About Me

PBX My name is Paul Bissex, and e-scribe.com is my consulting business. I build web applications using as much open source software as possible. From September to June I teach web design and other important non-photographic professional skills to photographers. In the '90s I wrote technology commentary and reviews for magazines, newspapers, and web publications, including Wired, Salon.com, FamilyPC, the late lamented Web Review, and the Chicago Tribune. Feel free to email me.

Colophon

This runs on Django, served by Apache and mod_python. The database is SQLite. The operating system is FreeBSD, on a VPS hosted at Johncompanies.com. Comment-spam protection by Akismet. Vintage topo imagery from the Maptech archive. The markup engine is Markdown.

The Book

Book cover I'm co-author of "Python Web Development with Django", an excellent guide to my favorite web framework. Published by Addison-Wesley in October 2008, it is available from Amazon and your favorite technical bookstore as well. Click on the book title above to learn more.

Pile o'Tags

Stuff I Use

Akismet, del.icio.us, Django, dpaste.com, Emacs, FreeBSD, Freenode, jQuery, LaunchBar, MacPorts, Markdown, Mercurial, OS X, Postfix, Python, SQLite, Subversion, TextMate, Trac, Ubuntu Linux, wmii

Spam Report

At least 45608 pieces of comment spam killed since January 12th, mostly via Akismet.

OSCON, OSCOFF

It's possible that there's still some guy doing laps around the Oregon Convention Center on a Segway with security chasing after him, but as of 1:30PM today OSCON 2005 was officially over.

This was my first time attending the conference, and I had a great time. I learned a lot, had some excellent discussions and unexpected laughs, and got myself fired up again about being part of the open source anti-massacree movement.

In general I found the regular conference sessions more engaging than the tutorials. It's much easier to hold an audience for 45 minutes than for three hours. I also think that a three-hour "tutorial" with no hands-on component is a bit of stretch for most people. Even if one stipulates that most OSCONers are hyper-cerebral brainiacs, they are also people who learn by doing and building. Many attendees had laptops, but none of the tutorials I attended took advantage of that fact. Perhaps the lonely, lost Apple Developer Connection computer lab could be refactored next year into multiple smaller lab spaces closer to the action, so that tutorial participants could do some sociable hacking on breaks while the material was still fresh in their minds.

That said, I'm definitely going to try to come back next year (especially if it's in Portland, which I love). Thanks to O'Reilly and all the presenters and participants who make this conf what it is.

Friday, August 5th, 2005
oscon