Category: It Happened to Me

The Gnu IS a Real Creature

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 26, 2009
7 Comments on The Gnu IS a Real Creature

This article originally appeared on Global Nerdy.

After winning the auction for the Free Software Foundation plush gnu, I hung out in the hotel lobby, checking my email. I talked with some passers-by, and occasionally Richard Stallman, who sat at the couch across from me, cracked the occasional (and very painful) pun.

In these conversations, I was approached by no less than three people who asked me if the gnu – the animal mascot of the Free Software Foundation — was a real creature or a mythical one.

Doesn’t anyone watch Animal Planet, nature shows or The Great Space Coaster (starring Gary Gnu) anymore?

A gnu running through the veldt

They’re real. Here’s the first line of their Wikipedia entry:

The wildebeest (plural wildebeest or wildebeests), also called the gnu (/gəˈnuː/ or /ˈnjuː/), is an antelope of the genus Connochaetes. It is a hooved (ungulate) mammal.

Maybe it’s time to organize a bus trip of geeks so that we can all go to the zoo.

Tags animals, nature

Geek It Happened to Me

Talking About Blogging at Tonight’s Nature Network Pub Night in Toronto

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 26, 2009
No Comments on Talking About Blogging at Tonight’s Nature Network Pub Night in Toronto

A glass of beer and a book
Beer and science have always gone together!

This article was originally published in Global Nerdy.

I’m going to speaking at tonight’s Nature Network Pub Night here in Toronto on the topic of blogs, how they’ve helped me both do and find work, and how people in the sciences can make use of them.

The pub night is being held at Fionn MacCool’s at University and Adelaide (the full address is 181 University). People will start assembling there for dinner, drinks and conversation at 6:00 p.m. with the presentations starting at 7:00 p.m..

If you’re interested in getting to know your fellow science-types in town or want to catch up with me and talk about blogging, programming, science, accordion playing or anything else, please drop by tonight!

Tags blogging, Nature Network, presentations, pub night, Toronto

Geek It Happened to Me

Fun with Richard Stallman

Over at my tech blog Global Nerdy, there’s a story from the recent CUSEC convention that’ll only seem funny (or even make sense) if you’re a programmer who knows about the Free Software Foundation and how they view Microsoft. It’s called Winning the Gnu, and it’s about my winning bid at Richard Stallman’s auction for a plush gnu.

Tags CUSEC, funny, gnu, Richard Stallman

It Happened to Me

Meetup Tonight at The End Cafe

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 21, 2009
No Comments on Meetup Tonight at The End Cafe

the_end_cafe

I’m in Vancouver for one more night before flying off to Montreal to speak at CUSEC.

I’m meeting up with Boris Mann and the Vancouver Bloggers tonight at 6:00 p.m. at The End Cafe (2360 Commercial Drive). See you there!

Tags Commercial Drive, End Cafe, Vancouver

It Happened to Me

Vangroovy Scenery

Hello from Vangroovy! I’m at the Vancouver Convention Center to speak at the Microsoft Techdays Canada conference.

Here’s the Centre, as shown on the web site and postcards. It does look like this in the summer:

Fog-free picture of the Vancouver Convention Center

Here are the photos I took looking out onto the ocean from the Centre this morning:

My hotel is across the street from the Centre, so I didn’t wear a coat today. The doorman looked a bit worried when I passed him, but I said “Don’t worry. Next to last week’s weather in Toronto, this is tropical.”

Tags fog, Vancouver

It Happened to Me

The Missing Months, Restored

Post author By Joey deVilla
Post date January 6, 2009
No Comments on The Missing Months, Restored

A photo posted back in July 2004.

I’ve moved this blog from server to server and blogging platform to blogging platform over the past seven years. In the process of moving its contents about, the archives from May through October 2004 went missing. After looking about my backup files for months, I found and restored them, and you’ll find them in the “Archives” links in the sidebar.

Notable articles from the “Missing Months” include:

Appearing in Today’s “Globe and Mail” (October 23, 2004): In which my engagement to the Ginger Ninja gets published in Canada’s National Newspaper.
Non-Academic Lessons I Learned at Crazy Go Nuts University:

The Breakup Style of PowerPoint (July 30, 2004): Edward Tufte wrote about how PowerPoint’s misuse is killing presentations; I write about how it might be changing the way we break up.
Granddad’s Blog Entry (May 31, 2004): A couple of entries from my grandfather’s diary – a decalogue of his personal principles written in 1935 and a letter to himself he wrote in 1938.
Almost 30 Years Later and I Still Don’t Belong (May 26, 2004): Some jackass on a right-wing blog says that immigrants have no idea what it means to be a real Canadian; I tell some personal stories that say otherwise.