Fwd: NH Linux Users Group + Open Source Bridge
To: GNHLUG-org list and individual LUG organizers: Original Message Subject:NH Linux Users Group + Open Source Bridge Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:54:16 -0700 From: Reid Beels r...@opensourcebridge.org Organization: Open Source Bridge To: tedro...@tedroche.com Hi, I'm working to organize Open Source Bridge, the third annual conference for open source citizens. It's happening June 21–24, 2011 in downtown Portland, Oregon. ABOUT THE CONFERENCE Open Source Bridge is a volunteer-run conference that connects people across technologies, projects and interests. We would love to have members of the New Hampshire Linux community involved as speakers and participants. The conference features presentations on a wide range of topics, from specific open source technologies to common experiences and shared concerns. There's also a full day of unconference sessions and a 24-hour hacker lounge for all of your collaboration needs. We’d be delighted if you would mention Open Source Bridge at your user group meetings and get us in touch with other groups in your community who might be interested in participating. We've provided a sample email below that you can customize and send to mailing lists. Our call for proposals is open through March 31st. This date is approaching quickly, so please pass this information on as soon as possible. USER GROUP DISCOUNT We'd like to offer a discounted registration rate of $200 to all of your members if they use the discount code osbugluv at registration. That’s $25 off the Early Bird rate, and $100 off our regular registration! CONFERENCE PASS RAFFLE We're also offering a free conference pass for you to raffle off to a member of your group! We’ve found that these raffles work best when you: 1) Let all of your members know about the conference, dates, and URL: http://opensourcebridge.org/ 2) Allow anyone in the group to sign up for the raffle. 3) Draw the winner at random, preferably at a public meeting. When you have selected a winner, email usergro...@opensourcebridge.org, CC the winner, and we’ll register them for you. Thank You! Reid Beels Open Source Bridge http://opensourcebridge.org/ ### DETAILS TO SHARE WITH YOUR GROUP’S MEMBERS Open Source Bridge http://opensourcebridge.org Open Source Bridge is a conference for people who work with open source technologies. It will take place June 21–24, 2011, in Portland, Oregon. The conference includes five tracks focused on connecting projects and experiences across different areas of open source. The schedule includes three days of traditional conference presentations, a day of free-form unconference sessions, and our 24-hour Hacker Lounge. You’ll find relevant information whether you write web apps, tinker with operating system internals, create hardware, run a business, write documentation, or contribute to open source in other ways. We're seeking presentation proposals through March 31st. Read our Call for Proposals here: http://opensourcebridge.org/call-for-proposals As a user group member, you can use the coupon code osbugluv to register at a discounted rate of $200 when you select either an Early Bird Registration (through April 15th), or a Regular Registration (after April 15th). Learn more and register at http://opensourcebridge.org/attend/ The conference is run entirely by volunteers and all proceeds from conference registration and sponsorship go directly to the costs of the conference. Visit http://opensourcebridge.org/ to learn more about the conference, see our session proposals, and register to attend. Thanks! ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
5-year annual state report
Original message: The time has come to file the annual report due once each five years with the Secretary of State's office. Our past filings are posted here: ... Done and added to the wiki at: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/LegalEntityDocuments We won't need to file again until 2015. Happy New Orbit-around-some-arbitrary-starting-point! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG.Main - Automated notification of topic changes
On 10/27/2010 02:26 PM, Benjamin Scott wrote: On Wed, Oct 27, 2010 at 9:52 AM, Benjamin Scott dragonh...@gmail.com wrote: On a sort-of related note, I just decided to test our backups by deleting all of /sites/gnhlug/twiki3/TWiki/pub/Main/ (holds wiki file attachments). I've asked for a restore. And it's back. Three cheers for Matt Brodeur and his backup system! -- Ben hip-hip-hooray! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Fwd: GNHLUG.Main - Automated notification of topic changes
Spammer. Nuked per http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Main/HallOfShame Original Message Subject:GNHLUG.Main - Automated notification of topic changes Date: Tue, 26 Oct 2010 04:20:04 Local From: GNHLUG Webmaster webmas...@gnhlug.org To: gnhlug-...@gnhlug.org This is an automated email from GNHLUG. New or changed topics in GNHLUG.Main, since 24 Oct 2010 - 07:58: - KerdyPorder (KerdyPorder) http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Main/KerdyPorder Review recent changes in: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Main/WebChanges Subscribe / Unsubscribe in: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Main/WebNotify ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/ ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG.Main - Automated notification of topic changes
On 10/26/2010 11:39 AM, Benjamin Scott wrote: I usually get at least a couple apparently bogus accounts per week. Unless they start modifing pages I don't even bother nuking the accounts anymore. This one uploaded html, images and modified his user page to include a link to a bogus Rx site. So I purged the page, contents and links and added the user to the Hall of Shame. It's the most effort I've seen from a spammer in a while. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: CALL FOR VOTE: Manchester GNHLUG chapter
On 08/06/2010 05:57 PM, Benjamin Scott wrote: Attention GNHLUG Board of Director people! Someone wants to set-up a Linux meeting in Manchester. Yay! They can do that without our help, but they want to use the GNHLUG name, and we're supposed to approve that. The proposed coordinators are show below. I'm in favor: Kenta has been around GNHLUG for awhile (he used to be a regular at the Nashua meeting); I trust him to do good by us. Chip I've only met once, but he seemed good, and I've had people I already trust vouch for him. Can the other Directors sound off, please? VOTE: YES. I'm in favor of Kenta and Chip making their best efforts to form a chapter with the GNHLUG. Let's all take care to adhere to our Policies [1] and take advantage of the collected wisdom [2] of past leaders. [1] http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/OurPolicies [2] http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/WebHome -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Got topics?
I'll be promoting the GNHLUG calendar and our upcoming meetings at tonight's CentraLUG meeting. If anyone has gotten a topic locked down, but hasn't updated the calendar yet, drop me a line and I'll be sure to mention your meeting. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Fwd: Apress January 2010 Newsletter
Forwarding for group. FYI. UG discounts of 35% - 40% on paper books, 50% on ebooks. Just for UG membership! Original Message Subject:Apress January 2010 Newsletter Date: Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:13:48 -0800 From: Apress newslett...@apress.com *** Apress January 2010 Newsletter *** A new year, a new decade, and many exciting new developments in January 2010. Microsoft debuts .NET 4.0 next month, and you can get a head start with our complete guide to the new framework, Introducing .NET 4.0. Google unveiled the Nexus One smartphone this week, cementing Android as the new hot platform in mobile development and aligning with two new releases, Pro Android 2 and Pro Android Games. CodeMash is coming up in mid-January, and in case you missed them, check out coverage of SIGGRAPH 2009 and our December user group meetings. *** Understand the impact of the new framework and its associated technologies Introducing .NET 4.0: with Visual Studio 2010 by Alex Mackey eBook Available 1/15, Print Available 1/30 http://apress.com/book/view/143022455x Introducing .NET 4.0: with Visual Studio 2010 serves as a no-nonsense primer that will help experienced .NET developers understand the impact of the new framework and its associated technologies.This book will keep you updated on all of the changes and help you to seize new opportunities confidently and quickly. *** The Latest Guides to Android Development Pro Android 2 by Sayed Hashimi eBook Available 1/15, Print Available 1/30 http://apress.com/book/view/1430226595 Pro Android Games by Vladimir Silva eBook Now Available, Print Available 1/30 http://apress.com/book/view/1430226471 *** We've got Kindle covered. Apress now has over 500 titles available for the Amazon Kindle. You can quickly download many of our top titles for your Kindle, from Learn C on the Mac to Coders at Work. With sales of eBook readers expected to double this year, 2010 is shaping up to be the year of the eBook, and we’ll continue to release our latest titles for the Kindle and other popular eBook readers. *** Latest Books * Beginning F# * Learn Xcode Tools for Mac OS X and iPhone Development * Windows Azure Platform * More iPhone 3 Development: Tackling iPhone SDK 3 * iPhone Design Award-Winning Projects Forthcoming Books * Accelerated C# 2010 * jQuery Recipes * Pro Dynamic .NET 4.0 Applications * Beginning Smartphone Web Development * Beginning iPhone Games Development Best-sellers 1. Coders at Work 2. Beginning iPhone 3 Development: Exploring the iPhone SDK 3. The Game Maker's Apprentice: Game Development for Beginners 4. Pro Silverlight 3 in C# 5. LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT 2.0: The King's Treasure *** Conference News and Notes: CodeMash January 13-15 We’re staying busy in 2010, adding new conferences and events to our schedule, including the first one on our list for the new year, CodeMash. CodeMash is a unique event dedicated to educating developers on current practices, methodologies and trends in platforms and programming languages including Java, .NET, Ruby and PHP. More than 45 high-content, high-level sessions will be held regarding a variety of topics, including architecture, desktop and web development, mobility, and languages. Siggraph Asia 2009 December 17-19 Apress and parent company Springer were the only publishers in attendance at Siggraph Asia 2009 in Yokohama Japan. The event was attended by a number of authors including Andy Paquette, who agreed to create a Fundamentals of Computer Graphics book that promises to be the introduction for artists of all varieties. Siggraph Asia was attended by almost 6000 people and included exhibitors from academic institutions to LucasFilms. The hottest innovations in graphics technologies were presented along with their practical application in film, web application, 3D TV, gaming, security and even the use of sensors to monitor and database mall traffic. *** Quickly master C# syntax Accelerated C# 2010 by Trey Nash. eBook Now Available, Print Available 1/30 http://apress.com/book/view/1430225378 *** Apress User Group Spotlight Highlights from two December User Group meetings: CocoaHeads NYC December 10 Apress hosted the CocoaHeads NYC December meeting. CocoaHeads is a user group devoted to Apple's Cocoa Framework for programming on MacOS X and the iPhone. During this meeting Bob Clair gave a presentation on blocks followed by a QA session. The meeting ended with members discussing their projects and offering help with programming questions. To find a CocoaHeads meeting near you visit cocoaheads.org. NYC Python Users Group and django-nyc December 15 ‘Tis the season for festive gatherings to spread holiday cheer. In the spirit of the season, the NYC Python and django-nyc held a joint December meeting at the Apress office. This meeting included presentations by Justin Lilly who covered the internals
Board meeting follow-ups
I was asked to speak with Bill on the upcoming turnover of the GNHLUG board. We spoke on 11 Oct 2009. Bill was pleased to hear we were able to work out a plan for a new slate to succeed the current one. He's happy to step down as secretary, but would like to see some of the original members of the board retained for continuity and historical purposes. He's willing to continue serving if needed. Saturdays are bad for him in his current schedule, though. I've updated a portion of the wiki to reflect our conversation. http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/OrgMeet2009OctNotes -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Lunch prior to bored meeting?
