Article posted on Oct 27

Happy... umm, birthday?

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 27, 2004, 9:47 pm

I just realized that I've been using Linux for over 10 years.

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Article posted on Oct 26

Warning: May contain politics. Do not read while operating heavy machinery.

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 26, 2004, 3:31 pm

"51 percent of [Bush's] adherents believe he supports the Kyoto treaty"

Speaking of comedy, Fahrenhype 9/11 is on its way here, and I will be screening it when it arrives. Expect popcorn.

Why did I buy this, you ask? I like to think I'm the opposite of hunter hale, who wrote a review in IMDB. (Scroll down, it's toward the bottom. It used to be the main review on the IMDB title page, FYI.)

One final note, you do NOT have to see Moore's "R" rated film in order to get something out of this one!

That seems to be a recurring theme for "reviews" of this movie. "Don't bother seeing the movie this movie is bashing. Instead, take US at face value. These are not the droids you are looking for."

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Article posted on Oct 26

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 26, 2004, 11:17 am

I want to buy/make a t-shirt that says "Greedo shot first."

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Article posted on Oct 25

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 25, 2004, 1:41 pm

If you know me, you know that I fight for life-or-death things like educating the world that Red Hat is two words or a kilobyte is 1000 bytes, just like a kilometer is 1000 meters, and a kilogram is 1000 grams. Well, I was digging around this site (very cool site, check it out), and found http://thedailywtf.com/archive/2004/09/07/1587.aspx">this comment, which sums it up rather well:

So when I says "kilobyte", you can't be sure how many bytes I mean; and when I say "kibibyte", you know exactly what I mean, but I sound like an idiot.

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Article posted on Oct 25

Ignore this if you have never lived in Reno

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 25, 2004, 12:25 pm

I hate traffic. I love driving, but hate traffic (which I guess is the logical opposite of "driving"). So why did I get an apartment by the university, which is a moderate drive (but lots of traffic) from south meadows? Ehh, I like the area and my new apartment, and I didn't think the traffic would annoy me too much. But it does. Every afternoon, as I'm creeping up 395 at 2mph, I get Mambo No. 8 from the beginning of Office Space in my head. Let's take a minute to recap my commute history:

* NetNet, Green Bay: 1.5-mile straight-shot drive to work, walk in a pinch. Doesn't matter, since Green Bay doesn't have traffic.
* Kefta, Richmond to San Francisco: Drive ~3 miles to street parking 1 mile away from BART station, walk to station, get on train, sleep during 45-minute train ride, walk 2 blocks to work.
* Redundant, Southwest to South Meadows Reno: Drive ~3 miles to work, mostly empty backroads.
* Twelve Horses, University to South Meadows Reno: Drive 10 miles through crappy freeways filled with crappier drivers to work.

See, I was pretty well set in my other setups. As a result, I have a few suggestions to the city for making my life easier...

fo0bar's Guide to Fixing Reno's Commute

* McCarran: Reno needs an auxiliary freeway. The McCarran loop project was supposed to allievate that need, but making several roads into a "loop" doesn't work when you have intersections every few feet. Rip out McCarran and turn it into a real freeway, with exits and stuff. That'll never happen, but it needs to be done.
* Sparks: Tactical nuclear strikes, but again, probably not going to happen. Acceptable alternative: Tear down the Nugget so you can actually widen 80. My recommendation is to take the entire staff out for drinks, get them sloshed, and set the charges while they're still stumbling for a taxi at the bar.
* 395 N to 80 W: Yes, clover leaf exits are still stupid. No, adding another lane won't help. Plus, get rid of the Glendale exit so you have more than 6 inches to merge into the correct lane.
* 80 E to 395 S: Again, get rid of Glendale so you have more than 6 inches of merging space. That'll help the morning back-up that goes all the way back to Sacramento.
* 395 N, bowl to N McCarran: I don't know what you have planned there, but it's going to fail. Seriously.
* N Sierra: Not really related to anything, but lower the speed limit down to 25 or 30. It's impossible to go 35 on N Sierra... During the day, there are always pedestrians crossing, and at night you can't go that fast because you're looking for crossing pedestrians.

