Forwarded : [yas] YOU can Support Damian Conway in 2001

[Stephane Rondal]

----- Original Message -----
From: Greg McCarroll <greg at mccarroll.demon.co.uk>
To: London.pm <london-list at happyfunball.pm.org>
Sent: Wednesday, October 11, 2000 4:52 PM
Subject: Forwarded : [yas] YOU can Support Damian Conway in 2001


>
> im sure the london.pm chapter could donate some cash for this, i know
> id be willing to give $1k
>
> ----- Forwarded message from kevin lenzo <lenzo at cs.cmu.edu> -----
>
> Delivered-To: gem at localhost.demon.co.uk
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> Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2000 10:24:31 -0400
> From: kevin lenzo <lenzo at cs.cmu.edu>
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> To: yas-talk at yetanother.org
> Subject: [yas] YOU can Support Damian Conway in 2001
> Precedence: bulk
>
> Hello All,
>
> YAS has an opportunity to support Damian Conway for a year to
> work on ... just Perl.  To do this, we will need to "buy out"
> his obligations at Monash, and also raise some travel and
> expense money. This is one of the best investments we can make
> in the Perl community, in my opinion.
>
> Damian has agreed to speak for some of the major sponsors
> wherever possible, and to groups of Perl users wherever
> he goes.
>
> YAS should be receiving word of the non-profit status shortly.
> If this comes through (and it is expected to), all donations
> will be tax deductible in the US.
>
> We will be arranging for a web page to accept donations
> shortly; if you or your employer would like to make matching
> donations, or  would like to contribute a chunk, we will
> be listing all the contributors as sponsors of Damian in
> public places (unless you want to be anonymous).
>
> Please email me directly if you have any questions.  I
> will personally in China for ten days starting Friday,
> but I will attempt to get email access while there, and you
> can also contact Kurt DeMaagd (kurt at thepope.org), who
> will ultimately be accepting and redistributing the
> finances. as YAS money guy.
>
> More information will appear at
>
>   http://www.yetanother.org/damian/
>
> Included below are quotes from some emails on the topic.
>
> Yours,
>
> kevin
>
> >From Damian:
>
> > My goal is to secure a grant to let me move to a Research Fellowship at
> > Monash in 2001. Then take my Monash sabbatical year in 2002 and spend
some
> > of it in the States somewhere. Then by 2003, either secure another grant
> > or move to being self-funding via writing, speaking, and training. The
> > goal is to be based in rural Australia, with 3-5 trips to the U.S. per
> > year for conferences, training, and other speaking engagements.
> >
> > My hope is that I could be doing all that in such a way that my time is
> > entirely devoted to the betterment of the Perl community, in terms of
> > new module development, language design, new journal articles and books,
> > private and public training, conference organization and speaking, and
> > other public appearances.
>
> Another from Damian:
> >
> >
> >         What would I do?
> >
> >                 * Continue to work on helping develop Perl 6.
> >
> >                 * Present papers, invited talks, and tutorials at
> >                   various Perl (and related) conferences around the
> >                   world -- at very least YAPC::America, YAPC::Oz, TPC,
> >                   Bang!Linux. And possibly YAPC::Europe assuming I can
> >                   find extra funding.
> >
> >                 * Visit the US several times. Give talks to PM groups
> >                   wherever I travel.
> >
> >                 * Maintain, extend, and offer support for my existing
> >                   modules: Parse::RecDescent, Text::Autoformat,
> >                   Class::Contract, Quantum::Superpositions,
> >                   Text::Balanced, Lingua::EN::Inflect, Tie::SecureHash,
> >                   Class::Multimethods.
> >
> >                 * Develop new and exciting modules: Class::Proxy,
> >                   Regexp::Common, Parse::Slotted, Sub::Literate,
> >                   Mail::TRUCE, Lingua::Tlhingan::ghun, etc.
> >
> >                 * Write at least three articles for The Perl Journal.
> >
> >                 * Guest edit a special OO issue of TPJ
> >                   (if Jon is still interested).
> >
> >                 * Begin work on my new two volume book: "Perl
Masterclass".
> >
> >                 * Remain active in the Perl newsgroups.
> >
> >                 * Be creative. :-)
> >
> >
> >         What would it cost?
> >
> >                 The cost would be A$95,492, which at the current
> >                 exchange rates is approximately US$55,000.
> >
> >
> >         How would it be structured?
> >
> >                 Preferrably as a special grant to Monash University. My
> >                 salary and costs would then be paid out of that grant
> >                 (with infrastructure and equipment covered by Monash),
> >                 through the university's normal mechanisms.
> >
> >                 Taking the funding as a grant allows Monash to keep it
> >                 as low as indicated above (since they get parity funding
> >                 on all external grants from the government). I would
