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Linux Conf 2006 and NZ thus far.
Jan. 26th, 2006 12:20 pmFinally I have a moment to make an entry!
Firstly, Linux Conf has been absolutely incredible. Five hundred of the best deep-geek Linux heads from around the world visiting my favourite town on the planet. Local Melbourne lad Justin Goodwin gave a great presentation on VoIP and Asterisk, albeit he was a bit late getting started ;-) Andrew Tridgell made everyone "ooh" and "ahh" with the latest implementation of SAMBA.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
strangedave would be interested that Chris Cormack of Koha gave an excellent presentation. Thomas Lange made eyes blink with a (albeti basic) Debian installation of under three minutes thanks to FAI. Matt Brown and Jamie Curtis explaining how some of the most remote schools in NZ have been given broadband thanks to Linux. Also managed to attend the entire two-day sysadmin miniconf which was excellent value also.
But apart from the Linux Conf there's been the NZ journey itself. With rats under the good care ofrhaspodical78, beagl and kimeros proved to be great hosts once again on the first night. Palmerston North was as exciting as always ;-) although the experience of having my first birthday (well, second I suppose) with my biological mother was pleasant enough, even if she can drink me under the table and has the proto-fascist tendancies so typical among the middle-class value set.
Post-birthday boozing consisted of the journey down the east coast of the South Island. On the ferry journey to Picton we watched the first Narnia film which was nice without being particularly impressive in any way.caseopaya picked up some more shoes from a trade-me seller in Blenheim (by the gods, what is it with women and shoes? :p) and we stopped off near Kaikoura to get up close and friendly with some sea lions; until of course they decided that under 2 metres was a little too close and gave me a warning bark and showed it's impressive set of teeth. Following overnight in Ch-Ch, we spent some time among the rather impressive historic warf region of Oamuru before reaching Dunedin.
Dunedin has really stolen the show for impressiveness.caseopaya is getting to see all the sites, whilst I've been stuck in a geek conference, but that's OK. We've managed to eat out at the extremely impressive deco Savoy Italian and the just-opened and the Chinese Blue Sky restaurants. Late evenings walking the hills of the region has been worth the views, both of the harbour region and of the solid local real estate. The economy here is bubbling along nicely, student numbers at Otago University is increasingly solidly and I've just come back from a visit at the local MPs office. All this as New Zealand establishes itself as the top nation for environmental action.
Meanwhile around the world, Conservatives can take little joy in winning the Canadian election. As a minority government with no natural allies they'll be out the moment the Bloc and the NDP say so - and this is a good opportunity for the Liberals to get their house in order. John Howard makes the remarkable claim that there is one right and nationalistic version of Australian history - which historians overwhelmingly think is ridiculous. Finally, Google acts against the cause of freedom but in favour of capitalism; in China of course.
It's not exactly news, but I've just been shown Mark Braund's article on how to abolish poverty. Read it.
Firstly, Linux Conf has been absolutely incredible. Five hundred of the best deep-geek Linux heads from around the world visiting my favourite town on the planet. Local Melbourne lad Justin Goodwin gave a great presentation on VoIP and Asterisk, albeit he was a bit late getting started ;-) Andrew Tridgell made everyone "ooh" and "ahh" with the latest implementation of SAMBA.
strangedave would be interested that Chris Cormack of Koha gave an excellent presentation. Thomas Lange made eyes blink with a (albeti basic) Debian installation of under three minutes thanks to FAI. Matt Brown and Jamie Curtis explaining how some of the most remote schools in NZ have been given broadband thanks to Linux. Also managed to attend the entire two-day sysadmin miniconf which was excellent value also.But apart from the Linux Conf there's been the NZ journey itself. With rats under the good care of
rhaspodical78, beagl and kimeros proved to be great hosts once again on the first night. Palmerston North was as exciting as always ;-) although the experience of having my first birthday (well, second I suppose) with my biological mother was pleasant enough, even if she can drink me under the table and has the proto-fascist tendancies so typical among the middle-class value set.Post-birthday boozing consisted of the journey down the east coast of the South Island. On the ferry journey to Picton we watched the first Narnia film which was nice without being particularly impressive in any way.
caseopaya picked up some more shoes from a trade-me seller in Blenheim (by the gods, what is it with women and shoes? :p) and we stopped off near Kaikoura to get up close and friendly with some sea lions; until of course they decided that under 2 metres was a little too close and gave me a warning bark and showed it's impressive set of teeth. Following overnight in Ch-Ch, we spent some time among the rather impressive historic warf region of Oamuru before reaching Dunedin.Dunedin has really stolen the show for impressiveness.
caseopaya is getting to see all the sites, whilst I've been stuck in a geek conference, but that's OK. We've managed to eat out at the extremely impressive deco Savoy Italian and the just-opened and the Chinese Blue Sky restaurants. Late evenings walking the hills of the region has been worth the views, both of the harbour region and of the solid local real estate. The economy here is bubbling along nicely, student numbers at Otago University is increasingly solidly and I've just come back from a visit at the local MPs office. All this as New Zealand establishes itself as the top nation for environmental action.Meanwhile around the world, Conservatives can take little joy in winning the Canadian election. As a minority government with no natural allies they'll be out the moment the Bloc and the NDP say so - and this is a good opportunity for the Liberals to get their house in order. John Howard makes the remarkable claim that there is one right and nationalistic version of Australian history - which historians overwhelmingly think is ridiculous. Finally, Google acts against the cause of freedom but in favour of capitalism; in China of course.
It's not exactly news, but I've just been shown Mark Braund's article on how to abolish poverty. Read it.