The Gidget Kitchen

Santa Cruz, Felton, San Jose -party in your neighborhood. We are going to be meeting outdoors (something unusual for some us geeks) and having a good time. We’ll have burgers, hotdogs, and some other good grilling fun. We’ll also have some vegetarian options also, vegetables shish kabobs (with or without tofu.)

Vasona Lake County Park A nice well maintained park that is full of things to do! Pedal boating and canoeing/kayaking on the lake, Nice large fields for throwing frisbee (bring one) and nice trees to give us some shade. It also has a playground for the kids. The shallow areas of the creek are great place to cool off, along side various water birds.

There’s a $6 parking fee (CARPOOL!) at Vasona, the money goes into the upkeep of this nice place.

Free to attend, bring a dish – it would be nice to let people know ahead of time *what* you are bringing. Either post on the wiki or the Facebook wall.

Anywhere there are geeks, a geeknic should happen.

what is a Geeknic?

A geeknic is a picnic for geeks. http://geeknic.org/ You do NOT have to be a geek to attend, maybe you just know someone who is. Maybe you are just interested for yourself and figure that a BBQ makes it a no-lose proposition.

We are going to be meeting outdoors and having a good time. We’ll have burgers, hotdogs, and some other good grilling fun. We’ll also have some vegetarian options also, vegetables shish kabobs (with or without tofu.)

The goal is to alternate between different parts of The Bay. You can help plan for the next picnic in June.

When and Where

• Saturday, May 1, 2010
• 12:30 til 5:30pm
• Heather Farms Park -Walnut Creek

Once you are in the park, follow the Penguin signs

If you need a ride from BART to the park email ahead of time info <AT> gidgetkitchen <DOT> org – or call Mark at 510 228-4646

Attendees

Free to attend, bring a dish – it would be nice to let people know ahead of time *what* you are bringing. Either post on this page or on the Facebook Page. or stop by our IRC channel <<< click that

• The park has picnic tables, a few extra chairs would be bonus.
• We have 2 extra tables
• There are built-in grills. We’ll have at least one extra. Does any have a vegetarian grill?
• We have one sun canopy and a few large umbrellas to protect anybody from bursting in to flames or getting sunburned. We welcome any other sun protection that you may be able to bring.

Creative Commons Movie Night @ Saxbys WC

Movie details to follow. Event will be held at :
Saxbys Coffee – Walnut Creek

Promote Your Page Too

International Women’s Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future. In some places like China, Russia, Vietnam and Bulgaria, IWD is a national holiday.

The Ubuntu Women Project celebrated International Womens Day in 2010 by conducting a contest to select favorite stories from how women in the Ubuntu community discovered Ubuntu.
The stories were all inspirational and exciting, but a few were selected to receive “Ubuntu goodie bags” as well as having an honorable mention:

* Winner by popular vote: Elvira Martinez
* Winner as selected by Jono Bacon: Karen Y. Perez
* Honorable Mention: Jen Phillips

The winners were announced on At Home With Jono Bacon during a special International Women’s Day broadcast, the video can be viewed here:
announcing the winners of the Ubuntu International Womens day competition. Congrats to all!

All of the stories can be found here

Ubuntu-Women works specifically at encouraging more female participation in Ubuntu. People are much more likely to try something new, or to do more of it, if they are welcomed, valued and supported in gaining essential information and skills. In that spirit-

Some introductory reading for those who are not familiar with International Women’s Day:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Women%27s_Day and http://www.internationalwomensday.com/

Ubuntu-Women has tried in the past to find some way to celebrate this event, but as far as I can remember it has never really amounted to much other than some chattering on IRC. So let us try a bit harder for 2010!

We have all come to Ubuntu in our own special ways — every single one of us differently to the next. Yet one of the most common questions we get asked is “How can I get $woman to use Ubuntu?”.

Obviously we cannot really answer that question, but we would dearly love to have a collection of stories by women about how they discovered Ubuntu. Such a repository would allow us to demonstrate that there’s no one definitive answer, and at the same time maybe provide the gift of inspiration to women who are interested — showing them that it’s really not so unusual to be Ubuntu fans after all.

We are not expecting any particular length, but do remember that these stories should be suited to perusal at leisure and not require someone to allocate hours of their day to read. Anywhere between a few paragraphs and a OO.o Write page is ideal.