On 10/02/2009 05:27 PM, Ben Scott wrote: On Thu, Oct 1, 2009 at 5:45 PM, Ben Scottdragonh...@gmail.com wrote: Anyone care to join me for lunch prior to the meeting? Don't everyone speak up at once. ;-) I guess it's the Red Arrow at 12 noon. See ya tomorrow! Wish I could, but my schedule's pretty tight. See ya at the meeting! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Fwd: User group leader conference in Boston, May 2nd
David Berube wrote: Is there any objection to my going to this? I'm ex-chairman, not current chairman, and less involved than many other people, but I'm not worried about either M$ or O'Reilly getting my contact info (both already have it many times over) and I'm happy to represent the FOSS viewpoint. (There's another slot open as well - they said two per UG, but in practical terms I doubt they'll care if we bring a few over the limit.) I have no objection. I'm already booked for that weekend. I know one of the guys from the NH Ruby group is planning to go. We have enough LUGs and SIGs that we could send a dozen or so :) I'll bring some open source books - I'll get some copies of my various publications from Apress and sign them, and my experience is that other publishers rarely have the moxie to complain when I do that - and if someone wants to supply some FOSS discs to give away, I can do that as well. (Isn't there some FOSS-For-Windows-With-Ubuntu-Dual-Boot discs made en masse for something?) Take it easy, -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Gaming SIG
Ben Scott wrote: Someone has requested formal permission to become affiliated with GNHLUG. The details: I think this sounds like a great idea. As affiliation consists of listing their activities on our wiki and calendar, I cannot think of any objections., based on their proposal. *Aye* from me. I'd like to hear from the other members of the board, too. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Harassment Policy
Jon 'maddog' Hall wrote Therefore I ask the GNHLUG board to create a Harassment Policy, effective immediately. I have crafted an initial draft of a policy which is attached for discussion and approval. maddog: Thanks for taking the lead in drafting this policy. On first read it looks very well thought out. I have posted it to the Policies page on the wiki, http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/OurPolicies pointing to: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/HarrassmentPolicy And would appreciate the board reviewing it and discussions prior to considering it for approval. Thanks again, -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Fwd: User group leader conference in Boston, May 2nd
From: bjepson bjep...@gmail.com Date: April 2, 2009 9:47:18 AM EDT To: Northeast User Group Leader Summit ne-ug-leader-sum...@googlegroups.com Subject: Registering for the May 2 summit Reply-To: ne-ug-leader-sum...@googlegroups.com Howdy, If you're planning on joining us on May 2, be sure to register here: http://neugsummit.eventbrite.com/ Join us on Saturday, May 2 for a special Northeast community/user group leader summit. Together we can help each other by sharing our experiences of running a user group. We will be focusing on the mechanics of running a group, not the technical content, so pretty much anything goes. Proposed topics include: * Building community * Finding relevant meeting topics in today's economy * Attracting and keeping members * Using social media and other tools to get the word out * Working with vendors * Collaborating on group events We'll have a few set sessions to help get things started but then the rest will be decided by you and your peers in typical Unconference- fashion. We've invited a few community experts to; stay tuned for the confirmed list. We've also invited other industry notables, including Google, Red Hat, Sourceforge, Wiley, Wrox, Safari Books Online, Addison-Wesely, Pragmatic Programmers, Microsoft Press, No Starch, and APress. Space is limited, and unfortunately we can only invite 2 members from each user-group. O'Reilly Media and Microsoft are hosting the event at Microsoft's newest campus, the New England Research Development office (NERD) right in Kendall Square in Cambridge, MA. This fantastic space is right on the Red Line of the MBTA, and there is ample on street free parking available. This is a free (as in beer) event, and we'll provde some snacks and beverages throughout the day. The event will run from 11AM-5PM; Reception following; doors open at 10:30. We're looking forward to a great community event! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
PremiumMemory.com offers GNHLUG a sponsorship
I've been contacted by Joey Pomerenke or PremiumMemory.com offering to sponsor GNHLUG. Sponsorship would consist of providing giveaways at the meetings (flash drives), a discount code available for our user group members, in exchange for posting a sponsorship link on our web site. GNHLUG has a Limited Commercialization Policy: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/LimitedCommercializationPolicy Comments? -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: [Fwd: First General letter to All Leaders Affiliated to Boston User Groups]
Bill McGonigle wrote: Anybody else get this? -Bill I did not. I was a Bug member at one point, assisting with the FoxPro User Group and helping with the Windows Group while I was working at U.S. Datacenters in 2000-2001. I had tried to get in touch with various leaders following the Dot-Com bomb of USDC, at least to get the LUG meetings on the right night of their calendar or with updated contact info, with little luck. Not sure they're especially relevant, at this point. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Welcome, Nick Plante to GNHLUG organizers!
Ben Scott wrote: On Wed, Dec 31, 2008 at 12:55 PM, Ted Roche tedro...@tedroche.com wrote: I'd like to ask you all to welcome Nick Plante, n...@zerosum.org ... Hi, Nick! Glad to have you aboard! to the honorable role of GNHLUG organizer. Honorable? How did I get here then? :) Everybody else took a big step backwards, except us :) Could someone with mailman admin skills add Nick's email above to the list of folks who can post to the -announce list? Done. FYI: Anyone can subscribe to that list, and any subscriber can attempt to post, it's just subscribers are moderated by default. So if a subscriber posts without being blessed in advance by the Secret GNHLUG Cabal, I get a notice saying the message is held for approval. Typically I release one-shots, and remove the moderation flag on regulars. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Board meeting, 30-Oct-2008?
Board members: what's your availability for a board meeting on 30-October-2008? Tentative topics: updated on the 501c3 application, gather the time-and-expenses data (yikes!), maybe asking Ben to try the bank application again... Please respond with your availability and we'll build from there... -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: SFD volunteers in Concord, NH
Arc Riley wrote: So does GNHLUG have a banner, something display'able, or some other signage? Nikki knows someone that makes banners cheap, if not. Would be a great asset to GNHLUG. We do have a banner, rather a nice one: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/pub/Organizational/SummerSummit2005Notes/GNHLUGSS2005.jpg and http://flickr.com/photos/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/124773545/ A lit sheet/trifold/etc on GNHLUG to hand out? That's a job in itself, if not. I couldn't find a PDF for something like this on the website. http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/BrochureWare holds our last drafts. It's a single-sheet 8.5 x 11. It needs an update to include the Ruby SIG and the dates ought to be verified. We're also going to also need tables and chairs. Hmm... Can't help you there. Still unconfirmed on the install/use workshop that evening at the Concord Food Coop, Ami (their marketing person) was very enthusiastic about this but she was about to head out on vacation, I'll need to sit down with her next week. We wouldn't need tables/etc for that, but we will need to bring our own stuff to the day event and nobody thus far has had access to folding tables (2 would be ideal). That sounds interesting. What do you have in mind? ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Documenting our budgets
Bill: As part of documenting what GNHLUG does in applying for non-profit status, we need to document our budgets for the past three years. That's a bit difficult for an organization that's avoided the actual passing of money, but the folks at the Franklin Pierce Law Center suggested a couple of ways we should document what we've done: 1. A cash budget: any actual expenses spent by the groups co-ordinators. So, if you threw a couple extra stickers into an order so you'd have something to raffle, or bought a USB stick to raffle at a meeting, or bought a case of soda or a box of cookies, that's actual cash contributions to document. 2. A time budget: as a separate perspective on the workings of GNHLUG, we'd like to document the amount of time that the members donated in service to the organization. We're not claiming this time as deductible donations (that's apparently not allowed) but as a documentation of what the group's members render as service by the organization. So, I'd like you to think about making some estimates, perhaps on a monthly basis, of the amount of time you donate in service to the organization: - locating speakers - creating and distribution announcements - reserving the room - updating the web site - passing on information to the group (from publishers, for example) - MC'ing the meetings - recording the meetings, posting the recordings - posting notes and follow-ups to the meeting 3. Similarly, we'd like to document the time and effort donated by our speakers: preparing a presentation, making up handouts, delivering the presentations are all efforts that need to be documented. Finally, as part of our narrative we'd like to provide the concrete results of our work: handouts from the meetings, printouts of slides, pictures, videos or recordings of our events. I'll be trying to assemble the same information for CentraLUG, RubySIG and some of the other events. Ben and Heather volunteered to pull this stuff together for Seacoast, MonadLUG and Nashua's groups. I'd welcome your thoughts on how we might assemble all of this information. cc: gnhlug-org -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG Non-profit status, 501(c)(3) status, board of directors meeting
UPDATE: We do anticipate having a quorum at the meeting, and the location has been changed to the Amoskeag Business Incubator in Manchester, 7 PM to 9 PM. I encourage every member with an interest in the GNHLUG governance to attend. Directions: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/AmoskeagBusinessIncubator Agenda: I've sketched out an agenda. Please add topics you'd like to see discussed: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/OrgMeet2008Q3Agenda -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
GNHLUG Non-profit status, 501(c)(3) status, board of directors meeting
Heather and Michael: Please let me know if you can attend on Thursday the 31st, otherwise, I'll reschedule. I hope to hold a Board of Directors meeting on Thurday, July 31st in Manchester. The Public Library had to withdraw its offer as their children's program needs the space. I've asked the folks at the ABI if we might use their meeting space. If not, we might end up in a parking lot somewhere or at a seedy bar, with any luck. The New Hampshire Fisher Cats with be completing their route of the Portland Sea Dogs, complete with Atlas Fireworks, so it ought to be a fun time in the Queen City. Stay tuned for details. Shawn and Ben had indicated their willingness to attend. maddog is on the left side of the Atlantic. Bill Sconce expressed grave reservations at last night's PySIG. I'd appreciate one more board member to let me know they can make it to continue to persue this, or the other two to express their regrets and I'll work at rescheduling. I expect the other officers will want to update the board, and I welcome all interested parties to bring up issues or questions to the board as well. To catch up the board of directors and all interested parties, I met with a student intern, Lydia Liu, and her faculty advisor, Ashlyn Lembree, at the Franklin Pierce Law Center clinic on 1 July 2008. IAW the direction of the board, I signed a letter of agreement that the clinic will advise GNHLUG on the matter of obtaining 501(c)(3) status -- original to be provided to the Secretary at the next meeting. Lydia was only attending fplc.edu for the summer and would likely not see me again. The clinic is pretty much shut down for the month of August, but we can expect additional help in September and onward, from different students. I was provided with a copy of the following documents, and we reviewed them in detail: (a) Applying for 501(c)(3) Tax-Exempt Status (I couldn't find a link to this exact document, but if you start reading at http://www.irs.gov/charities/charitable/index.html, you'll eventually know it all) (b) Publication 557 (06/2008), Tax-Exempt Status for Your Organization http://www.irs.gov/publications/p557/index.html OR http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p557.pdf (c) IRS Form 1023 Application for Recognition of Exemption and the accompanying instructions for that form. http://www.irs.gov/formspubs/index.html (d) Form 2848, Power of Attorney and Declaration of Representation I asked why on earth the FPLC would want to be the official representative of GNHLUG, and they were stumped for an answer, too. At this point, that document remains incomplete. As we do not require representation for any proceding, it seemed wise to put it aside for the time being. The following actions have to be completed in order for us to move forward: 1. The Board needs to amend the current articles of incorporation in two regards: the purpose has to be made more clearly iaw the guidance of the 501(c)(3) and the dissolution arrangements need to be more specific in disposing of any assets to another 501(c)(3) organization. Suggestions for the exact wording will be provided by one of the interns. 2. The board and assisting members need to document the charitable contributions made to the group over the past three years, and create this as a budget. There were two units of measure suggested, and both should be used: actual dollars expended and volunteer hours contributed. Details to be discussed at the board meeting. 3. Form 1023, Part IV, what I've nicknamed The Essay Question and the IRS calls Narrative Description of Your Activities which pretty much counts for 90% of the grade. This is not only a description of what we are, but concrete examples of what we've done, and included attachments (handouts, flyers, pictures from activities, etc.) that should clinch the application. This is the other major board/volunteers task that I'd like to work with others to undertake. There's a lot of material here if we can take the time to assemble a timeline of events, participants, activities and contributions. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG Non-profit status, 501(c)(3) status, board of directors meeting
Ted Roche wrote: maddog is on the left side of the Atlantic. That would be left as viewed from an observer on the North Pole, of course, these things being relative and all that. IOW, he won't make it. How embarrassing. -- Ted Dyslectics of the World, Untie! Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: fyi, freegeek is an interesting casestudy to compare what gnhlug does
I heard about FreeGeek a while ago through a FreshUbuntu podcast: http://freshubuntu.org/podcast/99/ While it sounds like an interesting project, it's much more hands-on than the general GNHLUG M.O. has been up to this point. I like the idea of repurposing old hardware, but the project has a lot of interesting challenges: local zoning rules regarding hazardous waste storage, a hardware-inventory based accounting system (where ours is primarily fictious dollars) and so forth. I think I have a pretty good idea what we need to do to complete our application, it's just a matter of time and getting some more volunteers involved. I had hoped to have a board meeting next Thursday to discuss it, but so far it looks like Ben and Ted and Shawn. But that's a start. Greg Rundlett wrote: http://freegeek.org/ Free Geek is a Portland, OR group which operates a thrift store, offers training / education plus support, does builds, is volunteer-based and recycles old equipment -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: SIG requirements (was: Board meeting...)
