Got Something to Say? The LCA 2013 CFP Opens Soon!

The call for presentations opens on 1 June, which is only 11 days away! So if you're thinking of speaking at the conference (a presentation, tutorial, or miniconference), now would be a good time to start thinking about what you're going to say. While you're thinking, please spare a thought for our web team, who are bringing up the entire zookeepr instance so that the CFP will work properly.

We've been getting heaps of stuff done over the past few months. We've had a "ghosts" meeting (a meeting with former LCA directors), found conference and social venues, and are gearing up for the Call For Presentations.

We've signed a contract for the keynote venue, which I think you will all really enjoy. We have also locked in our booking for the lecture theatres, which is now working its way through the ANU process. For social events, we've got a great venue for the penguin dinner, and have shortlisted venues for the speakers' dinner and the professional delegates' networking session. We're taking a bit of extra time here because we want venues that are special, and not just the ones which first came to mind.

The ghosts meeting went really well and I think we learnt some important things. The LCA 2013 team is a bit unusual, because so many of us have been on a LCA core team before, but that gave us a chance to dig into things which deserved more attention and skip over the things which are self-evident. We want to take the opportunity in 2013 to have the most accessible, diverse and technically deep conference that we possibly can, and there was a lot of discussion around those issues. We've also had it drummed into us that communications with delegates is vitally important and you should expect our attempts to communicate to ramp up as the conference approaches.

I'm really excited about the progress we've made so far, and I feel like we're in a really good state right now. As always, please feel free to contact the LCA2013 team at contact@lca2013.linux.org.au if you have any questions.

Tags for this post: conference lca2013 cfp canonical
Related posts: Call for papers opens soon; Taking over a launch pad project; LCA 2006: CFP closes today; Slow git review uploads?; Further adventures with base images in OpenStack; Wow, qemu-img is fast; Reflecting on Essex; Are you in a LUG? Do you want some promotional materials for LCA 2013?; Announcement video; linux.conf.au Returns to Canberra in 2013; The next thing; Folsom Dev Summit sessions; Openstack compute node cleanup

Comment

Syndicated 2012-05-20 19:35:00 (Updated 2012-05-21 04:07:55) from stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley (no blather posts)

Catching Fire

ISBN: 9781407109367 LibraryThing

This is the second book in the Hunger Games trilogy after the first book of the same name. This book is very similar to the first in terms of style, although I think the start is a lot slower. Once you plow through the first 150 pages or so the book rapidly improves though, and I was happy with where it went overall. Good teen fiction. Tags for this post: book suzanne_collins combat hunting post_apocalypse hunger_games Related posts: The Hunger Games; Death Bringer; Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow ; East of the Sun, West of the Moon; Canned hunting; Bolos 1: Honor of the Regiment; Iron Master; Cloud Warrior; Amtrak Wars; Earth Thunder; First Family; Emerald Sea; Body Armor: 2000; Without Warning; Blood River; Against the Tide; The Stars Must Wait; Bolos 2: The Unconquerable; There Will Be Dragons

Syndicated 2012-05-10 04:55:00 from stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley (no blather posts)

Jupiter

ISBN: 9780812579413 LibraryThing

This is the first book of Ben Bova's that I've read. Before that I've only read "The Nonmetallic Isaac or It's a Wonderful Life" in Foundation's Friends. I bought this book randomly because I had run out of things to read on a business trip, and I don't regret it. The book is well paced, interesting and fun to read. It also explores alien life in a way which is particularly believable (unlike many other SF books I encounter). This book reminds me of Dragon's Egg without being so hard-SFy. A very good book. Tags for this post: book ben_bova alien aliens jupiter exploration religion Related posts: Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Humanity; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Maverick; Dragon's Egg; Runner; Starbound; The Accidental Time Machine ; Patron saints; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Changeling; Logos Run; Marsbound; Speaker For The Dead; Snow Crash ; Camouflage ; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Alliance; The Robot City, Robots and Aliens Series; The Coming; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Intruder; Isaac Asimov's Robot City: Robots and Aliens: Renegade

Syndicated 2012-04-22 19:37:00 from stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley (no blather posts)

The Hunger Games

ISBN: 9780439023528 LibraryThing

I picked this up in the US really cheap because I had run out of books to read on this trip. This book is pretty heavily hyped at the moment, but that's also why I got the book for $6 at a book store, so I can't complain. The book is an easy read, and fun. Its obviously aimed at teenagers, but I don't mind teen fiction as a genre and I read this book in a little over a day. The story line is similar to The Survivor in Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow, but is distinct enough to not be plagiarism. I enjoyed this book. Tags for this post: book suzanne_collins combat hunting post_apocalypse Related posts: Death Bringer; Battlefields Beyond Tomorrow ; East of the Sun, West of the Moon; Canned hunting; Bolos 1: Honor of the Regiment; Iron Master; Cloud Warrior; Amtrak Wars; Earth Thunder; First Family; Emerald Sea; Body Armor: 2000; Without Warning; Blood River; Against the Tide; The Stars Must Wait; Bolos 2: The Unconquerable; There Will Be Dragons

Syndicated 2012-04-16 14:04:00 from stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley (no blather posts)

The Android's Dream

ISBN: 9780765348289 LibraryThing

This is a Scalzi book, so its clever and funny, and has possibly one of the best first sentences I have read ever. It is a light read, and I finished all of it apart from the last 50 pages or so on a single flight. Scalzi also plays again with the idea of transferring consciousness, which is something which he deals with a lot in the Old Man's War series. I liked this book. Tags for this post: book john_scalzi genetic_engineering aliens Related posts: Cyteen: The Vindication; East of the Sun, West of the Moon; The White Dragon; Runner; Cyteen: The Betrayal; Rendezvous With Rama; Logos Run; Emerald Sea; Nerilka's Story; Dragonsinger; There Is No Darkness; The Dolphins of Pern; Dragondrums; Dragonquest; The Renegades of Pern; Dragonsdawn; Cyteen: The Rebirth; Against the Tide; The Chronicles of Pern: First Fall; The Dragonlover's Guide to Pern; Dragonsong

Syndicated 2012-04-14 13:48:00 from stillhq.com : Mikal, a geek from Canberra living in Silicon Valley (no blather posts)