On Tue, 28 Nov 1995, Robert Hettinga wrote:

God help us all.

I've been invited to the CyberDog Coding Retreat next week at Apple Computer in Cupertino. Getting flown out there is cool. Hanging with the more clueful Mac Internet types and getting to kibbitz and watch (I like to watch!) them code OpenDoc parts for the internet from 8AM to midnight plus, subsisting on Dew and Pizza is really way cool. Even getting some mac.cypherpunks in the door to code cypto parts is extremely cool. But...

Mountain Dew and Pizza?? Ohh, waita minutae ... this is California. That means it's probably smoked salmon, with avocado and mayonnaise pizza. Yum. Seriously though ... I'm green with envy. I'd love to attend something like this, but logistics would be a nightmare. First, I'd have to get clearance from the US government for that. And I think I'm on their "undesirable" list, and would need to get some type of waiver to clear immigration. Problems, eh?? I tried to call the Consul-General this afternoon, actually to inquire about that and got put on perpetual hold and forced to listen to some long recording. Then I was told that if I wanted any information at all, I should call a 1-900 number. A 1-900 number?? Too rich for my blood. I guess that Foggy Bottom, really is worried about their budget issues, aren't they? I guess they really want me to use my quarter for pretty much everything.

They've asked me to give a "talk". All by myself. In an auditorium. With an audience, I mean. With publicity. I feel like Hoffman in Rain Man... V-E-R-N, Verrrn... More to the point, I feel like I'm tempting fate, here...

Oh, I hate large groups, unless I have prepared text.

Sooo. I've been told I can have friends in the audience. That's cool. As many friends as I want. That's even cooler. I can even have reinforcements up on the rostrum. That's extremely cool.

Cool. About reinforcements on the rostrum. I know, I really wouldn't inspire any confidence in the audience, at all. I'd probably go off into some strange side track on the nuances of something completely irrelevant and loose the entire audience while talking. I'm really one of those people that doesn't always have facts, and figures, and symbols readily at hand. It's a cognitive thing. Sort of like a database inquiry. Alternatively, if I do focus on an issue. YIKES!! My Aunt Danielle always warned me about my tendancy to use nuclear weapons when simple artillery would suffice. I tend to come on a "bit" heavy at times, unless I actively self-censor. It really is a constant battle on that front.

So, while I work on the "reinforcements up on the rostrum" part, *please* come and help me explain this stuff to the rest of the Apple community.

I'm really not sure I'd necessarily want to break "bad news" to people, reinforcements or not. I saw this yesterday, at a presentation that I was at. It was horrible, and I wasn't even presenting. I was in the audience -- an invited guest. I sorta kinda pissed on someone's campfire, and after that no-one wanted to talk to me. Shoot if looks could kill ... I'd be worried about reputations and popularity, and what this all means "long-term", beyond the time-line of the presentation. I know that explaining some of this might severely limit future opportunities. I think I read that somewhere recently ... that "consultants with blood on their hatchets" usually don't get very far. But it's your talk, I guess. Just my $.02.

Cryptoanarchy. Right here in Cupertino, folks.

See you there...

Alice de 'nonymous ... ...just another one of those... P.S. This post is in the public domain. C. S. U. M. O. C. L. U. N. E.