SPUG: Greetings from Australia

Tim Maher/CONSULTIX tim at consultix-inc.com
Thu Apr 6 19:51:46 CDT 2000


Hi SPUGsters,

This is Tim typing to you from one of the thousands of "Internet
Backpacker" facilities all over this huge, mostly empty country. Seems
like Internet Email is the primary tool used by the current generation
of student travelers to send critical messages back home ("Hi Dad,
please wire another $2k ASAP"; "Hi Mom, lost my left shoe, please send
replacement ASAP", etc.).

Met with the Sydney Perl Mongers for dinner; 5 turned up.  Nice folks,
but clearly struggling with the fact that Perl is not well respected or
even much needed around here.  Seems like most of the software development
is being done by the overseas offices (US, UK, etc.) of the IT companies
located here, mostly in C++ or Java, leaving little room for local software
development.

A rather distressing discovery is that all of our worst TV shows are being
shown over here, and many of the shows with real Australian presenters
are simply local clones of our US shows, bearing the American names
(A Current Affair, 60 Minutes, World's Scariest Pets, etc.).

Yeshe and I are having a great time, in between cyclones and monsoonal 
rainfalls; just finished snorkeling the south-end of the Great Barrier
Reef, and now driving to the "Gold Coast", to see the California-style
tourist-resort coastline.

Spent a week driving all over Tasmania, which was like Ireland without the
ubiquitous rocks; similar weather to (winter) Seattle, and some nice sights.

I'll be back next Wednesday (the 12th), but leaving town shortly thereafter
(for an on-site class), so I'll miss the next meeting.

Regards,

*========================================================================*
| Tim Maher, PhD  Consultix &              (206) 781-UNIX/8649           |
|  Pacific Software Gurus, Inc             Email: tim at consultix-inc.com  |
|  UNIX/Linux & Perl Training              http://www.consultix-inc.com  |
| Classes; 5/16: UNIX  5/22: Basic Perl+Modules  6/12: Intermediate Perl |
*========================================================================*

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