club president Reuben Vyn and Officer Pryce. (Photos: Peter Welte, Story: BikePortland.org)

PSU Cycling Club president Reuben Vyn and Officer Pryce. (Photos: Peter Welte, Story: BikePortland.org)

Our Moon Landing

November 5, 2008 2:06 am

There comes a time in ones life where the events leading up to an event overshadow the event.

Tonight is one.

Obama is President and his vision of unity is our version of the moon landing.  Here in North Portland I hear fireworks and horns honking.  More so I feel the a weight lifted off of the the shoulders of Americans.  Now our time is upon us to to show what are willing do to sacrifice to solve our problems.

This day makes me smile in a long time for my Country.

CRC application is in

November 1, 2008 2:21 pm

Yesterday I biked down to City Hall to turn in my application to be on the CRC.  While on the steps talking to D on my cell phone Les was walking in.  I only had time to say ‘Hi’, but it was really good to see him.

On the way home I stopped by Free Geek to get some shielded cable and DB25 connectors for the CNC machine.  Free Geek is such a wonderful resource and maturation of Open Source.  It was nice to see all the Ubuntu CD’s gone and the thrift store full of people recycling.

I the rest of the night soldering a protective circuit for the limit switches and getting the pinouts right for the shielded cable.  I was listening to Countdown on MSNBC with Micheal Moore really resonated with me.  People keep their jobs because of health insurance.  I have known many people that loath their jobs and\or employers… yet keep their job only because of health insurance.  His premis was that this stifles people by locking them in a job that they do not like and away from occupations that they could excel in.

Pully Power

October 23, 2008 1:01 am

Today was really good.  I feel as tough I have got the garage all set up.  It feels like a really work shop and now that the computer with the real time kernel and wifi is up and running.  It is on to the the finishing the CNC machine.  The belt drive system is so cool and takes a time to fine tune… but I did build it all myself.

It was really cool to explain to my housemate what drives me.  I can see a cool plan.

And I am Back

October 20, 2008 11:17 pm

Wow what a really busy summer!  Which is why I have not posted much on this.

The most driving things for me right now is filling out my application to volunteer on the Citizen Review Committee.  It is vital that government be legitimate to citizens.  Having citizen oversight is essential for our Democracy to flourish… no only if there were public hearings on the Wall Street bailout happening right now.

In the geek realm I am building a CNC machine for a project that will most likely use some cool open hardware.  It feels so good to work with my hands and tools after years of doing Systems Administration.  I very much feel as though I am in a transitional period of my life into the political realm.  I still enjoy and believe that technology is available to do great things for people… but only if the technology is open and affordable to all.

Hard at work

July 21, 2008 10:09 pm

I created a blog to write about all that I do. Alas, I have been working so hard on other sites that this one gets neglected.

Right now I am busy volunteering to get NoColumbiaRiverCrossing.org up and running. I am very happy with how it is progressing and look forward to the site opening on Aug. 3, 2008.

The reason for volunteering with this site is to get citizens more involved in a project that will impact them and their children. I feel that ODOT and WDOT are not playing fair with the public process for the new bridge.

Now back to work!

First time at a City Hall meeting

July 9, 2008 9:33 pm

As I wait to give testimonies about the Columbia River Crossing, I ponder why people don’t people go to City Council meetings.

Could it be that as the commissioners take their seat one gets the feeling that they have already made up their minds to what they are going to vote. I have a feeling of despair not that my voice does not matter… but more so those that are not being heard because they can not get the time off of work to come Downtown on a weekday and wait hours to give a 2 minuet speech.

It is nice to see citizens speaking, though at the same time the lobbyist are out in full force with their well honed messages.

My time comes and I am nervous and I hear my voice quiver. Though I still look the commissioners in the eye and try as hard as I can to stick to what I want to relay:

Fish:

As a new commissioner I ask that you define yourself by voting to take more time to listen to the residents of Portland and hear their needs for affordable housing in this city, as this is one, if not the, main contributers to the congestion across the I-5 bridge. A larger bridge to affordable housing in another state is not my idea of solving this issue.

Leonard:

Please, more time for Portlanders to be well informed on this issue and preserve what makes our city special.

Saltzman:

Thank you for raising vital questions to this project and protecting our ability to express our concerns.

Mayor Potter:

Please give the the citizens more time for us to get current data so that we can discuss the implications of a project of this magnitude with our friends and neighbors.

More so, represent Portland as an Oregonian, who understands that at these uncertain times a new bridge is not the solution. Instead build a bridge with the rest of Oregon by allowing transportation funds to go to the rest of the state.

By voting “No to this Resolution” you will be able to do something very few Portland mayors have done… send a message to the rest of Oregon that we know they exist and we want to do what is best for the state as a whole.

All:

By creating something new… you destroy something old. Before you vote for a new bridge please take time to have an in depth dialog with residents the “old” Portland we have worked so hard to build is worth the cost of this bridge.

Though I do think Amy Ruiz of the Portland Mercury did a wonderful job summing up all those that testified and captured me pretty well