This is fresh catch from the overhauled Fred Meyer's on 39th and Hawthorne. There's a new $3.99 price point for some wines, competing with Trader Joe's, plus I got this Australian chard.Trevor is coming by to help with a dog walk, so I'm downing the Optimator in the picture above, planning to enjoy the good weather. We'll be yakking about the Esozone conference, other gigs, also Stanlislav Szukalski, a mascot of Subgenii.
In it's first year, Esozone was held right next to Backspace in the Someday Lounge next door. The second year we moved closer to John Bunce's. Paul Laffoley appeared both times, sharing perspectives.
Oregon is a proud source of Tillamook cheddar, also the Bandon brand, and although we're not a coffee growing state, we know how to pick a winner: Washington State gets a blue ribbon, for its Starbucks blend (about memes, not just beans). Runners up: Seattle's Best, Stumptown. Then of course there's Peet's, now with a 2nd floor shop in the revamped Fred Meyer's.
Speaking of marketing, I made a last minute pitch to math teachers at the Math Forum, regarding my Python for Teachers workshop. I'm straddling two cultures though. Is this a bridge too far?
Public schools dismiss the open source sector as a source of ideas, have their own recognized movers and shakers, an inner circle of publishers with stables of writers, many of them not especially computer literate and dismissively defensive about it. Furthermore, MITEs (minimum tetrahedra) have that "not invented here" flavor -- like so what if they're space-fillers with tetravolume 1/8?
I'm glad not all mathematicians are equally closed minded. Some get it, accept novelty. Others will never be shovel ready, are simply too proud to touch dirt.
