[ale] How old is this list?
Tod Fassl
fassl.tod at gmail.com
Wed Feb 3 12:24:13 EST 2021
I manage the research cluster for the math dept at a Big Ten
university. I'm retiring partly because I can, partly because keeping up
with 20-something math geniuses is too hard at my age, and because I'm
blind. Being blind is a drag. I'm a distance runner, rock climber, very
active in my community. But imagine your typical bad day -- spill coffee
on yourself, miss your bus, 271 messages in your inbox, etc. Then
imagine adding blindness to that. I've been run down by inattentive
drivers twice in the last 2 years. I mean hit and knocked down by
somebody on their phone when I was in a crosswalk with a green light. My
guide dog lost some teeth the last time. I just had some road rash but
the next time I had to get to my office, I found myself shaking when I
had to cross at that intersection. I got over it eventually but stuff
like that wears you down. I'm tired of being superman, of being fearless.
I intend to work on open-source projects for the blind after I retire. I
have a program where you can treat a normal keyboard like a braille
keyboard and create brf (braille format) text files. I'm also working on
the world's first fully blind accessible Dungeons & Dragon's module. And
I'll probably work on bug fixes in the Linux screen reader, orca.
On 2/2/21 11:48 AM, Jon "maddog" Hall via Ale wrote:
> The Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts were a group of mostly university
> students who loved (GNU). There are still web pages existent at
> ale.org that tell much of the history.
>
> The group founded in December of 1994, and in those days the first
> thing you did was form a mailing list, so I would assume that this
> list or something deeply connected to it started at that time.
>
> The Atlanta Linux Showcase started in 1996. If I remember correctly
> it was held on the Georgia Tech Campus the first year, at the Apparel
> Mart downtown in 1998, The Cobb Galleria in 1999 and 2000.
>
> In 2001 the original organizers had all graduated and were busy with
> jobs, buying houses, etc. and the USENIX organization took it over.
>
> USENIX made four gigantic mistakes:
>
> o they renamed it to the Annual Linux Showcase
> o they moved it to Oakland, California in November, 2001
> o they tried to take a free (as in beer) event and charge 350 dollars
> for it
> o they allowed Osama Bin-Laden to crash airplanes into the World Trade
> Center on September 11, 2001
>
> When USENIX had not sold a single reservation within three weeks of
> the event, I convinced them to make it free and about 300-400 people
> showed up, but USENIX never produced another Linux only show.
>
> The ale.org web site is still there, with just a few 404s. If you
> want to see what the original events were like there are even some
> pictures.
>
> It is nice that the mailing list is still active. The Linux group
> that I started in 1994 and ran for ten years also has a mailing list,
> but it is much less active than yours.
>
> Congratulations to Tod for thinking about retiring....I still have too
> much fun and I will retire with my mouse still clutched in my cold,
> dead hands.
>
> Peace and love,
>
> maddog
>
>
>
>
>
>> On 02/02/2021 10:50 AM Paul Manno via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:
>> There are probably still some of us lurking here who were around when
>> the list was first
>> created and who helped create those Atlanta Linux Showcase shows. In
>> either case, I am
>> not going to even try to think about when I started using either
>> Linux or UNIX... LoL
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 9:59 AM Larry Johnson via Ale < ale at ale.org
>> <mailto:ale at ale.org>> wrote:
>>
>> My memory isn't great as I'm about to turn 70, but I first installed
>> Linux in early 1995, and seem to remember signing up for the list
>> not
>> long thereafter.
>>
>> Which means I might have been a lurker for around 25 years.
>>
>> On 2/2/21 8:47 AM, Robert Reese via Ale wrote:
>> > Hi Tod,
>> >
>> > Monday, February 1, 2021, 12:19:30 PM, you wrote:
>> >
>> >> Am I misremembering? Because I think I got on this list when I
>> was in grad school which would have been in the mid-late 90s. The
>> reason I'm asking is that I am thinking of retiring. I was a
>> really old grad student and now I'm retiring early. Even so. Is
>> it possible I've been on this list my entire professional career?
>> > I'd say it's entirely possible. I joined in the late 90's also.
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Robert Reese~
>> >
>> >
>> >> _______________________________________________
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>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Robert~
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
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>
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