BALUG meetings & news: Tu 2014-08-19: Lightning talks; 2014-09-16 Todd Varland of AWS; 2014-10-21 New Venue!

Thu Aug 14 07:55:54 PDT 2014

BALUG meetings & news: Tu 2014-08-19: Lightning talks; 2014-09-16 Todd  
Varland of AWS; 2014-10-21 New Venue!

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items, details further below:
2014-08-19 BALUG meeting - Lightning talks: How I use Linux, ...
2014-09-16 BALUG meeting  -Todd Varland of Amazon's Amazon Web Services (AWS)
2014-10-21 New venue starting in October!
giveaways (CDs/DVDs, ...)
volunteering to help BALUG (and add to your experience & resume!)
Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org

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For our 2014-08-19 BALUG meeting we have Lightning talks! on ...
"What I do with Linux" and additional topics
(e.g. Cool stuff from BALUG).
You can drop us a note at balug-speaker-coordinators at balug.org
if you'd like to ensure we get you added to the line-up, or if you have
specific questions about the 2014-08-19 meeting format and such.  If
you'll be joining the line-up, we also have wiki page which has lots of
relevant information and may answer many questions one may have - e.g.
our video projection capabilities at the venue:
http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:speaker-presenter_information_and_resources
Promises to be an interesting meeting - and our next-to-last at the
Four Seas Restaurant (get in to see us there and/or do that bit of
talk/presentation there while you can, before we leave that historic
location!)

So, if you'd like to join us please RSVP to:

                         rsvp at balug.org

**Why RSVP??**

Well, don't worry we won't turn you away, but the RSVPs really help
BALUG and the Four Seas Restaurant plan the meal and meeting, and with
sufficient attendance, they also help ensure that we'll be able to eat
upstairs in the private banquet room.

Meeting Details...

    6:30pm Tuesday, August 19th, 2014 2014-08-19
    Four Seas Restaurant http://www.fourseasr.com/
    731 Grant Ave.
    San Francisco, CA 94108
    Easy Transit Access:  The MUNI 1 line stops half a block away.  For
      folks on BART, the MUNI 1 starts about a block from Embarcadero
      BART.  Trip planning:  http://www.511.org/
    Easy PARKING:
      Portsmouth Square Garage at 733 Kearny:
      http://www.sfpsg.com/

Cost: The meetings are always free, but for dinner, for your gift of $13
        cash, we give you a gift of dinner - joining us for a yummy
        family-style Chinese dinner - tax and tip included (your gift
        also helps in our patronizing the restaurant venue).

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For our 2014-09-16 BALUG meeting, we have:

Todd Varland of Amazon Web Services (AWS)[1] on:
Everything that's old is new again: Linux, Hardware and the Cloud[2]
(Internet of Things)[3]

Talk Outline:

o Observations from the front line - Trends in Internet of Things
   (IoT)/Low Performance Computing (LPC)[4]
o Showcase a project that was done in the AWS Office
   (simplebeerservice.com[5])
o Discuss and demo a file backup project that Todd did (Raspberry Pi[6]
   networking device that backs files up to AWS)
o Discuss and demo an automation of Todd's home heating system
   (Arduino[7] device that controls heating vents aided by the Cloud)
o Wrap up these examples by tying into observations and thoughts on
   where the Maker movement[8] is headed with this

Todd Varland is a Solutions Architect at Amazon Web Services (AWS)
based in San Francisco.  Todd works with customers of all sizes helping
architect solutions being deployed in the AWS cloud across a broad
range of technical scenarios.  Prior to joining AWS, Todd spent more
than a decade in traditional datacenter and cloud operations in senior
management positions.  Other "tours of duty" include development,
performance engineering and operations in organizations ranging from
start-up to Fortune 50.

Note also that this will be the last time BALUG meets at this historic
location!  So come by to also say goodbye to our Four Seas Restaurant
meeting location.  We'll meet at a new location in October.

