A head start

After Portland, the common wisdom dictates that any events in November and December would get lost in the holiday shuffle. So as mentioned in an earlier post, we’re focusing on 2009 now, with preparations being made to organize events early in the year and

I’m also submitting a paper to SCaLE around Lindependence — outlining how it works and why it’s important — and if the folks in Southern California go for it, I’ll present something there. It will be great if they accept, and I have my fingers crossed.

Also, I’m wide open to ideas and suggestions. So while we’re in the starting blocks for 2009, let’s hear what you’re thinking.

Success at Mappano

As we wrote a few months ago in this blog, Ercole Carpanetto planned to hold Mappano Open Days in his town in Italy.

Mappano Open Days took place this weekend.

In correspondence with Ercole, he says that the event was a success, where they gave away 200 Live CDs and DVDs of GNU/Linux and Free/Open Source Software programs to some businessmen and a lot of students and home users.

Like Lindependence in Felton, people came from far and wide: Three women came from Milano, which is more than 150 kilometers away, and a teacher came from Bologna, which is about 200 kilometers away. That beats us: The farthest distance people came to Felton was from Oakland and Berkeley, about 80 miles tops.

I think pictures will be up soon enough either on Ercole’s blog or on the Mappano Open Days site.

Good one, Ercole! Grazie!

Thanks, Mike

Mike Cassidy, the Silicon Valley Dispatches columnist at the San Jose Mercury News, did me, the Linux community and everyone who uses Free/Open Source Software a great favor today by writing his column about Lindependence and what we’ve done, so far, in Felton.

The column is here. Go ahead and take a look. I’ll wait.

[And if for some reason that link doesn't work, just go to SiliconValley.com and click on the link with my picture next to it.]

I want to thank Mike for a.) having an artesian depth of patience with both Bob Lewis and me while we shoveled metric tons of history and general GNU/Linux information his way in the few hours that Mike stayed here (no, we didn’t keep him hostage), and b.) writing a column that I think captured the essence of Lindependence in Felton.

Karen Borchers also took great photos of me in the so-called “underground bunker.” My only regret is that she didn’t have her “slim-down-by-50-pounds” lens with her to make me look more like, oh I don’t know, Michael Phelps.

So, thanks Mike and Karen.