> >                 assume that there might also be tax benefits to the
> >                 donor in endowing an educational grant.
> >
> >
> >         When would it need to be in place?
> >
> >                 Our teaching schedule for 2001 is finalized in early
> >                 October. My Head of School is very keen to know by then
> >                 what I am doing in 2001.
> >
>
> Yet Another:
>
> >
> > I was thinking about this last night and I realized what I would really
> > like to work on is something that feeds into this, but is far more
generally
> > useful...a module named Parse::Perl.
> >
> > The idea would be to reimplement Parse::RecDescent to dramatically
> > improve it's performance (the long promised version 2.0) and then use
that
> > to develop a complete grammar-based parser for Perl source code.
> >
> > The Parse::Perl module would provide hooks to allow users to plug in
> > their own actions at any level of the grammar, making it vastly easier
> > to write:
> >
> >         * pretty printers
> >
> >         * syntax colourers
> >
> >         * source filters
> >
> >         * documents with embedded Perl
> >
> >         * p52p6
> >
> > Of course, the new version of RecDescent and the consequent Parse::Perl
> > module would be "Pure Perl"(tm), as are all my modules, so they would
run
> > equally well anywhere.
> >
> > The Parse::Perl module might also be useful for prototyping the Perl 6
> > grammar (i.e. p62p5).
>
> And finally:
>
> >
> > You already have me at your complete disposal for YAPC::America and I'm
> > putting in place a policy of talking to interested Mongers groups in
> > *every* city I visit. For example, during the U.Perl tour next month I'm
> > giving public seminars in Seattle, Chicago, and NYC (LA and Atlanta miss
> > out only because of the awful travel and time constraints of this
> > frenetic trip).
> >
> > Assuming I'm Perl-funded in 2001, I would plan:
> >
> >         * a 3-5 week trip to India (where I've been invited to be the
> >           guest Perl guru at Bang!Linux in Bangalore) in early March,
> >
> >         * a 3-4 week trip to the U.S. in April/May,
> >
> >         * a much longer trip to the U.S. between YAPC::America and TPC
> >
> >         * a 3-4 week trip in September/October including
> >           YAPC::Europe and the U.S.
> >
> > Subject to finding the funding to travel, I would naturally be available
> > *everywhere* I was, to give free talks on the usual range of
mind-boggling
> > ideas. And, of course, I'd be amenable to planning the trips so that I
> > was able to give talks in locations convenient to major contributers.
> >
> >
> >
> >    > Can you tell me what the figures are again?  The basic
> >    > cost is $55K US,
> >
> > The basic cost was AUS$95,492, which was around $US55K last month and is
> > closer to US$50K this month. The AUS$ is artificially low (US$0.54) at
> > present, due to market concerns about the Euro, and is more than likely
> > to rebound (back to around US$0.60) once the market realizes what a
> > bargain it is -- after the Olympics, I suspect. That would make the
> > basic buyout figure rebound to US$55K. So I suspect that's what we
> > should keep quoting.
> >
> >
> >    > and then there was other money.
> >
> > US$55K keeps my family fed and clothed, and frees me from local work
> > to devote myself entirely to "Perl stuff". But as it only covers my
> > salary; it doesn't fly me over to the U.S., or around the U.S., or
> > accommodate me whilst I'm there.
> >
> > O'Reilly are bringing me over for the YAPC-to-TPC trip, and *might*
> > cover the EuroYAPC/September trip if the U.Perl runs again next year.
> > The India trip would be covered by Bang!Linux, but that still leaves
> > either one or two transPacific return airfares, plus internal flights,
> > plus accommodation. *Some* of that I would cover myself, if I could
> > arrange to give some paying courses whilst I'm there, but it still
> > leaves a hole of around US$15,000-$20,000 if you want me speaking in
> > the States more often.
> >
> > Clearly, that extra funding is not critical to the success of the year
> > in terms of output, but it *might* be in terms of profile and perceived
> > direct return to the Perl community. I would like nothing better than
> > to speak in a dozen or more U.S. cities next year, but I have to *get
> > there* to do that.
> >
> > (Incidentally, this issue of travel funding is probably the main reason
> >  I'm not at YAPC::Europe this week).
> >
> >
> >    > We've only been talking about the $55K so far, but I don't doubt we
> >    > can make something happen through YAS.
> >
> > That would be brilliant.
> >
> > Once again, thanks for going in to bat for me so strongly, Kevin.
> > I really was getting concerned that I'd have to drop out of most
> > of my Perlish activities next year, but you've given me hope that
> > instead, I may actually be able to increase them!
> >
> >
> > Damian
> >
>
> ----- End forwarded message -----
>
>
> --
> Greg McCarroll
http://www.mccarroll.uklinux.net
> perl hacker | book collector | the very model of a modern mailing list
kook
> London.pm - meetings held on the day after the first wednesday of the
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>