Day: May 9, 2007

Lunch 2.0 at LinkedIn on May 23, 2007

/ Adam Nash / 3 Comments

In case you hadn’t heard, LinkedIn is hosting a Lunch 2.0 event at their new offices in Mountain View on May 23rd.

From the new LinkedIn blog:

Yes, you heard it first here. We’re moving! And, we’re throwing a Lunch 2.0 party on May 23rd. We’d love to have you there. Here are the details:

LinkedIn
2029 Stierlin Court
Mountain View, CA 94043

Map It

So, whether you’re interested in checking out our new digs or just interested in hanging out with the teams behind some cool new LinkedIn products, this is the spring party to be at. We’re even thinking of throwing in a “Wii” little surprise into the mix.

You can RSVP here.  You can read more about Lunch 2.0 events here.

What Do You Do When You Catch Mozilla & Microsoft Dancing?

/ Adam Nash / 2 Comments

OK, sensationalist title for some trivial pictures, but these were too good to pass up.  Don Dodge posted some images from the recent Mix07 conference.

Source: Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing

Pictured left to right: Sam Ramji – Microsoft, Rob Conery – SubSonic, Andi Gutmans – Zend Technologies, Mike Schroepfer – Mozilla,  Miguel de Icaza – Mono, Novell, (William) whurley – BMC Software.

OK, that’s not that exciting.  But what did crack me up was this picture of Mike Schroepfer and the rest of the panel doing a Rockettes-like dancing line:

Not sure why this cracked me up, but it did.  I’m sure the novelty factor of seeing pictures of friends will wear off… but not yet.

A New Record: $1 Million Gold Coin Available from Canadian Mint

/ Adam Nash / 6 Comments

How could I possibly resist a post about this one?

The Royal Canadian Mint has issued the first coin with a $1 Million Dollar face value.

This coin is 100 KG of pure, 0.99999 Fine Gold. That’s 3,215 troy ounces of gold in a single coin. As reported on the Coin Collector’s Blog and goldeneaglecoin.com:

At 100 kilograms (3215 troy ounces) and 53 centimeters (21 inches) it is the largest legal tender coin in existence. It will be made of .99999 pure gold making this coin the purest gold coin on the market. The obverse of the coin will feature Queen Elizabeth II with the reverse will feature a “new, elegant maple leaf design.”

This looks like an incredible showpiece for a new process that allows the Canadian mint to issue gold coins at a whole new level of purity that should be appreciated by operations manager: five 9s worth, or 99.999% pure. Right now, the purest coins on the market are 0.9999 fine, including the previous Canadian Maple Leaf and US Gold Buffalo coins.

From the press release:

The Gold Maple Leaf bullion coin was first launched in September 1979, as a one ounce investment coin, the first coin to be struck of pure gold. The Gold Maple Leaf coin was 999 pure until 1982, when its purity was raised to 9999, setting a new benchmark for gold bullion coins. The RCM has maintained its tradition of leadership in the gold bullion industry by raising the bar once more, to 99999.

This is quite a coin. The gold value alone is worth over $2.25 Million US dollars, based on a gold price of $700 per ounce. It sells for approximately $2.7 Million dollars.

According to this MSNBC article, three of the coins have already been sold. The article also states that the coin is 20 inches in diameter and 1 inch thick, weighing over 220 pounds. Apparently, it takes 6 weeks to manufacture a single coin of this size and purity.

“They’re not doing this because there is huge demand for 100-kilo gold coins,” Bret Evans, editor of Canadian Coin News said Saturday. “They’re doing it because it gives them some bragging rights in having the largest purest gold coin in the world.”

If you are looking for gift ideas for me, look no further. 🙂

Battlestar Galactica: Some Season 4 Details Emerge

/ Adam Nash / 1 Comment

OK, OK, I give up.

The demand for new posts on Battlestar Galactica has been relentless.  I had sworn off them for the time being, because the new season doesn’t start until January 2008, and the TV movie doesn’t air until this Fall.

Some interesting articles this week on BuddyTV and on SyFy Portal have some emerging tidbits on Season 4, which began shooting this week.  Go ahead and dig in if you are interested.  Basically, it sounds like a couple of new characters from Pegasus are going to play a role in Season 4.  Kendra Taggert is apparently one of the names to know.

Interestingly, the movie this Fall will be based on Pegasus, and its story between the attack on the colonies and its rendezvous with Galactica.   This is one of the advantages of the series – there are a lot of potential stories to be told, even within the known timeline.