DrunkenBlog's "Evening at Adler"

adler planetarium roundtable

What to expect

Evening at Adler will take place at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in downtown Chicago, which has a very cool theater they've been kind enough to allow us to make use of for the evening. This wouldn't be possible without them seeing the promise and supporting it.

There'll be some short introductions, followed by a bunch of Mac developers sitting down and talking about a whole range of topics over several hours, with an intermission here and there. One big giant riff, kept casual and accessible. Not something you see every day, and hopefully a barrel of fun for everyone involved. You're going to want to drink it...

The participants

I'm pleased -- even schoolgirl-ishly delighted -- to give you the preliminary roundup of committed participants, in alphabetical order:

  1. Bob Frank
    The author of Log4Cocoa, and founder of Chicago's Cocoa and WebObjects user group (CAWUG), Bob is extremely active in the Cocoa, WebObjects and Java communities for the Mac, and is currently an engineer at Apple Computer.

  2. Jason Harris
    Through Unsanity and Geekspiff, Jason is the author of a whole slew of Mac software. There's ShapeShifter, MightyMouse, ThemePark -- tools to customize the look and feel of your Mac -- and Chicken of the VNC, an open source and lightweight client for connecting to remote computers.

  3. Nicholas Jitkoff
    The author of Quicksilver for OS X, which is dubbed "An evolving framework for accessing and manipulating many forms of personal data." It's very, very hard to try to describe Quicksilver, but when you do the words "interesting" and "innovative" are sure to come up.

  4. Paul Kafasis
    Paul co-founded Rogue Amoeba before he'd finished college, and as CEO has gone on to make it one of the larger success stories in independent Mac software. Primarily known for innovative audio software, they've racked up too many awards to count.

  5. August Mueller
    Gus's company, Flying Meat, Inc., hit my radar like a rock after I was exposed to a personal wiki solution for Linux called 'Tomboy'. I went looking for an equivalent for OS X, ended up finding VoodooPad, and instantly put my brain in it. Oh, and then there's apps like FlySketch and FlyGesture.

  6. Eric Peyton
    Originally of Epicware, Eric was also the originator of the open-source'd Fire.app, which was one of the pioneers of multi-protocol instant messaging for the Mac. He's active in the Cocoa and OSS communities, and currently works for Apple Computer.

  7. Jonathan Rentzsch
    One of the Mac's rare Doctor Whos, Rentzsch is the creator of the OSS software mach_inject, among others. He also owns Red Shed Software, which primarily works on projects for companies large enough they won't let him talk about them. (DB Interview)

  8. The Rosyna
    It's really, really hard to describe The Rosyna, but I suppose "Anime-loving, sexually-androgynous opinionated programmer for Unsanity, currently responsible for FontCard, Silk, Menu Master, CEE PEE YOU, etc." might work.

  9. Wil Shipley
    Self-described "ladies' man" and "stylish shirt-wearer." Wil is also the owner of Delicious Monster, makers Delicious Library, which won an Apple Award for "Best Mac OS X User Experience" at WWDC 2005. Wil may or may not be leashed. (DB Interview)

  10. Brent Simmons
    Known as the godfather of RSS on the Mac, Brent runs Ranchero Software with his wife Sheila, which is responsible for growing NetNewsWire and MarsEdit. Currently, NetNewsWire has the largest marketshare of any desktop news aggregator on any platform. (DB Interview)

  11. drunkenbatman
    Some guy with a website.

If you'll notice, several of those are flying halfway across the country -- on their own dime -- just to participate. That's a big deal, and absurdly cool.

Everyone is there for a reason, in an effort to strike a specific balance of personalities and backgrounds for this particular go-around.

The topics

We're going to be using "Seed Topics", which means we'll have points of conversation and work off of (and away from) them. I'll come prepared with my own supplemental stack of cards, however:

  • If you're there, there'll be a way for those in the audience to ask questions they've come with or clarifications of what's come up.

  • Closer to the time of the talk, I'll have a post where readers that can't be there in person can ask questions, either general or specific to a person. I'm not guaranteeing they'll all be used, but a bunch will.

We'll go where the conversation takes us -- there's little that'll be off limits. Cocoa and software development is going to come up, as will their projects. Things like Digital Rights Management (DRM) are going to come up. The Finder is going to come up. Everything is going to come up.

Getting there

Note: Some of the below has been clarified and/or amended. Please see this page for details.

The Adler Planetarium is part of the Museum Campus, which is connected to the Field Museum and the Shedd Aquarium.

The Museum Campus is located on South Michigan, otherwise known as "The Cultural Mile" (North Michigan is known as "The Magnificent Mile"). Think southern downtown Chicago, then east until you hit the lake. Its address is:

Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum
1300 S. Lake Shore Drive
Chicago, Illinois 60605-2403

The South entrance will probably be the one being used, and nearer to the date I'll post a graphic making it very clear. The Visitor's Guide has a bunch of great info for driving directions or if you're coming via train or bus. If you're around earlier in the day of the talk or the next, do check out the Atwood Sphere and their middle-east exhibit.

Getting in

Note: Some of the below has been clarified and/or amended. Please see this page for details.

Admission to the talk is free, due to the generosity of the planetarium. The theater seats 250 people, so I'm not anticipating any problems, but there's the small potential for a seating problem that needs to be accounted for just to be responsible to the planetarium.

To that end, if you are going to be coming, I ask you to R.S.V.P. via the comments or email, while noting how many people you'll be bringing. It's important that you do this, as while it's not as scientific as a ticket, it'll help gauge whether or not there could be a problem early. If there is a problem, those that R.S.V.P. will take priority.

chicago bar

Afterwards

The after-talk get-together will take place at Jak's Tap, a few blocks west of the Planetarium, so you can mingle and drink and eat with the participants.

The after-talk will go from 9:45 till 2am, and more details are available on a later posting.

If you can't make it

Back when I was going to give a talk at the Apple Store, I joked that I'd do it if 10-15 readers were actually in Chicago and would show up. There are a lot of readers out there, but they're spread all over the world.

I know you guys are everywhere, and plans are in the works to make sure there's a way for you to see it, so don't worry about that as I'm being told not to worry about that. Yet again, the planetarium is being extremely helpful and generous in making this happen.

Atmosphere

I'm serious about this being low-key, in the spirit of the site. I'll be wearing jeans, and if you show up wearing a tie or a chip, I'm not going to know what to do with you. Come casual, and while I'm not worried about this due to just how down my readers are, it needs to be said: Remember how cool the planetarium is being to take us into their house, and be cool.

yummy alcohol posted button Posted by drunkenbatman
    September 19, 2005, at 09:54 AM


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