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Article posted on Oct 24

"Because I can."

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 24, 2004, 11:36 pm

Clickey.

No, I'm not actually doing routing through the U1 (the Linksys WRT54G is redirecting port 80 to the U1), but I could.

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Article posted on Oct 15

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 15, 2004, 1:06 am

Pics of my new apartment, sans most furniture (which will be moved Sunday).

Also, turns out my rodent, l33t, is actually photogentic.

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Article posted on Oct 11

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 11, 2004, 9:06 am

When I was a kid, whenever I saw a UPS truck driving down my street or stopping at my house, I would get excited, thinking it was something for me. Likewise, if I ordered something, I would check the mailbox every day, even if I knew it would take "6-8 weeks for delivery".

That spirit has never faded. In fact, the internet has made it worse. On wednesday, I bought a Kill A Watt passthrough wattage meter. I got 2nd-day UPS delivery on sale, which means it would (somewhat) reliably arrive today. But that doesn't matter. I must have checked the UPS status page a dozen times since the order was shipped. And this morning, during the Running of the UPS Trucks[0x01], I thought to myself, "one of these trucks has my meter on it."

Sure, it's just a wattage meter that'll get only limited use after I use it for my next project[0x02], but it's still an undelivered order, and I must have it NOW.

[0x01] Most mornings (if I leave at the right time), as I turn onto 395 south, I see a sea of UPS trucks, spewing south from the Sparks distribution center. It's fun to look in all directions and see brown trucks.
[0x02] Now that I have a real apartment and will be paying for my own electricity again, Operation See What Uses The Most Power and Eliminate It has begun. The wattage meter will help, but I've already made a few changes. For example, did you know those stand-up halogen lamps use 300 watts bulbs? Yeesh!

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Article posted on Oct 9

America, FUCK YEAH!

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 9, 2004, 9:48 pm

As your attorney, I advise you to see Team America: World Police as soon as it is released in your area.

I saw the sneak preview showing tonight. This is one of those few "laughing all the way through the movie, laugh till you cry, laugh till your jaws hurt" movies.

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Article posted on Oct 9

Where should I live?

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on October 9, 2004, 4:45 pm

I now have a new, real apartment. It's in the same complex where ghz et al lived (sorry, I'm getting too lazy to list all the people who lived in that apartment... hell, I lived there for a few weeks)... In fact, same layout and orientation, except it's downstairs instead of upstairs. (I keep looking around and thinking "wait, why am I in ghz's apartment?")

Anyways, I now realize that I never saw the layout of the master bedroom, and I didn't bother getting a tour before I signed the lease. The master bedroom layout is... funky, to say the least. Now I'm trying to decide which bedroom to live in, and which one to rent out (maybe, possibly, in the future sometime). When you consider the bedroom+closet size (both have walk-in closets), they are nearly the same square footage, but each one has issues. Here are some pros and cons:

Master Bedroom
Pros
* Bedroom itself is larger (161 vs 132 sqft)
* Private bathroom
Cons
* Closet is smaller (30.5 vs 63.75 sqft) and awkwardly laid out
* No closet shelving (see other pros)
* Bathroom vanity is tiny and has no drawers

Other Bedroom
Pros
* Closet is 2x the size of the master bedroom's
* Closet has built-in shelving and has a great place next to it for my dresser
* Bathroom is much larger, has drawers, etc
Cons
* Smaller main bedroom (12x11sqft), queen size bed may be slightly cramped
* Bathroom isn't private, it's across the hall
* In fact, the vanity area doesn't even have a door
* Every time I look in the closet, I remember that there are people crazy enough to sleep in there (you know who you are!)

I'm leaning more toward taking the other bedroom. Though we'll see once I get the bed moved in. As usual, it's poll time!

(LiveJournal Poll #364031)

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