Freelancing Gods 2008

One of the highlights from RailsConf EU last week was RejectConf – even if it was a bit smaller than last year (going by what I’ve heard, anyway).

I reprised my So You’re A Kick-Arse Coder talk for it – since it was a rejected talk from the main event – and Geoffrey Grosenbach managed to get an audio recording, so I’ve put that together with the slides and onto Viddler. Keep in mind the following caveats:

• I’m pretty happy with this talk – but I realise I’m not that great a speaker. Imagine what I’d be like on a bad day ;)
• Geoff didn’t catch the very start of the talk, which went something along the lines of “Hi, my name’s Pat, and I’m Australian [Cheers from Audience] I want to start of with some flattery, because I want to get on your good side.”
• Geoff’s also the heckler about two-thirds of the way though.

Links to the sites I mention:

• Taproot Foundation
• Engineers Without Borders
• Peace Corps
• Australian Youth Ambassadors for Development
• Voluntary Service Overseas

XKCD Comics featured:

• 208
• 274
• 308

Photos used thanks to either permission or permissive licences:

• DHH at RailsConf US
• Mark Pesce at WDS07
• Network Cables
• East Timor

Just over a week ago, the first Rails Camp in the UK was held in Downe, outside Orpington – and I think it was a fantastic success (having been the organiser though, obviously there is some bias).

We had quite an international flavour to the weekend. Of the 30 or so who attended, several were from around Europe, alongside the local British, and a few of us Australians to round it out.

In true Rails Camp style, around the beer, pizza and games, much hacking and discussion was had – assisted by the *jour gems, twetter and SubEthaEdit. Plenty of cool projects were displayed and created – topics ranging from RSpec to EXTJS to in-memory models to plugins to CouchDB to approaches for better browser-server polling (with a neat browser game as an example).

One of the cool creations of this Rails Camp has gone live. The collective talent of the RailsLove guys and Rany Keddo produced a forkable lists web app called Don’t Forget The Wurst – and features William Shatner, which just adds several levels of awesomeness to an already neat idea.

Massive thanks to all who came along and made it such a fantastic weekend – I’m looking forward to hearing about another Rails Camp in this part of the world (even if I won’t be able to attend it).

Also, if you’re in Europe, you might want to check out the German and Danish Rails Camps, which will be happening later this year. Australians, Rails Camp #4 will be happening in November (details are almost finalised). Everyone else: I highly recommend making one happen near you. There’s now a group of us who have dabbled in the organisation of them, and we’re more than happy to help however we can to get more of them happening around the world. It’s not too hard, and it’s an awesome way of strengthening your local Ruby community.

I’m slowly making my way through Richard Florida’s The Rise of the Creative Class (yes, I should have read it a couple of years ago, I know), and came across a nice quote – paraphrasing the thoughts of Joel Mokyr, that I thought was rather apt when considering the stupidity and greed of the mobile phone carriers in Australia (in general, and in regard to Apple’s iPhone):

“Technical creativity has tended to rise and then fade dramatically at various times in various cultures, when social and economic institutions turn rigid and act against it.”

You could argue Telstra, Optus and Vodafone aren’t doing anything against technical creativity, sure – but they’re certainly not doing anything for it either.

If you want a much better, more detailed write-up, go read what John Allsop has to say.

As mentioned before on this blog, I’m currently doing some traveling around the world (so far just the west and east coasts of North America) – so here’s a few of my favourite photos from the trip thus far.

Oh, and I don’t know much about photography. I don’t use a DSLR. Suggestions on technique are very much welcome, but a lot of the terminology still goes over my head.

More are on my flickr feed.

About six months ago, I sent a letter to the Australian Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy (yes, that’s a mouthful), Stephen Conroy, raising some concerns with the ISP filtering the Government was proposing.

A few weeks ago, I received a response. It’s overly long, filled with spin and cruft, but hey, that’s better than nothing. There’s still some questions unanswered though, and new ones raised, so here’s my response to the good senator. Fingers crossed for a faster reply.

To the Honourable Stephen Conroy,

Thank you for your letter dated 26 June 2008, replying to my own concerns sent to your office in January. I appreciate the extensive details on the current Government’s plans for cyber-safety, although I feel a couple of my concerns weren’t addressed. Namely:

• The reasoning behind using an opt-out filter instead of an opt-in filter;
• Acknowledgement that this filter will slow down the internet in Australia; and
• Confirmation that it is the ACMA, not the Government, that determines what sites are filtered.

Secondly, I have some questions from what you outlined in your letter:

• Who decides the participants in the Consultative Working Group and Youth Advisory Group?
• What defines success and/or failure for the ISP filtering pilot?
• Was there consultation with the industry about the feasibility of the filtering? Or is that consultation limited to how best to implement it?

Again, thank you for your response, and I look forward to the continuation of this discussion.

Kind regards,

Patrick Allan

A few random items:

• There’s a Rails Camp happening in Denmark. How awesome is that!?
• I’ve added an About Me page to this blog – filled with opinions. You have been warned.
• I’m talking at NYC Ignite – come along and listen to me talk quickly about non-Ruby stuff for five minutes, if you’re near that part of the world.
• Joss Whedon is awesome.
• So is Pixar. You must see Wall-E. Easily the best film I’ve seen all year.

A quick post for any Discworld fans that may peruse this blog.

Nullus Anxietas 2, the second Australian Discworld Convention, will be happening from the 27th of February to 1st of March 2009, in Melbourne, Australia. The first (in February 2007) was a fantastic success, which is why we’re doing it again.

While Terry Pratchett sadly can’t make it over this time around – he’s cutting down on travel because of his Alzheimer’s – we’ve still got some exciting events happening (including the follow-up to Snowgum Films’ Run Rincewind Run – watch it if you haven’t already).

Details are a bit thin on the ground at the moment, as we work on fleshing out programme ideas, but if you’d like to come along, registering in the next few days scores you $15 off the already-low early-bird rate of $120 ($100 for concession holders).

If this sounds like your kind of thing, but you’re not close to Australia and can’t justify the journey, you may want to check out the UK version – which has been going for over a decade now (although this year’s is already sold out), and the upcoming American edition.