» blog.e-shell.org

Living a day between a laptop and a mobile phone

no pics, no talks, no meetings, no time

Those words represent perfectly my third day in B'Ham. Today was a difficult day, probably one of the most difficult days in my life, so I couldn't attend the talks, the keynotes or the lighting talks.

The only thing I could attend to was the europython dinner, which was really an enjoyable experience, the perfect place to taste different food and meet nice people (more than 400 pythonistas in the same dinning room!).

Let's see what happens tomorrow.

first europython talks day

Finally back to the hotel, it is time to take a look back and analyze the first talks day at europython 2009.

After the opening I've referenced in my previous post, I headed for the first talk of the morning for me, Acceptance Testing with RobotFramework. Pekka Klärck, the lead developer of RobotFramework covered both the needed introduction to the project (a tool to automate code testing) and a more detailed explanation of how it works and how you could benefit from it. Very interesting talk, being the best part of it when he showed us how to combine the RobotFramework with Selenium to perform automatic web testing. Very interesting and practical talk!

Just after this first one ended, we headed to Lecture Room 1, where Luke Leighton was prepared for the The Zen of Pyjamas talk. I've never heard of Pyjamas until the europython, but it is quite an interesting piece of software. So, what it is? This note from the project website is pretty clear:

"pyjamas is a stand-alone python to javascript compiler, an AJAX framework / library and a Widget set API. "

That means that, with pyjamas, you can write python code and then generate javascript code to handle most usual ajax tasks. If you add to that, the fact that there is a Pyjamas Desktop project that allow you to pick up a Pyjamas project (web) and generate a full-bloated desktop application... it is quite a worth to take a deeper look into the project.

The only problem with this talk was related to the fact that it was a 60-min talk, in a full-crowded room (too many people in there). So from time to time wasn't very comfortable. But a nice talk anyway Luke is a real showman!.

From the upstairs room, we had a privileged view of the main hall, where all the stands are installed (google, oracle, plone, oreilly, etc), as well as the white boards to write open space and lightning talk proposals.

After the talk about pyjamas, we had lunch in the cafeteria of the conservatory. I don't know the name of those dishes, but I've learned why everybody outside UK (and a lot of them from inside) say English food is not so good...

After had lunch we went back to Adrian Boult Hall, to attend the Corey Doctorow's KeyNote. He covered an interesting topic that has been there since the origin of the Internet, the copyright/license issues about content in the Internet (or moving through). The room was full of people (I think everybody was there) and it was a joy to listen to him.

At the end of the keynote, he give for free 3 copies of 2 of his books, just throwing them into the air, pointing at the attendes. Just a picture of his keynote (click on it to get a bigger view). I've added a picture of one of the tries the crew from the europython did, just trying to connect with Guido (Guido Van Rossum)

Then I attended a talk about python and the xapian search engine, from Richard Boulton, who was somehow nervous and spent more time talking about the things his flax solution does than to demostrante how to use xapian with python... (IMHO, and do not misunderstood me, I think flax is a nice approach).

Back to Adrian Boult Hall once more, to saw Zeth running a presentation about pixelise, a django-app that allows you to manage XML files efficiently using a DBD XML database.

Finally, I got back to room number 1, picked up a nice place, and relaxed myself a bit, while waiting for the next three talks.

At 19:00 the day ended officially at europython... it was time for pub-parties!.

Sadly for me, there was no party today. I had a lot of work to do to prepare tomorrow's publication of one of our current projects so, after a short walk from the conservatory to the hotel (really near, a 10-minute walk through the city center), and a stop to have some dinner, we arrived somehow tired at the hotel.

I've been working on that project since then, but now seems the perfect time to go to bed. (But let me show you some pics of the trip went back to the hotel first)

About to begin the europython 2009

Right now I'm sitting on a chair in the Adrian Boult Hall inside the Birmingham Conservatoire. Just some minutes ago we went through registration, we picked up our t-shirts and stuff and got some orange juice.

