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Linus Sighted At LCA2004 224

Posted by timothy from the punchbuggy-finnish dept.
leonbrooks writes "Yes! Third year in a row! The penguinmeister has entered the building! Posting from lecture theatre LG28 at the University of Adelaide, we have confirmed that Linus Torvalds has once more blessed us with his presence. Solid proof that Australia truly is The Lucky Country. (-:" And an anonymous reader adds: "Linus will be here for a week at linux.conf.au but not presenting anything. If you want to see him, maybe you guys should come down to South Australia and register for linux.conf.au 2004."
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Linus Sighted At LCA2004 More

Linus Sighted At LCA2004

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  • Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:05AM (#7950852)
    Linus is at location X!

    This is news folks, make no doubt about it.
    • Is it odd that the same people who move to Linux because Microsoft wants to track their online activity are simultaneously tracking every movement of Linus Torvaldis?

      And why report a "sighting" anyway? He's not Elvis. Even if he is that popular, being alive and all, it's not so odd that someone might see him around every once in a while.

      And don't flame me, it's just sarcasm.
    • Where is the Linus GPS Tracker Homepage again?
    • I know it's funny and all, but this sort of celebrity crap engenders unhealthy attitudes for all involved. We should probably discourage it.

    • BFD (Score:2)

      by t0ny ( 590331 )
      Elvis has left the building...

  • Linus (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:06AM (#7950855)
    He's not the messiah. He's a very naughty boy..

    • Re:Linus (Score:3, Informative)

      by Jacco de Leeuw ( 4646 )
      The person who moderated this as offtopic does not understand humour or should go out more [imdb.com] :-)

      • Re:Linus (Score:4, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:44AM (#7950986)
        that's the first time I've heard Monty Python fandom equated with going out more.

        I have however heard the two used in one sentence.

        as in:

        Stop watching that Monty Python and get some fresh air.

    • Re:Linus (Score:5, Insightful)

      by JaredOfEuropa ( 526365 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:51AM (#7951167) Journal
      He's not the messiah. He's a very naughty boy..
      Modded as Funny, but it's simple truth (the first part anyway). What's the big deal with Linus visiting this or that town or university, if he's not there to hold a lecture or speak at some event? Sure, it might be interesting if you'd be able to sit down at the bar with him and chat... but would you want half the geek population to come running after you if you were Linus? *sigh*

      Now if it was Bill Gates, I would want to know. I'd drive over to the location of his last sighting, and pick up a nice pie on the way ;-)
      • Why, is the other half comatose?

      • Forget pies (Score:2, Interesting)

        by Felinoid ( 16872 )
        If I knew Bill Gates were "slumming it" with the regulare techie folks I'd contact the local pro-Microsoft media outlet so hords of Microsofties would bug him all the time.
        Really want to hurt someone throw fanatics at them. Pies clean off with a towl and a good sense of hummor.
      • Modded as Funny, but it's simple truth (the first part anyway). [...] would you want half the geek population to come running after you if you were Linus?

        I couldn't help get the notion that leonbrooks was Jane Goodall's kin or something.

        Linus is walking towards the door.

        Linus opened the door.

        He looks to his left, then to his right.

        He procedes to continue walking straight as he does this.

        Interesting! He's chewing gum at the same time!


        I mean geesh! Can't this guy just be another geek li
        • Linus is in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.

          There is a Troll here.

          >Linus, kill Troll with hole puncher

          You don't have a hole puncher.

          (I'd better stop now)
      • What's the big deal with Linus visiting this or that town or university, if he's not there to hold a lecture or speak at some event?

        A Slashdot story about this, or a third Slashdot story about Speak Freely. [slashdot.org]

  • Havoc Pennington will do the keynote (Score:5, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:06AM (#7950860)
    Havoc of Red Hat/Gnome/freedesktop/ex-Debian fame will be there too delivering the keynote AFAIK. He has some interesting things to say, so people listen up. :)

    • Why stop there? (Score:5, Informative)

      by leonbrooks ( 8043 ) <SentByMSBlast-No ... .brooks.fdns.net> on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:15AM (#7951074) Homepage
      B'dale Garbee is here too, and Rusty, and Tridge, and Conrad Parker, Russell Coker, Chris Yeoh, Jon Oxer, Maddog, Job Corbet, Nick Bannon, James Henstridge, Malcolm Tredinnick, Sylvia Pfeiffer, Con Zymaris, Glen Turner, Ananth Mavinakayanahalli, Hugh Blemings, Janis Johnson, Jeremy Allison, Groggy Lehey, Jeff "jdub" Waugh, Rasmus Lerdorf, Trent "Lathiat" Lloyd, Jeremy Malcolm, Mark Tearle, Bernard Blackham, it's turning into a regular who's who.

