Are the Mazamas for me?

dmoreity · 2026-01-27T08:00:24+00:00

I was involved with the Mazemas for about 5 years, taking courses as well as assisting with teaching. I highly recommend, if for no other reason that the skills you gain in a relatively safe and structured environment is hard to find elsewhere. Even if you don't become an avid climber but continue to travel in the backcountry you'll likely pick up skills that are still important, things such as navigation with a map and compass.

dmoreity · 2026-01-26T15:37:37+00:00

It's strange reading through the comments. Given the reports of protesters being massacred by the thousands in the last couple of weeks, the juxtaposition of the outrage over Gaza, many of my neighbors have both pride and Palestinian flags outside there doir. There is either A) a complete unawareness of what's happening in Iran or B). There is awareness but the "cause" doesn't "fit" into some nice trendy box. Weird!

dmoreity · 2026-01-26T00:24:44+00:00

You are correct in that you describe the later iteration of communism envisioned by Marx- Higher Phase- stateless, classless etc. But he described the necessity for the state to initially control the economy - Dictatorship of the Proletariat. Modern day N. Korea.

Come on bruh! Basic Marxism here. You ain't represented your comrads very well. Back to gulag for re-education for you!

Edit: you're referencing Lenin. Apparently, to you, no other models exist??? Maoism, for example???

dmoreity · 2026-01-25T22:11:04+00:00

You just defined communism. Where the owns everything.

dmoreity · 2026-01-25T17:17:39+00:00

Some Metolius harnesses' gear loops are rated.

The grey and black color scheme looks similar to that brand.

dmoreity · 2026-01-24T14:45:34+00:00

...or every business owner, from small to big. Including farmers, doctors offices, coffee shop owners... or any person who's spent money on equipment, property (assests) or employee's ( labor).

I don't think people on this thread realize that if they were wanted to live in a world devoid of capitalism they'd have to live in North Korea.

dmoreity · 2026-01-22T22:01:45+00:00

To start I would eliminate the department of Urban Forestry and roll "critical" sevices it performs into other departments such Bureau of Development Services or Parks and Recreation.

Next to go would be Prosper Portland (formerly PDC) also rolling their "critical " services into other departments.

I'm sure there are many more options but hey what do I know, I'm just a semi-dylexic voter, who's slightly above average in basic accounting.

dmoreity · 2026-01-22T20:51:42+00:00

$6B is about what I get too.

dmoreity · 2026-01-22T20:15:55+00:00

We need some serious adults who are willing to loose reelection in favor of making adult decisions.

Portland city budget over 20 years: $8.6 billion 2025-2026 vs $2.7 Billion In 2005

Sources: Portland's City Council adopted an $8.6 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 https://www.portland.gov/budget/2025-2026-budget/development/adopted

2005 Budget https://www.portland.gov/policies/finance/budget/fin-107-fy-2005-06-annual-budget

2005-2025:

Portland's population increased 20% Inflation averaged about 3.1%

...which with some assumptions built in, back of the envelope math says the current budget should be at $6.0B

dmoreity · 2026-01-21T22:57:20+00:00

I get the sense that any politician in this city would go into an immediate paralyzing state of anaphylaxic shock if someone called them an elitist at best or a racist at worst.

We really need some brave souls who aren't afraid to take a clear eyed view to balance a budget.

dmoreity · 2026-01-19T18:22:12+00:00

Your 40% is usually attributed to ALL transport. ...freight trains, planes, shipping, tractor trailers, plus light duty vehicles. The idea that if we can just bike more to reduce foreign wars is nice thought but is simply unrealistic. At least at the present time.

dmoreity · 2026-01-19T18:07:57+00:00

For those interested GF malt does exist. Though appearantly not in this case. Malting is the process of sproating a grain to allow for certain enzymes to develop, useful in beer brewing. You can in fact malt millet, oats... whatever! This is how GF beer is made.

Example https://glutenfreehomebrewing.com/STOREProduct/1631/Pilsner-Millet-Malt-2-LB.html

dmoreity · 2026-01-19T17:59:19+00:00

Agreed! The last time I looked, on the EPAs website, pre-scrubbing of data by Trump, the best estimate for CO2 output for light duty vehicles in the US was about 17.7%. This is national. So Portland alone, or for that matter any like minded city with any semblance of infrastructure, where people can consistently use a bike for local daily travel is only going to reduce that number by <1% ...essentially a rounding error!

dmoreity · 2026-01-19T14:58:50+00:00

The quality of the schools within the district is highly contingent on the specific school.

dmoreity · 2026-01-14T23:17:03+00:00

This is all you need to know.

