Weekend in Two Parts

Filed under: Personal, Kyle Rankin — joy at 8:17 am on Monday, May 21, 2007

It was the weekend of festivals. On Saturday, I went to the San Francisco Oyster and Beer Fest to see the band Flogging Molly. On Sunday, I went to Maker Faire in San Mateo, which is put on by O’Reilly to promote Craft and Make Magazines. I took lots of pictures, too many for one entry, so I will split it up into two.

I will start with the second part of the weekend, the Maker Faire.

sign

As an O’Reilly author, Kyle was asked to host the “Hacker’s Lemonade Stand,” where he answered questions about Knoppix, Ubuntu, or Linux Multimedia. Here he is at the booth helping some girls:

Kyle at the booth

I, on the other hand, wandered around and looked at the crafts at the Bazaar Bizarre and all the exhibits. I saw robots, strange-looking bicycles, and explosions. But one of the neatest things for me was walking into the Make Store where O’Reilly was selling its books and seeing not one, but two, giant posters of the covers of Kyle’s books hanging on the wall. Here is the picture of the Knoppix Hacks poster (he’s almost done with the update of that book, by the way).

poster

Wandering around, I got tons of article ideas and ended up buying some coasters and an art print. Here are some pictures:

Fair
The main room of the fair

plane
This kid was playing a video game using that plane as a controller

pirate guy
Pirate guy

air guitar
By wearing that suit, that guy was playing music on the computer just by moving his body.


Knitting and drumming at the same time, for some reason.

Fire
They were shooting fire with those gun things. It made children cry.

robot giraffe
The children were happier with the giant robotic giraffe.

poems
He will write you a poem about anything.

Tomorrow, part two of my weekend: The Beer Fest and Flogging Molly.

New Columns by Kyle

Filed under: Kyle Rankin — joy at 1:49 pm on Friday, April 6, 2007

Kyle’s newest TechTarget article is up: Data center consolidation, virtualization: Ultra-dense server deployments.

I have no idea what that means. Still, proud!

ETA: Also, this one: Lights out management: How to administer servers from the Bahamas. As far as I know, Kyle has never been to the Bahamas.

Polish Translation of Kyle’s Book

Filed under: Kyle Rankin — joy at 11:46 am on Thursday, March 8, 2007

Check it out! The Polish Translation of Kyle’s book Linux Multimedia Hacks.

In Poland, Linux makes women swoon in ecstasy.

By the way, lately I have had articles in Hispanic, North Bay Biz, Pacific Sun, and the North Bay Bohemian. And today, I sold my piano, a huge weight off my back. Lots of good news!

ETA: Hey look! Peter Orner, my thesis adviser from SFSU, has been nominated for the Los Angeles Book Prize for his novel The Second Coming of Mavala Shikongo. Neato.

Kyle’s New Column

Filed under: Kyle Rankin — joy at 11:30 am on Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Check out Kyle’s new column at TechTarget! If you are a computer geek or simply tech-inclined, you will enjoy this column.

Ubuntu Hacks is out!

Filed under: News, Kyle Rankin — joy at 6:53 am on Monday, June 19, 2006

My husband Kyle Rankin’s fourth book Ubuntu Hacks is out. He co-wrote it with several other people, including his boss Bill Childers.

Ubuntu is a distribution of Linux. According to Wikipedia, a rough translation of the African word Ubuntu means “humanity towards others,” or “I am because we are.” The Ubuntu distribtution wants to bring “the spirit of Ubuntu to the software world.” I’m just glad it’s not Windows XP.

Ubuntu Hacks

Coming soon to a bookstore near you.

Update: Ubuntu Hacks got 9 out of 10 points on Slashdot!

Update: Ubuntu Hacks is now the number 1 top seller for Computer and Internet books on Amazon!

Fruit Snack Spectator

Filed under: Kyle Rankin — joy at 2:41 pm on Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Kyle and his co-worker Paul have launched Fruit Snack Spectator to meet all your fruit snack needs, including reviews from true connoisseurs. Never be disappointed by lack-luster fruit snacks again!

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