On Jul 14, 2008, at 16:36, Ted Roche wrote: Well, that's exactly what we're hoping to achieve, some simple guidance for SIGs that say that your structure can be part of GNHLUG if you follow the same strictures of being a non-profit educational charity in the sense of 501(c)(3) as GNHLUG is expected to be, and understand that the board or its designees can take on financial obligations on the part of GNHLUG. That might be it, right there. Bill McGonigle wrote: Actually that's what I was suggesting might want to be avoided. :) Well, by reductio ad absurdum, doing nothing is surely easiest. But it doesn't provide much in benefits to our members. If we would like to be able to represent to the IRS that our SIGs are part of a recognized tax-deductible non-profit educational charitable organization that teaches people about FOSS/Linux, then we need to have some rules. I really don't want to disappoint the SIGs and tell them what they are doing won't fly. So, we're looking for a reasonably minimal set of rules, and want to set them up in advance so that there aren't surprises down the line. It might be a useful thought experiment to think about what if GNHLUG wanted to do an event with SwANH? We wouldn't make SwANH conform to any IRS strictures to co-sponsor an event. No, but we would also not not expect SwANH to claim non-profit status for their operations under our moniker (not that that need it, they are a 501(c)(3), I believe). SwANH is surely not going to claim to be a SIG of GNHLUG. That would be an arrangement between peers, most likely. Could we do a GNHLUG/Redhat event? Sure - and they're on the NASDAQ. Tread carefully here. If a commercial operation is involved with a charitable one, there are tripwires that need to be avoided in terms of what can be donated and in what amounts. Should Red Hat's contributions to GNHLUG exceed one-third of GNHLUG's annual revenue, GNHLUG might be considered a private foundation rather than a public charity, and many different strictures apply. This is exactly the concern of the Ubuntu LoCo, single support from another organization. We might be able to run a co-op event with them, like the SwANH example above, but an Ubuntu SIG might not qualify as a legitimate subsidiary because of the one-third rule. And if we structure the SIG so it looks like a sham operation whose only purpose is to shelter otherwise taxable proceeds that another organization is otherwise processing and profiting from, well, we're not just dealing with a bunch of pita bureaucratic rules at that point. For the small amount of monies involved and the good intentions on all sides, I would not like to have to discuss our transgressions with the IRS. So we need some rules. Same for Ubuntu LoCo - they perhaps already have their rules. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoWorkingWithOtherGroups https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoFAQ But GNHLUG can work with them, no problem to be co-sponsors on events, even recurring ones. Two separate organizations co-sponsoring an event should not be a problem. We run our part, they run theirs. But that's not what we're discussing here. Sounds like you ought to come down to Manchester and offer to help us with this :) I would if I didn't have a 'last Thursday' meeting that night... Sorry you won't make it. You've obviously given this a lot of thought, and I appreciate your participation. Right, I understand why GNHLUG wants to exist as a legal entity. And I suspect that if a SIG wanted to become assimilated by the GNHLUG at any time this could be done in very short order. However, with legal entities come legal entanglements, so my thought was to keep the degree of such entanglements as small as possible. So, the structure is there, ready to use as needed, but it doesn't pervade all daily activities that would otherwise proceed differently if not for such entanglements. That's what we're hoping to hammer out. A simple set of statements some SIG organizers can agree to, or criteria they can meet, that will make expectations easy to meet on both sides. This should have no effect on the daily activities of the SIGs. Think about the potential downsides. If PySIG (I'm picking on PySIG again) has a meeting and it's part of GNHLUG and Alex goes nuts and trashes the ABI, then the GNHLUG BoD is legally responsible. We've beaten that poor dead horse before. If there's a potential legal liability, expect the lawyers to name everyone remotely involved whose wallets they think they can pick. That's the nature of a litigious society. Nothing we're discussing here changes that liability pro or con. We're not talking about liability issues here (and there are some pretty good defenses, btw, but that's another thread), we're talking about normal, routine day-to-day operations that could involve money. Like all of our business, GNHLUG should process monetary operations in a way that's
Re: Board meeting July 31st - location
Ben Scott wrote: The main brand of the Manchester PL is open that evening (West Branch is closed). The Winchell Room (seats 25 w/ tables) is showing as available. (Hunt Room is not.) Excellent suggestion. Who could make a meeting, 6 PM to 8 PM? -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Board meeting July 31st - location
Ben Scott wrote: The main brand of the Manchester PL is open that evening (West Branch is closed). The Winchell Room (seats 25 w/ tables) is showing as available. (Hunt Room is not.) Reserved, in case we can actually get a quorum. Directions are here: http://216.204.202.157/website/library/VisitUs/Directions/tabid/778/Default.aspx -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: SIG requirements (was: Board meeting...)
Bill McGonigle wrote: On Jul 14, 2008, at 09:13, Ben Scott wrote: Keep in mind this is only for entities operating in the name of the Legal Entity GNHLUG. There's nothing keeping anyone from simply going out and getting stuff done on their own. Perhaps it's worth figuring out then whether a SIG/whatever ought to be a subunit of GNHLUG or merely affiliated with it (in order to keep everybody's heads as low as possible and process to a minimum). Well, that's exactly what we're hoping to achieve, some simple guidance for SIGs that say that your structure can be part of GNHLUG if you follow the same strictures of being a non-profit educational charity in the sense of 501(c)(3) as GNHLUG is expected to be, and understand that the board or its designees can take on financial obligations on the part of GNHLUG. That might be it, right there. Sounds like you ought to come down to Manchester and offer to help us with this :) For instance, what benefit is there to having PySIG as a 'part' of GNHLUG that wouldn't be otherwise satisfied under a lower regulatory hurdle? Well, Janet's cookies might become deductible! :) Seriously, short of a group desiring to take on a major project, all of this is make-work and much ado about nothing. However, when that opportunity comes along, it will be too late to start the process. So, we are trying to lay the groundwork now, and minimize the hassles to everyone involved. I understand the benefits of having GNHLUG being a functional entity of the State of New Hampshire, but it might also be possible to apply some UNIX-fu to keep the 'code' as small as possible. There are surely merits to Small Pieces Loosely Joined. But sometimes a simple static binding has an advantage, too. We want to consider the options. That's why the board meets. And to save wear and tear on the keyboards trying to type all of it! There are certainly all kinds of models we could dream up where GNHLUG co-sponsors events, or whatever label makes regulatory sense. That's the basic application Arc was asking us to consider. For an Ubuntu SIG that will liaison with an Ubuntu LoCo, that might be the optimal solution. For a PySIG or a RubySIG, a tighter affiliation, hopefully without much hassle, might work, too. And all of these are subject to change and renegotiations. We just need to consider our options. Your thoughts and suggestions, as well as all others, are welcome in this discussion and at the meeting. Many hands make light work. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Ubuntu SIG
What Ben said :) I think Balkanization is a worry. On the other hand, the Python and Ruby SIGs have done a good job of providing a place where practitioners can get more in-depth information on that specialty (and even on other alternatives). And the Perl Mongers and Erlang specialists haven't felt the need to start their own SIG or quit in protest. Ubuntu Loco already has an organizational structure, through the Ubuntu web site [*], and all are welcome to post meeting announcements to the GNHLUG calendar. So, what services can GNHLUG provide, other than the 501(c)(3) umbrella? (Let's be clear that we're not set up for that yet, and would have to ensure any monies changing hands fell within the context of our not-for-profit charter once granted.) There is a bit of friction about a group that is both within GNHLUG and outside of it. Ubuntu Loco has a presence on the web and obviously a single-supporting parent organization from which it is receiving support in the way of promotional materials. That makes it fall more into the category of a private foundation than the charitable organization that GNHLUG is filing as, and could prove to be a stumbling block. In so far as an Ubuntu SIG is following the practices of GNHLUG to serve as an educational resource to let people know about the Free/Open Source Software, Libre, GNU/Linux, et al, I think GNHLUG has been, and ought to continue to be, willing to share our resources, web site, calendar, announcements, etc. with Ubuntu Loco and any other group with similar purposes, just as we mention SwaNH meetings or computer-related activities put on by the New Hampshire High-Tech Council. There is an aspect of competition and chauvinism (1) that needs to be kept in check. We all like trash-talking the other distro, whether that's Gentoo or OpenSuSE or Fedora or Debian, just like car club members will razz the Ford Edsel owner. At long as this is good-natured and doesn't drag into into endless threads of vi versus emacs (that'd never happen, right?), I think we should welcome special interest groups with open arms. I'd be open to seeing New Media and Developers and Advocacy groups, too, as long as they can serve as a focus for participants getting together and accomplishing things. Others might be considering Django or Drupal SIGs, where focused meetings on those products can be held. There is definitely a worry about thinning the ranks through over-specialization. If we keep the same ~300 members and hold 16 meetings a month, we're not going to see the same amount of attendance. However, I don't think numbers of attendees per meeting are as a great measure of success as attendees getting the meetings they want to get. Also, welcoming more specialties under our tent is more likely to expand membership than draw from the same crowd. As more meetings are held (and gasoline continues to rise in price!), I think it's more important than ever that groups do a better job of promoting themselves, not just in a competition for member attendance as to make sure interested people both within and without the organization know of meetings of interest, and just as importantly, to provide a useful record of past meetings so that someone new to the group can get useful information presented at a past meeting, and regulars can get lots of information on what's coming up in future meetings. I think Open Source is all about Choice, so offering more Choice is a Good Thing. What I would be opposed to would be a splintering of websites or mailing lists or RSS feeds such that those who wish to capture all that goes on within GNHLUG needs dozens of subscriptions or feeds. I, for one, do not mind a lot of talk on the main -discuss list when it is on-topic (pretty much anything technology-related). When a person asks a question on how to get Hardy Heron to do something, it's just as likely a common question on GNOME or apt or Thunderbird, and I'd be really disappointed if those discussions ended up on a separate list. I've already seen these kinds of problems where folks are posting to the DLSLUG general discuss or Python list, and miss the contributions of many of the other members of GNHLUG. So, to sum up an already over-long response, I'm not opposed to the idea in principle and think we should welcome all. However, it may turn out that the Loco's financial transactions may not fit under our future not-for-profit status, but it brings up questions worthy of review. I'd like to see the SIG started, and better communication on what the LoCo is doing. We'll have to work with our legal and accounting teams to determine, based on what the LoCo proposes, whether that's an eligible activity under our future status... [*] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NewHampshireTeam (1) original semi-mythical definition, not male-piggishness, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chauvinism -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http
Board meeting July 31st?
