Eric wrote: >I thought this thread consisted of two parts: > 1. How can MHVLUG meetings keep interest of the group, without >excluding members with no programming knowledge? > 2. How can MHVLUG reach out to the community to spread the word of >FOSS, and increase the Linux presence locally?
Two responses: A) If you change the name, I will refuse to attend the meetings of any group with "guh ... NEW ... SLASH ..." in its name. ;-) B) I'm a non-Linux coder, although my artwork hobby involves CG which is coding: povray. I'm drawn to the group in the way someone who drives a car might be interested in a lunch club for mechanics, to learn more about what's under the hood. I believe that too often it's a false dichotomy between "talks for experts" and "talks a non-enthusiast can get something from." I listen to a lot of podcasts on technical and scientific topics, and some, like Astronomy Cast, are able to hand over a lot of technical information to a lay audience. I think there is an arrogance in hiding behind jargon. Here's something I heard on NOVA Science Now podcast last week that reminded me of the earlier discussion here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/julian/spea-nf.html ON THE LANGUAGE OF CHEMISTS AS GOBBLEDYGOOK I don't want to frighten those of you who are not familiar with organic chemistry. I should have said in the beginning that one hardly expects an organic chemist to be able to speak without his gobbledygook in his language. As a matter of fact, one hardly expects a scientist to speak without that, and therefore scientists are usually and traditionally poor speakers, I warn you. The late Sir J. B. S. Haldane, the great biologist, put it rather aptly when he said that our language doesn't lend itself to poetry. "Ladybird, ladybird fly away home" becomes impossible when you must call the ladybird *Coccinella bipunctata*. And "A primrose by the river's brim, a yellow primrose was to him" loses all of the flavor of Wordsworth when the primrose becomes a specimen of *Primula vulgaris. *My little daughter Faith who she's no longer little now. I see her sitting in the audience here. When she was six years old - my daughter's a student here at Indiana University, I'm proud to say. When she was six years old and some people were making a bit of fuss over her daddy, about his new synthesis of cortisone, and they were giving me at that time I believe making me "Chicagoan of the Year" or some such something. And Faith had heard the word cortisone so much, she says, "Daddy, what is cortisone?" So I said, "Well, Faith, strictly speaking, it is 4-pregnane, 3-11-20 trione, 17-21-dio, 21 acetane." "Dear heavens, Daddy, what is it not strictly speaking?" -- Greg M. Johnson http://pterandon.blogspot.com
_______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Feb 2 - Zimbra Mar 2 - MHVLUG 8th Anniversary - Show and Tell Apr 6 - Introduction to IPv6
