[conspire] ANNOUNCE: TOMORROW Sat June 7 INSTALLFEST TALKS POTLUCK, Berkeley 12N-6P

[Rick Moen]

Quoting john_re (john_re at fastmail.us):

> Turns out Bruce was correct: There _is_ an installfest this Saturday.
> It's just in Berkeley. ;)

"Evans Hall, or nearby" does not a location make.

You should (IMO) not have gone around mailing lists posting
announcements until you had a confirmed venue.  Suppose you end up
failing to get access to any Evans facility, and end up having to make
do with something really lousy on the spur of the moment, like the patio
outside Soda Hall (full sun, exposed to theft from the street, no AC
power).?



Let's see what else you've lined up:

NSTALLFEST:[...]
> This is a self reliant event. [...]  (people will
> likely have some installation CD's, but don't count on that).

So, there may or may not be any Linux to install, at all!  Sounds risky.

Let's see what speakers you've lined up fro the talks:

> 2) TALKS        Talks by various speakers[...]
> Eventually we hope to have 2-6 speakers.
> For this meeting, we have no planned talks.

So, you've not lined up _any_ speakers.  

Never mind that.  What are the arrangements you've made for people's
dining, since this is an all-afternoon affair starting at lunchtime?

> 3) POTLUCK      Bring $4 of food to share: eat, conversation[...\
> Note: The food is only brought by attendees

So, no planning for dining whatsoever; you're encouraging _other_ people
to do that, and just claiming there will be a potluck for the sole
reasons that you've announced that other (unidentified, hypothetical)
people will make it happen.

You know, it would have been more dignified to just say "Get your own
lunch on the way here."

What else?

> ---VIDEOCONFERENCE: Hopefully, this will become a WORLD WIDE
> SIMULTANEOUS event.  We hope to LIVE VIDEO STREAM talks to other
> participating groups.

And, on what _possible_ component of reality might that hope be based, John?  
You've said nothing whatsoever about the provisions you've made to cause
this to happen, and where this alleged video data will become
accessible?  (Even in the highly unlikely event that you actually
produce some sort of Internet feed, which I consider staggeringly
unlikely given that you don't _even_ have a venue nailed down and have
said nothing about the technology you have available, you'd be really
lucky to have even one _real-time_ remote viewer of the alleged event.

What sort of bandwidth do you have for the LIVE VIDEO STREAM of the
WORLD WIDE SIMULTANEUOUS event?

> For this first meeting, we _might_ NOT have any NETWORKING except
> through individuals CELL PHONE service.

So, no bandwidth.


Let's sum up:  Your Linux installfest, talks, and potluck event with LIVE
VIDEO STREAM of your WORLD WIDE SIMULTANEOUS event has the following
resources lined up, at this time:

o  no venue
o  no Linux
o  no planned talks, no speakers
o  no plans for eating
o  no bandwidth

Basically, you seem to have waved your magic wand and declared that all
of those problems will be magically solved by other people.  I wish you
good luck with that, because, if you have _bad_ luck, you've just set
back the cause of Linux events in the Oakland/Berkeley area, making it
tougher for future, more-competently planned events to have credibility.

You have a lot of difficult work ahead, in few weeks remaining before
your event, to shore up its credibility.  Oh, wait!  Your event is
_tomorrow_.  

Well, I guess you _can't_ fix any of those problems, then.  Oops.  What
a shame.

> (Yo Rick - BALE readers might like being informed about this event.

Unfortunately, I see no event.  I see you _wanting_ there to be an
event, doing none of the work required, and attempting to declare one
into existence through the power of faith.

Now, is there _any_ chance of you learning from this experience, and
making at least a feeble attempt to do the next one right?  Because this
one's pretty embarrassing -- or at least you _should_ be embarrassed.