I'd like to have the board get together for a meeting. Thursday July 31st is the fifth Thursday of the month. How would that work for everyone? I'd welcome a suggestion on location. We held the last one at the Hopkinton Public Library in Contoocook, which was an hours commute from Nashua and Hanover and Portsmouth. Where would people like to meet? Two agenda items come to mind right away: I can update folks on my initial meeting with the Franklin Pierce Law Center intern helping us with 501(c)(3) status. We can discuss the proposed Ubuntu SIGs. Ben and Bill may also have updates. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Legal proceedings
Ted Roche wrote: Ed called me this afternoon to set up an appointment with our summer intern at Franklin Pierce Law Center. Details as we firm them up... These proceedings, for those following along, is to establish GNHLUG as a non-profit entity in the eyes of the IRS, likely a 501c-something, or to determine if that's not a good idea. Had our first meeting with the intern, Lydia Liu, at Franklin Pierce Law Center Tuesday morning. I had expected a brief meet greet, signing a letter of intent to work together, as that was all of the paperwork I had been given in advance. In fact, we spent 3.5 hours reviewing a stack of paperwork several inches thick. Both the attorney and I left with a to-do list of items to address, and I, in turn, would like to brief the board (and all interested members, of course) on the progress and the next steps to take. We have homework to do if we intend to see this through. It's summer (and the living is easy...) but many of us have even busier schedules than usual with vacations, travel, kids at summer camp and so forth. I'd welcome some suggestions on how best to update the board. Options I'm thinking of would include: - a day (weekday or weekend) or evening phone conference call - a meeting adjoining an upcoming LUG meeting, like Merrilug on the 17th - a separate night meeting (the 31st is the fifth Thursday) - or I could write this all up as the mother-of-all-emails and post to the list. Your thoughts and suggestions welcomed. In the meantime, I have to get to work! Happy Independence Day! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Legal proceedings
Jon 'maddog' Hall wrote: A fairly significant number of the BOD will be at the BBQ on Sunday. md True, and I'll be glad to update all there. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Legal proceedings
Ed called me this afternoon to set up an appointment with our summer intern at Franklin Pierce Law Center. Details as we firm them up... -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: I would like to join your group; my membership is pending approval
Hello, David: We limit membership in our LinkedIn group to people who materially participate in the Greater New Hampshire Linux User Group or its chapters. If you have attended meetings or participate in some of our online activities, please let me know and I'll consider your membership. Thank you for your interest in GNHLUG! David A. Barrett, Esq. wrote: NH LUG Thank you. Very truly yours, David A. Barrett, Esq. The Law Offices of David A. Barrett Associates, P.C. Eight Faneuil Hall Marketplace – Third Floor Boston, Massachusetts 02109 Mapquest Map at - http://tinyurl.com/2djyf6 Call Toll Free 1-877-473-7852 Fax (617) 973-6406 [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linkedin.com/in/barrettlawoffices http://www.linkedin.com/in/barrettlawoffices%20 http://BarrettLawOffices.com We're also pleased to meet with you at our satellite offices: 945 Concord Street Framingham, Masssachusetts 01701 Mapquest Map at - http://tinyurl.com/2ccszf Burlington Centre 35 Corporate Drive - 4th floor Burlington, Massachusetts 01803 Mapquest Map at - http://tinyurl.com/yqzx64 The Law Offices of David A. Barrett Associates, P.C. practice in the areas of business and contract litigation, personal injury and insurance law, family and probate law, bankruptcy law, corporate and non-profit law, real estate law, and estate planning. Please note that this e-mail does not: *provide legal advice *create an attorney-client relationship *be deemed to have my signature unless otherwise expressly provided for. ATTENTION: This e-mail, together with any attachments thereto, contains PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION intended only for the personal and confidential use of the individual, individuals or organization named above. If you are not the intended recipient, or authorized to receive this for them, you are on notice that any reliance on, review, use, distribution, dissemination or copying of this E-mail is strictly prohibited (Electronic Communications Privacy Act, 18 USC Section 2510 et seq.) If you have received this in error, please immediately notify me by e-Mail and delete the file from your hard drive. Although The Law Offices of David A. Barrett Associates attempts to sweep e-mail and attachments for viruses, it does not guarantee that either are virus-free and accepts no liability for any damage sustained as a result of viruses. This Notice is included in all e-mail messages leaving the firm. Thank you. Disclosure Under IRS Circular 230: To ensure compliance with requirements recently imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any tax advice contained in this communication, including any attachments, was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of avoiding federal tax related penalties or promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any tax related matters addressed herein. The United States Bankruptcy Code designates The Law Offices of David A. Barrett Associates, P.C. as a debt relief agency. We help people seek relief from their creditors under the United States Bankruptcy Code. ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Can't make the board meeting
Shawn O'Shea wrote: Yeah, nobody else ever asked me to do my VMware talk again :( Funny thing, that. I really don't think it was you. I think some of the coordinators have different priorities, or think it's too far to ask you to drive after work (Peterborough would be hard, and Hanover durn near impossible.) I'd invite you to present in Concord, but we're entering the slow summer season, roaming around for locations, and attendance will be low. How about the fall? -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: SwaNH meeting postings
David Marston wrote: I think that selected SwANH announcements should be forwarded to -announce, but this one didn't qualify. There is a dinner meeting on May 15, where a couple local high-tech startups will talk about how they started up, which might be suitable to post. Agreed. And there's an Open Source presentation in September that sounds very interesting... SwANH is a non-profit. As far as I know, they would be willing to shield other NH-based technology groups under their 501c3. That's certainly a possibility. I think GNHLUG wants to establish its own 501c3 status for several reasons, but we're trying to understand if there is an umbrella or sponsor situation we'd benefit from passing through. Legal advice is on its way... Note, for example, that SwANH has given free tables to GNHLUG and other groups at past software conferences. I had inquired about a free or discounted table at a recent InfoXchange (2006, iirc) and was told the regular $1000 vendor fee applied. It's not a crowd we'd especially need to convert, so I haven't bothered to ask again. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
[Fwd: [SFD-announce] Software Freedom Day 2008!]
for helping take Software Freedom to the world! We are looking forward to seeing what teams come up with for next year, and we will be supporting you all as much as we can! Cheers, Pia -- Software Freedom Day 2007 http://softwarefreedomday.org/ ___ SFD-announce mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.sf-day.org/lists/listinfo/sfd-announce -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Location for GNHLUG Board Meeting (was: How about 29 Apr ...)
Ben Scott wrote: On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 10:11 AM, Coleman Kane [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I could show up too. Is it still planned for Manchester? We don't have a location pinned down yet. Manchester was being entertained, but I don't have a specific venue. Do we have any Manchester residents who might be able to ask at the local library if a non-profit group can have a small, short meeting in a conference room? http://www.manchesternh.gov/CityGov/LIB/RoomBooking.html -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Fwd:MySQL / GNHLUG presentation
Jim Kuzdrall wrote: I think Marc wants to make this presentation generally available (please double check). If we just put it on the Wiki by itself, nobody will stumble across it. Might it be better to link it to both Marc's canceled talk and his rescheduled talk the Wiki schedule table? That's a good idea, and we've done this in the past with some presentations. -- Forwarded Message -- Subject: [SPAM-30] MySQL / GNHLUG presentation Date: Thursday 21 February 2008 16:56 From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] I've shared a document with you called MySQL / GNHLUG presentation: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dcwc3b2p_45g8954rf4invite= It's not an attachment -- it's stored online at Google Docs. To open this document, just click the link above. --- Marc: It looks like you made the document available onto to Jim, or at least not to the public. If either of you wants to let me have access to the document, I'll repost it to the Wiki, or if you'd like to make it public, we can link to it from the Wiki. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you with this... ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Analyze This!
Ben Scott wrote: Python 2.3.4 is also present. It appears, however, that BeautifulSoup is not. Nor can I find it in the rpmforge repository. Nor on CentOS 5. You might have to do whatever Python's equivalent of a local build/install is for that. Yet another reason to upgrade the OS! (No, not really.) For those following along at home, the GNHLUG PastEvents2007 page [1] has been updated with events through the end of October, and the CSV file refreshed to also contain that data. GNHLUG-Nashua is still in the lead, but PySIG is nipping at its heels! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
How to pass on an HTML-only User Group promotional email?
The nice folks at Pearson Education send along a quarterly newsletter in HTML-only email format, with lots of links, some of which might even be of interest to members of the group. Obviously, I don't want to send HTML email to the group, the backfire would toast me. I tried printing to a CUPS-PDF driver I had set up, but it doesn't retain the links. I suppose I could post the HTML page to an area on the gnhlug.org web site and send along a link to it. Ideas? (Yes, HTML-only email is not a good medium, especially to LUGgers.) -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: How to pass on an HTML-only User Group promotional email?
Jon 'maddog' Hall wrote: Ted, Do the Pearson people have this quarterly newsletter on their own site? That link would be even easier. md They don't. I have passed on that suggestion to them. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: NC Shows Salem report
Ben Scott wrote: Ultimately, I suspect the only way we'll know for sure how successful our presence at one of these might be is to give it a try and see what happens. If we can team up with a vendor who is willing to pay for the table space (normally $125), we don't have much to loose. I think the owner of Ink4U in Nashua might be open to the idea. He was very generous in providing space for us in his storefront for Software Freedom Day. As for not having much to lose, let's not underestimate the effort involved. We'll want to select and then work up a set of CDs or DVDs to handout, some printed material needs to be updated and printed, and a couple of volunteers need to be willing to give up a Saturday. Not that I am dismissing the idea; I like it and will be glad to volunteer to help. I just don't want to underestimate the effort. It's less than running a conference ourselves, but not trivial. So, Ben, when's the next show and what would you like to show? -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: NC Shows Salem report
Ben Scott wrote: On Nov 19, 2007 8:40 AM, Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: So, Ben, when's the next show and what would you like to show? Just to be clear: This wasn't my idea and I'm not volunteering to run it. I volunteered to do some recon because I still had a pre-paid NCS entrance ticket from back when I attended these shows all the time. :) Yeah, I knew that and was poking fun. Forgot the ;) I guess one question I have is one of audience. Were these people who wouldn't know of Open Source or want and not know how to get a distro of Linux? -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Analyze This!
Ben Scott wrote: Python 2.3.4 is also present. It appears, however, that BeautifulSoup is not. Nor can I find it in the rpmforge repository. My FC6 distro let me install it with yum install python-BeautifulSoup, funky capitalization and all... -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Fedora Eight is out on the streets!
