Off to Barcelona – Lasalle University

I will be speaking at the Lasalle University in Barcelona on Tuesday at the world-wide conference of Lasallian Universities. Lluis asked me to not just talk about Sakai but about Open Source in general and general future directions for teaching and learning with Technology – what a fun topic and wide open opportunity.
I will take advantage of the opportunity to revisit with my friends at the Campus project and get an update on the Moodle/Sakai/OKI tool interoperability project. Now that it is April – I am really looking forward to seeing what the Campus project has accomplished with 6+ months of work.
I hope to also see friends from Lleida and Valencia if I have time.
On Thursday and Friday I do a bit of touristing. The CERN High Energy Physics facility (the birthplace of the web) is having an open house for the next set of Large Hadron Detectors (about 5 stories tall) – the beam line is about to turn on and it is the last time the public will be allowed into the pit. I visited CERN with my family in 2004 and Steven Goldfarb gave my family a tour of the detector when it was 1/3 done – very impressive.
Then on Friday April 11 – I sing with Steve’s Band (The Canettes Blues Band – http://www.canettes.ch/) at the Mr. Pickwicks Pub in Geneva (http://www.canettes.ch/). This will be my first live band experience – I will sing one song – “I have got my Mojo Working” – I have been practicing for about 3 months in my car as I drive between Lansing and Ann Arbor.
I am quite excited and very nervous. This is my first time singing with a band – I am hopeful all those years of serious Karaoke dedication will finally pay off. There will be a video team there so it should be caught on tape – could be awesome – could be bad. It might be my *only* time singing with a live band – so I want to make it a good one.
Hey – if you are in the Geneva Area – stop by Mr. Pickwicks – here is the Gig URL:
http://www.canettes.ch/2008/0411-Pickwick
Steve tells me when the Canettes play at Mr. Pickwicks – seats are at a premium – so come early.

Saying: Understanding Bright People and How They Think

The brightest people are the ones who have a choice in what they do. They will only give fully of themselves to a project, effort, or even a job if they are assured that in the giving of themselves – they are not losing themselves. The rarest and most precious gift is the gift of ideas, vision, and leadership. Bright people are bursting to to share their best ideas and efforts with the world – but they do not want to lose their own right to those gifts.
See also:
The Apache Software Foundation Individual Contributor License Agreement
http://www.apache.org/licenses/icla.txt

Python Thread Notes

https://ctools.umich.edu/dav/715d3da9-f664-4281-80f6-e60869a420c8
http://docs.python.org/lib/module-threading.html
http://www.devshed.com/c/a/Python/Basic-Threading-in-Python/3/
http://docs.python.org/lib/timer-objects.html
http://heather.cs.ucdavis.edu/~matloff/Python/PyThreads.pdf
http://artfulcode.nfshost.com/files/multi-threading-in-python.html
http://artfulcode.nfshost.com/files/multi-threading-in-python.html
Locking:
http://linuxgazette.net/107/pai.html

Interesting Talk – About Open Source Issues

This comes from Brian Fitzpatrick and Ben Collins-Sussman
Every open source project runs into people who are selfish, uncooperative, and disrespectful. These people can silently poison the atmosphere of a happy developer community. Come learn how to identify these people and peacefully de-fuse them before they derail your project. Told through a series of (often amusing) real-life anecdotes and experiences.
http://www.red-bean.com/fitz/presentations/2007-07-26-OSCON-poisonous-people.pdf
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4216011961522818645
I thought it was pretty cool.

Google Summer of Code – Student Application Deadline Monday

The deadline for student applications for Google Summer of code is Monday March 31, 2007 at 5PM Pacific time (USA)
I have been corresponding with about 15 students over the past week helping them clarify their proposals. We have 4 filed proposals so far and several are pretty solid. I am sure at the deadline we will have at least 10 more.
If you have interested students that you want to apply for the program – make sure they put in at least a basic application before the deadline so we can talk to them.
Since time is short – if students want help from me – have them send me a 2-3 paragraph proposal as best they can write it and I will send it back with comments to help add some detail.
If you have any questions send me a note.
/Chuck
Here is the student application page:
http://groups.google.com/group/google-summer-of-code-announce/web/guide-to-the-gsoc-web-app-for-student-applicants
Here is a description of the Sakai entry in SOC:
http://code.google.com/soc/2008/sakai/about.html
Here is the project ideas (just a starting point) page:
http://www.sakaiproject.org/soc2008/

Karaoke – Ann Arbor Michigan

I just found out that Ann Arbor has an excellent Karaoke Box / Karaoke Room called Blue Karaoke:
http://www.bluekaraoke.com/Main.aspx
Damn!
They don’t serve beer – but you can bring your own.
There is also a small box karaoke just south of West Hall On East University – 1/2 block north of Red Hot Lovers on the east side of the street on the second floor of a house – I have never been there -but I just want to remember it.
Also this:
Friends Karaoke
621 Church St
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 994-7979‎
I also have not experienced this one either. Just notes for the future.
Of course we have the Sakai Authoring Workshop with Jim and the IMS Quarterly meeting in June – so I am getting prepared for a good time in the evenings – we start at the Ann Arbor Brewing Company and then move to Karaoke – like sweet.

A new Jericho Fan

Over the weekend my brother-in-law Ted came up for Easter. He wanted to catch up on a few Jericho episodes he had missed this month because he lives in the country and I have Comcast HD On Demand which replays Jericho (sweet). Ted is the guy who put in my wood floor – he stars in the my hardwood floor video.

So I watched five straight episodes with him – and now I am hooked. Tonight is the finale – which I will miss because I am teaching – Drat!

The plot is really cool. It is a post-apocalyptic USA where things got lawless for a while and then a series of new governments tries to take over and restore order.

It is so cool – there is a kind of bumbling new government/army which is secretly under the control of a company and the army is always running around trying to fix things but never really gaining control. Then company that controls the government is called Jennings and Rall (J and R) Because J & R controlls the government, they are always above the law and doing bad things all the time. The civilians are just mostly confused – they dislike J & R all the time – the army/government claims to be on the side of the people and only interested in order – but the government always lets J & R do whatever they want with no consequences.

So the people go between almost revolting, hiding, and timidly working with the government and J&R. All of the characters from all the groups are always conflicted – they do the right thing some times and the wrong thing at other times – even some J & R employees seem nice and do the right thing at times – but J & R seems evil most of the time.

Lots of cool symbolism around current events. Plenty of action – a neat ensemble cast – and a large enough cast that lots of drama happens – like folks getting killed etc etc.

It all comes to a head tonight in the finale. So don’t tell me how it turns out. And now that I like the show – of course it is cancelled – drat.

And the funny thing is that I think that one of the characters (Major Beck) looks a lot like Michael Korcuska in a flak jacket.