[svlug] SBAY Pizza Reminder - Sat Feb 21

[Ian Kluft]

This reminder is sent to everyone on sbay.org's mail lists and to the
sbay.general newsgroup.  CC to sbay.org SIGs: SVLUG, BAFUG and Stratofox.
                                                                                The next SBAY Pizza technical/social discussion will be Saturday February 21.
Remember, SBAY Pizzas are on 3rd Saturdays at 7PM - mark your calendar.
Directions and location can be found at
   http://www.sbay.org/sbay-social.html

The directions (which are also on the www.sbay.org web site) are:
     * 1st Quarter 2004
          + February 21, 2004: Round Table Pizza at 157 East El Camino
            Real (Hwy 82) in Mountain View, at the junction of highways
            237, 85 and 82. Directions are available at
               http://www.sbay.org/dir-mv-rt.html
          + March 20, 2004: same as January location

Subjects for discussion: (besides informal talk that can cover any topic)
* Have you tried out the recently released Mozilla Firefox 0.8 browser?
  It's worth talking about.  And we'll probably have several there on laptops.
* We still have discussions going on about making the new SBAY Speakers
  Bureau, combining talents that SVLUG has assembled into a web site
  which can schedule speakers for not only SVLUG and BAFUG, but also
  PenLUG (Peninsula), LUGoD (Davis) and others.  (Possibly BALUG and SacLUG,
  though they haven't discussed this with us yet.)  We're still gathering
  a team to maintain this site.  This has become more important now that
  we're finding out how overloaded two of the current SVLUG volunteers
  have gotten.  If you can help, this is a worthwhile effort.  We'll need
  some people to write/maintain software while others review and route
  proposed topics.
* Discussions have also begun for the annual Linux anniversary picnic.
  Mike Simons and Allen Wayne Best have again volunteered to organize it.
  We'll aim again for the Saturday following LinuxWorld Expo, Aug 7.
  Since it's Picn*x 13 this time, people seem to like the tag line of
  "Redmond, you've got a problem."  (A knock-off from the Apollo 13 quote.)
  Can anyone find an artist to draw up Tux in a spacesuit for the T-shirts
  and web site headings?  (Note: all Open Source enthusiasts will be welcome.
  That of course includes BSD users.)
* Stratofox needs to expand its team.  If you like 4x4'ing, Ham Radio,
  GPS, maps, and/or camping, Stratofox's events will have plenty of those.
  (Due to rugged conditions and the need to keep getting invited back to
  launches, Stratofox can only accept participants, not spectators.)
  Stratofox will have a meeting for prospective new members in a week or two.
* Stratofox hosted a meeting on Feb 1, the anniversary of the space shuttle
  accident, for eyewitnesses and photographers to finally meet each other
  after having heard other's names throughout the investigation.
     http://www.stratofox.org/sts107/ewd-20040201/
  Though the meeting was just to get together people who had similar
  experiences, it was probably the first time those videos (continuous
  coverage from CA to NM) had been seen in their entirety outside of NASA.
  We have digitzed copies and permission to distribute them to friends.
  Let me know if you want them - they'll come on 2 CDs.  (I have a
  non-encrypted DVD now too, but haven't successfully made a copy of it yet.)
* Stratofox has been invited to perform tracking at more high-altitude rocket
  launches in Nevada in 2004.  Also, following the Feb 1 meeting, plans have
  been added to search for the largest sighted piece of shuttle debris,
  "Debris 6", probably near the Nevada/Utah border.  See this map drawn by
  ballistics expert Rob Matson, who also wants to participate in the search.
     http://www.stratofox.org/sts107/matson-debris6a-med.jpg (77K 500x409)
     http://www.stratofox.org/sts107/matson-debris6a.jpg (2.7MB 2750x2250)
* We should have wired and wireless networks there.  I'll have an 802.11 A/G
  access point.  But unless someone volunteers some form of connection to
  the Internet, we don't have arrangements for that from the restaurant.
* It's time to start considering the location for the SBAY Pizzas for the
  second quarter of 2004.  Remember, attendees' suggestions get priority.
  It has to be in the South Bay, and recurring requests are to keep it both
  near freeways and transit.

sbay.org has been joined by the following Special Interest Groups.  All SIG
participants are welcome.
* Silicon Valley Linux User Group     www.svlug.org  (largest LUG in the US)
* Bay Area FreeBSD User Group         www.bafug.org  (largest BSD UG in the US)
* Stratofox Aerospace Tracking Team   www.stratofox.org

Our monthly pizza discussions remain informal after 10 years.  The format of
the event is social discussion related to technical and administrative
aspects of of electronic communications systems with emphasis on Open Source
based systems.  Topics include but are not limited to...
* Internet server administrivia, protocols, security, and development
* Wireless networking
* Ham Radio repeaters, transmitter hunting, and data communications
  (Transmitter hunting topics can include rockets and high-altitude balloons)
* Usenet newsgroups and other electronic discussion forums
* IP and PSTN telephony
* Broadcast radio and television
* "SBC Blunder of the Month" (formerly "PacBell Blunder of the Month")
* Silicon Valley economic observations
* Silicon Valley local issues (and now including the Peninsula for BAFUG)
* more... bring up your own subject

Feel free to invite your friends if this format is of interest.