Werewolf! Where wolf? There wolf. There castle. -- Marty Feldman and Gene Wilder, Young Frankenstein (#217 of the IMDB Top 250) Werewolf will also likely go down in the annals of history as the name of the latest release of Fedora, Fedora 8, released today. Get onto the BitTorrent or download a conventional copy at: http://fedoraproject.org/get-fedora -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Meeting procedure (was: Preliminary notes)
Ben Scott wrote: On 11/6/07, Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Specifically: The statement that the board can meet and make decisions, provided a quorum exists, despite the absence of one or more members/officers. Wow. I didn't know that was a debatable issue. I didn't think so, either, but it was apparently called into question, or so I was given to understand. Perhaps I am misunderstanding. No, I think you are right. I didn't think it through at the time. I think the board needs to consider it and put it to a vote. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: [Fwd: Re: Analyze This!, was: Re: Attendance: A business-like approach]
Jim Kuzdrall wrote: Note also, that some presentations must have been missed in the reports. (Actually, it is mostly thanks to Ted that there are so many attendance reports.) I know, for example that Andy Bair gave more than one presentation, and the one I attended had 12 people or so, as I recall. Also, Mad Dog = MadDog and Rob Anderson = RobertAnderson. Jim: The TWiki is read-write. If there are mistakes or clarifications you can make, please hit the Edit link and try your best to fix it. If you're uncomfortable with that, please let me or Ben Scott know, and we'll be glad to try to make the change ourselves. However, you can save us some time but giving it a shot yourself. The editing lets you preview the changes you've made and abandon them if you're not happy with them; it also automatically makes version-controlled backups so we can always restore something if a page is accidentally wiped. You can't break anything. When we do some data cleanup, we can run the scripts again, upload better CSV data files and get better analyses from them. Nevertheless, three cheers for the Python crew. hear, hear!!! I was impressed with the process, and the results. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Meeting procedure (was: Preliminary notes)
Ben Scott wrote: The problem is that we had a formal vote on only two things, and one of them was the motion to adjourn. :) I'm new at this chair assignment, so I'd welcome any tips. The chair handed out printed copies of the agenda. The group reviewed the old business under that agenda. The chair proceded to new business. I see reviewing the agenda, that I missed the centralug item. We discussed each of the issues on the agenda. No other motions were brought to the attention of the chair, and I did not hear a discussion (although, again, I'm new at this and would welcome some pointers) that needed to be put to a motion, discussion and vote. If there were some issues you felt should have been voted on, you should have interupted yourself (grin) and made an objection. There were other things which really should have been put to a formal vote, but never were. Specifics, please, and let's resolve these. The board has agreed that we can make decisions between board meetings, and I'd like to move any of these open issue along. What did we miss? Nobody yelled I object! on the audio record, but that's not the same thing. I would like there to something a bit more positive-assurance. :) I do run a very casual meeting and perhaps I need to interject a little more often. I'll work at that. I'd appreciate if the other board members would speak up, too. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Meeting procedure (was: Preliminary notes)
Ben Scott wrote: Specifically: The statement that the board can meet and make decisions, provided a quorum exists, despite the absence of one or more members/officers. Wow. I didn't know that was a debatable issue. My interpretation of a board of directors is that a quorum can make decisions. Any quorum. Officers serve to execute the direction of the board, chair the meetings, record the meetings, and hoard all the gold. In the absence of any one or more of the officers, the board makes do, as long as they have the quorum, and proper notice was issued, they _are_ the board. I believe that no officer is indispensable, and 'pro tem' can be appointed by the board to serve the role when needed. Am I mistaken? I don't see anything in the By-Laws that specifically requires, forbids, nor clarifies... http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/pub/Organizational/ProposedByLaws2005/GNHLUG_Bylaws.odt Artive IV, Section 5, Quorum. A meeting must be attended by at least four of the Board members before business can be transacted or motions made or passed. In the absence of greater direction, I think there are no further restrictions. However, it looks like an issue we'll have to resolve. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
[Fwd: Re: Analyze This!, was: Re: Attendance: A business-like approach]
David J. Berube did a little analysis and here's what he got (with his permission, forwarding to the group) +---+--+--++ | location | meetings | total_attendance | average_attendance | +---+--+--++ | MerriLUG |8 | 207 | 25.8750| | PySIG |7 | 100 | 14.2857| | DLSLUG|7 | 69 | 9.8571 | | CentraLUG |8 | 57 | 7.1250 | | GNHLUG|5 | 57 | 11.4000| | MonadLUG |8 | 56 | 7. | | SLUG |5 | 48 | 9.6000 | | RubySIG |5 | 32 | 6.4000 | +---+--+--++ +-+--+--++ | speaker | meetings | total_attendance | average_attendance | +-+--+--++ | Jarod Wilson|1 | 61 | 61.| | Dave Rowell |1 | 23 | 23.| | Christoph Doerb |2 | 43 | 21.5000| | Máirín Duffy|1 | 21 | 21.| | Everybody! |1 | 20 | 20.| | Todd Underwood |2 | 39 | 19.5000| | LloydKvam |2 | 37 | 18.5000| | MattBrodeur |2 | 30 | 15.| | Alex Hewitt... |1 | 14 | 14.| | KentSJohnson... |1 | 13 | 13.| | William Henders |1 | 13 | 13.| | Ric Werme |1 | 13 | 13.| | GuyPardoe |1 | 13 | 13.| | MadDog... |1 | 13 | 13.| | TedRoche|1 | 13 | 13.| | Bill Stearns|2 | 25 | 12.5000| | BillSconce |1 | 12 | 12.| | PySIG group |1 | 12 | 12.| | SethCohn|2 | 24 | 12.| | Roger Trussell |1 | 10 | 10.| | MadDog ... |1 | 10 | 10.| | Rob Anderson|2 | 20 | 10.| | RobertAnderson |2 | 18 | 9. | | Brian DeLacey |1 | 9| 9. | | Group Discussio |1 | 9| 9. | | BenScott|2 | 17 | 8.5000 | | Ed Haynes...|1 | 8| 8. | | Members |4 | 32 | 8. | | The Community |1 | 7| 7. | | Roger K. Trusse |1 | 7| 7. | | Public |1 | 7| 7. | | Group |1 | 7| 7. | | AndyBair|1 | 7| 7. | | Nick Plante, Sc |1 | 7| 7. | | ScottGarman |1 | 6| 6. | | Nick Plante and |1 | 6| 6. | | Happy Holidays |1 | 0| 0. | | Nobody |3 | 0| 0. | | Canceled|1 | 0| 0. | +-+--+--++ David Berube Berube Consulting [EMAIL PROTECTED] (603)-485-9622 http://www.berubeconsulting.com/ ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: MonadLUG Driving Directions
GNHLUG Webmaster wrote: This is an automated email from GNHLUG. New or changed topics in GNHLUG.Www, since 01 Nov 2007 - 14:49: - DirectionsToMonadlug (CharlieFarinella) http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/DirectionsToMonadlug - MonadLUG (CharlieFarinella) http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/MonadLUG Nice job, Charlie! I added directions for those of us coming from the north as well. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Analyze This!, was: Re: Attendance: A business-like approach
The Python Special Interest Group took up the gauntlet thrown down by Jim Kuzdrall and came up with code that would parse the TWiki pages of attendance figures and produce a comma-separated-value text file. On the page PastEvents [1], you'll see links for 'CSV format' next to the calendar years. On the pages PastEvents2007, PastEvents2006 and PastEvents2005, you'll see an attachment that holds the CSV and can be updated as we clean up the data. It's early, and the data is crude, but 'ship early, ship often.' Even in this stage, PySIG members were surprised and pleased to note that attendance at PySIG is only second to MerriLUG! On the page ParsingPastEvents, there's links to the notes about the PySIG meeting where we held the code sprint, got Kent's coaching on the basics of using BeautifulSoup, and links to the actual code used to do the parsing, one to a PySIG mailing list email, and one attached to the TWiki page. These should be fun to analyze. If anyone has time to load the data into a spreadsheet and do some analysis, consider posting the sheet and/or results to the ParsingPastEvents TWiki page. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Sat 3 Nov org meeting is almost here
Jon 'maddog' Hall wrote: Well, I plan on being at both the museum and the meeting. Terrific! Mike Kazin and Shawn should be at the meeting, too. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Sat 3 Nov org meeting is almost here
Ben Scott wrote: Crap, it's almost meeting time. Times flies like an arrow. Shazbut! So, like, this telephone museum thing. Is the plan that interested parties (is anyone interested aside from me?) just show up around 10 AM? Who else is gonna be there (so the earlier arrivals can know to wait for the later ones)? http://www.nhtelephonemuseum.com/ Admission $5, $4 for those over 60. The museum may consist of more than one room, but it's a small building. We do not have a group reservation, since there may only be a couple of us. Warner consists of a Main Street that runs between exit 8 and 9. Coming from the South, 8 makes more sense, though 9 has an Irving's gas station, Dunkin' Donuts inside, McDonals, TCBY and a sub shop, should lunch in town not work out. Ted, you've implied you know where it is, is it hard to find? The webiste directions basically just say I-89, Exit 8 or 9. I assume I can follow someone else from there to the Hopkinton Town Library. If I'm the only one who shows up I might be in trouble. I sure hope so. If we're the only ones, I can get you there. If you're the only one, well, gee, never mind. It's easy. Roll down Route 103 until you come to the grassy triangle in Contoocook by the firestation. The road next to the firestation is Pine Street. Half a mile up on the right is the library. www.hopkintontownlibrary.org gives location info. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=dhl=engeocode=15549730799913209657,43.280085,-71.814794time=date=ttype=saddr=22+E+Main+St,+Warner,+NH+03278+(N+H+Telephone+Museum)daddr=61+Houston+Drive,+Hopkinton,+NHsll=43.250704,-71.756516sspn=0.112278,0.230026ie=UTF8ll=43.250954,-71.764755spn=0.112278,0.230026z=12om=1 is the Google directions from one to the other, or http://preview.tinyurl.com/38m9he for wrap-challenged email clients. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: DNS presentation
Ben Scott wrote: On 10/23/07, Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I was just wondering if you're planning on posting the S5 slides of your DNS presentation ... Oh yah. That. Um, yes. Sorry, I did let that get suspended. Thanks for reminding me to fg it again. Done now. Thanks! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Bank account
Ben Scott wrote: Okay, it appears I misunderstood the phone rep. There's no form to fill out; that's done electronically, on-the-spot. What I could have picked up are the signature cards for the designated signatories. Since I wasn't sure who we wanted to designate, I left without starting that process. So the next big question is: Who do we want to be the signatories? Just the President (Ted Roche), Secretary (Bill Sconce), and Treasurer (myself)? I think that was our understanding, and it ought to work as a start we can alter later. Do you need any info from us? -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: SCOSUG Articles of Incorporation/Bylaws
Bill McGonigle wrote: Group: Have we ever asked the question how many US LUG's are already 501-designated? I don't believe we attempted to determine the quantity. We did ascertain (and post to this list) some anecdotal examples of similar organizations, not necessarily LUGs, and their structure: FSF, Python SF, Milwaukee LUG, SCOSUG are 501c3s. Boston UG is a 501c6. Finding all the LUGs would be an interesting exercise. There are many directories online, all in various phases of disrepair. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG Board meeting, November 3rd?
Heather Brodeur wrote: Ted Roche wrote: Any interest in doing this and if so, who's available November 3? (md and Ben have already responded privately that the date would work for them. One more makes a quorum.) Unfortunately I will most likely be unable to attend as I will need to stay close to work that day. Sorry to hear that. We'll take good notes and let you (and everyone else) know what we get done. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG Board meeting, November 3rd?
Bill McGonigle wrote: I thought by now I'd know if I can make this or not, but I haven't heard yet if I'm doing an investors presentation then or not. But it's been a week since you've asked, so here's a definite 'maybe'... That would be fine. The morning plans are just a social opportunity if you are able. The afternoon meeting is open to all who would like to attend. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Board minutes for November 3rd board meeting
Bill: I'm sorry to hear that you won't be able to join us on November 3rd for the board meeting. I would like to get the minutes for our past meetings posted prior to that meeting. Is there something I can do to help you get them ready? cc: GNHLUG-org -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG Board meeting, November 3rd?
Ben Scott wrote: On 10/17/07, Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Sorry to hear that. We'll take good notes and let you (and everyone else) know what we get done. ... should we get anything done. That reminds me, I need to call the bank. Which is exactly why we have meetings! Guess I'd better review my notes to see if there's anything I have promised to get done before the meeting, too... -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: SCOSUG Articles of Incorporation/Bylaws
Shawn K. O'Shea wrote: This may or may not be useful, but I asked Nick Brenckle, who was (and still is) the Secretary for the Southern CT Open Source User Group, to forward along he might think would help. We incorporated and then attained 501c3 for SCOSUG back in 2001/2002. I've included below the Articles of Incorporation Bylaws, which I thought might be interesting/useful/etc to current GNHLUG efforts. Interesting reading. Thanks, Shawn! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Ping #1: CentraLUG Presentation, 5-Nov-2007: Cascading Style Sheets
[to the -org list: I mentioned to Ben that I sent out a form letter to speakers before the event and he thought other organizers might benefit from seeing it. Hope you can find it of some use.] Ted: Hope the foliage season find you well! Your November 5th presentation to CentraLUG is only two weeks from today! Thanks for volunteering to present to the Central NH Linux User Group. Meetings start at 7 PM and usually wrap up by 9 PM. If you're available, we meet for dinner about a block away at Panera Bread a little before 6 PM. Here's my form letter to help me not forget to tell you things: 1. Please confirm you can do the presentation: Please confirm that you can present Cascading Style Sheets to CentraLUG on November 5th. If business or personal conflicts come up, please let me know as soon as possible, and we'll be able to find an alternate presentation. 2. Send us a blurb asap: We work hard at promoting the presentations in the local papers, event websites and affiliated groups. If you can provide me with a paragraph or two on what you'd like to present and a bit of your background, that would help a lot. If you can get the description to me three weeks before the presentation [that would be a neat trick!] , I'll have time to get it posted. About the presentation -- Cascading Style Sheets are ... About Ted -- Ted is... 3. Directions: We'll be planning this meeting for our regular NHTI location, and I have yet confirmed our room reservation, but still need to arrange for a projector, so that's on my to-do list. Directions to the meetings can be found off the links at: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/CentraLUG 4. RSVP for dinner: As the date approaches and your schedule firms up, let me know if you can make it for dinner, so I can ensure someone's there to greet you, and let me know if you have any questions! Once again, thanks for offering to do the presentation, and don't hesitate to let me know if I can do anything to help. Looking forward to it! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Attendance: A business-like approach
Bruce Dawson wrote: So either we have to increase the priority of going to a meeting, or lower the priority of people staying away. The former can be done by having higher quality speakers, famous people, more interesting subjects, more career/job benefits, ... The latter can't really be done. I think you may have inadvertently created an artificial 'either-or' and there may be other variables to tweak. Let's not change the meeting content or quality at all, but increase by 10 the number of people who know the meeting is happening. With no other changes on our part, we should see more people attending, some of whom decide to stay. Perhaps we should look at ways of improving our presentations, escalating our speakers (by creating famous people), or ... I have spoken at two dozen professional conferences over the years, and I think the quality of our presentations can't be beat, and certainly not for the cost (segfault - Division by Zero!). Seriously, I think that the issue is simply this: Ten percent of the 300 people who know about any particular meeting attend. I think that's a good percentage. We have a rotating crowd of interesting people who may be more interested in the electronics, the networking protocols, the administrative management, the user space applications, the software development world, or the consumer products. That's awesome. And the other folks are busy that night, not that interested in the topic, not feeling well, have to pick up the kids, have to wash their hair or some other feeble excuse. That's okay, too. I would like 3000 people to know about the meeting, so maybe 5% of them would attend. That would double our attendance. The efficient engineer points out that we are wasting our message on 2940 people and lowering our overall efficiency. I am taking the stance that 60 people at a meeting is great. Both are true. That's okay. Provide a non-time and non-location dependent way of meeting. I believe that's known as not meeting. *rimshot* I think preserving what goes on in meetings is the best way to establish a legacy of knowledge from the group. I'm trying to do that with the notes I post to the group, and I'd really like to see more effort in capturing the meetings in video or audio format. Our mailing list, archives, and wiki are our greatest standing resources. Why don't we capitalize on them and let meat-space meetings become more informal. We should increase the capture mechanisms because those meat-space meetings have useful content. I do think that I'd like our meetings to be informal, and that there be more time to chat. I've heard several folks remark that the best meeting they attended recently was one with no presentation. However, I also think the presentations are of great value and shouldn't be discontinued. We ought to find some way to have our cake and eat it, too. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Attendance: A business-like approach
Bruce Dawson wrote: First, apologies: My original was perhaps a bit more acidic than intended. And back 'atcha: email is a great medium to promote misunderstandings. Provide a non-time and non-location dependent way of meeting. Its also known as a geek teaser, _and_ allows for virtual attendance for those with good or feeble reasons for not attending. If things go according to plan, they'll be able to join in much the same way one does on radio talk shows. I listen to a number of audiocasts, and I know I would have liked to hear some of the meetings I was unable to attend. I'm working on the audio format. The video seems to require more resources and willingness than I/we have at the moment. \ Looking forward to seeing what you come up with! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Off-list conversations considered harmful
Ben Scott wrote: I guess that's where my disconnect is. To me, the free and open exchange It doesn't matter. No one else answers anyway. Looks like I'll have to call the rest of the board to find out if they'll join us. I've always seen email lists as 3rd-class mail, addressed to 'recipient,' whereas email personally addressed to me is something I am expected to read and likely respond to. Others apparently see it differently. I don't consider -org list discussions to be official discussions of the board, unless prefaced as such. I had hoped to have our meeting minutes communicate to everyone what we've been doing, but there's a holdup in the production process which we've got to address. So, there's a board agenda item I'd like to add: getting out unofficial meeting notes asap after the meeting, and getting minutes out within a reasonable period, which we ought to kick around. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG Board meeting, November 3rd?
