I was in Wellingon, New Zealand, this week, where my old friend David Earle had arranged for me to give presentations/seminars hosted by the Ministry of Education. These were open to all, and the attendees were a cross-section of government, NGOs, and local community representatives.
Wednesday: a two-hour open-ended conversation with ~10 people about everything from video formats and compression to building traffic to the difficulties of hosting for a department of defense
The attendees seemed to find the info useful, and I was at least as interested in hearing their stories: the usual problems with nervous managers, unwieldy systems and software, and Terms of Use that make it illegal for government departments to use some popular online tools (e.g., Google Analytics – but that’s being worked out).
I took the opportunity to mention slx.com, Sun’s soon-to-release SaaS video platform, which could be a useful solution for some departments which need to be able to publish video easily and without restrictions on length, and possibly limit access to insiders and/or a predefined set of users.
Of course while we were in Porto Alegre we had to go to a churrascaria. This method of cooking originated with the gauchos of southern Brazil and is mostly about all kinds of very good meat, though there’s also a buffet of salads and vegetables, and you can get grilled cheese (in large, melty chunks, not sandwiches).
Truly some of the best meat I’ve had in my life (there are times I am thankful not to be vegetarian), and the tableside capirinha service helped to wash it all down.
I was delighted to learn that the Fogo de Chao chain is of authentic Brazilian origin and considered good, so there are a few places in the US where I’ll still be able to enjoy churrasca.
Caipirinhas mixed at the table – how very civilized!
How churrasca is served.
Fernanda emotes.
Chicken heart?
Pat Patterson
Tirthankar reconsiders his career as a churrasca chef.
Definitely NOT for low-salt diets.
Mauricio explains how it’s done.
Charlie is surprised.
Two! I only had two!
Geertjan emphasizes.
Dessert consultations.
Simon makes a point.
I’ve never seen mouthwash in a public restroom before, but it was useful.
I’m very proud of this: palestrante means speaker. FISL (this is the 10th edition) is one of the world’s largest open source conferences. The little orange button is important: PR stands for PRESIDENT. Which means I got to be one of the 300 people on the show floor when Brazil’s President Lula came to call, and was able to get pretty up close and personal among the mob. Video here.
