<html><head></head><body>The 20-something geniuses are impressive. What they lack in experience they over compensate for with enthusiasm and an ability to nearly instantly absorb new tech that I have to sweat over.<br><br>Your experience on the road underscores a need to replace 2-ton death machines with something better and well separated from living creatures in the high to medium density areas from urban to suburbs. <br><br>I plan to use some of my retired time playing D&D and Magic The Gathering again. It's been too long.<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On February 3, 2021 12:24:13 PM EST, Tod Fassl via Ale <ale@ale.org> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;">
<pre class="k9mail">I manage the research cluster for the math dept at a Big Ten <br>university. I'm retiring partly because I can, partly because keeping up <br>with 20-something math geniuses is too hard at my age, and because I'm <br>blind. Being blind is a drag. I'm a distance runner, rock climber, very <br>active in my community. But imagine your typical bad day -- spill coffee <br>on yourself, miss your bus, 271 messages in your inbox, etc. Then <br>imagine adding blindness to that. I've been run down by inattentive <br>drivers twice in the last 2 years. I mean hit and knocked down by <br>somebody on their phone when I was in a crosswalk with a green light. My <br>guide dog lost some teeth the last time. I just had some road rash but <br>the next time I had to get to my office, I found myself shaking when I <br>had to cross at that intersection. I got over it eventually but stuff <br>like that wears you down. I'm tired of being superman, of being fearless.<br><br><br>I intend to work on open-source projects for the blind after I retire. I <br>have a program where you can treat a normal keyboard like a braille <br>keyboard and create brf (braille format) text files. I'm also working on <br>the world's first fully blind accessible Dungeons & Dragon's module. And <br>I'll probably work on bug fixes in the Linux screen reader, orca.<br><br><br><br><br>On 2/2/21 11:48 AM, Jon "maddog" Hall via Ale wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #729fcf; padding-left: 1ex;"> The Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts were a group of mostly university <br> students who loved (GNU). There are still web pages existent at <br> ale.org that tell much of the history.<br><br> The group founded in December of 1994, and in those days the first <br> thing you did was form a mailing list, so I would assume that this <br> list or something deeply connected to it started at that time.<br><br> The Atlanta Linux Showcase started in 1996. If I remember correctly <br> it was held on the Georgia Tech Campus the first year, at the Apparel <br> Mart downtown in 1998, The Cobb Galleria in 1999 and 2000.<br><br> In 2001 the original organizers had all graduated and were busy with <br> jobs, buying houses, etc. and the USENIX organization took it over.<br><br> USENIX made four gigantic mistakes:<br><br> o they renamed it to the Annual Linux Showcase<br> o they moved it to Oakland, California in November, 2001<br> o they tried to take a free (as in beer) event and charge 350 dollars <br> for it<br> o they allowed Osama Bin-Laden to crash airplanes into the World Trade <br> Center on September 11, 2001<br><br> When USENIX had not sold a single reservation within three weeks of <br> the event, I convinced them to make it free and about 300-400 people <br> showed up, but USENIX never produced another Linux only show.<br><br> The ale.org web site is still there, with just a few 404s. If you <br> want to see what the original events were like there are even some <br> pictures.<br><br> It is nice that the mailing list is still active. The Linux group <br> that I started in 1994 and ran for ten years also has a mailing list, <br> but it is much less active than yours.<br><br> Congratulations to Tod for thinking about retiring....I still have too <br> much fun and I will retire with my mouse still clutched in my cold, <br> dead hands.<br><br> Peace and love,<br><br> maddog<br><br><br><br><br><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #ad7fa8; padding-left: 1ex;"> On 02/02/2021 10:50 AM Paul Manno via Ale <ale@ale.org> wrote:<br> There are probably still some of us lurking here who were around when <br> the list was first<br> created and who helped create those Atlanta Linux Showcase shows. In <br> either case, I am<br> not going to even try to think about when I started using either <br> Linux or UNIX... LoL<br><br> On Tue, Feb 2, 2021 at 9:59 AM Larry Johnson via Ale < ale@ale.org <br> <mailto:ale@ale.org>> wrote:<br><br> My memory isn't great as I'm about to turn 70, but I first installed<br> Linux in early 1995, and seem to remember signing up for the list<br> not<br> long thereafter.<br><br> Which means I might have been a lurker for around 25 years.<br><br> On 2/2/21 8:47 AM, Robert Reese via Ale wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;"> Hi Tod,<br><br> Monday, February 1, 2021, 12:19:30 PM, you wrote:<br><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #fcaf3e; padding-left: 1ex;">Am I misremembering? Because I think I got on this list when I<br></blockquote></blockquote>was in grad school which would have been in the mid-late 90s. The<br>reason I'm asking is that I am thinking of retiring. I was a<br>really old grad student and now I'm retiring early. Even so. Is<br>it possible I've been on this list my entire professional career?<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;"> I'd say it's entirely possible. I joined in the late 90's also.<br><br> Cheers,<br> Robert Reese~<br><br><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #fcaf3e; padding-left: 1ex;"><hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org <mailto:Ale@ale.org><br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br></blockquote></blockquote><<a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a>><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #fcaf3e; padding-left: 1ex;">See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br></blockquote></blockquote><<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a>><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;"><br><br><br> Cheers,<br> Robert~<hr> Ale mailing list<br> Ale@ale.org <mailto:Ale@ale.org><br> <a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br></blockquote><<a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a>><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 1ex 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid #8ae234; padding-left: 1ex;">See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br></blockquote> <<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a>><hr> Ale mailing list<br> Ale@ale.org <mailto:Ale@ale.org><br> <a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br> <<a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a>><br> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br> <a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br> <<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a>> <hr> Ale mailing list<br> Ale@ale.org<br> <a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br> <a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a> <br></blockquote><hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br></blockquote><hr>Ale mailing list<br>Ale@ale.org<br><a href="https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">https://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a><br>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<br><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a><br></pre></blockquote></div><br>-- <br>Computers amplify human error<br>Super computers are really cool</body></html>