Ted Roche wrote: A Board meeting at the Hopkinton Town Library, 1:30 - 4 PM. I've confirmed the room is available, and we've had meetings and Software Freedom Day gatherings there before: plenty of power and internet and tables and chairs. Posted a preliminary agenda to the wiki. All are welcome to comment, suggest, shoot down, etc: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/BoardAgendaAutumn2007 -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
GNHLUG Board meeting, November 3rd?
I noted that November has five Thursdays. That reminds me that we ought to hold another Board meeting before the end of the year, and that the holidays can be a challenging time to get together. Since we're supposed to be the GREATER NEW HAMPSHIRE Linux User Group, I've gotten some suggestions that holding a meeting north of Nashua might be a gracious gesture. Rather than trying to cram a meeting in to a weekday evening, who would be interested in: A Saturday meeting consisting of: (optional) 10 Am - Noon A tour of the New Hampshire Telephone Museum (http://www.nhtelephonemuseum.com/home.html) (optional) Noon - 1:30 Lunch across the street at the Foothills restaurant (never been there, will investigate) A Board meeting at the Hopkinton Town Library, 1:30 - 4 PM. I've confirmed the room is available, and we've had meetings and Software Freedom Day gatherings there before: plenty of power and internet and tables and chairs. Any interest in doing this and if so, who's available November 3? (md and Ben have already responded privately that the date would work for them. One more makes a quorum.) -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Ping #1: Suggested form email: Your fill-in presentation to YourLUG on TheDate
Folks: For a couple of months, I've been using the following form letter to upcoming speakers to get the information I need to publicize the meetings and to ensure the speaker has the instructions and the directions they need. I'd encourage all of you to share techniques that work for you and would welcome suggestions. I send this message out as Ping #1 three or four weeks in advance, Ping #2 the next week, hopefully confirming some progress and Ping #3 as a final check-in with the speaker and offer of any help I can render. Original Message Subject: Ping #1: CentraLUG presentation [Date]: [Topic] From: Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [The Speaker] CC: [CentralLUG Volunteers] [Speaker] My, how time flies! Your [date] presentation to CentraLUG is only three weeks from next Monday! Thanks for volunteering to present to the Central NH Linux User Group. Meetings start at 7 PM and usually wrap up by 9 PM. If you're available, we meet for dinner about a block away at Panera Bread a little before 6 PM. Here's my form letter to help me not forget to tell you things: 1. Please confirm you can do the presentation: Please confirm that you can present [TOPIC] to CentraLUG on October 1st. If business or personal conflicts come up, please let me know as soon as possible, and we'll be able to find an alternate presentation. 2. Send us a blurb asap: We work hard at promoting the presentations in the local papers, event websites and affiliated groups. If you can provide me with a paragraph or two on what you'd like to present and a bit of your background, that would help a lot. If you can get the description to me three weeks before the presentation, I'll have time to get it posted. About the presentation -- [TOPIC] is ... About [SPEAKER] -- [SPEAKER] is... 3. Directions: We'll be planning this meeting for our regular NHTI location, but I have not yet confirmed our room reservation, nor arranged for a projector, but that's on my to-do list. Directions to the meetings can be found off the links at: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/CentraLUG 4. RSVP for dinner: As the date approaches and your schedule firms up, let me know if you can make it for dinner, so I can ensure someone's there to greet you, and let me know if you have any questions! Once again, thanks for offering to do the presentation, and don't hesitate to let me know if I can do anything to help. Looking forward to it! 5. Contact Call or write if you have questions. My cell phone is 603-XXX- -- ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Attendance: A business-like approach
to explore it, the list archive on the gnhLUG server will enshrine it for indeterminate eons. And future generations can analyze the wiki and mailing list archives for the results. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Attendance: Measuring progress
Jim Kuzdrall wrote: How will success be judged after a new initiative is taken to increase attendance at LUG meetings? Success cannot be accurately judged without a dependable record of past attendance. Fortunately, Ted Roche has been recording attendance figures for some time now. How can they be used? I believe that you are exactly right, and I have in the past copied the numbers from the GNHLUG Wiki and loaded them into a spreadsheet for analysis. You're also correct that the sampling size is very small and the number of dimensions of analysis relatively large. Seasonal effects, for example, (everyone knows no one comes to meetings in July and August) are questionable at best: few of our attendees are beach bunnies, and more are likely to be snowbound than working on their George Hamilton Tanning Butter Classic Competition tan. I've asked the programming SIGs if they would be interested in developing routines to scrape those pages and create data tables for analysis. I look forward to their results. I'd welcome your insights. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Could advertising backfire?
Jim Kuzdrall wrote: What if you get a significant number of new people to come to a meeting, but they find the presentation misses their interest target? How many times will they respond to a gnhLUG advert again? Likely none, if they are rational. Though you never know. Some people come once and are never heard from again. Some attend sporadically, either because only a few meetings interest them, or they have other obligations on meeting nights, or they can never remember which is the third Thursday of the month. I do not advocate that we try to be all things to all people, or that we try to be anything other than what we are: an eclectic group of people sharing a common interest in Linux and FOSS. There are many people out there meeting that description that will not be inclined to attend a meeting for their own reasons. That's fine. I just want them to know that a meeting is occurring. But perhaps the risk disappointed newcomers is easier to bear than the delay and turmoil of a businesslike approach in this non-business environment. I will suggest a business-minded approach in a separate post, in case anyone wishes to slow down. We can't slow down, because we're not doing anything yet. Just opening a discussion. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Raising attendance [was: membership and...]
Ben Scott wrote: We still have no agreed-upon definition for member or join. I originally just found that humorous, but I suspect that indefiniteness may be relevant to the topic at hand. Agreed. And those discussions have been beaten to death and remain indefinite. I don't consider this a bad thing. I have learned to live with ambiguity. The Board faces the task of defining membership as part of figuring out how to administer elections in order to get their replacements elected. I'm motivated. People rarely do things without a reason. If one wants to increase membership, one needs to find reasons for people to join. Once you're got a reason, the rest will fall into place. Also agreed. Perhaps I need to focus the question more succinctly. I would like to raise the number of people who *attend* the meetings we are giving. I believe there are more people like us who would *attend* if we were better able to reach them. Whether than means they join the membership is just a poor choice of words in my part, based on the assumption from past discussions that attendance = membership, though voting membership may be a different thing. (Ich Bin Ein GNHLUGger. And we are all GNHLUGgers! And GNHLUGgers are made out of people! But I digress...) All the advertising in the world won't help us if we don't have something to advertise. Point granted. I think we already do. I think three dozen people would have attended Introduction to OpenOffice.org Styles if we had found a way to reach them and made them believe the evening would have been worthwhile. What reasons do people have to be a member of GNHLUG? Let's let go of the member thing for this thread, and focus on attendance. What can we do to boost attendance? I see two questions in that: 1. How do we let more people know about the meetings? On another Linux list I hang out on, folks have suggested flyers or pamphlets at local computer shops. Another suggestion was inexpensive classified ads! I was surprised at that one. Following up with the poster, he suggested it had worked for other organizations he was in, like radio hams. I would be cautious on how broad a net such an ad might be casting, but it's an idea, at least. 2. Are there particular groups we can target who would be more likely to bring attendees to the meetings than broadcasts to the general public? For example, letting students in CS majors know about our meetings, or letting educators know about a presentation focused on education? I'm involved with all this to educate myself, to obtain and lend assistance, because I think freedom in computing is necessary to maintain freedom in our lives, and for camaraderie. Just about any meeting or mailing list discussion will satisfy my reasons for being here. I doubt they will work for everyone. I think many people would also check off one of more of your reasons. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG.Organizational - Automated notification of topic changes
GNHLUG Webmaster wrote: New or changed topics in GNHLUG.Organizational, since 11 Sep 2007 - 20:57: - BoardNotesSummer2007 (BruceDawson) http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/BoardNotesSummer2007 rof,l! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Raising membership and attendance
The LUG membership committee is looking for few good geeks. Where do you find new members to join the LUG? We've had some immigration from folks moving into the area and looking up the LUG. Activists from several out of state LUG have joined in the past two years, and they've done a great job of rolling up their sleeves, volunteering, doing presentations and so forth. We get a regular trickle of regular members appearing at meetings: from a mailing list of over 300, we see attendance at one meeting or another of perhaps 60 - 80 members (August 2007), although several of those attendees are duplicated, since we have seven meetings some months, and several member make multiple meetings. We like to invite more and more diverse people to the meetings. Generally speaking, I think the geeks can be difficult bunch to join, and I have no doubt some people go away and never return. We do what we can. But, my question: where do we advertise to find such folks? We: - have informational booths at computer stores on Software Freedom Day - man a booth at a local ham radio swap meet - have members who do presentations at local and regional computer industry events - get our events listed in the local papers and some online event calendars - one loudmouth in the group blogs almost every meeting ;) - one local newspaper correspondent can occasionally be coaxed to a meeting - we have a web site, of course, update it regularly, - we have mailing lists and public archives of them - we get ourselves listed in every LUG directory we can find. What are other folks doing? MeetUp? Eventful? Upcoming? Anyone found a trick that really works, or an audience that's really interested in hearing what you have to say? Know of someplace else we should advertise? Ideas welcomed. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Thanks for the board meeting
Heather, Bill, Shawn and Ben: Thanks for taking time out of your busy lives to spend a couple of hours discussing GNHLUG business last night. I feel we got a lot accomplished. Michael and maddog: sorry you were not able to make it; your contributions were missed. My informal notes follow. The board secretary, Mr. Sconce, will provide official minutes as his time allows. All were present for dinner at Martha's. We were joined by Bruce Dawson, former GNHLUG fearless leader, webmaster, sysop, wiki-master and all-round generous guy, and Carole Soule, the President of Learning Networks Foundation (http://www.learningnet.org/). Carole offered to share some of her expertise in working with non-profit organizations and engage in some further discussions on whether her organization might be able to aid GNHLUG in its pursuit of an appropriate non-profit status. Bruce and Carole left after dinner, and the remaining attendees moved upstairs for our meeting. The meeting followed the agenda as written at: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/BoardAgendaSummer2007 Draft minutes were reviewed, a few minor corrections applied (Bill: it was md who nominated and Heather who seconded) and were agreed to be adopted, formally signed and added to our corporate books upon completion. The president (me) reported on his action items: an in-person meeting is not required for us to make resolutions, so long as we have agreement amongst the directors and ensure the secretary records such decisions, so a phone call or email exchange is appropriate. Our by-laws do require two meetings a year, but other decisions can be made by the board as necessary. We also do not have any requirement to have a physical (Post Office Box) address to engage in business with the state or IRS. The secretary, Bill Sconce, reported his research into the format and the process of maintaining a Book of Resolutions, and was more comfortable with the process. Bill had drafts of last meetings minutes, which he had circulated, and a few clarifications and corrections were offered. Bill emphasized the importance of recording what we have done, and is eager to see the results published and preserved on the wiki. The treasurer, Ben Scott, was heckled, but nonetheless reported progress in his research on the non-profit status. Ben did a tremendous job in assembling a number of wiki pages, with cross-references and citations, on our alternatives and their implications. Thanks, Ben! I would _strongly_ encourage all members, especially the board, to read through Ben's research and consider his interpretations: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/LegalEntityType It was also pointed out by one of our lawyer-members that there is regulation as written and there is regulation as practiced and that one of the reasons for the existence of the legal profession is determining the latter. We have a tremendous advantage that we are not in an urgent situation to get this completed, and should press this advantage to get the most advice and wisdom and techniques on our side. Ben reported completing the IRS paperwork to obtain an EIN. We discussed establishing a bank account. We determined that we would like more than one officer needs to be a signatory, and will be researching whether it is reasonable to require more than one officer to sign checks for expenses. Bear in mind we still have no plans for actually handling significant amounts of money, but want to be prepared. The NEARfest discussion was pretty much limited to not going - maybe spring. New business opened up a couple of interesting discussions, talks I hope we continue to have on the GNHLUG boards, both -org and -discuss. Ben had posted a message to the effect of what do we do now? following the decision not to be present at NEARfest. We talked a bit about some of the history of New User Nights and the Linux Business Show, and talked about some of the volunteer work group members do with The Open CD (http://theopencd.org), Software Freedom Day (http://www.softwarefreedomday.org), Moofolio (http://www.k12opensource.org/spdc/moofolio/moofolio.html), the Christa McAuliffe teacher's conference (http://www.nhcmtc.org/), and probably lots of other efforts the other members are not aware of. Agreement that we need to promote these success stories both within GNHLUG (to encourage and promote more volunteerism) and to the community at large. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Other 501c3s?
