Due to the change in venue this month, I''ve cc''ed in
freebsd-chat as
well so that the occasional lurkers pick up on it. Also
''discovered'' -
user-groups which will be included on future monthly posts. Apologies
for cross-posting so heavily this time around.
Manchester, UK BSD User Group Meeting - Tuesday 6th June
=======================================================
The next Manchester, UK BSD User Group meeting will take place, as
ever, on the first Tuesday of the month. That''s this coming Tuesday,
the 6th June.
We will be meeting this month at The Briton''s Protection, 50 Great
Bridgewater Street, Manchester. Details here:
http://tinyurl.com/p22yg
This is a change from the Sandbar where we normally meet because:
a) Sandbar has got popular, noisy and pricey
b) It''s the summer, and if the weather is nice the Briton''s
has a
beer garden
c) Change is as good as a rest
It is proposed that we move the meeting on a regular basis now, and
there will be some discussion about doing other things in coming
months that don''t involve sitting in a pub. Favourite contender:
annoying staff at the Apple Store in the Trafford Centre... :-)
What is this meeting?
---------------------
For the last few years, various BSD (and more recently Apple and
Linux) fans have been meeting in the various pubs of Manchester to
supposedly discuss BSD and Unix in general. What actually happens is
we normally get a little drunk and argue over in-car satellite
navigation systems/high-end audio kit/anything else Dave has taken an
interest in. It''s very much a social affair, but topics of
conversation this month are likely to include:
- What projects to work on whilst avoiding the World Cup
- What media centre kit to build if you don''t want to avoid the World
Cup
- Macbook keyboards: WTF?
- Seriously cheap SAN kit
- Mad ideas for apps to write in Rails
- The big secret to getting Rails to deploy properly on FreeBSD!
- Absent friends
The conversations are often non-technical, very geeky/autistic and
normally relaxed and friendly. Newbies are welcome but we might make
fun of your MCSE.
If you''re expecting formal talks, overhead projectors and Q&A
sessions, you will be disappointed. We go to the pub, sometimes only
3 of us turn up, we drink beer, talk nonsense and the only thing that
unites the people there is the fact we know what ''rm -rf /''
does.
Please, please do not travel hundreds of miles just to come to the
pub with us - if you''re yearning for a proper UK meetup, let me know
and we''ll sort something out for the end of the Summer which is
worthy of travelling long distances for.
When is this meeting?
---------------------
The meeting always happens the first Tuesday of the month. That means
the next one is the 6th June, and the one after that will probably be
the 4th July.
As the 4th July date obviously involves lots of pubs forgetting
Britain actually lost that war and ''celebrating'' it as if they
were
American anyway, we might move it... oh, and there''s something called
a ''World Cup Semi-Final'' on that night as well, which might
make it a
wash-out.
We may also consider getting together on other dates over the Summer
if people are interested in doing ''other stuff''.
Where is this meeting? A Pub?!
------------------------------
This is a social event, so we meet in a social setting. This month
we''re going to give the Briton''s Protection a go.
It''s an old-style
English pub with a couple of ''lounges'' around the back of the
bar -
we''ll probably be in one of those back rooms (or if it is warm and
sunny, in the beer garden). More details about the pub are here:
http://tinyurl.com/p22yg
If the Briton''s is closed, over-crowded or for any reason
unavailable, we will instead converge on the Rain Bar, approximately
100 yards from the Briton''s:
http://tinyurl.com/rhpsd
If you''re not sure where you''re heading, mail me off-list or
contact
somebody on manchester@bsdgroups.org.uk who will be happy to give you
directions or even a phone number to check in with us.
If you''re trying to find us for the first time, we look like Unix
sysadmins - blokes who look a little pale and unfamiliar with healthy
food - but if new people are planning on showing up and give me a
heads up, I''ll try and make it more obvious who we are.
How do I know when more of these meetings will happen?
------------------------------------------------------
You can keep in touch by typing ''subscribe manchester'' into an
email
sent to majordomo@bsdgroups.org.uk (low-traffic general co-ordination
list), or keep an eye on the website here:
http://www.bsdgroups.org.uk/manchester/
This page is a little out-of-date right now (showing the old venue),
but I will try and get that sorted soon.
Anything else?
--------------
I know for a fact that 2 regular attendees will not be coming this
month (Sam and Pete). If those planning on showing up can give me a
head-up, I can do a body count. Normally if we don''t get at least 3
people agreeing to show, we cancel. Therefore, a quick mail to me
would be useful and I''ll send out an update to all people who check
in 24 hours before the meeting to confirm it''s going ahead or not.
Also, as I''m not sub''ed to -chat or -user-groups normally, if
you
need to get in touch please do so off-list or to
manchester@bsdgroups.org.uk - thanks!
Hope to see you there!
- Paul Robinson