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Article posted on Jul 30

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 30, 2006, 9:47 pm

Current contents of my fire safe:
* Birth certificate
* Social security card
* GPG revocation certificate for my key
* 6 CDs containing Finnix sources (GPL compliance, gotta keep the sources around for 3 years)

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Article posted on Jul 23

I came, I saw, I got wet

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 23, 2006, 10:16 pm

I'm still on an adrenaline rush from whitewater rafting this weekend. It was quite a fun experience!

Friday was the first day was the lower end ("the gorge") of the south fork of the American River, just outside Auburn (near Sacramento). This was probably the most consistently exciting day, with class 3 rapids, and one class 4, Satan's Cesspool.

Saturday was the upper end of the south fork, which had pretty calm sections, separated by class 3 rapids, with the exception of two class 4s, Meatgrinder and Troublemaker. I was actually thrown out of the boat during a shake-up at the end of Meatgrinder, embarrassingly after the "hard" part of the rapid was over.

Today (Sunday) was the full 20-mile run of the middle fork, which was mostly class 4 rapids, with a few exceptions. The day started out with a couple "easy" class 4s (by this point, I had learned when to grab the safety handles to avoid being launched), but within 20 minutes we hit Tunnel Chute. 10 years ago, this rapid was not run by commercial expeditions, and was classified 5+. But after some flooding rearranged some rocks, it is now "safe", but still difficult, and is classified 5-. Basically, the crew and guide line up the raft, then at the last moment, the crew is ordered to drop down to the bottom of the raft (normally you sit on the upper sides of the raft to paddle), where you hold on for dear life while you drop about 8 feet into a chute, get pulled underwater for about 2 seconds, and emerge in front of a manmade tunnel. Thankfully, nobody got ejected. The other large rapid, Ruck-a-Chucky, is a 30-foot drop that used to be class 6 ("unrunnable", several people died trying to go through it), but the flood moved some stuff around and is now 5+. The passengers are unloaded and must climb around a rock path to get to the bottom, while the guide takes the boat over alone, stablilizing himself stomach-down in the middle of the raft. Then we all meet up and continue the rest of the class 4 river.

Despite the temperatures (115F and muggy at the height on Saturday), I had a great time. Some nasty sunburn on my kneecaps, though. I'm not sure about going yearly (there was a group of middle-age women who said they've been doing it for years), but I'll certainly be back somtime in the future.

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Article posted on Jul 20

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 20, 2006, 1:46 pm

modernmechanix, you are SO off my friends list. You just don't treat me with respect. You disappear for days, sometimes weeks at a time, then you come home in a drunken stupor, spewing 35 posts at once, with huge graphics and pages upon pages of text, with no cuts.

I've had it. You used to be fun, but I just don't love you anymore.

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Article posted on Jul 13

Jon Stewart on Ted Stevens and Internet Gambling

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 13, 2006, 3:43 pm

QT, WMV

This started off as BAIN SEED (or OLD MEME, depending on your regional dialect); light lulz, but nothing fancy. However, it soon worked its way up to a bonafied LOL, and about 2/3 of the way through, skyrocketed to a Category 3 ROTFL.

I repeat: We have a Category 3 ROTFL here, people.

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Article posted on Jul 10

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 10, 2006, 11:23 am

10:53:09 up 14666 days, 14:55, 1 user, load average: 2.00, 2.29, 2.66

Awesome.

FYI, rwhod doesn't like it when the uptime jumps by over 40 years. Its failsafe operation seems to be "broadcast flood rwho packets as fast as you can".

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Article posted on Jul 8

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 8, 2006, 7:16 pm

Joan Michel-Lehman, fearing mountain lions, carries air horns on her walks.

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Article posted on Jul 7

No Title

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 7, 2006, 1:57 am

Ever remember an event in a different way than logic dicates? Case in point: In 2004, I watched Once Upon a Time in Mexico in a hotel room in Seattle, from a VHS tape and VCR rented at the Blockbuster next door. However, I am rather convinced yosemite picked it out (it seems like the sort of movie he'd pick out anyway), even though I know for a fact that he wasn't there. In attendance was myself, ghz and his sister, and xi and her brother... but no yosemite.

(xi, did you ever get that VCR rental thing taken care of?)

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Article posted on Jul 4

RE?

• Posted by Ryan Finnie on July 4, 2006, 4:21 pm

RE?, originally uploaded by fo0bar.

NO!

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