To those of you familiar with the Linux and Free/Open Source community Think of a weekend long Linux Users Group meeting with hundreds of other geeks, which also just happens to have nationally acclaimed guests, a LAN party, its own wireless network, hotel room parties, lots of folks talking about Science Fiction and Fantasy, a place to buy cool t-shirts and buttons and such, amateur singing, anime, a costume contest, and free caffeine and snacks always available.
To those of you familiar with Science Fiction conventions Imagine all the convention features you know and love, with the
addition of wireless internet access, computer game tournaments, people who know
about online publishing / books on demand / digital art, a programming
track involving computing topics and another one focusing
on the crossover between Science Fiction and computing. Imagine seeing your favorite creative visionaries meet the innovators who are creating the future you read about in SF.
Tech Guest of Honor: Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager for Canonical
Tech Guest of Honor: Benjamin Mako Hill - Debian/GNU, MIT Media Lab, Free Software Foundation, Ubuntu, Wikimedia
Author Guest of Honor: Vernor Vinge, Multiple Hugo winning science fiction author, computing visionary
Author Guest of Honor: Tamora Pierce, fantasy author, co-founder of Sheroes Central
Webcomics Guest of Honor: Randall Munroe of xkcd Gaming Guest of Honor: Keith Baker, creator of Ebberon world for Dungeons and Dragons
Hack of Honor: The Giant Singing Tesla Coils
SMOScast Episode 1 has just been uploaded (or, more accurately, is in the process of uploading as you read this). Please, come along and listen to Jess and I stumble our way through the first of what we hope is many such aural treats! :)
Yesterday's cookout, handoff meeting, and bonfire party went really well. I've mentioned before that there has been an enormous outpouring of volunteerism, and it showed. There must have been 40 people wandering through at one point or another. Tyler Haske from Kalamazoo took notes of the meeting, which will be posted on this blog soon.( Read more... )
I've finally sorted through and edited the photos jmaynard took, and added a few from a couple others, and now they're up on ACME's Penguicon 2008 Gallery. For what it's worth, the ACME Delivery Product page has also been updated to include a few of the things delivered at this year's Penguicon.
These are not all the photos, just the ones that seemed relevant for ACME without going into obnoxious detail. I'm not sure I'll be putting those up anywhere, but if you're in any of the ones in the gallery and want the big, unedited originals and whatever I didn't include, let me know.
I might even get around to writing a con report now that that's taken care of.
Also, someone had run out of camera memory or battery and so I wound up taking a picture of him with Jay in the Tron Guy outfit. If that was you, please contact me so I can get that image to you.
I thought some one else had posted these here, but it looks like they didn't. So here..
Randall Munroe making LN2 Ice Cream part 1
Randall Munroe making LN2 Ice Cream part 2
Giant Singing Tesla Coils at Penguicon 6.0 part 1
Giant Singing Tesla Coils at Penguicon 6.0 part 2
Giant Singing Tesla Coils at Penguicon 6.0 part 3
And the cool thing i hand edited 100 frames for that hardly any one showed up to..
edit ok, so apparently there are two different youtube embed codes and i used the one that doesn't actually work. it worked fine in preview, but when i hit save it haded
Just to clarify a few things/fill people in on the things we have at our place.
We used to have two cats in the house. They are no longer living here, and have been out of the house nearly three months. The windows have been open as much as possible, and we have done our damndest to clean up all the cat hair over the last few months. I do not guarantee to anybodys health though, so please bring allergy meds for that "just in case" instance.
We have a smallish fire pit in the backyard. Please feel free to bring something to throw on the pit as we only have so much wood at the house.
There is a turtle living in the house. Yes, she does bite. But only if you're slower than her. :D
We do have two very large coolers in the garage, but we do not have enough ice to fill these coolers. If you would like guaranteed cool things, bring a bag of ice to throw in the coolers. We'll make one for drinks and one for food.
There are not enough seats/benches/chairs out back to sit everybody. If you have camp/lawn chairs at your house that you'd be willing to bring, please do.
We mowed our grass today, so if you have any of those allergies that go with fresh cut grass, you shouldn't have to worry about it.
The food on the menu currently is Bread (I got lots and lots of bread), baby carrots, some celery, green peppers (I hope), lunch meat, cheese, and Brazillian beef. There are no drinks on the menu, nor any side dishes. You are not required nor expected to bring anything, but if you choose to bring something, we will not turn it aside and will devour it heartily.
There is some sleeping space available in the house (though there is a whole backyard iffn you wanna camp!) but I need to be told about your needs before hand. Frank has stated that he doesn't want anybody he doesn't know staying, but if you are going to come and know that it's a long drive home I will do what I can to get you a space to crash if I know about it before hand. I don't plan on ending the party til the wee hours of the night though, so I just want everybody to be safe.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to call my cell 313 408 3797 or to email me at twoofdtm at that yahoo place . com.
