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<title>Blogging the River</title><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/index.html</link><description>Aventures&#x2c; thoughts&#x2c; politics</description><dc:language>en</dc:language><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><dc:rights>Copyright 2006 Morgan Giddings</dc:rights><dc:date>2007-09-30T03:12:07-04:00</dc:date><admin:generatorAgent rdf:resource="http://www.realmacsoftware.com/" />
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<lastBuildDate>Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:21:25 -0400</lastBuildDate><item><title>Global warming doesn&#x27;t matter&#x2a;</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Politics</category><dc:date>2007-09-30T03:12:07-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/3bf7ba1eb7f89e234c406526211a059d-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/3bf7ba1eb7f89e234c406526211a059d-14.html#unique-entry-id-14</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Because I think the human race&ndash;and in particular, the USA&ndash;face several threats far more immediate than the 30-50 year timespan it might take for global warming to play out and become a serious threat to major portions of the human population.


...While there are a million an uncountable number of ways the future could play out, when there is a highly interconnected system that has multiple weak points and instabilities, it is worth considering some of the very possible scenarios these could lead to (i.e. extreme events, or Black Swans in Taleb's language).


...If When the sudden, widespread realization occurs that oil is becoming scarce, countries, companies, and individuals are all likely to try to hoard whatever they can - exacerbating the shock and potentially sending prices up quickly and well beyond a 3X increase from current prices.  

...While lots of people argue that human ingenuity will find a solution to the problem, if the solution requires widespread deployment of new infrastructure (e.g. hydrogen or electric powered transport), that's going to be very hard to do after oil has peaked and economies are collapsed.  

...I am sure the latter is true, but I also now think that there is a deeper motivation that relates to Cheney's near paranoiac personality: he is truly afraid of what will happen in the US when oil runs out, and so he is on a mission to procure more.


...If there are history books remaining in the future, it seems likely they will note Bush and Cheney as the ones who tipped the US into its ultimate destruction by initiating this wasteful war and setting us up to be strangled by our addiction to oil.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Italy bike trip&#x2c; part 2</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Travel</category><dc:date>2007-09-25T18:26:37-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/5877790baefb7e5376e1bba7179ff097-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/5877790baefb7e5376e1bba7179ff097-13.html#unique-entry-id-13</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Well, that trip seems like ancient history... but if you want to see us on our folding bikes touring around Tuscany, Italy, here you go:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/mcgurme/sets/72157600056717449/


Enjoy!
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Followup on &#x22;bike snobs&#x22;</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Transportation</category><dc:date>2007-09-19T19:11:29-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/734e4dd53edd0696d646ed5a3427adeb-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/734e4dd53edd0696d646ed5a3427adeb-12.html#unique-entry-id-12</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I think it's interesting to note that the business which prompted my rant about "bike snobs" has gone out of business lately.


Perhaps being a bike snob is not so profitable after all!
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Xtracycle is cool</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Transportation</category><dc:date>2007-09-19T18:34:03-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/6e6553661f393f991f6cc922895af63b-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/6e6553661f393f991f6cc922895af63b-11.html#unique-entry-id-11</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[While there are many bikes that fill the "recreational" category, and a small number that fill the "utilitarian" category (such as the Dutch "Bakfietsen"), this is the first bike to truly fill both categories.


...The problem is, I run into many people who want to begin biking to work more, but the barriers they face are huge: 1. ...  I've run into a plethora of people who ask me about the electric assist on my bike, and as soon as I tell them I had to "do it myself" they give up on that idea.  

...Study participants who reported moderate or high levels of physical activity were less likely to die from cardiovascular disease or from any other cause than less-active adults, the researchers report in the April issue of Diabetes Care.   These active individuals included those whose occupation afforded them some type of exercise, including standing, walking or lifting; those whose daily commute involved walking or cycling; and those who participated in light or heavy gardening, running, swimming or other exercise for at least three to four hours during their leisure time.


...The reason I titled the post "Xtracycle is cool" is because it is one of the few bike-related inventions in the past 10 years that might start to put a crack in the problem of the "bikes as toys" perception.  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Bike snobs</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Politics</category><dc:date>2007-05-08T19:44:50-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/345204793eed5b0854daa0a2fdf5d80b-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/345204793eed5b0854daa0a2fdf5d80b-9.html#unique-entry-id-9</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Presently I run the gamut from Sports Utility Bicycle (see picture) all the way to light-weight road machine, with a folding bike, a singlespeed, and a hand-built hardtail Fat Chance Yo Eddy thrown in the mix.


...I asked them if they can have a custom stem made, and whether they would also do a quick check of my fit on the bike before an upcoming race.  

...Biking is more than just having the latest/greatest techno-gizmo-frame-material so that I can eek out that extra 1% of wattage in order to improve my time by 30 seconds in the local time trial. (not to mention spending $10k on it and having it be essentially "disposable")  In fact, who gives a crap? 