Ted Roche wrote: Bill: What's the workload like to maintain the IRS paperwork? I've seena a few groups that file a 990-EZ with a bunch of zeroes on it, and others who've taken in and spent out a fair amount of monies and need to Hmmm. My sentence disappeared (thanks for pointing it out, Bruce) ... others who've taken in and spent out a fair amount of monies and need to set some aside for the expenses of documenting and reporting on the accounting. All in all, it seems like a manageable process. The sticking point maybe, as someone pointed out, not the laws and regulations as written, but rather as they are applied today. I'll be interested in learning more about the benefits and implications of GNHLUG being taken under the wing of Learning Networks Foundation or UVCIA. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Legal entity types
Ben Scott wrote: On 8/22/07, Bill Sconce [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: GNHLUG itself will presumably *not* write letters or try to persuade officials of anything. In the past, people have said that being a real organization would allow us to have people go before law- and policy-makers and say, We're here representing the Greater New Hampshire Linux Users Group. We think you should As such, it would help lend an air of legitimacy to advocacy efforts. A lot of people do let things like titles influence their perceptions, so this isn't just hot air. Now, whether or not we should do the above is open to debate. I'm not really sure where I stand on that question, myself. But I don't think we should assume that we definitely have no plans to influence political decisions, because in the past, at least some of us *did*. I am afraid if we speak to legislators as GNHLUG, we are a lobbying firm, with the liabilities and tax implications that implies. If I speak to my legislators as a citizen and voter and make it clear as part of establishing my credentials that I am very familiar with the Linux and FOSS communities, and that it is *me* speaking and not the organization, the two can be kept at arm's length. I think the political opinions within the organization range from the liberal to the conservative, radical to reactionary, and that having a representative of the group speak in an official capacity would introduce unnecessary divisions into the group. I encourage each and every member of the group to talk with their legislators and make *their* opinions known on important issues like copyright laws, DRM, the telephone-cable oligarchy and other issues they are concerned with. If a *member* of this organization wants to inform other members using the mailing list of the organization (while not establishing any 'official organization position'), I think that's the point of GNHLUG: establishing and encouraging communication amongst members. I think this discussion of legal entity types does bring us back to the great question. While many of us are employed in some aspect of the computer business, some of us do this as a hobby or an educational project or on a volunteer basis. Is the primary focus of the organization business? How do we justify the MythTV presentation, the most popular recent event? I think it could be argued that the main focus of the group is not business as much as it is focused on the community of Open Source and Free Software, and the fundamental differences such a philosophy brings to all aspects of computing. Is FOSS more of an economic model or a sociological one? Is GNHLUG a business or a social movement? I've tweaked on the Board meeting agenda to recognize that this discussion will probably close out our meeting. http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/BoardAgendaSummer2007 -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Legal entity types
Ed lawson wrote: On Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:46:47 -0400 Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Technically under the state lobbying laws you need to be paid to do it before you are a lobbyist and the state law covers more than legilation. And there I go, practicing law without a license again. My bad. I think this discussion of legal entity types does bring us back to the great question. Which remains unresolved I take it. Well, I think each time the group takes it up, we help refine the question and its answers. The discussion is worthwhile. I am certainly gaining some education from it. It does seem like an unending debate society to some observers, I'm sure. So long as GNHLUG is just a very loose collections of folks who from time to time meet and from time to time do little projects, then maybe the great question is irrelevant actually. If GNHLUG is to do more than that, then the question needs to be resolved and it needs to move on. It may well be that some like the former, but just cannot stand the latter and they will need to accept things or move on. So it is a fundamental question and needs to be resolved if some types of activities are to be engaged in to any degree. I agree. That's why we continue to hold board meetings and keep it on the agenda. It will be resolved. I'm just willing to let the debate play out a bit more. I hope others share my patience. Personally, I need to ask for the check now as I have too many irons in the fire for the next few weeks to actively participate, but will listen and think about it all. This one ought to be on me. Thanks, Ed! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG.Organizational - Automated notification of topic changes
GNHLUG Webmaster wrote: This is an automated email from GNHLUG. New or changed topics in GNHLUG.Organizational, since 20 Aug 2007 - 20:59: - WebHome (BenScott) http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/WebHome - LegalEntityEIN (BenScott) http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/LegalEntityEIN - LegalEntity (BenScott) http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/LegalEntity Ben: You've done a great job of research, summarizing the issues, and producing a coherent web page with IRS references in: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/LegalEntityType Excellent job. Let's review it with the board at the next meeting? -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
New Thread: What To Do Instead?
Ben Scott wrote: But I think our time, money, and effort are better spent elsewhere. It was always interesting and fun, but it's time to move on. What to do instead is best addressed in a separate thread. Clear skies, everyone. Thanks, Ben. I was willing to help shoulder some of the load for NEARfest should there have been any interest (I still may go and visit the Flashlight Guy and see if there are bargains to be had) but I'm interested in hearing some ideas on what to do. As with all groups, there's a spectrum of levels of interest, activity and zealotry. LUG members are users, admins, programmers, consultants, hobbyists, gurus. They're noobies, journeymen, wise ancients, teachers, students, quiet or evangelists. There's no typical LUG member. I'd like to add this to the agenda for the next Board meeting, but mostly I'd like to talk about how we bring this to the general membership and get them to tell us what they would like to do. http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/BoardAgendaSummer2007 -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: New Thread: What To Do Instead?
Jon 'maddog' Hall wrote: With the organizer's permission, I would like to send a brief note to Al Schuman telling him that as a group GNHLUG does not anticipate having a presence at NEARFest this fall, and that he should not hold the space for us. Very good idea, maddog. Thanks for thinking of it. Please do. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
[Fwd: Welcome to the Pearson Education User Group Program!]
. *** -- Ted Roche GNHLUG Fearless Leader http://www.gnhlug.org ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
EIN confirmed by IRS
I've received confirmation from the IRS today that we've been granted an EIN. The scanned documents are at: http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/LegalEntityDocuments And I'll turn the originals over to the secretary at our next meeting. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: New date for BBQ?
Bill Sconce wrote: Or having to be in Massachusetts, which is where I'm told I will be. Who knew the Ides of July was such a travel day? Ah, well, we'll be thinking of you all on Sunday. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG promotional items
Michael Kazin wrote: I also researched the CD duplicator possibility at one point and found them way out of RUSLUG's budget. We might be able to make it more affordable and useful building one ourselves. We just need to buy a proper duplicator controller a few drives and salvage a big tower case. We had this cool idea to put a duplicator kiosk on campus which would let students burn any distro they wanted. (example duplicator controllers: http://www.copystars.com/duplicator_controller_10_ctg.htm) I think a hardware hacking project to build a duplicator out of spare parts would be a really cool one! However, to me the goal of the project would be the education and fun of trying to get it to work as much as the final product. How about gluing an LCD panel to the side of a tower and running it all off a couple old DVD burners, a spare HDD and a linux distro on a retired PII-500 system? We hand out a lot of free CDs and I think people think they are worth what they pay for them. With USB tabs reaching 4+ Gb and many people with broadband capability, I'm not as sure the effort to download and burn a distro is as high a barrier as it once may have been. Within the group, I don't think it's needed. However, if we try more outreach projects (which I favor), handing out disks at a street fair might make the project feasible. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: [GNHLUG] Summer BBQ - Sunday 1 July - Loudon - All invited!
