RMS will be 'round, Aug. 9 - 20

[Rick Moen]

I get myself in more trouble by trying to be helpful than in any other
way.  There's a very long story behind this, which I'll spare y'all,
but it seems I've become one of the people who help out Richard M. 
Stallman, when he's in the Bay Area.  That is, I and Richard Couture
have lent Stallman a place to stay when he visits, made him feel 
welcome, taken him to the good restaurants, etc.

He's a likeable person and good houseguest -- notwithstanding being
the central figure in any number of flamewars, and a stubborn cuss by
any measure.

Anyhow, out of the blue, Stallman wrote to me saying he felt bad about
missing his talk for the City College of San Francisco GNU/Linux User
Group last time out, and wanted to know if I could put him back in 
touch with them.  (He said he'll be here Aug. 9 - 20.)

I misinterpreted, knowing RMS has advanced carpal tunnel.  (I later
learned that he can type all day long, if using the right keyboard.)
Knowing the state of disrepair the CCSF group is in, and consequently
how much discussion would be required to make anything happen, I 
thought I heard a mandate to set up the arrangements, myself.  Which
I did -- but no good deed goes unpunished.

Stallman had gotten in touch with Mary Ann Warren, then-president of 
what was then called CCSF LUG, about the time he spoke at SVLUG.
During the SVLUG talk, he urged that group to change its name to
(you guessed it) Silicon Valley GNU/Linux User Group, which request
they emphatically declined.  Mary Ann, by contrast, said she would
be glad to change the name of her group.  Stallman vowed, at that
time that (paraphrasing freely and perhaps inaccurately) he would
not in the future talk to Linux user groups, only to GNU/Linux 
user groups.  He tried to speak at CCSF, but the logistical 
arrangements fell through.  So, now, he was trying again.

Unfortunately, even when the CCSF group is healthy, it ordinarily
has no summer events.  It has a (unmaintained) Web page and a (low
traffic but reliable) mailing list.  However, it is _not_ healthy:
Mary Ann had allowed the spring meeting schedule to become erratic,
and then vanished to take a job, leaving the group rudderless.
Essentially, we are waiting for the fall semester to see if a successor
can renew the group's certification with college administration and
rebuild the group.  Until then, it struck me as unlikely that the 
remaining members were going to take charge.

So, I asked on the lug@cloud.ccsf.cc.ca.us mailing list for a figurative
showing of hands as to who would show up at The CoffeeNet the evening of
Thursday, August 19, to hear Richard M. Stallman.  Something like eight
people responded, one a professor who was inviting his programming
class, and another adding that "a few friends" would also come.

>From that, one could safely project twenty or thirty members of the
extended CCSF community, plus at least that many from the larger 
Bay Area *ix community.

I cc'd Stallman on the proposal/roll-call.  He replied that he didn't 
think The CoffeeNet was big enough, and thought that (e.g.) a college
auditorium would be better.  (The CoffeeNet's official, rated seating
capacity is 49.  Twice that can fit.)

I have no means of reserving other spaces, and have so informed
Stallman -- but that's not the reason I'm writing.  Several friends
have pointed out that there's one _other_ Bay Area group Stallman
would presumably be glad to address:  Bay Area Debian.

Now, for all I know, you guys might have zero interest, or actively
dislike what RMS stands for.  Still, on my way to giving up trying
to be Stallman's impresario, I thought you might want to hear what's
been discussed.  If anyone from BAD wants to discuss the matter:

   rms@gnu.org   You Know Who
   majordomo@cloud.ccsf.cc.ca.us  ("subscribe lug")

Don't just write to _me_, since I've about exhausted my ability to
assist, at this point.

-- 
Cheers,                   The cynics among us might say:   "We laugh, 
Rick Moen                 monkeyboys -- Linux IS the mainstream UNIX now!
rick (at) linuxmafia.com  MuaHaHaHa!" but that would be rude. -- Jim Dennis