There will be two (2) prizes up for grabs. One (1) prize pack will be given to the story that the community votes is their favourite. One (1) prize pack will be given to a randomly drawn entrant. Jono Bacon, the Ubuntu Community Manager will be drawing this entrant in a videocast, and announcing both winners to the world on March 8th.

Please email your stories to ubuntuwomen.competition at gmail.com by UTC 23:59 22nd February 2010.

By submitting a story, you acknowledge that it will be posted on the Ubuntu Women website under the Creative Commons Attribution No-Derivatives license. If you prefer that your story be posted under a less restrictive license such as Creative Commons Attribution or Public Domain, then feel free to let us know when you submit. All stories are to be non-fiction and of a family-friendly nature. The organisers also reserve the right to interview prospective winners over
the phone or other voice chat at their discretion.

We will celebrate International Women’s Day by announcing the winners, who will receive gift packs (which are still in negotiation — we will announce when it is confirmed!).

Good Luck!

p.s: Please pass this along to *any* women you know who *use* Ubuntu —
the more the merrier!

[Discuss the International Women’s Day Competition on the Forum]

Tis the season to have a good reason!

The holiday season is all about giving. Many people are in need of electronics and computer software. Do you have any old reusable computers and/or parts that could be donated to people in need? Gidget kitchen can help find a deserving home! We are a non profit organization out to help those in need of basic computer skills. Donate your computer to us and know that your computer has gone to a person or business that has little money or knowledge of basic computer skills. Donate your computer or parts to us and know it will go to a good cause. Help out this holiday season. Feel good about helping your local community.

For more information please contact Gidget Kitchen @ (510) 228-4646. For smaller items – you can mail to :
625 Apgar St, Oakland, CA 94609

I put my Windows7  hat on. I attended a  developers conference for the upcoming release .  It went okay. I got my free copy for running on Ubuntu Linux.  Despite some hassles, the speaker – Bruno did a decent job of explaining how to make software applications. During the presentation the internet died (oops.) The screen was hard to read at times – it was blurry & the projector bulb was dying. The touchscreen he was using started acting up also.

Most conferences are pretty much the same. I was a little bummed with the ‘continental breakfast.’ They didn’t even have anything to put on our bagels. There were a whole bunch of us geeks wandering around with dry bagels. I think I heard someone say “Microsoft why have you forsaken us?” I know some people like their bagels dry & devoid of dairy products (or peanut butter.) Apparently not us all of us techs do. The soda was warm, too. The coffee was ok. Opera’s Open Web Camp had much better food (& their budget is slightly smaller.)

Enough whining about the food, I’ll move on. Does anyone need a Windows 7 bottle-opener? I also saw a lot of Apple computers there & iphones. Nothing new – technical events are dominated by Apple computers and iPhones these days. I believe Skynet starts with the Apple logo.(nerd joke.) One of the Mac users said everyone was nice to him. He was expecting a negative reaction was to his laptop, or being asked to leave.

Sitting among the ‘partner displays’ they had an ‘ask an expert table’. I asked the experts about Ubuntu, as I pointed to my Linux shirt.
I was a little surprised when one of the guys told me that he had an Ubuntu virtual appliance. And then showed me it on his laptop.
Maybe I should not be surprised. Microsoft has been going to open-source events for a while. Either I am being blinded by the time I have spent with people from Redmond. Or they have learned something from spending time open-source idealists. I just wished they could have learned something about catering from us also.

Parties in Walnut Creek

* Date: Thursday, October 29, 2009
* Time: 6pm-8pm
* Location: Saxbys Coffee Shop, 1632 N Main St. Walnut Creek, CA
* Location URL: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Walnut-Creek-CA/Saxbys-Coffee-Walnut-Creek/148361495775?v=info

* Date: Friday, October 30, 2009
* Time: 6pm-8pm
* Location: Caffe La Scala, 1655 N Main St, Walnut Creek, CA

Party in Felton (Santa Cruz)
* Date: Saturday, November 7, 2009
* Location: Felton LUG meeting, Felton Fire Station, 135 Kirby St. Felton, CA
* Time: 2-5 pm

Party in Berkeley
* Date: Sunday, November 8, 2009
* Location: Berkeley LUG meeting, Bobby G’s Pizzeria, 2072 University Ave. Berkeley, CA
* Time: 12-3 pm

