Building a Library

see article

Both Terry Bristol and Allen Taylor have been generous of late. Glenn took me on a tour, showed me the emerging inventory of books and magazines. These aren't your average boring textbooks, although a few in the mix may help with the alloy, by providing contrasting summary information in academe's fave formats.

Nirel, thanks for letting me promote your work through the OS Bridge slides, which I went over again with Wanderers the other morning, glad to have Lindsey to my left, an accomplished CTO type in her own right. HB2U BTW, you and Suzanne are about the same age.

The new owner of the Pauling Campus coffee shop around the corner said OK to my patching in with wireless to blog about Art's talk. It's weak but usable and LPH's higher bandwidth wasn't serving for some reason. Said owner was one of the MVPs at Local Lounge on Friday evening.

Fine Grind is doing a Japanese circle and new art opening. Best wishes on those plans for a deck.

Pets as Gifts

:: emperor with no clothes,
Disney character, via Kipling ::

Inquiries about giving out live animals, including with award ceremonies, need not be directed to some nebulous CSN "global hub" as we really care more about local community standards, are more like Ben & Jerry's in that way (Unilever). Pet policies cannot be set from on high, by some emperor with no clothes (see above).

Given the high cost of fuel, running empty is a waste, and lots of salt water aquariums could be heading into Kabul, feeding a growing network of tropical fish huts in that area. If the local coffee shops wanna jump in, who's to stop 'em?

Remember when Keiko got to ride on a military type aircraft, or at least cargo freight? Keiko was the star of Free Willy and needed to see the world, especially Norway. Likewise, staff in the Iraqi version of Sea World might want to move around, rotate. A few hours in a saltwater tank can't be that bad, if done right. "Take her through Manas!" could be the order of the day.

Extracting heavy weapons takes time, so as long as we have "air ships" running both ways, lets stock some shops, get that stimulus happening. Christmas in July is blatantly about civilian gift giving.

Greek Mythology

:: python for teachers, slide 34 ::

Given our transparently big investment in Polyhedra as connotative of both civilization and rational thought, you might assume we're an Apollonian enterprise, whereas the idea of a "philosophy bar" (aka salon) sounds rather Dionysian and therefore oxymoronic.

How will our customers stay focused and rational if they're becoming intoxicated on adult beverages (e.g. Jack Daniels) or whatever?

Before answering that directly, let's remember that Apollonian intelligence was preceded by the older Delphian network, for whom the snake was an emblem. These oracles were rumored to get high (intoxicated) on fumes emanating from the rock itself (or from some tripod). In other words, this was an ancient shamanistic cult of medicine women, spearheaded by Athena.

When Apollo decided a hostile takeover was in order, or at least a rebranding, he chased the "dragon" out of town, killed it or whatever (accounts vary), and later Athenians got used to the idea of this more policed way of life (Apollo was more fascist in some ways, although not exactly another Mars, like in Sparta).

This so-called "she dragon" (a spirit) was named Python and so these good Delphian priestesses were likewise known as Pythians (like Pythonistas). The word "python" traces to the verb "to rot" i.e. the fumes might've been sulfurous or at least nasty-smelling ("a witches brew").

No one ever suggested these were unintelligent or unprofessional women, even though use of intoxicants was a part of their job description. They just weren't Apollonian in outlook, at least at first, so in hindsight it's understandable why the uninitiated might assume a purely Dionysian operation. Hephaestus was more Vulcan though, an engineer really -- talking about Python's dad.

Answering more directly: it's not a given that any particular customer will remain in a proper frame of mind for whatever business is at hand, nor is it the responsibility of poor slobs in management to carefully monitor everyone's intake.

Whereas the entwined snakes of Hermes, or mono snake of Aesculapius, suggest a "heal thyself" philosophy (akin to the Socratic "know thyself" maxim), this is a commitment for each individual customer to undertake, not a job for some Big Brother on steroids, not a job description for some psychiatric nurse Ratched ala One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest.

Of course we'll do a lot with the LCDs around these themes, including in our own commercials, but let's not overlook the fun of having real, palpable mythology books on the shelves, so-called "coffee table" tomes (more expensive), along with childrens books, scholarly hardcovers, Marvel comics or whatever.

Carrotmob Helps Merchants

:: carrotmob, summer solstice ::

It's almost happening! Invite everyone! To all guests of Carrotmob storms HOTLIPS Pizza!

The final push has begun! The event is in only 6 days. Put up lots of posters!

If you still want to volunteer, let me know by Wednesday when you can work (which shift, preferably: 9:30-3 or 3-9). We especially need people with trucks for setting up (9:30-11) and tearing down (7 PM onward).

Also, don't forget to invite all your friends to Carrotmob on Sunday!

Thanks!
Tim

Race for Justice 2009

:: fundraising for st. andrew's legal clinic ::

CSN thanks "Chuck" Ryan, also Anna from IT, for including me in this charitable fundraiser.

Rear View Mirror

:: os bridge, 2009 ::

OS Bridge Conference

We're sharing some of our marketing strategies at OS Bridge, a way to promote socially responsible gaming (and Python) as a means of community service i.e. a mode of working (and playing) more women might appreciate (a theme of this slide).

For more context, here's a link to the PDF version of the entire presentation (6.5 MB), where our open source business model figures in passing (we have lots of imitators already).

Followup: so I attended Gabrielle Roth's talk on this very topic of women in FOSS, her local "code 'n splode" giving techy women some venting time to compare notes on various outrages and offenses (men are allowed, but don't get to sit in front). She gave a thumbs up on the "FOSS covens" meme, part of how the witches are beating the priests in the "good works" department these days (sorry Charlie, go whine to the Pope if you have a problem with that).

Interesting group dynamic in that this gay guy in the audience they all knew assumed interrupt privileges, even after all those slides about directly countering such privilege-taking. He tried to hijack the speaker's workflow during the Q&A, an explicit no-no. I shushed him real loud, like "hey, loud guy!" (finger across the neck motion). I might get in trouble for doing that, but hey, I'm a guy, so who cares.

Speaking of group dynamics, apparently some OSCON 2007 BOF on Women in FOSS kind of degenerated, still part of the lore among this inner circle. I wasn't at said BOF, dunno what went down, but do think of OSCON 2008 as a turning point in some ways, in getting us back on track vis-a-vis our core motivation (world domination).