The crew from the conference is sitting just in front of me, and the welcome talk is about to begin.

(more info to come)

@birmingham

Here I'm, at the Ibis City Centre Hotel in Birmingham. The trip from A Coruña to Birmingham was very funny and the best part was for sure the driving experience from London to B'Ham (yes, that's the name they use for Birmingham in traffic signs, seems the name is too large).

We picked up the car at the europcar rental service in Heathrow, a brand-new Peugeot 207:

It took us some time to decide, as they let us choose the one we would like the most (between Ford, Skoda, Seat, Volkswagen, Nissan and some other brands). Finally, the 207 seemed the bigger one, so we took it.

I drove the entire trip (Santi will drive back to London on Friday) and it was quite a... strage experience. Having to drive from the right side of the car, and on the left side of the road... We got lost 4 times before getting the correct path to Birmingham, using the M40 highway, and each time it was because we missed something on cross roads and rotondas (how is the name for that...?). Lucky for us, we brought a GPS with us, so getting back to the road was easy.

Of course, we did stop to get some food:

Nothing really exotic, only some sandwiches at a service area by the highway. But the sandwiches were fine and we could eat them on the countryside.

Some hours later than expected, we arrived at B'Ham and we had to explore a little bit of the city (which is really really nice, you should visit it, seriously) until we reach the Ibis Hotel. Time for the check-in, see the room and get back to the street, just to do a little walk and drink (obviously) a point of beer. The Hotel is located just in the middle of Chinatown, so we are sorrounded by all kinds of asiatic restaurants, shops, etc and the Arcadian is pretty near too, so there is a lot of places to spent some time walking around.

Just to finish this post, this is a picture of what we see from the room's window:

heading for Birmingham

In a few hours I'll be taking the flight to London (Heathrow). It is a 2-hour flight from A Coruña.

Once we reach Heathrow, we will pick up a rental car (we already have a reservation) and will drive another 2 hours to get to Birmingham.

This will be my first time in England, so I expect the 2-hours drive through the midlands to be a very nice experience (if we manage to drive the other way around, remember that, in england, people drive on the left side of the road!).

We will reach Birmingham at 19:30-20:00 (GMT) probably, time to check in at the hotel and prepare ourselves for tomorrow's day one at the europython conference.

Create your own pony with magical powers

Someone sent yesterday a link to mylittledjango.com to the europython mailing and I couldn't resist myself to take a look... This is the result, after some tests:

I have to say that I like the idea of the django pony since I heard about it for the first time, bud I didn't like the default colors chosen for the pony (pink?? what about the usual django green?). I really like the drawing, so having a web to generate a copy of the pony with your own custom/favourite colors on it... awesome!!

Now, go and get you one!

UPDATE:

I've see a lot of then in the pony gallery, but this is the funniest one of them all!

from Grayskull import Powers ;D

La central nuclear de Garoña

Yo no soy ningún experto, ni en energía nuclear, ni en gestión de grandes empresas, ni en política, pero llevo ya algún tiempo con ganas de escribir unas líneas sobre este tema.

Llevamos varios dias leyendo sobre el tema en los periodicos, escuchándolo en la radio y viéndolo por televisión, y es que a pesar de que una de las promesas electorales del actual gobierno era cerrar todas las centrales nucleares españolas de forma gradual, ahora resulta que hacerlo parece ser poco menos que un crimen para algunos, primero por la situacion laboral de los trabajadores de la central y segundo por la actual crisis económica y los problemas energéticos que actualmente hay en el mundo.

Evidentemente, tenemos a los de un lado (greenpeace por ejemplo) y a los del otro lado (los trabajadores de la central por ejemplo), y está claro que cada uno tiene sus posturas, totalmente defendibles desde sus propios puntos de vista.