      And here's a postcard of Tux climbing the "Heroin Needle/Crashed Spaceship" communications tower Godzilla-style, telling us that Canberra [linux.org.au] have the 2005 conf. And they certainly have the balls for it: big concrete ones along the edges of some of their roads.

      • Re:Why stop there? (Score:2, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        What the hell sort of list is that? You put Trent Lloyd and Jeremy Malcolm amongst that list? All they are is the who's who of Perth nerds yet to hit puberty.

      • 'dale Garbee is here too, and Rusty, and Tridge, and Conrad Parker, Russell Coker, Chris Yeoh, Jon Oxer, Maddog, Job Corbet, Nick Bannon, James Henstridge, Malcolm Tredinnick, Sylvia Pfeiffer, Con Zymaris, Glen Turner, Ananth Mavinakayanahalli, Hugh Blemings, Janis Johnson, Jeremy Allison, Groggy Lehey, Jeff "jdub" Waugh, Rasmus Lerdorf, Trent "Lathiat" Lloyd, Jeremy Malcolm, Mark Tearle, Bernard Blackham, it's turning into a regular who's who.

        What are you doing?!? Each one of those persons should get t

      • ...I forgot the infamous Davyd "pr0xy" Madeley, bane of secure networks, and our unofficial harmonic balancer, Anne Busby, amongst others.
    • Havoc of Red Hat/Gnome/freedesktop/ex-Debian fame will be there too delivering the keynote AFAIK.

      Is that the guy's real name or just some pseudonym he adopted? He sounds like he should be a Batman villain.

  • Apparently (Score:5, Funny)

    by Xel'Naga ( 673728 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:07AM (#7950862)
    Even the smilies are upside down in Australia

  • In other news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by turgid ( 580780 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:08AM (#7950866) Journal
    A decayed and rotten Elvis was seen attempting to enter the same conference without a pass. When questioned by security staff, the King was reportedy upset that such a "square" could become such a celebrity. "What is the world ocming to? Where are my fans?" He reportedly sobbed and he was led away by Australian police officers.

  • I'm in LG28 too (Score:4, Informative)

    by anonymous coword ( 615639 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:08AM (#7950868) Homepage Journal
    Yes, i seen him too. He is running SuSE linux 9.0 on a Sony VAIO laptop. Me too. He is working on some patches for Kerenel 2.4.25 when I seen him. There are a lot of people here, with all sorts of computers and laptops. Some running Windows, Some running BSD, some even running Mac OS 9, but I didn't see OSX.

    This place is great. I will update you with more details over the next few days here at LCA2004.

  • Just the guys? (Score:5, Funny)

    by agwis ( 690872 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:14AM (#7950890)

    "If you want to see him, maybe you guys should come down to South Australia and register for linux.conf.au 2004."


    What about the gals? Surely linux.conf.au 2004 is a chick magnet, ain't it?


    • Well, if the one in Perth was anything to go by, I count.. well. four? [linux.org.au]
      • > Well, if the one in Perth was anything to go by, I count.. well. four?

        http://www.linux.org.au/conf/2003/media/Speakers -t ogether-800-501.jpg

        i could only recognise two that looked vaugly as women. #1 = front row, center, really bad dress sense. #2 = front row. photo looks like taken at university of western australia - damn, been such a long time since i have been there; well over 10 years now *g* if there was four chicks there, i must be going blind.. hell, sweden is EVIL - look what it is doing to
        • i could only recognise two that looked vaugly as women. #1 = front row, center, really bad dress sense

          Who is married to guy in middle row, center with Red Hat and really bad beard sense! Some of you might recognise him.

          HH
          --

      • Why do I suddenly have the Revenge of the Nerds theme song stuck in my head after seeing that photo?

    • OTOH, that's only Day One.

      First photos (no, not just of the chix, settle down!) and a walkthrough going up on the site in the next 12 hours or so.

      The Audio Miniconf has been a hoot, and ain't over yet. Also, educationaLinux has (sometimes) had the audience riveted, and even sessions as specialised as IPv6 are drawing an attentive crowd. Turn up to educationaLinux tomorrow [adam.com.au] and you not only get to see lil' ol' me present, but also Lindsay Holmwood's security talk has been pushed back into Tuesday.

    • Re:Just the guys? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Gleng ( 537516 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:27AM (#7951104)

      Just tell them you've got 2.6 up and running. Their knickers fall off.

      • Re:Just the guys? (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        This has been discussed on LKML and is scheduled to be fixed in the next release.
    • So you've never been to south australia, right? Adelaide is about as interesting as Mt Isa if it had a beach. It's about as remote as Perth, without all the perks of being in Perth (cute chick capital of the universe).

