Manchester BSD User Group - November 7th

[Paul Robinson]

Manchester BSD Unix User Group Meeting - 7th November 2006
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History
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The start of my diary entry from last month's meeting:

"The first thing I noticed was her eyes. Actually, that's a lie: I  
noticed her pert breasts and perfect bottom long before I noticed her  
eyes, but I was never going to tell her that - especially as she was  
a stripper giving me a lap-dance and would probably appreciate a  
comment about her eyes right about now."

Now, I'm not promising any future attendees that the evening will  
descend into lap-dancing or debauchery of any kind, but we can at  
least aim for that, eh?

In fact, last month was a quiet, amiable affair on the whole. I  
learnt that Beetham Tower looks a bit like a USB flash drive from  
Gorton. Pete learnt that The Briton's Protection is nowhere near  
Kilburn Building and that Oxford Road is a nice place on a warm  
evening to walk. Two new attendees learnt we don't lie when we say  
it's a bunch of guys in a pub having a drink and talking Unix-related  
nonsense. Bob (re-)learnt on the way home about the delights of  
drunken consumption of Fish'n'Chips. We all learnt Sam is about to  
start selling MUGSS tickets again soon - and we're scared. I learnt  
my diary entries have no bearing on the reality of what actually  
occurred that day.

A lot of learning going on, see? You might even be able to expense  
the drinks if you attend and put it down as "Continuous Professional  
Development".

What?
-----

You might think this is just another GeekUp event. It isn't - for  
starters, it's smaller, half a dozen guys normally. It's been going  
longer. It is ostensibly dedicated to BSD Unix, but normally we drift  
off-topic very easily. We do all know what real ports and what a  
real /usr/local/etc/rc.d/ looks like though. :-)

This month, topics to discuss might include:

- FreeBSD virtualisation - I need some.
- Openfiler
- Amazon EC2 - WTF don't they support BSD, the gits...
- The general resurgence of geekery in Manchester
- More Code Golf and the Code Golf meetup on the 11th
- I have £3,000 to spend in January on tech. What do I buy?
- Christmas gift wishlists that nobody you love will buy anything from
- Why going out drinking in town with your laptop is a bad idea, and  
will cost you a £100 in replacement screen parts
- Writing a 50,000 word novel in a month (http://www.nanowrimo.org)
- The UMIST (sorry, 'Manchester University North Campus') Beer  
Festival starting the very next day

Where? WHEN? TELL ME!
---------------------

We hold our meetings on the first Tuesday of the month at The  
Briton's Protection on Great Bridgewater Street. The next meeting is  
NEXT TUESDAY at 7:30pm.

All welcome, although if you're not into Unix you might just think  
we're all a bit weird. If you turn up with a Windows or Linux laptop,  
we reserve the light to engage in light, mocking banter, but we'll  
love you for caring, all the same.

Who?
----

Right now, I'm in, and I have a definite 'no' from a regular  
attendee. If others could give me an 'aye' or 'nay' I'd be grateful.