...Is it cheating to save 70 miles per week of driving, being able to carry my daughter to and from daycare, pick up groceries, carry office supplies, and generally do anything a car could do at a fraction of the cost or environmental impact?  ...  In fact it was my commuting on this bike alone that enabled me to do a recent metric century women's ride, with no training whatsoever, and finish with the very fastest of the women (on a cheapo $500 road bike no less that bike snobs just love to laugh at - until I pass them).


...Let's start a movement of real people with real bikes, who like to ride them, and who don't have to have the latest carbon nanotube microbore scandium titanium hubbibitybub to enjoy their ride!]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Italy Bike Trip&#x2c; part 1</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Travel</category><dc:date>2007-04-08T15:56:18-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/38a9a02b168d6a9cc699a84f370b772c-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/38a9a02b168d6a9cc699a84f370b772c-8.html#unique-entry-id-8</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[This allowed us to pack the bikes into suitcases that are airline legal (such as the Samsonite F'Lite pictured below), or nearly enough so that there was no extra charge for bringing them.  

...Our itinerary was 10 days, starting from Florence and ambling around through the hill country, then a bit of time at the coast, carrying all our gear and doing everything on our own.  ...  We used Lonely Planet's Cycling Italy as the primary guide for bike trips, and though we did several of the routes, we also did some ad-hoc routes that worked out just fine.    The book is pretty good, though I'd say with a fully loaded folding bike, the hills of Tuscany were a bit more of a challenge than indicated by the guide.  ...  We found that about 60k of Tuscan hills (along with some stops for sightseeing) was our limit for a day with the loaded folding bikes.  


...On my bike, I had a rear seatpost rack made by Topeak that carried two panniers: an old Madden pack on the right, and an Arkel Overdesigns Commuter bag with the computer suspension removed (this is an awesome pack!).  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>My Electric Bike</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Geek Stuff</category><dc:date>2006-11-22T22:23:45-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/dbc2e45e7dc1002e3d053415c2c72b7f-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/dbc2e45e7dc1002e3d053415c2c72b7f-7.html#unique-entry-id-7</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[But having done a lot of searching on the web lately to get info about how people have their bikes configured, who knows, this might be useful to someone for me to share a bit about electric biking.


This is my second electric bike - the first was a Zap (company now defunct in the US), which used a friction roller against the rear tire for the drive.  ...  The kit was formerly installed on a handmade Fat Chance Yo Eddy, but I finally decided to fix up the Yo Eddy as a hardtail trail bike, and save it from the abuses of commuting.


...I'll restrain myself on the snide comments, excepting to say that I've seen this person around town many times, only once with a bike (whereas I am nearly always seen with my bike).  

...This might apply in the rare case where one commutes up a very big/twisty hill, and after using the battery on the way up wishes to recharge it on the way back down, while providing some braking for the bike. ...  Maybe if electric bikes one day rival the demand of electric/hybrid cars, there will be a large enough investment in the technology to make this practical, but presently, I don't miss it.
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Why I decided to change servers and drop .mac</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Geek Stuff</category><dc:date>2006-04-23T20:54:38-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/91325fc5857cbdf498d8e4c0b6fb2232-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/91325fc5857cbdf498d8e4c0b6fb2232-6.html#unique-entry-id-6</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[Well, after about 6 years using the .mac service (a web hosting service run by Apple Computer), I've decided to ditch it.  ...  And it doesn't hurt that it has some great programs available for it now, such as the one I am using to write this blog, RapidWeaver.  

...Fortunately, I've found a potential alternative with MySync, which uses OS X Tiger's built in Sync Services to sync multiple machines in a master/client configuration (one host has to be a master).  ...  And, in terms of having hard remote hard drive space for backups, let's just say that with a ~5 TB RAID array at work, there is plenty of server space (for work stuff, of course).


...And the premium for the Apple option is steep - $99 a year for .mac, plus $79 for iLife - and they never offer upgrade deals, so I assume I would be paying another $79 for iLife '07.  $179 a year is too much.  ...  Now, clearly, this setup is not as easy to use as .mac, but, hey, I don't need the handholding.  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Cheoah survey</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Kayaking</category><dc:date>2006-04-18T22:35:00-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/5b88f16cf831c3fe2a2f5094de67b2e0-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/5b88f16cf831c3fe2a2f5094de67b2e0-5.html#unique-entry-id-5</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[For all you paddlers out there, there is a new survey put out by AW to assess people's opinions of the Cheoah and the release flows that have been made so far.    Please take the time to fill it out.    Here is the information.


This heads up is courtesy of Tom Okeefe. ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Tom&#x27;s Cheoah trip report</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Kayaking</category><dc:date>2006-04-16T20:34:34-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/a801b0c16cf7658926ba69f7948d781f-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/a801b0c16cf7658926ba69f7948d781f-4.html#unique-entry-id-4</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The owner is a County Commissioner who provided strong support for restoring the river and providing recreational opportunities and through some slick interpretation of the local regulations he managed to snag a liquor license in what is otherwise a dry county (rumor was that because he has a tennis court he can call his lodge a "club").