Ahora bien, yo creo que hay un punto de vista más defendible que el otro. Vuelvo a repetir que no soy ningún experto, pero creo que todos sabemos que la energía nuclear es una energía sucia (genera residuos que no pueden ser tratados, reciclados ni reutilizados y que simplemente se almacenan en cementerios nucleares, tardando varios millones de años en desaparecer), es una energía peligrosa (no quiero acordarme de casos como Chernobyl, ya que no es necesario llegar tan lejos para ver que una simple fuga, a veces indetectable como ha ocurrido recientemente en otras centrales nucleares españolas, puede tener resultados muy perjudiciales para el medio ambiente en general y para nosotros mismos en particular) y una energia cara (lo que cuesta mantener una central nuclear, ya no solo la central en si, si no todas las medidas de seguridad asociadas a la misma, es mucho mas costoso que mantener otro tipo de energias "renovables" como la solar o la eólica).

Dicho esto, yo creo que deberían de cerrar Garoña y no sólo Garoña, si no el resto de centrales nucleares también. Esto no quiere decir que esté a favor de que echen a la calle a toda la gente que está trabajando en esas centrales, pero, ¿tan dificil sería recolocarlos en puestos en empresas relacionadas con esas energías llamadas renovables?

De esta forma encontraríamos una solución al claro problema que son las centrales nucleares, sin dejar en la calle a X personas (que además seguramente son las que llevan el pan de cada día a sus casas o pagan los estudios de sus hijos). Pero claro... Aquí entra otro factor, el factor mas importante de todos, el que realmente tiene peso, y es ese tercer factor que componen tanto las empresas energéticas como X personas influyentes que ganan mucho dinero gracias a esas centrales y a las que realmente, ni les preocupa el medio ambiente ni las familias de esos trabajadores que se quedarían en la calle si se cerrase, en este caso, Garoña. ¿O acaso alguien duda que si el gobierno les diese una buena compensación económica a estas empresas se iba a levantar tanto revuelo? Se hace un E.R.E. de regulación de empleo que liquide a toda la plantilla y todos contentos.

Si a esto último le sumamos una clase política en nuestro pais que sólo parece preocuparse de tirarse piedras entre sí (quiero decir entre los diferentes partidos políticos) y de echar por tierra cualquier propuesta de los demas (aunque sea buena) por el mero hecho de que no ha sido una iniciativa llevada a cabo por ellos mismos...

Pues acabaremos con una central nuclear que ha superado su tiempo de vida útil (y seguro, no nos olvidemos) y que va a quedar abierta y funcionando 10, 15, 20 o los años que hagan falta (mientras se le pueda sacar rendimiento económico o suceda un desastre, lo que llegue primero) y con un despido de trabajadores injusto dentro de 1,2 o 3 años si la empresa lo ve necesario (sin preocuparse de que esa gente no pueda reciclarse o mantener su calidad de vida). Asi se hacen las cosas en España.

P.D.: Y, como decimos mucho por aquí, "ojalá me equivoque, peeeeero..."

I'll be at the europython 2009

I got the flight tickets, the accomodation and the europython ticket last friday. I'm a little but excited about atteding such a great event.

After being one of the lucky ones that were able to attend the first djangocon last year in Mountain View, I was excited about the idea of the first euro-djangocon. Sadly I could not get to prague for the congress, because of some personal issues.

Not attending the djangocon left some space to think about other options, like the europython conference. This one will take place in Birmingham (uk), from 28th June to 4th July.

First two days (Sunday, Monday) are tutorial days (the perfect place to learn more about python development and some more specific topics). From Tuesday to Thursday there will be three days of interesting talks, covering almost every interesting topic related to the python community, from web to gui development, apis, big projects made on top of python, etc. Finally, the last two days (Friday, Saturday), will be sprint days, that is, the time to help with some python-powered projects (django, turbogears, moinmoin, bazaar, etc).

Sadly, I'll be there only from Monday to Friday, attending mostly to the talks. It would be nice to have some more time and stay there for the sprints, but hey, perhaps next year?