Well, I think I had better get another day of the challenge out there.  This one was quite an easy one for me, though there are a few good rivals.  I have to say that I really didn’t start to enjoy reading books until I was in my early 30s.  Thus, a lot of my life I didn’t read, and while others might be much more well read. 

Anyway, on to my choice, I did think about other good book like ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy‘ and ‘Angels and Demons‘, I chose the ‘Ender’s Game‘ series of books.

Ender’s Game led me into a world of imagination I didn’t know existed. For me, reading became not only an escape, but a pure joy. I could escape into these books for hours during a difficult time in my life. I would become engrossed in possibilities and twists and turns and of course, the surprise ending of Ender’s Game is what made the book so good.

The book series has such grand dynamics and scale. The politics of later books is intriguing as well, Ender, his brother and sister and Ender’s friend, Bean, all were excellent. I really enjoyed Xenocide, a book where Ender spends time with the Hive Queen and the piggies while trying to determine how to irradicate the Descolada.

Other books I enjoyed in this series were Speaker for the Dead and Children of the Mind, I also enjoyed The Shadow Saga series as well.  I highly recommend these books and might just go pick up where I left off a few years back.

Cheers,

Herlo

I have been thinking on this one for a few days.  Mostly, I was thinking back to the first geek I could remember, but for some reason, nothing was coming to mind.  It was weird.

At first, I thought maybe the first geek I knew of was my programming and system administration mentor. His name was Mr Chumple (aka Paul Tiemman).  I met him back in 1999 when I worked as a programmer for Big Planet, an ISP company which was originally an investment from Nu Skin and then later purchased and rolled into it’s MLM conglomerate.  He taught me the ropes about programming, Linux and shell scripting.  Red Hat 5.1 was the first version I ever learned and it was fun.  Running WindowMaker was awesome! (still is)  I learned about Linus Torvalds and how he said ‘Linux’ :)  I still am very grateful to Mr. Chumple for all the time he spent with me during our time together at Big Planet.

Takes me back…

Later on, I continued to think more about the first geek I recognized.

Was it Bill Gates? No, surely not.  I mean, I had heard of him, but I don’t think I knew really who he was until I was using Windows 95.

Was it Steve Jobs? Nope, he wasn’t even in the picture in my mind until he started appearing on talk shows and was the face of Apple.  I remember him being forced out of Apple, but I don’t think he was it either.

So, more thinking, more cycles…and it hit me.  It wasn’t time to share with you about the First Geek I recognized.

My Geek Hero

Tonight, sitting at my computer, perusing Facebook I noticed a post from my friend Travis about Alan Turing.  Now that’s a guy I truly think of as a genius.  A guy who was truly a geek in every sense of the word.  So intelligent, so reclusive, so amazing, an enigma, if you will.

I remember reading about Turing in High School, probably senior year.  It was most definitely in a math class, might have been geometry.  The teacher was so enamored with the algorithms and the amazing things Turing did, I couldn’t help but look him up.

At the time, I wasn’t very interested in math, I’m still no good at it today.  But one thing that Turing did for me was help me to understand algorithms better.  Later on, in college, my discrete structures professor brought Turing back up, when the course covered the Turing machine. The class talked about Turing complete algorithms, essentially how the rules followed in sequence on arbitrary data can produce the result of any calculation.  Many of the modern programming languages and compilers implement Turing complete systems.

In the Facebook post I mentioned above, it appears there will be released a documentary about Alan Turing.  Including World War II, Computing, Code breaking and more.  In the preview they showed, which is available on Youtube, one gentleman mentions that it was a shame he died so early on.  If he’d have lived twice as long, the world would be completely different.  I don’t know if the world would have been better, but I do know that Alan Turing, my geek hero, surely has done more for the computing community than most.

Thank you for modern computing, Mr. Turing.

Cheers,

Herlo

Okay folks, this is probably one of the easier ones in my mind.  When I was a kid, I loved to watch the General Lee driving all over those hillbilly back roads of the South.  The Dukes of Hazzard, were my favorite to watch ‘out-Duke’ Boss Hogg and his sidekick ‘Rosco P. Coltrane’ every week.  I would watch for Cooter and Uncle Jesse to come along and help out the Duke boys when they needed it the most.  And of course, when things got really dire, their very sexy cousin Daisy Duke, would pretend to stand out on the side of the road with a broken-down car.

Although an attempt to remake the Dukes of Hazzard into a movie more or less bombed in 2005, I thought it was a good attempt.  You just can’t do it right without Tom Wopat, John Schneider and Catherine Bach.

But this article is about the theme song.  It’s a doozy!  The Good Ol’ Boys, written and sung by none other than Waylon Jennings made the exciting chases just that much better.  The song hit number 1 the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles in 1980.

[youtube oU6mPYFtF8E]

I’ve also included a link to the theme song for your enjoyment.

Cheers,

Herlo

I took a lot of liberty here, but I think this should be ‘any’ vehicle.  It doesn’t matter if the vehicle is real or imaginary in my mind.  So I went with a cartoon vehicle.