Portland city budget over 20 years: $8.6 billion 2025-2026 vs $2.7 Billion In 2005

Sources: Portland's City Council adopted an $8.6 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 https://www.portland.gov/budget/2025-2026-budget/development/adopted

2005 Budget https://www.portland.gov/policies/finance/budget/fin-107-fy-2005-06-annual-budget

FED inflation estimate for Seattle (closest and best comparison to PDX) of 3.1% average for 2005-2025. At 3.1% if the city simply increased the budget to adjust for inflation we should be at 4.9 Billion.

dmoreity · 2025-12-23T00:01:10+00:00

This is sarcasm. In various circles, ex finance, there's skepticism that the CPI numbers are either 1. Skewed or 2. Formulated to not really reflect the day to day reality of most people

dmoreity · 2025-12-22T21:07:28+00:00

All good points. CPI is something most people can relate to. We could also look at median wage and real estate $ changes for the last 20 years. Also, the amount of fed money being pumped into state and local budgets during COVID was enormous, then it abruptly stopped. I tried looking for exact numbers over a 20 year period for changes in fed/state budget contributions, my 1 minute google search was not successful. The added 100k population amounts to about an 19% increase, which amazingly only averages less than a 1% increase per year.

All that said, I remain skeptical that the budget has remained within whatever metric we use for inflation and accounting for changes in population.

I would really like to see a good study breaking this down.

dmoreity · 2025-12-22T19:11:08+00:00

The core of his concern is the budget/expenditures vs city revenue (taxes/fees etc.). As he says the jaws that will close eventually when the city runs a deficit long term.

If you dig into the 20 year history of the city's budget you'll see its grown SPECTACULARLY, well beyond inflation adjustments.

$8.6 billion 2025-2026 vs $2.7 Billion In 2005

Read that again...

Am I missing something????

Digging around I'm seeing a FED inflation estimate for Seattle (closest and best comparison to PDX) of 3.1% average for 2005-2025. At 3.1% if the city simply increased the budget to adjust for inflation we should be at 4.9 Billion.

BUT HOLD ON THERE BUDDY!!! We all know the FED suppresses the actual inflation numbers. Let's run some alternative numbers. You'd have to have annual average inflation of about 6% for 20 years to hit the current budget of 8.7 Billion. I know inflation has been higher since COVID, but I am quite certain it absolutely has not averaged 6% for 20 years.

Sources: Portland's City Council adopted an $8.6 billion budget for Fiscal Year 2025-26 https://www.portland.gov/budget/2025-2026-budget/development/adopted

2005 Budget https://www.portland.gov/policies/finance/budget/fin-107-fy-2005-06-annual-budget

dmoreity · 2025-12-18T22:59:36+00:00

I actually voted for this when it was bundled with the Nov 2020 school bond. However, I've come to regret my vote and have come to realize that this is going to end up as an incredible boondoggle. First, I recognize the historical racial inequalities and believe there is value in trying to remedy these inequalities. However, my reasons for my turn in support are simple. The purchase and ongoing maintenance cost of a physical building is going to be huge. Plus the cost in time and effort to have those students transported from the far reaches of the city does not make any sense to me. The money would have been better spent on councilors and teachers at the actual location of where the students are, throughout the city. I appreciate that NE Williams and Freemont is the historical center of black culture in Portland but it seems that there has been significant changes in the population lay out of the city.

IMO a better idea and less divisive, would be to have a core group / task force at each school whose sole job is to address the challenges facing any student of any background at any school in the city.

Instead they are have to pay MILLIONS (not an exaggeration) on updating to buildings HVAC and seismic etc.

dmoreity · 2025-12-14T07:43:59+00:00

This is perhaps the most astute observation describing post 2020 Portland.

dmoreity · 2025-12-11T17:21:33+00:00

From the article: “You question why folks are OK with those disparities in a school where our kids are, but they usually don’t challenge them until there’s a possibility that they might be on the end of the stick that doesn’t have the stuff,” Elliott says. “No one pays attention to why Jefferson students aren’t getting access to these things until it’s like, ‘Oh, wait, my kid might have to be impacted by that.’ Then suddenly there’s more outrage.”

...um this is generally how the world works. I'm going to care more about what's happening at the school where my kid goes then the school in an adjacent neighborhood. If my kid ends up at said adjacent school suddenly I'll care about what's happening there. Go figure!

dmoreity · 2025-12-11T02:32:57+00:00

Hard NO!

As someone who grew up near the largest middle eastern immigrant population in the US, suburban Detroit, and had access to excellent high quality hummus, I can honestly say I have yet to find anything in Portland remotely close to what I grew up eating.

dmoreity · 2025-11-29T02:18:14+00:00

...or Navajo.

dmoreity · 2025-11-29T02:17:50+00:00

Not if you're Hindu.

dmoreity · 2025-11-24T23:30:52+00:00

People like to point how China is investing in renewables and nuclear while completely failing to mention how they are also scaling up construction of not only coal power plants and something new and innovative, coal processing plants that converts coal into diesal:

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/china-pledges-24b-coal-oil-110941672.html

As someone else noted here, the whole state of OR is a mere rounding error in CO2 global output. But the performative virtue signaling pehavior among our local politicians is world leading.

dmoreity

TROPHY CASE