Thanks for reading and I can't wait to see you Saturday!
Hey all, Now that we're recovering from the con and real life is depressingly starting to creep back in, I want to remind you all that we have the wrap/kickoff meeting on Saturday, May 3rd at Jess's place. The address is:
We will be serving whatever food we have left from the ConSuite, to include Brazilian Beef for those that missed it at the con (or those that just can't get enough, like me), hanging out, congratulating each other on kicking ass, and finding people to run the various departments for next year... so if you have a desire to get involved with our team for 7.0 (Penguicon *BING*) this is THE place to be.
Food will be on between noon and 1, the meeting will start at 2, the party will run until Jess gets really tired of seeing us and makes us all go away. (Traditionally, Jess has an absurd tolerance for our shenanigans, so I wouldn't count on an early ending! :P)
(Oh, and just a reminder that we are compiling links to Penguicon reviews, reports, pics, and vids over here. It's just a link dump now, but I'll pretty it up when the flood slows.)
Finally got them all up. The Camera work wasn't some of my better stuff but the sound quality is pretty good. I've been waiting to see if someone else had better copies but no one else seems to have recorded the whole play so I guess i'm the only game in town.
so. my last can of redbull for saturday (and the weekend for that matter) was subjected to what would seem aggressive experimentation, resulting in a strangely carmely flavor upon slamming.
however, chaos has no records and therefore i feel awkward while carrying a camera.
this shot, on the left, shows the can recieving a nice little ... ahem... Jolt... from the left side tesla coil... the picture is kinda blurish andi would love to have a nice res picture of the entire ordeal... just needs to have a arc hitting the can. if you got the pictures, or know someone who might, please comment.
First, Thanks to all the Penguicon staff. Not only did you all do great again this year, you managed to do all that and come up with items and targ... er, recipients for them that worked with the hopefully amusing silliness that is ACME Delivery. I hope I wasn't getting in your way.
I am assembling a photo gallery of the various ACME deliveries that took place at Penguicon 6.0. The result will be something the 2007 version. I have photos of all deliveries except those that took place at Closing Ceremonies.
If anyone has any photos of those and do not mind their inclusion (properly credited, of course) please let me know. I can be reached at my LJ e-mail and my Vakkotaur gmail address (or over [A/Y]IM as Vakkotaur), or via the information on the ACME Delivery contact page.
Here is a listing of people's post-convention reports about Penguicon 6.0. If you have one or have seen one you wish to add, please feel free to tell me here. (If I linked you here and you'd like some different attribution or something changed, please let me know in the same place.)
This weekend, some of you might have noticed, we had a pretty big, hugely successful convention over at the Hilton. I would like to point out that, barring minor snags, the hotel jumped through gigantic flaming hoops for us starting Thursday and ending Monday. I have gotten many accolades for my role as Hotel Liaison, but I think I have to give credit where credit is due... were it not for superhuman efforts on behalf of the hotel and its entire staff, my job wouldn't have yielded anything approaching the results that it did. Events never get service like this. Seriously, they NEVER get service the likes of which we received. And we got it with a smile. Hell, at one point EVERY MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT TEAM was moving tables in chairs in a ballroom to ensure we got it flipped as quickly as possible... and they beat their promised delivery time by nearly two hours in all rooms, and by over four in others.
This must be rewarded, and that's where you come in; I have a request. The Hilton properties send electronic surveys to random guests that have email addresses on file with them (which, for us, is pretty much everybody). The hotel staff only gets credit for 9s and 10s. Frankly, I cannot imagine a part of the survey that should be granted anything other than a 10. Please, if you get the survey, fill it out--and fill it out with 10s. It won't take long, and it is supremely important to reward strong efforts like this. Further, some of you have approached me with some outstanding issues that you are seeking resolution from... please, keep it up! Email hotel at penguicon dot org if you need some further service from the hotel... they have expressed a willingness and desire to help out.
I appreciate it, and the hotel would appreciate it; and frankly, they've earned it. I apologize if you've seen this twice already... but I think it is important to help those that help us!
I lent my swiss army knife to some folks on Saturday; I believe that they were going to do something with it that involved the Ark that circulated all weekend. It should be pretty easy to identify this particular knife since it has "RICK SCOTT" engraved onto the side of it. If anyone comes up with it, I'd really appreciate it if they could get hold of me -- either here or via email (rick@shadowspar.dyndns.org). I'd be happy to pay shipping expenses if I could get it mailed back to me.
Sarie and I (This is Lithie) made it home (just barely - there was an incident where we ran out of gas in back country Arkansas at 04:00 in the morning and we had to look like pitiful waifs, oh wait we were pityful, anyway - we didn't get help for two or three hours - but we did eventually)
So yeah we made it home....safely - w00t . Missing everyone already :)
Do.Not.Miss.Deli.Meats.And.Cheeses.