  • Lucky country?? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:15AM (#7950892)
    Solid proof that Australia truly is The Lucky Country.

    I thought it's because of all the topless sheila's on the beaches :)

  • Linus spotting? (Score:5, Funny)

    by illuminata ( 668963 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:16AM (#7950898) Journal
    Charles Schultz is dead dammit! Unless you caught a reprint, there's no way you could've seen Linus!

    And what the fuck does this have to do with penguins?

  • Hero worship must be bad enough... (Score:3, Funny)

    by Realistic_Dragon ( 655151 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:22AM (#7950921) Homepage
    But now to be the target of a worldwide real life 'Wheres Waldo' like geek game must be a little too much!
    • ...that he takes it all in his stride. Today, he made a suggestion about Saturday's events and a specific large software company which clearly shows that:
      • He's not taking himself too seriously (no swelled head)
      • He's managing the excessive attention itself well (certainly several orders of mangitude better than I would)

  • ya know (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Illserve ( 56215 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:28AM (#7950941)
    When people poke fun at /. they make up stories just like this.

    • > > When people poke fun at /. they make up stories just like this.

      Bullshit. Not once in this story does it claim that Linus walked on water, nor did he heal the sick and lame.

  • OMG (Score:5, Funny)

    by Nightreaver ( 695006 ) <lau...l@@@uritzen...dk> on Monday January 12, 2004 @06:35AM (#7950960) Homepage
    ...we have confirmed that Linus Torvalds has once more blessed us with his presence.

    Anybody touched him yet? No, of course... nobody could be THAT lucky.

    • Re:OMG (Score:1, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "Anybody touched him yet? No, of course... nobody could be THAT lucky."

      Yes, some Windows users touched him, and they were HEALED!

  • Spooky (Score:4, Funny)

    by laa ( 457196 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:05AM (#7951046) Homepage
    This starts to sound like the Elvis sightings... Linus has published a book already, but when will we see the first album?

  • Big Boost For Adelaide (Score:4, Funny)

    by POds ( 241854 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:05AM (#7951047) Homepage Journal
    The shock occurance of linus at Adelaide has made it's popularity amoung other Australians soar through the roof. Its believed all the skits and parody's of Adelaide being Australia's most borring city will stop right here
    • Its believed all the skits and parody's of Adelaide being Australia's most borring city will stop right here

      Yeah I can see it now ...

      "Adelaide - We Got Nerds!"

      Yesiree, if that doesn't change the stripes of the Adelaide-bashers, I don't know what will.
    • Ah, you must be Victorian! Or some equally vile person! :-D

      [insert bloody vics stealing our F1 Grand Prix or some other appropriate/inappropriate comment here] :)

      ---

    • Bikie warning at nightclubs [news.com.au]

      The warning follows several incidents in the city after midnight on Friday night when a busload of up to 50 Finks motorcycle club members bombarded venues, assaulting staff and refusing to pay for drinks.

      Boring ? Just got to know where to go.

      An eyewitness, who refused to be named, told the Sunday Mail the Finks first went to Heaven nightclub on West Tce, then to Cargo in Hindley St, Traffic in North Tce, and The Garage, in Waymouth St - where a violent brawl involving t

  • I know you're posting from the land downunder, but there's still no excuse for the backwards smilie!
  • Cool, I'm only 15 minutes away from there!! I'm starting to regret my decision not to attend the conference... WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! Still, it's not too late, just I think it costs more now.

    On a side note, I hope he doesn't happen to wander into our CS department that would be enough to destroy any computer lover's soul...

    ---

  • He announced going to Australia.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by tsager ( 196659 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:19AM (#7951085) Homepage Journal
    Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2004 22:49:01 -0800 (PST)
    From: Linus Torvalds [email blocked]
    To: Kernel Mailing List [email blocked]
    Subject: Linux-2.6.1

    Ok, the diffs from -rc3 are minimal, most noticeably the (very _very_ hard
    to trigger, but nasty if you ever did) fork() race that Ingo found.

    I'm going to be in Australia (and on airplanes) for the week, but we're
    all in the capable hands of Andrew, so why worry? The fact that I'm
    fleeing the country should in no way be construed as anything sinister at
    all, no siree. Nope. I'm innocent, and nobody saw me do it.

    The full changelog is getting uploaded right now along with the release,
    and the BK trees have already been pushed.

    Up up and away,

    Linus
  • ...somewhere in Cali? So wouldn't that make the US a lucky country? And wouldn't it be waaaaaaaaay cheaper to get a flight to the US than to australia (unless you're fortunate enough to live near Australia)?