Voltron

As a kid, I loved watching Voltron on television.  All 5 lion robots converted to make one amazing crime-fighting, flying and powerful robot.  They would al

ways fight Prince Lotor, and as with many of the cartoons of my childhood, he would escape before Voltron could stop him for good.

What’s even better, you can watch ‘Voltron Force’ on Nicktoons starting this spring!  So become a nerdy kid again,

and enjoy some Voltron force!

Cheers,

Herlo

In my case, I might try to do this every day, but probably won’t.  I may also do them out of order, so feel free to do the same.  I will try to do at least one every week.  Enjoy the list, and the follow-ups for each of the days.  In my mind, this is a good experience to remind me why I enjoy being a Geek, maybe it will help you as well.

Day 1 – Very first Geek
Day 2 – Favorite Geek
Day 3 – Your Geek crush
Day 4 – Favorite book / book series
Day 5 – Geek you feel you are most like (or wish you were)
Day 6 – Favorite Web Show / Web Comic
Day 7 – Favorite Board Game
Day 8 – Favorite Shirt/Hat/Shoes (Something you wear)
Day 9 –  Saddest geek scene
Day 10 – Favorite TV Show series
Day 11 – Favorite Movie
Day 12 – Best alien /alien race ever
Day 13 – Geekiest quote/phrase
Day 14 – Current (or most recent) geek wallpaper
Day 15 – Favorite OS / Config
Day 16 – Favorite Developer
Day 17 – Favorite Hardware Vendor
Day 18 – Most Undesirable Tech Company
Day 19 – Favorite Gadget
Day 20 – Best! Videogame! Ever!
Day 21 – Favorite Vehicle
Day 22 – Favorite Tech Company
Day 23 – Favorite Language
Day 24 – Geek Hero
Day 25 – Best Website
Day 26 – Your favorite number
Day 27 – Favorite tv opening theme song
Day 28 – Favorite Comic Book
Day 29 – Favorite Robot
Day 30 – Biggest Geek Wish

Feel free to republish this list, and change whatever day(s) you need to change to suit your inner geek.

If you do the challenge, leave a comment here with a link to the challenge, so we can all compare each other.

Cheers,

Herlo

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Vodka From Hell

6 peppers – you can use Jalapenos, Serranos, Poblanos, etc
1 750ml bottle of vodka of choice

The seed are what carry the most heat of a pepper, so lets remove these. Cut the pepper in half lengthwise. Push the core of the pepper and the seeds out. You may want to wear plactic gloves. If you don’t wear gloves, remember to wash your hands vigorously when you are done. Don’t make the mistake inadvertantly scratching an itch around your face or eyes after cutting chilis!

Now just cut the peppers up, add to your jar with the bottle of vodka. Infuse for about 2 days. A bloody mary is an obvious choice for this infusion. A martini bar in my home town called Vault has a great cocktail using pepper vodka. If I was to guess the recipe it would be:

Pineapple Pepper Martini

1 1/2oz pepper vodka
1/2oz simple syrup
1/2oz fresh lime juice
2oz pineapple juice

Shake ingredients cold and serve in a martini glass. You get a sweet, fruity pineapple flavor up front, but then the fire kicks in, and you get the slow burn in the finish. It’s a trip.

You are probably getting the drift that these vodka infusion recipes are really simple. They are fun and you can exercise a lot of creativity with them. I bet you already have some ideas of your own.

Found at http://www.make-martinis-at-home.com/vodkainfusionrecipes.html

I’m very happy to read this article. I’ve never really thought about the lyrics to the song, but it makes perfect sense. If I may, I’d take this concept a bit further, focusing on what is important to you in ‘life’. In fact, replacing almost every instance of ‘Fedora’ with life also works.

What I mean by this, is find that passion, find that joy, find that night light that makes you happy in ‘life’. I’ve never been good at metaphors like this, but I am going to be using this one, now.

I hope that every Fedora contributor thinks about what you have written and takes to their hearts the value of Red Hat and the Fedora Project. I truly believe in this community and am truly blessed to have so many amazing and awesome friends here.

For me, what makes me happy in life, beyond my family time and my kids, is the Fedora Project.  I am not kidding, I really mean that from the bottom of my heart.  The Fedora Project has given me more than I have contributed, been my mentor in many places and given me a career I wouldn’t have otherwise.  I will always be grateful to my friends who got me involved with this amazing people.

I’ve been doing a bit of navel gazing lately.  As I depart SCaLE later today, I have been thinking about what reasons I work in the Fedora Project. I think a lot of us didn’t get into Fedora for altruistic reasons, but after a while, they are the reasons to stay.  Why do you stay?

I would like to invite everyone else to think in this way.  Come up with some sort of project or activity that takes a few hours or a few weeks and make a plan.  Share your plan, invite your friends to help make a better birdhouse!

Cheers,

Clint

Even though FUDCon officially doesn’t start until Saturday morning, I’ll down in the meeting room at the Courtyard playing board games and discussing nerdy things with my Fedora friends.  I’ve even brought a few board games with me to share.

