How to Miss OSCON
By Ryan Tomayko under F/OSS on 03. August 2005Hating myself for missing OSCON, I slipped away for a little R and R. If you have to miss the most important gathering of the year, this is a pretty decent way of doing it:
Standing a staggering 310 feet tall and reaching speeds of a remarkable 93 mph, the $25 million Millennium Force
giga-coasterwas the tallest and fastest roller coaster in North America when it debuted in May 2000. This steel monster looms over the Cedar Point skyline beckoning guests to take the ride of their lifetime.Riders travel up the amazing first hill at a 45-degree angle in sleek blue, red or yellow trains that offer tiered seating for optimum viewing. Once at the top of the mammoth structure, passengers zoom down a 300-foot-long drop at an outrageous 80-degree angle - that’s almost straight down! From there, riders encounter overbanked (extremely banked, but not quite inverted) turns, dark tunnels, towering hills and lots of “airtime.” The wild journey covers 13 acres and 1.25 miles of brilliant blue steel tubular track.
Anyway, my first order of business since being back has been to catch up with the conference. The blog coverage has been outstanding; there’s two different aggregators. Matt Raible’s notes are especially well done. He’s covered Dave Thomas’ Facets of Ruby, Kathy Sierra’s Creating Passionate Users, and David H. Hansson’s Ruby on Rails - Enjoying the Ride presentations so far and he’s still going strong it seems. David was awarded the Google/O’Reilly “Best Hacker of 2005″ award, which is well-deserved, IMO.
I really hope the Paul Graham Keynote makes its way over to IT conversations and/or into an essay. It seems he has F/OSS / business on his brain and the stuff coming out of his mouth is pure gold:
What business ought to be getting out of open source isn’t the software, but the process.
…
Open source (and blogging) has a Darwinian approach to enforcing quality. The audience can communicate with each other and the bad stuff gets ignored.
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On the web, the barrier for publishing your ideas is even lower than spouting them in a bar: you don’t have to buy a drink and they let kids in.
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Business can learn about open source in the same way that the gene pool learns about new conditions: the dumb ones will die.
That’s what I’m saying bro’!
Ludo|Blog » Echi da OSCON:
[…] Difficile per noi italiani frequentare le conferenze oltreoceano, anche quelle importanti come la O’Reilly Open Source Convention che si sta tenendo in questi giorni. Ci tocca quindi rimediare con i resoconti di chi c’era, come Matt Raible segnalato dal sempre più affidabile lesscode. […]
pingback at 03. August 2005
David O'Hara:
I remember when I was still in High School and the Magnum first opened, we thought it was the baddest thing ever and could wait to sneak away to try it out. Guess Cedar Point is still the bomb when it comes to the best rollercoaster in the the country…
comment at 03. August 2005
Keith Veleba:
I enjoy reading your blog; glad to hear you had fun in Sandusky. I’ve been a native all my life and have been to CP way too many times to count. Still a cool place, even if it’s viewed as way too pricey for us locals. My 2 year old likes Soak City a lot.
comment at 03. August 2005
Douglas Clifton:
Oh man, stop picking my brain–I’m kicking myself for missing OSCON too, and I’ve ridden that roller coaster several times! Actually, the Raptor is my favorite.
comment at 04. August 2005
Ryan Tomayko:
Keith: it’s too pricey for the far-east (Cleveland) tourists, too :) And tell those guys to get some wifi crankin’ on the island (or peninsula or whatever). I stayed at Breakers in the park - it was nice (gouge, gouge) but I much prefer viewing people in various stages of undress on mine own high-res laptop as opposed to their limited cable lineup. :)
comment at 04. August 2005
Keith Veleba:
Ryan: Breakers in the park? I bet that cost a pretty penny. Wi-fi? If CP came out with that, it’d probably be charged by the minute or the byte, knowing them. Sandusky is the armpit of Northern Ohio when it comes to technology. That’s why I drive to Solon everyday to work, because there are no tech jobs in the area. It’s all touristy and vacationy stuff that’s seasonal and pays very little.
As for viewing various stages of undress, just walk the park and look around. It’s almost a crime these days. Not that I’m complaining, of course.
comment at 04. August 2005