Katy Dickinson

Hopper Conference and OpenSolaris

One of the benefits of Sun again being a Platinum Sponsor of the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing (Keystone Resort, Colorado, October 1-4, 2008) is that we get to put stuff into the bags given out at registration to all conference participants. This year, we are distributing OpenSolaris Back to School Student Pack. The Back to School Student Pack includes two CDs - a Live bootable and installable OpenSolaris CD, plus a Resources DVD. I think the Grace Hopper participants, particularly the majority who are university students or faculty, will put these to good use.

Websites for Update Versions and More Information

• OpenSolaris (an operating system that provides a rich, coherent platform for building and running applications)
• VirtualBox (a family of powerful x86 virtualization products)
• OpenOffice (the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more)
• NetBeans (A free, open-source Integrated Development Environment for software developers.)

Resources for Hopper 2008:

• Professors and academic institutions interested in OpenSolaris and Student Pack, please contact opensolaris-university@sun.com soon.
• 2.8 Gb Downloadable VirtualBox Guest Image (as found on the Resource DVD distributed at Hopper 2008)
• gzip Home Page for the gunzip.exe program for Windows users

Posted at 01:27PM Sep 19, 2008 by katysblog in Hopper - Anita Borg Institute  | 

Book Sale Fundraiser

The Barnes and Noble Fundraiser for Santa Maria Urban Ministry is coming soon! This fundraiser is to collect money to finish the SMUM playground.

Since 1983 SMUM has provided basic services in the inner city of San Jose, CA: both short-term needs such as food, clothing and transportation, and long-term transformation through education, counseling, and after-school and seasonal programs. SMUM serves the needs of the community and promotes self-sufficiency. My husband and I are volunteers for SMUM's Studio 17 after school homework and computer lab club - this is a great program!

Shop at the five Barnes and Noble stores in the San Jose area (Almaden, Gilroy, Westgate, Pruneyard, and Stevens Creek) on Monday, October 6. Invite your friends, neighbors, and co-workers. If you are unable to shop on that day, you can place an order by phone at any time from now until closing on October 6. (Be sure to mention that this is part of the fundraiser for SMUM.) Present this voucher at Barnes and Noble when making your purchase on 6 October:

Pictures from the 2007 ballet folklorico group dancing at last year's SMUM benefit sale:

Images Copyright 2007 by Katy Dickinson and John Plocher

Posted at 01:01PM Sep 19, 2008 by katysblog in Church  | 

Saints for Sale

One of the odd and fun offerings of Bay Area nurseries and garden centers is the statuary section. It seems that it's not enough to have plants, gardens need decorations too.

By tradition, around 500 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama was sitting underneath a Bo-Tree when he was "awakened" (Buddha). Around 1220 in Italy, St. Francis of Assisi gave a sermon to wild birds, earning himself a place in hearts and gardens around the world. In the last century, Flower fairies have become very popular among the less orthodox. Representations of these and a variety of other religious statuary are presented for sale at our local Orchard Supply Hardware, along with frogs and less likely garden inhabitants.

Cool Cats

Penguins, Hedgehog

Frogs

Cross, Mary, Francis

Bunny Truck

Tribal heads

Bunnies, Cats

Buddha

Fairy

St. Francis

Heron

Images Copyright 2008 by Katy Dickinson

Posted at 09:01AM Sep 19, 2008 by katysblog in News & Reviews  |