Oh yeah, and somehow the Con Suite Sign - well it made it home with us too!!! So we'll bring it back Next year Steve.......... but ya better beware, we've pirated it and now we hold it for booty.......... Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh
Lithie and Sarie - Con Suite Staffers, Goddess' of Lunch Meats, and Sign Stealing Wench's
I'd like to speak to whoever left the DVDs labeled "WDET" on the circular table in the lobby during the con this past weekend; whoever did that has touched me emotionally and I would love to hear from them.
SMOScast Episode 1 has just been uploaded (or, more accurately, is in the process of uploading as you read this). Please, come along and listen to Jess and I stumble our way through the first of what we hope is many such aural treats! :)
Yesterday's cookout, handoff meeting, and bonfire party went really well. I've mentioned before that there has been an enormous outpouring of volunteerism, and it showed. There must have been 40 people wandering through at one point or another. Tyler Haske from Kalamazoo took notes of the meeting, which will be posted on this blog soon.( Read more... )
I've finally sorted through and edited the photos jmaynard took, and added a few from a couple others, and now they're up on ACME's Penguicon 2008 Gallery. For what it's worth, the ACME Delivery Product page has also been updated to include a few of the things delivered at this year's Penguicon.
These are not all the photos, just the ones that seemed relevant for ACME without going into obnoxious detail. I'm not sure I'll be putting those up anywhere, but if you're in any of the ones in the gallery and want the big, unedited originals and whatever I didn't include, let me know.
I might even get around to writing a con report now that that's taken care of.
Also, someone had run out of camera memory or battery and so I wound up taking a picture of him with Jay in the Tron Guy outfit. If that was you, please contact me so I can get that image to you.
I thought some one else had posted these here, but it looks like they didn't. So here..
Randall Munroe making LN2 Ice Cream part 1
Randall Munroe making LN2 Ice Cream part 2
Giant Singing Tesla Coils at Penguicon 6.0 part 1
Giant Singing Tesla Coils at Penguicon 6.0 part 2
Giant Singing Tesla Coils at Penguicon 6.0 part 3
And the cool thing i hand edited 100 frames for that hardly any one showed up to..
edit ok, so apparently there are two different youtube embed codes and i used the one that doesn't actually work. it worked fine in preview, but when i hit save it haded
Just to clarify a few things/fill people in on the things we have at our place.
We used to have two cats in the house. They are no longer living here, and have been out of the house nearly three months. The windows have been open as much as possible, and we have done our damndest to clean up all the cat hair over the last few months. I do not guarantee to anybodys health though, so please bring allergy meds for that "just in case" instance.
We have a smallish fire pit in the backyard. Please feel free to bring something to throw on the pit as we only have so much wood at the house.
There is a turtle living in the house. Yes, she does bite. But only if you're slower than her. :D
We do have two very large coolers in the garage, but we do not have enough ice to fill these coolers. If you would like guaranteed cool things, bring a bag of ice to throw in the coolers. We'll make one for drinks and one for food.
There are not enough seats/benches/chairs out back to sit everybody. If you have camp/lawn chairs at your house that you'd be willing to bring, please do.
We mowed our grass today, so if you have any of those allergies that go with fresh cut grass, you shouldn't have to worry about it.
The food on the menu currently is Bread (I got lots and lots of bread), baby carrots, some celery, green peppers (I hope), lunch meat, cheese, and Brazillian beef. There are no drinks on the menu, nor any side dishes. You are not required nor expected to bring anything, but if you choose to bring something, we will not turn it aside and will devour it heartily.
There is some sleeping space available in the house (though there is a whole backyard iffn you wanna camp!) but I need to be told about your needs before hand. Frank has stated that he doesn't want anybody he doesn't know staying, but if you are going to come and know that it's a long drive home I will do what I can to get you a space to crash if I know about it before hand. I don't plan on ending the party til the wee hours of the night though, so I just want everybody to be safe.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to call my cell 313 408 3797 or to email me at twoofdtm at that yahoo place . com.
Thanks for reading and I can't wait to see you Saturday!
Hey all, Now that we're recovering from the con and real life is depressingly starting to creep back in, I want to remind you all that we have the wrap/kickoff meeting on Saturday, May 3rd at Jess's place. The address is:
We will be serving whatever food we have left from the ConSuite, to include Brazilian Beef for those that missed it at the con (or those that just can't get enough, like me), hanging out, congratulating each other on kicking ass, and finding people to run the various departments for next year... so if you have a desire to get involved with our team for 7.0 (Penguicon *BING*) this is THE place to be.
