Mark Shuttleworth is in Portland and will be giving a talk at the Mission Theater tonight — I’m totally pumped about it, and you should be to. Why?
Mark founded and manages the Ubuntu Foundation, which aims to produce a high quality desktop and server operating system that is freely available all over the world.
Translation: he created one of the most successful Linux projects out there, with the aim to make computers easier to use, cheaper to buy, and more accessible to the rest of the world.
Mark also formed HBD Venture Capital, a business incubator and venture capital provider and Canonical Ltd., for the promotion and commercial support of free software projects … In 2001 he formed the Shuttleworth Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to social innovation which also funds educational and free and open source software projects in South Africa.
Translation: Mark puts his money where his mouth is, and is investing in other businesses that increase the adoption and awareness of open source software.
He’s also a cosmonaut. How cool is that?
Register here, or RSVP on Upcoming!
Looks like the fine folks behind Ignite Portland are looking for speakers for Ignite Portland 3. This is a great opportunity for anyone who wants to share an interesting idea with a theater packed full of enthusiastic Portlanders. I had a great time presenting at Ignite Portland 2, and can’t recommend it enough.
So, go sign up now!
My profile is up on Portland On Fire today. I’ve spent the morning reading other profiles .. it’s fun to peruse and get to know other folks in the area.
Get your nerd on!
FOSCON III is upon us — tonight at 7:30 at Holocene. Prepare yourself for free pizza, lighting talks, and hob-knobbing with Ruby geeks from around the world.
Check out the Upcoming page for more information, including a map and how to hitch a ride from OSCON.
It’s that time of year again!
O’Reilly’s Open Source Convention (OSCON) is coming to Portland, and the Portland Ruby Group is putting on FOSCON, a free event where geeks of all stripes can meet, greet, and get their nerd on. The last two years were standing room only (don’t tell the fire marshal), so we’re movin’ on up to a larger venue!
If you’re coming to OSCON, register today for FOSCON III — it’s free!
http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/216872
PS: If your business is interested in a little attention from an international crowd of alpha-geeks and decision makers, we’d love to talk with you about sponsorship for food, drinks, and other goodies.
Good times were had on Saturday — I stuffed my Wii in my bag and took it to the RailsConf parties. We hit Joyent’s APPyhour first, but the Doubletree’s hotel TVs didn’t have external inputs. WTF is up with that? When someone’s staying in a “presidential” suite, there better be an opportunity to plug in a game console. Regardless, I did connect with three guys I’ve been talking with for a long time, but hadn’t met in person — Chris Abad and Matt Browne (Integral Impressions), and Tim Trautman (Foorama).
Rails Machine threw down at the Red Lion, giving out heaps of t-shirts and prizes (including some sweet Rails Pimp Cups). They also had really good meatballs. But alas, no access to plug in the Wii.
Finally, the Pivotal Labs party at the Rock Bottom proved fruitful — our kind hosts even went as far as to get us an extension cord for the big screen. Four person drunken bowling and tennis worked out pretty well until 1:00, when everything wrapped up.
Anyhoo. Good times. If you’re throwing a party at a nerd conference in Portland, drop me a line and I’ll bring over some hot Wii action.
We’re selling our old house — if you’re looking for an opportunity to move to Portland and you’re looking for a cozy house in a friendly neighborhood, check it out.
What the listing doesn’t mention is that it takes 5 minutes to get downtown, has great public transportation (4 bus lines and the Max nearby), is within walking distance to good Mexican, Thai, pizza, cafes, and generally kicks ass. I guess “ass kicking” isn’t something realtors typically like to promote, but this house has it in buckets.
You know you’re having a good time when:
- Pitchers of beer outnumber the glasses on the tables.
- It’s standing room only.
- The accordion player covers Billy Idol and Guns n’ Roses.
- It’s nerds, nerds, nerds, nerds!
Joyent came to town for RailsConf and put together a “little” get together at the Lucky Lab tonight. It’s a good time reconnecting with friends, meeting new people from around the country, drinking beer, and getting our geek on. So, cheers to Joyent for sponsoring the copious consumption and bringing people together.
A couple unrelated tidbits: Joyent has some pretty exciting news to be announced at RailsConf … and Grabb.it (”the MP3 eating rabbit”) has made a lot of progress in the last few months — it’s a pretty kick ass way to find and listen to new music. Check it out.
Well, it looks like enough people were interested in a Geek Golf event, so it’s on! If you’re in or near Portland, and you like swinging sticks and drinking beer, this is a pretty good opportunity to get together and have some fun with like-minded geeks.
Head on over to http://geekgolf.pbwiki.com/ and RSVP, so that we can make the proper arrangements.
Of course, if you’re not anywhere near Portland, you’re more than welcome to start your own Geek Golf event!
Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions. My address is in the sidebar.
Check it out — it’s real, and it works, and it’s very, very cool. This is one of the working prototypes from the One Laptop Per Child project.
Seen at the BarCamp Portland Meetup.
