President's File
October 2009
Rob Limbaugh - President

We are now in the fourth quarter of 2009. Snow is around the corner. Summer flew past. Halloween is almost here. Some stores already have Thanksgiving and Christmas decorations out. Amazing how compressed time becomes!

BIG E – AMAZING!

And, ironically it was ‘just yesterday’ (well, two days ago as of this writing) that I attended the ‘Big E’ for the first time. I must say, that is a very well run event! It took two days just to see ‘everything’ in terms of booths and vendors and visiting the midway. It took another half day to revisit those booths with merchandise we wanted. We stayed at the Sheraton in Springfield… EXCELLENT! The bridge to the fair was at the foot of the building, so we just walked the 20 minutes the first two days. We drove the last day after we checked out of the hotel—that is why we waited until then to buy bigger items.

What I found interesting is the amount of technology present at the ‘country fair’. Vendors had wireless credit/debit/receipt machines. Best Buy had a gaming experience booth in the entrance. “Season Pass” holders got a photo ID with bar-code for park reentry during the whole run of the fair (no need for hand stamps or wristbands!). Various vendors and pubs had laptops, projectors, and flat-screen displays at their booths. All of that in the background to control operations and it did not detract one bit from the ‘down home country’ appeal of it all. Simply mind-blowing how unobtrusive technology can be when it is focused to solve problems rather than create them. Within 50 yards of a horse show there are Point-Of-Sale systems, digital ID thermal printing systems, a beer pub, and elephant ears. Kudos to those organizers!

DACS

Folks, we need some members to step forward and assist with DACS activities and functions. We are in need of two replacement board members. Assistance is needed with the newsletter. The group needs a Programs Director. We could certainly benefit from an event coordination committee so we can have other DACS meetings and activities. This year we have a deficit of help brought on by external circumstances for several of your dedicated members that have filled volunteer positions. Contact the board (dacsboard@dacs.org) to lend your assistance.

OCTOBERS PAST

• ENIAC is retired on 10/2/1955 and a US Postal stamp commemorating it is released 10/8/1996.
• The US Patent office grants a patent to the three inventors of the transistor on 10/3/1950.
• Seymour Cray, father of the supercomputer, dies from a car accident on 10/5/1996.
• Steve Jobs introduced the NeXT on 10/12/1988.
• First Ubuntu Linux Distribution released on 10/20/2004.
• Windows XP released 10/25/2001.
• October 27, 1980 marks the first ARPANET crash.

See you at the next meeting!

ROB LIMBAUGH
relimbaugh@dacs.org