Ben Scott wrote: On 6/21/07, Ric Werme [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Oh yeah - July 1st is the date of the Nascar race, http://www.nascar.com/races/cup/2007/data/schedule.html Oh crap. -- Ben That would be my diagnosis. Bruce, does a race at NHIS pretty much cut off access to and from the farm? IIRC, Route 106 is pretty much unusable the day of a race. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: GNHLUG promotional items
Ben Scott wrote: What would we do with the bucks? We could buy a banner! A booth! A box! We could rent space! Go place! Buy locks! (with apologies to Theodore Geisel) We could endow a scholarship to NELS/FossEd. We could contribute money to FSF, PSF, anySF, Creative Commons, anybody. We could buy audio equipment. We could pay for setup of embroidered schwag. We could build a chuck box and build our booth-in-a-box. Spending money is not a problem. I suspect if we had a serious need to generate cash, this group of people would have no trouble finding a way. But we don't have a compelling need. We just have a vague idea of, It would be nice to have money. Not at all. I think you want to put the horse before the cart. I'm just proposing we find out if we can make a horse. Once we do, we can find out if there's anything we can do with it. I don't seriously expect that promotional items will turn us into a money-making operation. With shipping, handling, wastage, maybe we'll break even. Maybe we'll raise enough money to open a bank account. At least we might make some cool shirts, hats, coffee mugs or bumper stickers. I did not intend the manufacture of promotional items to primarily be a money-maker. Primarily, promotional items are to *promote* GNHLUG (promoting Linux, FOSS and NH), hence the name. Has anyone done something similar or have some suggestions. Sell email addresses like [EMAIL PROTECTED] for $X per year. Interesting. Perhaps problematic: reselling hosting services provided for us. But I'd buy one. Separate discussion? For the volume I think we're likely to encounter, I suspect it's actually feasible to do the order taking and fulfillment administration ourselves. Perhaps. I'd like to do a nice set of collared shirts (polo shirts, though I hardly ever play polo in mine) with a GNHLUG logo, or perhaps just GNHLUG -- those we could take individual orders for specific sizes and colors, as they'd probably run $35 - $25 a piece. Then there is the more commodity swag - coffee mugs, stickers. I hear Cafe Press quality may not be what it once was reputed to be. I recall the old GNHLUG mugs that Jerry got done were pretty sharp. I'd like an oval sticker of the DLSLUG logo (http://www.dlslug.org). I'd like us to make a bumper sticker of GNHLUG - Don't take Freedom for Granite and see if anyone would buy one. If we could set up either a local promotional company or an online store were we could do some bulk orders and individual orders, that'd be cool. I've done group book orders for UGs before, and spent four months chasing down the guy who either owes money or whose books I'm dragging around in the back of my car. It's a hassle. So a one-time shirt order, yes, let's do that. For the dinky stuff, let's offload the order processing to someone else. Maybe if we sell paying memberships to people, they get a T-shirt or something. Note that I'm not suggesting membership dues be required to be associated with GNHLUG. But if people are just itching to spend money, no reason we shouldn't take it from them. I'm not averse to paying for an annual membership. I do this now for the ACM, EFF, ACLU, UAW and other orgs. But that discussion has to wait a bit for us to discuss the proper type of memberships based on the IRS regs for the form of non-profit we choose to be. Of course, it might be easier if the 20 or so people who always speak up on this topic just got together some night and threw their cash in the middle of a table, and then drink until the money was gone. ;-) Tonight!?? I'm ready! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
GNHLUG Projects
You know what GNHLUG should do? is a question I've been asked more than once. My answer is usually on the lines of No, what is it you're volunteering to lead? Perhaps a bit too abrupt, as most people then back away in fear. There is no GNHLUG. There is only you. We must be the *change* we wish to see The Greater New Hampshire Linux Users Group has an interesting self-selected definition of users. There are sysadmins, Perl mongers, world-renowned activists, Python zealots, hobbyists, DEC refugees, and Ben. Quite the mix. Where exactly are the users? Are there projects GNHLUG should foster? In what way should we foster them? What projects has GNHLUG undertaken? What distinguishes a successful project from a not-so-successful one? And how do you define success? For example, md and bs (and Mike, and others) hosted the Hosstraders presence pretty much on their own. md would reserve the space, arrange for tables and volunteers would materialize to make distros, talk Linux, sell and buy and swap and hosstrade their junk. There was no need for a Hosstraders committee, task force, mission statement or discussion over whether the GNHLUG should allow their name or trademarks to be associated with some scruffy hackers camping overnight in the rain. And that's a Good Thing. Ed Lawson and Bill Sconce and Matt Oquist and md (there he is again) contribute their time to promoting Open Source in schools with their presence at NELS, the McAuliffe conference and other educational venues. Matt Oquist, someone I'd like to consider a GNHLUG member, single-handedly runs most of Software Freedom Day in New Hampshire, again with a little help from Bill Sconce. Discuss amongst yourselves. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
GNHLUG promotional items
One of the ways GNHLUG could make a few bucks is to sell promotional items such as coffee mugs, T-shirts and solar-powered-propeller beanies. (I suspect LUG coordinators who want to give something away at the meeting might be customers). md had suggested a while ago that we take the image down to his local shop, and they could scan it in for a fee and make available any number of items. Has anyone done something similar or have some suggestions. A couple of random and conflicting thoughts from me: 1. Locally embroidered swag keeps the money in the local community. 2. An online web store would be kinda nice too. Online web stores take a large margin of the sale. However, doing it ourselves is a Bad Idea. I know of Cafe Press. Bill McGonigle mentioned Zazzle.com as a group he's worked with. Has anyone worked with similar places they'd recommend? 3. Years ago in a previous life I helped a friend who sold computer stuff at the back of UG meetings during the 8-bit computer days, so it was Epson printer ribbons, Centronics printer cables, software, cleaning equipment, etc. Buying a bunch of similar schwag and selling it off at the back end of the meeting hall might be a way to raise a little money for the LUG, although margins are usually slim. Ignoring for a moment the question of how we might finance the initial inventory, do folks think people would buy stuff? Would it be worthwhile? Or should we just let ThinkGeek do this on the web? Discuss. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Request for assistance: CentraLUG, July 2nd, Bruce's, BBQ
Oops, meant to cc the group... Ben Scott wrote: On 6/17/07, Bruce Dawson [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Hmmm. That's a weekday. I don't think many people can do 4pm. Yah, but it's also a holiday week, so I was thinking some people might have it off. (I do.) But I dunno... any other people have thoughts on this? Hi, Guys! (Back to 'normal' working hours: Client 'T' went live on Saturday, Client 'E' went live on Sunday. Whew!) We kind of backed into this idea, by looking for a place for CentraLUG to hold its July meeting, Bruce volunteering the farm, and then suggesting the farm. Monday may not be ideal. Alright, I'm prolly going to post something to gnhlug-announce tomorrow then, unless someone else speaks up. I'll be glad to review your draft. My post will be based on the text on the wiki page, and link to same. The time will still be TBD perhaps, but I'd rather get word out sooner than later. If we can say arrive anytime after 5 Pm, BBQ at 6 PM? ... but I was wondering how to go about sending the directions individually. We're asking for signups on the wiki, we can add anyone unable/unwilling to register on the wiki can contact [EMAIL PROTECTED] for directions. That is the alias we use on gnhlug, right? (Rationale: people's spam filters might discard the directions if they don't come from gnhlug.org.) Not a bad idea, but at the same time, I don't think we've *ever* sent anything out with a From address using @gnhlug.org. :-) Except all of the mailing lists. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Request for assistance: CentraLUG, July 2nd, Bruce's, BBQ
Ben Scott wrote: On 6/18/07, Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: (Back to 'normal' working hours: Client 'T' went live on Saturday, Client 'E' went live on Sunday. Whew!) And you're still (a)live, too ;-) I hope everything happened with the least possible havoc. Of course not! But we got through it and the clients are pleased. We kind of backed into this idea ... Monday may not be ideal. Well, assuming Bruce is okay with the idea, perhaps we should move it to the Sunday immediately prior (1 July), then? I'll let Bruce answer, but I think he's unavailable that day. We've got two weeks until the event, so today/tonight's ideal for an announcement. I'll create a temporary alias [EMAIL PROTECTED], direct it to myself, and post that as an alternate. As people register, I'll submit their info to the TWiki. Great. Not really sure what that means in terms of spam consciousness. Well, there are nearly as many spam filters as email addresses on the internet, but liberty.gnhlug.org's IP address isn't in the registries of the big ones, from what I can see. That's great. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Request for assistance: CentraLUG, July 2nd, Bruce's, BBQ
Bruce has kindly offered up MilesSmith Farm for a combined BBQ and LUG meeting on CentraLUG's regular night. I'd like to ask for some help with an announcement, getting a pot-luck signup sheet going on the Twiki, and additional volunteers to help with what I'm not able to do. Two clients independently decided to ship this week, one after slipping for weeks, one moving up a July deadline. I am likely to log an 80-hour+ week, should I survive. So, if there are folks willing to help (and show up at the BBQ and enjoy, of course!) I could use the help. 1. Draft an announcement for the group, including a request to post something to the wiki, email, whatever to make a pot-luck happen. 2. Establish a sign-up sheet on the wiki. 3. Figure out what else I should be thinking about if I only had a brain... Thanks in advance. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Reminder: Co-ordinators, post your June events
http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Www/UpcomingEvents -- Ted June!!!?! When did THAT happen? Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Free Beer! And Organizational Meeting, May 31st, Martha's Exchange? Availability, please
Heather Brodeur wrote: Heather Brodeur wrote: Yes I am referring to the Nashua Library, it is a short walk from Martha's (about 3-5 blocks I'd guess). I submitted a request to see if they can accommodate us at 7:30 (time for dinner getting over there) I'll let you know what their response is. They have put us in the East Wing tomorrow night. It's downstairs, through the double doors, and make a U turn to the right. Excellent! Thanks, Heather! -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Free Beer! And Organizational Meeting, May 31st, Martha's Exchange? Availability, please
I have a homework assignment for all attending next week's meeting: finding a quiet place where we might be able to have future meetings. The booth at Martha's might be a bit too noisy. Everyone ought to be able to find a meeting room at employer's, their local library, etc. where we could hold a meeting. I'd suggest the Hopkinton Town Library. We could dine at one of the many (well, okay, four) fine dining establishments (well, okay, alright) in Contoocook, walk or commute the quarter-mile to the library, and enjoy the pleasant Community Room with wired ethernet Internet access. Or maybe a pool party. Or a farm-side barbeque. The possibilities are endless. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: Free Beer! And Organizational Meeting, May 31st, Martha's Exchange? Availability, please
Ben Scott wrote: On 3/26/07, Ted Roche [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: It's getting to be time to plan a semi-annual Organizational Meeting. So, like, where are we with this? Thr 31 May is fast approaching. Have we nailed down a time yet? Any idea where it is going to be? There was talk about having it somewhere other than Martha's Exchange, just to be different. Anything anyone want to add to the agenda? http://wiki.gnhlug.org/twiki2/bin/view/Organizational/SpringSummit2007 -- Ben md had suggested millystavern.com and it was on my list to call them today. I will try again tomorrow. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
[Fwd: GNHLUG]
If anyone's looking for a presentation, here's a new contact at WindRiver. Original Message Subject:GNHLUG Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 12:14:43 -0700 From: Gravel, Mike [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Hi Ted, Please let me introduce myself. My name is Mike Gravel and I'm the new Account Manager for Wind River covering Eastern MA, NH, VT and ME. I was hoping to have the opportunity to attend and sponsor one of your meetings and discuss some of the latest news regarding Wind River Linux. I appreciate your time, and hope to meet with you in person very soon. Mike Gravel | Account Manager | Wind River Tel 603.897.2165| Cell 603.236.9605 | Fax 603.897.2150 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ gnhlug-org mailing list gnhlug-org@mail.gnhlug.org http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
Re: How often do you want to get nagged?
Ben Scott wrote: I really do think most of the work, here, has already been done. We just have to figure out which calendar software meets our needs best. And then find someone to install it... /me looks around furtively There's a parallel effort in place to replace TWiki with MediaWiki. When/if that happens, I'd like to look at Calendar plug-ins or add-ons to MediaWiki before considering a separate package. I suspect that might get us the best outcome: integration with our existing content as well as modern calendaring features. In the meantime, perhaps we can challenge the PySIG to slap a script together to provide us with the publishing-side features now. We already have the CMS (Twiki) with user authentication, versioning, auditing, rollback, etc. We could just hack the format that generates HTML (or the resulting HTML file) now to also make iCal. The data (albeit in freeform text) is already there. Stick the link to the resulting file on our web site and people will be able to link to it. When we can later come up with a more robust solution, we redirect the link to that solution. As always the people who don't have to write the code ask How hard can it be? Load the home page into a parser like Beautiful Soup, iterate through the rows of the Upcoming Events table, and output them as some calendar format. Stick it in a cron job and run it once an hour. I've got a mess with WebCalendar item on my TODO list, for all the good that does us. Installation is not too bad, but it will involve getting a database set up on the server. Install and configure is not too bad, if we consider it as a standalong app. The challenges are the fit-and-finish, wedging it into our existing system, adding it to the LogWatch list, arranging for a backup, retaining some of the functionality we've grafted onto the wiki for attendance tracking, archival history, links to notes, etc... I'd say webCalendar (or similar packages, or add-ons to MediaWiki) are better long-term solutions, but it's tempting the PySIG with a Python script challenge might have something working in a week or two, no backups, no hassles. -- Ted Roche Ted Roche Associates, LLC http://www.tedroche.com ___ gnhlug-org mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.gnhlug.org/mailman/listinfo/gnhlug-org/
