I brought up the idea of edu.pycon.org again recently. My idea was to have more university-based events instead of meeting in business hotels. Chairman Steve immediately pointed out the error of my ways. Pycons, including us.pycons, have already been university-based, many times. Those of you following the various blogs (planet this, laughing that) maybe saw how pycon.org is able to do outreach by tying to related domains through a subdomain. us.pycon.org is a good example. edu.pycon.org might map to a university that has chosen to specialize in Python, MIT for example. Or would that be fair? The PSF, as the owner of the pycon.org domain, would have to decide. Just because MIT hosted the site wouldn't mean the edu.pycons couldn't be somewhere else. On another front, I've been looking into the 'dirty jobs for academic credit' scenario, which is already a reality for some vets. My friend Glenn, in the military for a spell, got credits towards a degree at Antioch, or I believe he did, based on previous life experience. But this would be different, more like a semester abroad. One of Haverford Colleges former presidents is an inspiration here too. He would take other jobs just to keep his experience base broad. He wasn't trying to wear a halo, he was trying to stay smart and up to date. What "dirty jobs" might involve you with Python? A lot depends on what counts as a "dirty job". In one translation, it simply means "involving hard physical labor, such as heavy lifting, or the need to wear special clothing to guard against toxins or extremes of heat and cold". Python is not so often embedded in small devices as Java I'm pretty sure. The Java VM has a stronger market share. Who wants to talk about cell phones? If we have an edu.pycon someday, I hope there are tracks for people from many walks of life, and therefore with a wide variety of experience. I'm not saying the existing Pycons, in Asia, in South America, in North America, aren't already diverse. They are. Chairman Steve got to the ones in Argentina and Brazil last year, and in Singapore the year before. Python is sprouting up all over. I always think of Jeff Rush as an inspiration and mover and shaker behind the edu.pycon idea. Given how quickly us.pycon sold out, we might be seeing a surge of interest in this technology. Even more teachers are giving it a first or second look. Kirby