...Over the days of our meeting on Thursday and Friday I would look out at the river (which you can see from the dining room at the lodge) and it was just a pile of rocks with 100 cfs trickling through. 

...Eric warned me that it was a little skinny and I'd feel like I was in a slalom boat--after assuring him that I had paddled slalom I was off with my pink boat looking for space on a car.


...I can tell I'm over the weight range for my boat right away as the nose really sinks if I lean forward at all so I have to do a lot of active driving on the run to keep the nose up and stay out of trouble.


...I learn later that the 5 who stayed behind at that point waited for about 40 minutes with Charlie grumbling that he was sitting there waiting to join a group of folks who wouldn't just ditch him (I can just see the journal article now on sticking with your group).


...I knew Morgan would be down at the take-out so after getting the beta on the last couple drops from Mark I head off solo (I did join up with another group of guys for safety as I ran the last rapid but they were having a lot more trouble than I was).
]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Cheoah Trip report</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Kayaking</category><dc:date>2006-04-10T08:30:53-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/030b5abcec09bf2f494737d183881778-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/030b5abcec09bf2f494737d183881778-3.html#unique-entry-id-3</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[I was kind of leery of running the river, since I'd heard it's a good place for carnage, and because of too much work and not enough rain lately, I hadn't been boating in months.  

...We got to tablesaw (I think that was the one - I don't run the Ocoee often enough to remember the names), and at the top Ben said something about catching some various eddies on the way down.  ...  So she and I went back down to watch him play (along with the big crowd that had formed), and every time he went in the hole, he'd intentionally look over with a big grin.  

...The left line is also a boof, and depending on where you do it, it is either launching from a nearly dry rock into a clean pool, or launching where there's current, but awfully close to some rocks at the bottom.  

...But it was funny - just before we went in to eat, I saw Ben's party paddling by on the river... he never made it for dinner.  

...Well, to end a long story, the next day was Elise's day to paddle, and she wasn't feeling up to the Cheoah, so she joined Tom's group running the Tellico at low water.  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Easter weekend</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Personal</category><dc:date>2006-04-15T21:37:26-04:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/ebde5476fa06055d77fefb380847b550-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/ebde5476fa06055d77fefb380847b550-2.html#unique-entry-id-2</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[And then recently I gave them kind of a hard time because I was kind of feeling excluded from the paddling groups around here (a perpetual complex? ...  So they worked hard to keep me in the loop on this trip and I didn't go.    I was feeling a bit sick, and I would have had to either drive by myself, or ride as the third passenger in a Honda Civic for a six hour drive (each way) along with boating, camping, and other gear.  ...  It's really nice weather here, and I got some stuff done, including a bit of work I needed to do.  ...  Considering that I'm feeling sick and haven't been on my road bike in about six months, I don't feel too bad about my average 17mph.  


...I hadn't made it out to do anything for three days, and this morning I was a useless blob.  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>Skiing day</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Personal</category><dc:date>2006-02-06T12:52:16-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/654cf3fd9434758dcbee8495f8be25ad-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/654cf3fd9434758dcbee8495f8be25ad-1.html#unique-entry-id-1</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[If you're a cross country skiier and you've never checked out the Nordic center in Canmore, Alberta, you need to.  ...  We had thought the snow might not be so hot because there isn't much of it in the lower valley of Canmore, and even around the lodge at the resort.  ...  We of course chose the hilly route, and there are plenty of hills if you want them.  

...There is a trail that goes from the lake to another lake, supposedly about 7 miles.  ...  The weather is nice and sunny, though colder than yesterday, with highs predicted in the high 20's (thats around -2 or -3 C).    It's a bit of a drive from Canmore to Lake Louise, over an hour.  ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title>First post</title><dc:creator>mcgurme@mac.com</dc:creator><category>Personal</category><dc:date>2006-02-04T23:03:47-05:00</dc:date><link>http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/c6d442c612d6392ca9a079ab9aef2bc9-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</link><guid isPermaLink="true">http://www.alifelikewater.org/page10/files/c6d442c612d6392ca9a079ab9aef2bc9-0.html#unique-entry-id-0</guid><content:encoded><![CDATA[The level of involvement at the grassroots level amongst those I know (mostly "lefties" if you ascribe to right-wing name calling) is greater than any time I can remember.  

...Being a non-traditional family, it's easy to notice how people look and act when they realize we are not the standard Leave It To Beaver Family.   A lot of people in North Carolina are fine with it, but there is a minority of persons who make their displeasure clear through various facial gestures, looks, and so on.    Usually these are middle-aged, dumpy looking women who have nothing better to do than dissaprove of other people's lives (not lifestyles - I'll get into that in another post).    They'd rather spend their time staring down the occasional "lesbo commie freak" than actually going out and excersising to get rid of some of that hideous flab.  ...  Now, why is it in the great old US of A, a significant minority of people can't see the rationality in simply letting people live their lives?  ]]></content:encoded></item></channel>
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