  • Linux Bangalore/2003 (Score:2, Interesting)

    by hackrobat ( 467625 )
    Speaking of geek stars turning up for conferences, I was at LB/2003 [linux-bangalore.org] where Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman did presentations on Mono. Excerpt from my blog:

    LB/2003 apparently was a world record. 96 hours of talks in 3 days! It was on Slashdot [slashdot.org] yesterday.

    I got a chance to meet Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman, both of Ximian and Mono fame. I also met Naba Kumar, author of the Anjuta IDE for Linux, and a few other veterans of the Linux community in India. I didn't get the time and opportunity to meet Rasm

  • Linus sighting??!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by kiwioddBall ( 646813 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:44AM (#7951149)
    Linus sighted?

    This puts Linus right up there with the Yeti, UFO's and Elvis.

    I saw Linus buying hair shampoo at the local 7/11!!!

  • Get Linus Shitzenfaced! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by shplorb ( 24647 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @07:52AM (#7951169) Homepage Journal
    All you Linux geeks, don't forget that on Friday and Saturday is the annual Schutzenfest! Head west along the River Torrens to Bonython Park (or alternatively, along North Terrace and Port Road... you'll know you're on the right track as the concentration of drunk people increases =]

    For those of you who don't know, schutzenfest is german for "shooting festival". The one held in Adelaide each summer is the largest in the southern hemisphere. Though of course, being aussies, we've turned it into a mostly piss drinking festival, hence why a lot of people (like me) say they're going to get 'shitzenfaced'. Either way, it's a bloody great time... plenty of german culture and food and beer for all!

    Hopefully it'll be stinking hot again - you can get smashed really quickly because you'll be sweating so much and you gotta drink that huge stein of beer before it warms up!

    I was going to volunteer at the conference on Saturday, but then I remembered Schutzenfest was on. Beer and babes: 1 Linux: 0. Though of course, if I happen to see Linus I'll shout him a round, as I'd expect everyone else would.

    =D

  • Adelaide Alive (Score:3, Funny)

    by HSpirit ( 519997 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @08:02AM (#7951195)

    (Private Adelaide joke) Wow, as an Adelaidian I can confidently say this Slashdot article is the most exposure our little town has had since Melbourne stole our Grand Prix.

    • .. 10 years ago? :)
      • As an ex-Adelaidian, 10 years is like yesterday. The thing about the Adelaide-Melbourne love-hate relationship is that Adelaide fails to see its true enemy: Sydney. At least Melbourne acknowleges Adelaide's existence. Anyway, congrats on hosting LCA2004 and hope it goes swimmingly. I would be there but for this Maths Bridging course.
  • Indeed Linus is here, as well as Bdale and others. We got together for a meal at one of Adelaide's fine resturants. Lots of great conversations were had, the ususal stuff. Discussions of dumb vendors, brilliant past innovations and at other end of the table invisible Rabbits were mentioned. See the usual stuff... An image [humbug.org.au] for you gratification... The really interesting thing is that this is being posted from a pub on Rundle street via free wifi! [citilan.com.au] Ahhh yes, this Linux.conf will be good. Oh and it's the

  • "...we have confirmed that Linus Torvalds has once more blessed us with his presence."

    PRAISE THE LORD. What the fuck is wrong with you? He's, only, human.

  • So what, we know he exists.

    Come on people, he's not fucking BigFoot or anything. How in the hell is this News For Nerds?

    What's next, Linus sighted at public rest room...it has been confirmed that his shit does NOT stink....

  • I spotted Linus once (Score:5, Funny)

    by bkocik ( 17609 ) on Monday January 12, 2004 @11:47AM (#7952533) Homepage
    Spotted him at a gas station in Santa Clara when we both worked in that town. Was pulling away when I saw him. My thought process was as follows:

    "That guy looks familiar."
    "Hey, that's Linus!"
    (about 1.3 seconds of staring in disbelief later)
    "Hey, I'm about to run over a gas pump!"
    (heavy braking, Linus glances at me quizzically)

    So yeah, Linus, if you see this, that was me in the white Grand Am that day.

    =)
  • Just left Australia on Friday the 9th and I was there for 3.5 weeks in Adelaide and Whyalla both! DOH! Missed my chance. :(

  • The Aussies beat us again (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Jyms ( 598745 )
    Someone sees Linus in Australia and it makes a /. story. We make many attempts to anounce Idlelo, the first OSS conference ever held in Africa and attracting no less than Richard Stallman, but fail to make the cut. For those of you who care, it is currently running at the University of the Western Cape in Cape Town/Bellville, South Africa (http://idlelo.uwc.ac.za). And those of you that watch proper sport will know what the heading means.

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