Books read in January 2011
Starbound Days of Air and Darkness Bad Science Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency The Apocalypse Troll
The mechanics of bidding for LCA
As I sit here reading the notes from the Future LCAs birds of a feather at LCA2011, I've come to the realization that most of the conversation was about the mechanics of what is required for an LCA bid. It can be daunting to know what needs to be done in order to have a successful bid for an event as complicated as LCA, especially if you've never been an organizer before. Its not clear that Canberra will have a successful bid for 2013 yet, but I think its a good idea to share what we've done so far if it helps others develop high quality bids. The first thing to think about is your team. At the BoF, it was strongly suggested that you need around five to six people for a good bid. I've seen conferences run with fewer people than that, but it is risky. LCA is a large and complicated event these days, and with a planning horizon of around two years, you need to be prepared for there to be a fair bit of churn in your core organizing team. Some people will move away, or change jobs. Others might have a new child and…
The Apocalypse Troll
This is an interesting combination of a first contact story, a combat science fiction story, and a love story. It is very different from the other science fiction I've read recently, and I enjoyed it a lot. The book has a good beginning and ending, but is slow in the middle. I'm glad I kept at it though. [isbn: 0671578456]
LCA 2012: Ballarat
So, a million people have blogged and tweeted about this, so I'm going to keep this short. Congratulations to Ballarat on their winning 2012 bid. They've stepped up for what is a massive job, with the added complications of being the first to try something a little new. As a ghost I appreciate them being willing to expend this effort for the benefit of all of us. I've had a few chances to spend time with the Ballarat core team this week, and I think they're dedicated, smart, and going to do a great job. I know some are concerned about transport, and to be honest I was at first too, but I don't think it is actually all that bad. There is a shuttle bus just like any other modern city (it seems to take about 90 minutes on the airport shuttle, which isn't that much longer than getting to the Melbourne CBD from that airport). There are also rental cars, and Google Maps tells me that you could save 8 minutes on your trip that way! Worst case it is only a 22 hour, 35 minute walk according to Google Maps. Personally, I'm going to walk from Canberra,…
Contact details for the Canberra LCA 2013 bid
Hi. I just wanted to quickly let people know that if they're interested in being kept informed about the bid for LCA 2013 to be in Canberra, you should subscribe to our mailing list at http://lists.clug.org.au/listinfo/canberra2013. We'll send regular updates to that list as we hit important deadlines during the bid process. [btags:]
LCA 2013 bid process opens – Canberra at the ready!
For the last several months, a small group of people in Canberra including myself have been preparing a bid for LCA 2013. This is not just to give us more time to make the conference the most awesome, froody LCA you've ever been to. No - 2013 is also the centenary of the founding of Canberra as the nation's capital. It's a very significant year for us and we'd all be thrilled if we could show the attendees of LCA our great city and Canberrans the great work the FOSS community does to improve everyone's lives. So we're really stoked that the bidding process is going to be opened early, and I think it'll lead to a really interesting competition that will result, whoever wins, in the best LCA ever! If you're interested in getting involved, drop me a line! [btags:]
Dirk Gentley’s Holistic Detective Agency
This book took me a little while to get into. although I am glad I kept at it. Not as good as The Hitchhiker's Guide, but still worth the time to read.
Bad Science
I've been trying to read one non-fiction book a month recently, and this is the one for January. This book is simply excellent and I'm glad I read it. It is clearly written, entertaining, and easy to understand. Yet it covers complex issues about how mis-reporting of medicine result in people dying. It covers statistical errors, dodgy marketing, and self serving journalism. An excellent book that I am now going to force my wife to read.
Things I’m taking to the Arduino miniconf
I figured I'd go to the Arduino miniconf and help out with the assembly tutorial. That got me thinking about what I should take that's relatively small, but likely to be helpful. So far I've got: My butane soldering iron and solder (I'm not packing butane though, I'll have to find that up there) De-soldering wick and a solder sucker Side cutters Tweasers A multimeter A USBtinyISP A couple of duemilanove boards Some spare Atmega 328s One of Doug's ethernet boards A spare development central heating controller (my current project) My RS485 development stuff (so I can keep working on that) What else should I bring?
Days of Air and Darkness
Rori and friends are attempting to lift the siege started in Days of Blood and Fire. This book is mostly action without much discussion or character development, which makes it fun to read. The big battle at the end is a bit unusual, because so many die, but I wont say any more because I don't want to ruin it for you. An enjoyable book, the best bit of which would have to be the Jill and Rodry quest at the beginning. [isbn: 0553572628]