• Power Grid – Supply the most cities with power
• Pandemic – Prevent a worldwide pandemic outbreak
• Small World – Conquest and control of a world that is simply too small to accommodate them all.
• Metro – Complete the longest rail lines against other players
• Perudo – Sometimes called Liars Dice

There’s also a bigger list on the FUDCon Tempe wiki page.  If you are interested in these games, come and find me and let’s play!

Cheers,

Herlo

FUDCon Tempe 2011 is here in just a few short days.  Some of the people I would expect to attend, aren’t going to be at FUDCon this year.  I am going to miss their presence immensely.

• It’s the first FUDCon without the master of karaoke, Greg DeKoenigsberg.  He’ll be missing out on the warm weather and friendly collaboration for sure.
• I know my good friend, David Nalley isn’t going to make it either. I have been at so many Fedora events with him, it will sure be a bit lacking without his late nights and overall good nature.
• I’m also saddened to hear that Karsten Wade won’t be able to attend, he will surely be missed with his community insight and valuable opinions.

There are others, in fact, who I know probably would like to come.  These specific instances stood out to me because I think of them as amazing contributors.  Their consistent attendance at events like FUDCon have encouraged me to return year after year to events I now love. Mind you, the above folks I mentioned aren’t missing from Fedora overall.  In fact, I know that each of them and many more who can’t make FUDCon this coming weekend in person can still participate and contribute from afar (and will likely do so).

I see a new generation of contributor helping to grow Fedora into a grand new direction.  I’m interested in seeing where this road will take us, and I think that’s the joy.  With each new contributor in a community like Fedora, we continue down the path of the best of free and open source software, but we can meander into realms we had never thought of before.  This is what excites me!

Like I said, I’m on my way to FUDCon Tempe for what is no doubt going to be an awesome event. Right now, I am sitting in my hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona.  A mere 151 miles, about 2 hours at 75mph, from the Courtyard in Tempe, Arizona, where most of our attendees will stay for four days.  I should easily be there by early afternoon tomorrow.

Mind you, this trip was planned for me to be eight days, two travel days to and from Salt Lake City.  Just this afternoon, we spent about 3.5 hours at the amazing Grand Canyon National Park.  If you get a chance to visit this amazing natural canyon, at 10 miles across, do it!  Our little family had a great time seeing the sights and riding the buses around.  By the way, dusk is really amazing at the park, don’t miss that either.

The FUDCon planning committee has crossed all the t’s and dotted all the i’s.  Thanks to sponsors like Google, Rackspace, and of course our hosts, Arizona State University, we get to have food and fun while working toward our common goal.  Thanks to all who put in such hard work to make this event rock!

See you all in just a few days!

Cheers,

Herlo

You know, I’ve always enjoyed that statement.  I love hearing it over the PA at the circus, at a restaurant when someone is about to make an announcement, or at a the start of a presentation at a conference.  Not sure why, but it just gets me all excited about the world, the future and I perk up wide-eyed with anticipation of what’s going to happen next…

I’m as excited as ever to say these words myself.  I’m so happy, in fact, that I wanted to share it with you, my dear audience.  My friends, colleagues, fellow UTOS compatriots, I would like to share with you some wonderful news!  The future is bright for free and open source software right here in our fine state.

Just look around you and you will see companies coming into Utah right and left.  While some do not appear open source friendly, don’t be fooled, they want you with your amazing Linux skills, or incredible Python Fu.  It’s you they want, Miss PHP master, scripting fiend, fanciful master of kickstart!  The real question though, will be, where will these companies look for their talent?

In my opinion, they will look to the great technical community already here in Utah.  They will strive to find and hire the best and brightest from our ranks.  They will want to hire those from our communities of experts, skilled craftsman, coders, system administrators and much, much more.  It is my belief that they will want to hire from those of you who participate in our Local User Groups and directly with Utah Open Source.

I say these things with great fervor and joy.  I’d like to announce the 2011 theme of Utah Open Source, ‘Community’.

My departure from the Executive Director position leaves me to work more closely with the UTOS board of directors.  In my stead, Victor Villa will take the responsibilities and leadership of the Executive Director.

Victor comes to UTOS with a great deal of community leadership.  As the former president of the Utah PHP User Group for the past several years, Victor grew the local PHP community every year.  He’s been a great supporter of UTOS since its inception in 2006.  With his foresight and leadership, I know that UTOS will continue to grow and flourish.  I am excited to pass the baton of leadership of UTOS to a man I have grown to admire and appreciate. Thank you Victor for taking on the role of leading Utah Open Source into this bright future!

During our conversations, I’ve asked Victor to spend some extra time during 2011 focusing on community growth and development.  With this in mind, Victor and I agree that 2011 will be a year of community building.  In 2012, the Utah Open Source Conference will return.  I will let Victor respond to my comments, with a post of his own, addressing the rest of his vision for UTOS.  I’m truly excited to be a part of UTOS, and with all of the goals Victor has set forth, I am very excited for the future!

Thank you for letting me be part of this community.  I will never forget you.  I will miss you all so very much when our family moves to Southern California in the fall.

Much Joy and Excitement,

Your friend,

Clint