[Edu-sig] PyCon poster session and Edu-sig pages

[kirby urner]

Thanks Andre.  I don't see any big rush, as it's not like we're
sitting on exclusive information.  Python.org is primarily about the
actual Python releases and the docs that go with them, the rest being
icing on the cake (good icing though, with edu-sig page just getting
better and better).

Thanks for stepping up to the plate Vern.  I think it'll change the
flavor of Pycon for the better to have more of the unsung heroes
present by poster, if not in person.  We've had more CS profs than in
the early days, as Python slowly catches on in that subculture, but
lets not forget our roots.

What we have in PacNW area are a lot of Mercy Corps type operations
that wanna field geeks almost like those old "comm guys" in the war
movies (lugging radar, usually blown to bits in an early scene, always
a replacement ready, until the equipment itself breaks, at which point
our hero... anyway, Rambo movies suck so fahgeddaboutit).

OSCON has the booths to sign up at.  Domestic options available.

I'm thinking civilian civil service is still an attraction option for
a high school grad seeking challenges, cybertool mastery giving a
whole new point of entry, next to doctors without borders for example,
as treatment really makes no sense without charting i.e. it's not a
"one time through" line-up, but a repeat visit regime (if it's a real
clinic, not just some made-for-TV fund raising gimmick).

Then you come back from the field more ready to pick a degree track,
having seen some front lines.  Take our CFO for example (talking
Coffee Shops again), she trained in an Uzbek leper colony before
heading into real estate and owning Fine Grind, worked for orphans (is
one).  Or take our CSO, went to Antioch only after serving as code
cracker for NSA in a forward position.

Academics comes later, but you need Python, other FOSS boss skills,
right out of the box, no time for CS degree before deployment, maybe
only a little foreign language (e.g. creole, if heading into
post-Katrina).

I like that Richard Stallman visited Sri Lanka and both Tamil and
Sinhalese have a foothold in Unicode, meaning native language source
code in both places, a possibility anyway, with OLPC.

You want XO-style mesh networking to frustrate gang control of comms,
where you think you have a right to choose other peoples' friends
(some tyrannical state).  What keeps ethnicities polarized is as old
as West Side Story and Romeo & Juliet:  family feuds.

<aside type="non sequitur">

Partly why I'm a Britney fan is she comes out against heavy-handed
unearned authority, like in this Pepsi commercial:
http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2008/05/defending-homeland.html

</aside>

I'm thinking OS Bridge will be a good place for networking, but it's
advance planning for conferences that's often the real work, as I've
discovered with Quakers, doing Future of Friends last year.

Rewarding though.

My role with OS Bridge thus far has been much lighter (seems like that
marketing guy is really working hard), a lot of it chronicled in open
source archives like this one, sometimes blog-linked for future
reference, e.g.:

http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/search?q=%22OS+Bridge%22

Anyway, edu-sig is looking just great these days, basking in the
reflected glory of Python itself -- a good place to be, so lets make
the most of it.

Kirby


On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 3:32 PM, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> On Fri, May 1, 2009 at 4:12 PM, Vern Ceder <vceder at canterburyschool.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Kirby, Andre, everyone,
>>
>> Sorry for the late reply - things have been busy here...
>>
>> I was also thinking we need a short mention and a link on the edu-sig
>> home page to some info about the PyCon education/poster session.
>
> This (and the more detailed information below) sounds like a great idea.  I
> will try to work on the edu-sig home page again soon, incorporating
> additional links to book (and probably reorganizing the book and tutorial
> section).  However, if may take a little while (perhaps a couple of weeks)
> as this is a busy time of the year for my regular "day" job.  Rather than
> bore you with details, I'll leave it up to your imagination (for those that
> know what I do).
>
> André
>