Food will be on between noon and 1, the meeting will start at 2, the party will run until Jess gets really tired of seeing us and makes us all go away. (Traditionally, Jess has an absurd tolerance for our shenanigans, so I wouldn't count on an early ending! :P)
(Oh, and just a reminder that we are compiling links to Penguicon reviews, reports, pics, and vids over here. It's just a link dump now, but I'll pretty it up when the flood slows.)
Finally got them all up. The Camera work wasn't some of my better stuff but the sound quality is pretty good. I've been waiting to see if someone else had better copies but no one else seems to have recorded the whole play so I guess i'm the only game in town.
so. my last can of redbull for saturday (and the weekend for that matter) was subjected to what would seem aggressive experimentation, resulting in a strangely carmely flavor upon slamming.
however, chaos has no records and therefore i feel awkward while carrying a camera.
this shot, on the left, shows the can recieving a nice little ... ahem... Jolt... from the left side tesla coil... the picture is kinda blurish andi would love to have a nice res picture of the entire ordeal... just needs to have a arc hitting the can. if you got the pictures, or know someone who might, please comment.
First, Thanks to all the Penguicon staff. Not only did you all do great again this year, you managed to do all that and come up with items and targ... er, recipients for them that worked with the hopefully amusing silliness that is ACME Delivery. I hope I wasn't getting in your way.
I am assembling a photo gallery of the various ACME deliveries that took place at Penguicon 6.0. The result will be something the 2007 version. I have photos of all deliveries except those that took place at Closing Ceremonies.
If anyone has any photos of those and do not mind their inclusion (properly credited, of course) please let me know. I can be reached at my LJ e-mail and my Vakkotaur gmail address (or over [A/Y]IM as Vakkotaur), or via the information on the ACME Delivery contact page.
Here is a listing of people's post-convention reports about Penguicon 6.0. If you have one or have seen one you wish to add, please feel free to tell me here. (If I linked you here and you'd like some different attribution or something changed, please let me know in the same place.)
This weekend, some of you might have noticed, we had a pretty big, hugely successful convention over at the Hilton. I would like to point out that, barring minor snags, the hotel jumped through gigantic flaming hoops for us starting Thursday and ending Monday. I have gotten many accolades for my role as Hotel Liaison, but I think I have to give credit where credit is due... were it not for superhuman efforts on behalf of the hotel and its entire staff, my job wouldn't have yielded anything approaching the results that it did. Events never get service like this. Seriously, they NEVER get service the likes of which we received. And we got it with a smile. Hell, at one point EVERY MEMBER OF THE MANAGEMENT TEAM was moving tables in chairs in a ballroom to ensure we got it flipped as quickly as possible... and they beat their promised delivery time by nearly two hours in all rooms, and by over four in others.
This must be rewarded, and that's where you come in; I have a request. The Hilton properties send electronic surveys to random guests that have email addresses on file with them (which, for us, is pretty much everybody). The hotel staff only gets credit for 9s and 10s. Frankly, I cannot imagine a part of the survey that should be granted anything other than a 10. Please, if you get the survey, fill it out--and fill it out with 10s. It won't take long, and it is supremely important to reward strong efforts like this. Further, some of you have approached me with some outstanding issues that you are seeking resolution from... please, keep it up! Email hotel at penguicon dot org if you need some further service from the hotel... they have expressed a willingness and desire to help out.
I appreciate it, and the hotel would appreciate it; and frankly, they've earned it. I apologize if you've seen this twice already... but I think it is important to help those that help us!
I lent my swiss army knife to some folks on Saturday; I believe that they were going to do something with it that involved the Ark that circulated all weekend. It should be pretty easy to identify this particular knife since it has "RICK SCOTT" engraved onto the side of it. If anyone comes up with it, I'd really appreciate it if they could get hold of me -- either here or via email (rick@shadowspar.dyndns.org). I'd be happy to pay shipping expenses if I could get it mailed back to me.
Sarie and I (This is Lithie) made it home (just barely - there was an incident where we ran out of gas in back country Arkansas at 04:00 in the morning and we had to look like pitiful waifs, oh wait we were pityful, anyway - we didn't get help for two or three hours - but we did eventually)
So yeah we made it home....safely - w00t . Missing everyone already :)
Do.Not.Miss.Deli.Meats.And.Cheeses.
Oh yeah, and somehow the Con Suite Sign - well it made it home with us too!!! So we'll bring it back Next year Steve.......... but ya better beware, we've pirated it and now we hold it for booty.......... Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh
Lithie and Sarie - Con Suite Staffers, Goddess' of Lunch Meats, and Sign Stealing Wench's
I'd like to speak to whoever left the DVDs labeled "WDET" on the circular table in the lobby during the con this past weekend; whoever did that has touched me emotionally and I would love to hear from them.
bouncy![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
exhausted
chipper
tired