AmyFOX

Over the weekend, my brother and I attended Bar Camp Milwaukee at Bucketworks.

First of all, if you've never been to Bucketworks, I suggest you check it out. It's a pretty cool place with a lot of space for gatherings and co-working environments. (and the bubble wrap floor in the entry was probably my favorite part!)

I do have to say, I was both surprised and not surprised to see how many women were in attendance. I would guess maybe 10 percent of the attendees were women. And the benefit in that, ladies, is that there was never a wait for the women's restroom. That NEVER happens! :)

We got there during the introductory session... where everyone introduced themselves and the whole concept of a bar camp was discussed.

I bet you're wondering what a barcamp is... here's the wikipedia definition:

BarCamp is an international network of user generated conferences — open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants — often focusing on early-stage web applications, and related open source technologies, social protocols, and open data formats.

Basically, it's a conference, but not a conference. All the sessions are led by people attending the event, and you can roam between sessions without getting *that* look - you know, the look of "how dare you get up while I'm talking" look! :)

I caught a few sessions Saturday, including Start-ups, Why Your IT Resume Sucks, Wordpress on Steroids and part of the Sketchnotes presentation. I missed some sessions I was pretty interested in... including a photowalk and one on social media networks.

I would have loved to stay longer, but we had to get back to our parents' house to watch the Brewers game... and then Sunday I was sooooooooo sick (still am) and slept most of the day before coming in to work.

I look forward to the next BarCamp so I can meet some more people with similar interests and learn more about this ever-changing technology industry. Maybe I'll even lead a session next time!

I think I might even start attending Web414 Meetings (held monthly at Bucketworks).

If you'd like to see some pictures from the event, many of the attendees posted them to a group on flickr.

In case you weren't keeping tabs on this all morning like me and my techie geek friends on Twitter and a couple other social media networks...

Apple unveiled the Nano G4.

I have to wipe off my keyboard from all the drooling I did this morning.

I am in LOVE. I especially love the red and lime green ones.

I'm such a tech nerd.

Whew... sure, Starbucks is closing 600 stores nationwide, but residents of southeastern Wisconsin can breathe a collective grande-iced-nonfat-no whip-sugar free french vanilla-latte sigh of relief.

None of the 600 stores are in southeastern Wisconsin.

See the complete list here... and lift your mug with me! CHEERS.

As I was browsing the other local media Web sites in Milwaukee, I saw a headline that grabbed my attention: Sewer overflow is most since deep tunnel.

This didn't get my attention for the reason you're probably thinking.

It reminded me of a conversation I had last week with my mission team in Guatemala.

Here's the punchline:

TT: I mean, seriously, who poops in their water supply?

*pause*

TT: oh wait, we do.

Guess even a "civilized" society such as ours isn't really that much better than the people living in a third-world country, living in corrugated tin houses next to a garbage dump.

Estaré en Guatemala hasta el quince de junio, haciendo el trabajo de la misión para el corazón del servidor.

(I will be in Guatemala until June 15, doing mission work for The Servant's Heart.)

Adios!

...and it's not one a plunger will fix.

HAHA! Have you guys seen this story?

The international space station has a plumbing problem: the lone toilet is broken. So NASA may make an in-orbit plumbing service call when space shuttle Discovery visits next week.

Until then, the three-man crew will have to make do with a jury-rigged system when they need to urinate.

NASA says the crew has used the toilet on the Soyuz return capsule, but it has a limited capacity. They are now using a back-up bag-like collection system that can be connected to the broken toilet.

A NASA spokesman added, "Like any home anywhere the importance of having a working bathroom is obvious."

*insert potty joke here*

:)

So this will probably only be interesting if you're a techie like myself, but Microsoft just unveiled a new add-on for IE.  It's called IE7Pro.

Basically, it makes IE7 a little more like Firefox (which btw, if you haven't downloaded FF3 Beta5, please do so immediately. It ROCKS).

But, will it get rid of that horrid grey background when you build a site with .png files?

Doubtful.

Boo.

Maybe it's just me... or the fact I've had an upset stomach since late last night... but the pictures/video of the animal cruelty at a beef slaughterhouse makes me gag.

Literally.

It's times like this I actually consider becoming vegetarian.

What do you guys think? Does seeing video like this make you consider changing your diet? Or, just where you get your food?

I'm curious, because I've always struggled with this as an animal lover... and yet I still eat meat (not sure how I'd get my protein otherwise).

Some Middle Schoolers in Maine will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening.

"The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services."

>>For more coverage, click here.

We want to know what you think about this...

Are you for or against offering birth control to these students? As a parent, would you want your child to have access to this service?

Let's talk about it. 

Maybe it's just me...but as I was looking through the pictures of recalled Mattel toys (which include a bunch of Barbie accessories) ... the first thing I thought was - Hey! I didn't have cool Barbie stuff like that!

EXHIBIT A:

Ok, look at this picture to the left. My Barbie never had an aquarium! And she CERTAINLY didn't have a cool couch like that. (note: recalled item is circled purse)

 

 

 

 

 

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/p>

 

 

EXHIBIT B:

Again... my Barbies NEVER had a cool Ikea-like living room. How cool is that furniture?

 

 

 

 

 

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p> 

 

 

 

EXHIBIT C:

And finally... we have the glorious Barbie bathtub. My Barbies were lucky if they got a bath in tupperware!

This is bringing back memories of the Barbie dreamhouse I never had.:(

From the Star Tribune out of Minneapolis:

Among the people who work day and night when a disaster unfolds are journalists. While their experience is nothing compared to that of rescuers, they're darn dedicated folks. On Saturday, the grunts in the Star Tribune newsroom opened a box from the Roanoke (Va.) Times. It was packed with treats, including pork rinds and moon pies.

Attached was a note: "A few days after the Virginia Tech shootings, a large box arrived in our newsroom. Inside was a note and lots of stress-relieving junk food. The note was from Joe Hight, managing editor of the Oklahoman of Oklahoma City. Hight wrote that similar boxes arrived in his newsroom after the McVeigh bombings.

He recalled what that gesture meant to his staff, which had been worn down to a nub covering the catastrophic community event. ... Please consider this a journalistic chain letter of sorts, one that you'll pass on when the next bulletin breaks in a newsroom somewhere in America."

Hope it's not soon.

This story from our sister station in Kansas City, Mo. is disturbing on so many levels.

The headline:  Teens planned to kidnap woman, steal unborn baby

 "One of the suspects also told police that two men had asked them to kidnap the victim and tie her up. The men then purportedly planned to cut the unborn baby from the womb and leave the mother to die."

Hello MyFox Milwaukee bloggers!

 This is just a quick message to let you know that some lock downs and mass moderation had to be put into effect on both the blogs and message boards here on MyFoxMilwaukee.com because of some problem users.

The web team is aware of the problem and is working hard to clean up the community pages.

Please be patient as this may take a few days.

Blogs and photo albums are still available, but with complete moderation. Message boards have been shut down until further notice.

Thanks for your understanding and patience!

Will reports of possible new terror attacks aboard domestic flights impact any upcoming travel plans you might be making?

I'm sure ya'll have seen this...but if you haven't... check out the Obama Girl! This is too funny.