BALUG meetings & news: Tu 2014-08-19: Lightning talks; 2014-09-16 Todd Varland of AWS; 2014-10-21 New Venue!
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items, details further below: 2014-08-19 BALUG meeting - Lightning talks: How I use Linux, ... 2014-09-16 BALUG meeting -Todd Varland of Amazon's Amazon Web Services (AWS) 2014-10-21 New venue starting in October! giveaways (CDs/DVDs, ...) volunteering to help BALUG (and add to your experience & resume!) Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org
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For our 2014-08-19 BALUG meeting we have Lightning talks! on ... "What I do with Linux" and additional topics (e.g. Cool stuff from BALUG). You can drop us a note at balug-speaker-coordinators@balug.org if you'd like to ensure we get you added to the line-up, or if you have specific questions about the 2014-08-19 meeting format and such. If you'll be joining the line-up, we also have wiki page which has lots of relevant information and may answer many questions one may have - e.g. our video projection capabilities at the venue: http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:speaker-presenter_informati... Promises to be an interesting meeting - and our next-to-last at the Four Seas Restaurant (get in to see us there and/or do that bit of talk/presentation there while you can, before we leave that historic location!)
So, if you'd like to join us please RSVP to:
rsvp@balug.org
**Why RSVP??**
Well, don't worry we won't turn you away, but the RSVPs really help BALUG and the Four Seas Restaurant plan the meal and meeting, and with sufficient attendance, they also help ensure that we'll be able to eat upstairs in the private banquet room.
Meeting Details...
6:30pm Tuesday, August 19th, 2014 2014-08-19 Four Seas Restaurant http://www.fourseasr.com/ 731 Grant Ave. San Francisco, CA 94108 Easy Transit Access: The MUNI 1 line stops half a block away. For folks on BART, the MUNI 1 starts about a block from Embarcadero BART. Trip planning: http://www.511.org/ Easy PARKING: Portsmouth Square Garage at 733 Kearny: http://www.sfpsg.com/
Cost: The meetings are always free, but for dinner, for your gift of $13 cash, we give you a gift of dinner - joining us for a yummy family-style Chinese dinner - tax and tip included (your gift also helps in our patronizing the restaurant venue).
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For our 2014-09-16 BALUG meeting, we have:
Todd Varland of Amazon Web Services (AWS)[1] on: Everything that's old is new again: Linux, Hardware and the Cloud[2] (Internet of Things)[3]
Talk Outline:
o Observations from the front line - Trends in Internet of Things (IoT)/Low Performance Computing (LPC)[4] o Showcase a project that was done in the AWS Office (simplebeerservice.com[5]) o Discuss and demo a file backup project that Todd did (Raspberry Pi[6] networking device that backs files up to AWS) o Discuss and demo an automation of Todd's home heating system (Arduino[7] device that controls heating vents aided by the Cloud) o Wrap up these examples by tying into observations and thoughts on where the Maker movement[8] is headed with this
Todd Varland is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS) based in San Francisco. Todd works with customers of all sizes helping architect solutions being deployed in the AWS cloud across a broad range of technical scenarios. Prior to joining AWS, Todd spent more than a decade in traditional datacenter and cloud operations in senior management positions. Other "tours of duty" include development, performance engineering and operations in organizations ranging from start-up to Fortune 50.
Note also that this will be the last time BALUG meets at this historic location! So come by to also say goodbye to our Four Seas Restaurant meeting location. We'll meet at a new location in October.
1. http://aws.amazon.com/ 2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing 3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things 4. https://www.google.com/#q=%22low+performance+computing%22+LPC 5. https://simplebeerservice.com/ 6. http://www.raspberrypi.org/ 7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino 8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_movement
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2014-10-21 New venue starting in October!
The Four Seas Restaurant lost their lease. So their last day of business there is 2014-09-27, and our last meeting there will be 2014-09-16. We certainly want to thank The Four Seas Restaurant for their wonderful hospitality, dining, and a great place for us to meet over these many years! BALUG has been meeting there since our first meeting back in October 1997. By my count, through September, I believe BALUG will have held 186 meetings in total at The Four Seas Restaurant, and The Four Seas Restaurant has been in business there since the 1930s! We've had multiple meetings there with over 100 attendees, including Linus Torvalds, Mark Shuttleworth, and many other speakers and highly notable speakers over the years - and we want to thank them all too! ... and continue meeting!
And continue meeting BALUG will! 3rd Tuesdays, per usuaul - but with change of venue starting 2014-10-21. Where will we be? We can certainly use your help on leads for venue! Certainly feel free to discus on our "talk[1]" list. See also the earlier item[2] on our announce list that gives fair overview of what we're hopefully looking to find as for venue. And IF YOU HAVE LEADS ON SPECIFIC VENUE(s) BE SURE TO DROP US A NOTE!: balug-contact@balug.org - and can of course also mention/discuss it on our "talk[1]" list. And much thanks for leads/contacts, useful ideas, etc. that will get us to our future venue(s)!
And watch the web site and "announce" list for updates - I'm hoping we'll have venue figured out fairly soon, but in most any case, I expect we'll have that finalized - at least for our October meeting, some weeks or more in advance.
1. http://lists.balug.org/listinfo.cgi/balug-talk-balug.org 2. http://lists.balug.org/pipermail/balug-admin-balug.org/2014-July/001504.html
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We typically have various giveaway items at BALUG meetings. We'll likely have at least the below plus additional items.
Book! We have author autographed copy - signed by Elizabeth K. Joseph of: The Official Ubuntu Book, 8th Edition By Matthew Helmke, Elizabeth K. Joseph, with José Antonio Rey, Philip Ballew, Benjamin Mako Hill Published Jul 15, 2014 by Prentice Hall. Copyright 2015 Dimensions: 7" x 9-1/8" Pages: 368 Edition: 8th ISBN-10: 0-13-390539-X ISBN-13: 978-0-13-390539-7 http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=013390539X
CDs/DVDs/ISOs, etc. - have a peek here: http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:cds_and_images_etc We may also be able to "burn" images per request or copy to USB flash, etc. Donations of blank or +-RW media, USB flash, or funding thereof, also appreciated. See the above URL for details (and the inventory (qty.) of what we specifically have "burned" and available on-hand does also frequently change).
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volunteering to help BALUG (and add to your resume/experience)
Not only can you do useful and cool stuff volunteering to help BALUG, but it can also be a way to gain useful and practical experience, and could also be something to add to or round out one's resume.
There a quite a variety of opportunities to help BALUG. Come talk to us at a meeting and/or drop us a note at: balug-contact@balug.org These opportunities may include, among other possibilities: o assist on speaker coordination/procurement, etc. o assist on publicity o chief/assistant cat herder o Linux Systems Administration (e.g. do/assist/learn, with/under some quite experienced and skilled Linux systems administrators). o webmaster, assistant webmaster, designer, graphic artist o archivist/history/retrieval/etc. o and other various/miscellaneous tasks BALUG "ought" to be doing or would be good to do (feel free to suggest ideas!)
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Twitter - you can also follow BALUG on Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org
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Feedback on our publicity/announcements (e.g. contacts or lists where we should get our information out that we're not presently reaching, or things we should do differently): publicity-feedback@balug.org
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