Party in San Francisco – Karmic Koala & Data Beez ; if you please
* Date: Thursday, November 12th, 2009
* Time: 7-8pm
* Location: DNA Lounge 375 Eleventh Street
San Francisco, CA 94103
* Location URL: http://www.dnalounge.com/calendar/2009/11.html#12

The 8-bit / Karmic party is being billed as “Data Beez” and
performances run from 8-11.  We are designating 7-8 as the
Install-fest, although of course everyone is free to keep installing
stuff all night.  How about some Linux LAN games?
There is going to be some small reasonable cover charge for admission
to the show, but anyone who comes to the Installfest with a laptop
before 8 gets in free.  If you don’t have a laptop to bring but you
want to volunteer to help with the Installfest, we will also have an
RSVP list for volunteers to get in before 8.

Let’s promote the hell out of this party to celebrate
Linux, check out some top-of-the-line 8-bit music, and bring in a few
people to help cover the expenses of bringing this great crew of
artists in from NYC and elsewhere.

I just got back from another great CCsalon. They always have interesting subjects. The posting on their website went like this:

Creative Commons, KALW, and Chicago Public Radio’s Sound Opinions are pleased to present Chicago Tribune music critic and author Greg Kot in conversation with music journalist David Downs. Kot’s new book, Ripped: How the Wired Generation Revolutionized Music, explores the changing face of the music industry.
Greg will be doing a reading, talk, and book signing at the Booksmith on Haight St. in San Francisco. Friday, October 16th, 7:30 pm. If you are able to make it to see him I am sure you will enjoy it.

I did enjoy it. The conversation between David & Greg had a great flow. Here are some of the parts of the conversation I found interesting:

“Great art is made on the fringes.”

Music is becoming a loss leader – bands should treat it that way! Many are starting to use it as a tool. There are plenty of record labels that give music away freely. This publicity translates in to concerts & other streams of revenue. Bands should be willing to give up control in exchange for money. Creative artists have so many ways to put their stuff out there.

“How come no one notices my music?”Greg rhetorically asked. T which he answered back “does it suck?” The internet provides you with so many tools to get you noticed. If you are putting yourself out there & nobody cares; there may be a reason.

There was a fair amount of dicussion on the recent music history. Danger Mouse’s The Grey Album – a combination of Jay-Z’s The Black Album & the The Beatles’ White Album. It had great critical success. No one really heard it though, because EMI used the courts to block it. The people that were lucky enough to hear it – felt the need to (re)discover The Beatles & their music. This could have been a great way for EMI to sell more music. (Some of this story is also in Good Copy Bad Copy GCBC. Today Danger Mouse is part of Gnarls Barkley.)

The music industry is killing some creativity. The mash-up culture is just another way to create. There are risks of course (like being sued.) There are also those that take chances & make it. Another is DJ Girl Talk. He can have dozens of samples in just one song.You can freely download his music on the internet. He makes money from performing. At one point he was a biomedical engineer, he quit in 2007 to focus solely on music. Great example of how mash-up music can pay the bills.

The audience was encouraged to take a stand on net neutrality & speak up be heard.

Greg also talked about how Google maybe headed the wrong way. They are heading towards being the gateway of everyone’ information. This subject was very interesting & could have been a few hours in itself. Oh well, I guess I am going to have to get the book & read some more about it.

It was held at PariSoMa a coworking space in San Francisco.

If you’ve noticed, lately there’s been a lot of buzz about Snow Leopard showing file sizes “correctly.” There’s a great article on Lifehacker by Gina Trapani which explains this in greater detail. I’ve decided to do a little comparison on the three most used OS platforms with a Sandisk 4GB USB Flash drive. Here are the screen shots:

OS X - Snow Leopard

Ubuntu Linux - Karmic Koala (Almost Beta 1)

Windows Vista

If you look at Windows and OS X they each use a different method of calculating disk sizes. Windows uses base 2 and OS X just transitioned to using base 10. Although, It looks like Ubuntu Linux uses both, and has some inconsistency going on in the same window. If you look at the screen shot above, you’ll see that the volume is 4.1GB and the capacity is 3.8GB for the flash drive. It seems like this would be confusing to some people, does it not? I’m wondering if this was intended or possibly a bug. At the end of the day, some people don’t mind, don’t notice, or really just don’t care. Now that Apple is using base 10 with Snow Leopard, I’m curious to see what the future holds for operating systems and these numbering systems.