GeekDinner

There’s two weeks to go before the next GeekDinner, Obstreperous Olive.

We’re having this one at the Pasta Factory on Park Road (just off Kloof, there by Greens and Ricks and Fat Cactus), and it can hold about 70 people. We’ve already got 28 people on the waiting list, so you’d better hurry if you want a shot at the main list. Conversely, if you are on the list and can’t make it, please do remove yourself so that the others know that there’s space for them.

We’ve got some good talks lined up, and the wine is sponsored by Delheim. See the wiki for more details, and to sign up, and we’ll see you there!

As we in Cape Town are well aware, we have the only city in South Africa really worth living in. However, there are some towns in close proximity to us that, whether because they’re so close to us, or because of their natural assets, are also pretty awesome. I lived in Stellenbosch for two years, and it really is a beautiful place. We have a fair contingent of regular GeekDinner attendees who come from there, and this month we’re going to try a bit of an experiment, and go visit them for once.

We’re having the first Stellenbosch GeekDinner in an “off” month – that is, putting it between the Cape Town dinner we had last week, and the one we’ll be having in March. We’ve got what looks like quite an awesome venue at the Lovane Boutique Wine Estate, just outside the ‘bosch, and we’re going to be having the dinner on the 23rd.

All the details are on the wiki, but here they are in summary:

Date: Monday, 23 February
Place: Lovane Boutique Wine Estate.
Time: 18:30 for 19:00.

We’re really hoping that the Cape Town GeekDiners will be interested in trying something different and going out to Stellenbosch – sign up on the wiki if you’re keen.

(Also, if you’d like to give a talk, please mention it on the wiki – we’re always looking for speakers.)

See you there!

Today is November 21, which, in 1996, was declared “World Television Day” by the United Nations. Apparently there were no wars or famines or anything in 1996, because the UN General Assembly found plenty of time to argue about whether or not this should be done – Germany complained that there was already a World Telecommunication Day, and a World Development Information Day, and that a TV day was biased in favour of rich people.

I would be opposed to World Television Day for different reasons: TV is a passive medium, where you sit and watch whatever gets fed to you, with no interaction or control. And this, of course, is why I like things like GeekDinners: they are organised by their attendees, who are also the people that give talks, and listen to the talks, and suggest talks, and pick venues. It’s a new, interactive world.

So, yeah, my point is that there’s just under one week until the GeekDinner next Thursday, and I’m just reminding you about it. If you’re on the list, but can’t make it, please remove yourself. If you didn’t make the main list (which is now full, as usual), put yourself on the waiting list, and remember that in the last few days (and hours!) before the dinner, the list moves rapidly, and you are almost certain to make the main list if you want to come.

The details are, as ever, on the wiki.

See you there!

Wednesday 28 May 2008 at Mel’s Kitchen in Rondebosch, 18:30.

See the wiki for details.

We’re up to 78 Geek Diners for Eccentric Eggplant, the fifth Cape Town GeekDinner, to be held at Ferryman’s Tavern at the V&A Waterfront on Wednesday (ie, the 28th November 2007).

According to the sign-up page, only 2 more people are allowed, but there are always a couple of last-minute cancellations when people remember that it’s their anniversary and their spouse will kill them if they’re off geeking instead of taking them to a nice dinner.

(Extra points: Take the spouse to the GeekDinner. Don’t get killed, and get to geek out at the same time.)

This will be our first attempt at Slideshow Karaoke – where we volunteer two victims (Jonathan Hitchcock and Bryn Divey in this case) to give a talk on a subject they may know nothing about with slides prepared by others (Russell Cloran and Jeremy Thurgood in this case) and given to the speakers at the same time the speaker is giving the talk to the audience. If it works, I think we should have a few slideshow karaoke sessions at StarCamp…

This is to announce the fifth Cape Town GeekDinner, which will be held on Wednesday, November the 28th, upstairs at Ferrymans in the Waterfront, at 19:00 for 19:30.

Details of the menu and talks can be found on the wiki page.

Sign up to the wiki if you want to come along, and tell your friends!

If you want to give a talk, add yourself to the wiki, along with details of your talk.

We will also be having our first Slideshow Karaoke session – somebody will be giving a talk based on slides they’ve never seen before.

Hope to see you there!

A big thank you to everybody who helped organise, spoke at, or attended the September GeekDinner last night. Special mention to Summerville for hosting us, and, of course, to GetWine for supplying the wine.

GetWine have also very generously offered a special to the attendees of the dinner last night: If you email johan@getwine.co.za and mention the dinner, you can get 12 bottles of the wine we had last night, for only R210. The wine is Senga, and you can get 6 bottles of red and 6 bottles of white, which would normally cost R324. This special will last for a week only, so mail him now, mention GeekDinner, and order your wine!

Jimmy Wales (the founder of Wikipedia) and Heather Ford (from the iCommons) have hatched a scheme to hold 50 parties in 50 cities around the world, with an Open Content/Creative Commons/Free Software sort of theme.

One of these parties is happening in Cape Town, next Saturday, at Deer Park Cafe in Vredehoek. This also happens to be Software Freedom Day, so why not come along and celebrate with Jimbo Wales, the wikiers and iCommons people? Just sign up on the wiki and come along.

For more information, see:

• Software Freedom Day
• Heather and Jimmy’s 50 Great Parties Club
• The 50 Parties Wiki

If you’re keen to attend the Cape Town party, go and sign up at the wiki. Don’t forget the party rules.

The fourth in the new series of Cape Town GeekDinners will be held on Thursday, September the 27th, at Summerville in Camps Bay, at 19:00 for 19:30.

Details can be found on the wiki page.

Sign up to the wiki if you want to come along, and tell your friends!

We also need speakers – if you have an idea or something interesting that you want to talk about, let us know. Talks are only 5 minutes long, followed by a few minutes of questions, and everything is very informal.

Also of interest to geekdiners might be the CLUG talk happening tomorrow evening: Corey Burger will be presenting a talk on OpenStreetMap – see the CLUG wiki for more details.

After what seems to have been a very successful GeekDinner last night, we would like to give our thanks to the following people:

• Vaughan and the staff of Krugmann’s Grill for allowing us to have our dinner in your restaurant. The food was good, the service was efficient, and we enjoyed the evening a lot.
• Antoine and Generation 7 for supplying a projector and screen, and spending the time and energy to help us set up the venue. You made things a lot easier for everybody, thank you!
• SimplyAV for kindly sponsoring the second projector and screen, and the splitters and equipment needed to run both at the same time, for no other reason than that you are that generous. We had no reason to expect your donation, and we really appreciate it.
• Johann, Sam and GetWine – you guys gave a great talk, and supplied us with fantastic wine, and we were very glad to have you come along. We hope to see you at future GeekDinners!
• Henk Kleynhans and Skyrove, for donating the Rubik’s Cubes as presents for the speakers. We appreciate it, and we’re sorry you couldn’t make the dinner – hope you can make the next one!
• The speakers, of course – Dave, Ian, Alan, Johann, Sam, and Aslam – without whom it would have just been “Dinner”.
• Last, but certainly not least, everybody who helped organise the evening. Once more, your volunteered energy and time helped create a very enjoyable night that we all appreciate.

See you in September!