1. http://aws.amazon.com/
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloud_computing
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_of_Things
4. https://www.google.com/#q=%22low+performance+computing%22+LPC
5. https://simplebeerservice.com/
6. http://www.raspberrypi.org/
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arduino
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maker_movement

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2014-10-21 New venue starting in October!

The Four Seas Restaurant lost their lease.  So their last day of
business there is 2014-09-27, and our last meeting there will be
2014-09-16.  We certainly want to thank The Four Seas Restaurant for
their wonderful hospitality, dining, and a great place for us to meet
over these many years!  BALUG has been meeting there since our first
meeting back in October 1997.  By my count, through September, I
believe BALUG will have held 186 meetings in total at
The Four Seas Restaurant, and The Four Seas Restaurant has been in
business there since the 1930s!  We've had multiple meetings there with
over 100 attendees, including Linus Torvalds, Mark Shuttleworth, and
many other speakers and highly notable speakers over the years - and we
want to thank them all too! ... and continue meeting!

And continue meeting BALUG will!  3rd Tuesdays, per usuaul - but with
change of venue starting 2014-10-21.  Where will we be?  We can
certainly use your help on leads for venue!  Certainly feel free to
discus on our "talk[1]" list.  See also the earlier item[2] on our
announce list that gives fair overview of what we're hopefully looking
to find as for venue.  And IF YOU HAVE LEADS ON SPECIFIC VENUE(s) BE
SURE TO DROP US A NOTE!: balug-contact at balug.org - and can of course
also mention/discuss it on our "talk[1]" list.  And much thanks for
leads/contacts, useful ideas, etc. that will get us to our future
venue(s)!

And watch the web site and "announce" list for updates - I'm hoping
we'll have venue figured out fairly soon, but in most any case, I expect
we'll have that finalized - at least for our October meeting, some weeks
or more in advance.

1. http://lists.balug.org/listinfo.cgi/balug-talk-balug.org
2.  
http://lists.balug.org/pipermail/balug-admin-balug.org/2014-July/001504.html

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We typically have various giveaway items at BALUG meetings.  We'll
likely have at least the below plus additional items.

Book!  We have author autographed copy - signed by Elizabeth K. Joseph
of:
The Official Ubuntu Book, 8th Edition
By Matthew Helmke, Elizabeth K. Joseph,
with José Antonio Rey, Philip Ballew, Benjamin Mako Hill
Published Jul 15, 2014 by Prentice Hall.
Copyright 2015
Dimensions: 7" x 9-1/8"
Pages: 368
Edition: 8th
ISBN-10: 0-13-390539-X
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-390539-7
http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=013390539X

CDs/DVDs/ISOs, etc. - have a peek here:
http://www.wiki.balug.org/wiki/doku.php?id=balug:cds_and_images_etc
We may also be able to "burn" images per request or copy to USB flash,
etc.  Donations of blank or +-RW media, USB flash, or funding thereof,
also appreciated.  See the above URL for details (and the inventory
(qty.) of what we specifically have "burned" and available on-hand does
also frequently change).

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volunteering to help BALUG (and add to your resume/experience)

Not only can you do useful and cool stuff volunteering to help BALUG,
but it can also be a way to gain useful and practical experience, and
could also be something to add to or round out one's resume.

There a quite a variety of opportunities to help BALUG.  Come talk to us
at a meeting and/or drop us a note at:
balug-contact at balug.org
These opportunities may include, among other possibilities:
o assist on speaker coordination/procurement, etc.
o assist on publicity
o chief/assistant cat herder
o Linux Systems Administration (e.g. do/assist/learn, with/under some
     quite experienced and skilled Linux systems administrators).
o webmaster, assistant webmaster, designer, graphic artist
o archivist/history/retrieval/etc.
o and other various/miscellaneous tasks BALUG "ought" to be doing or
     would be good to do (feel free to suggest ideas!)

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Twitter - you can also follow BALUG on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/BALUG_org

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Feedback on our publicity/announcements (e.g. contacts or lists where we
should get our information out that we're not presently reaching, or
things we should do differently): publicity-feedback at balug.org

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