Too Old to Rock and Roll, Too Young to Die

The old Rocker wore his hair too long,
wore his trouser cuffs too tight.
Unfashionable to the end --- drank his ale too light.
Death's head belt buckle --- yesterday's dreams ---
the transport caf' prophet of doom.
Ringing no change in his double-sewn seams
in his post-war-babe gloom.

Now he's too old to Rock'n'Roll but he's too young to die.

He once owned a Harley Davidson and a Triumph Bonneville.
Counted his friends in burned-out spark plugs
and prays that he always will.
But he's the last of the blue blood greaser boys
all of his mates are doing time:
married with three kids up by the ring road
sold their souls straight down the line.
And some of them own little sports cars
and meet at the tennis club do's.
For drinks on a Sunday --- work on Monday.
They've thrown away their blue suede shoes.

Now they're too old to Rock'n'Roll and they're too young to die.

So the old Rocker gets out his bike
to make a ton before he takes his leave.
Up on the A1 by Scotch Corner
just like it used to be.
And as he flies --- tears in his eyes ---
his wind-whipped words echo the final take
and he hits the trunk road doing around 120
with no room left to brake.

And he was too old to Rock'n'Roll but he was too young to die.
No, you're never too old to Rock'n'Roll if you're too young to die.

One change that will be visible over the next few days will be that this site will be complete revamped - which means that I am basically abandoning my 8 year old code base for this site, and switching to a standard CMS - WordPress.

Once all that is done, I will have more freedom and flexibility, and will return to writing, as promised.

Thanks for being patient, and I promise that it will be worth the wait.

Read the update:
FOSS.IN/2009 – registrations, sponsors, expo, excitement & more

So if you want to be part of the largest and most important Free & Open Source Software event in this part of the world, and stand shoulder to shoulder with some of the biggest FOSS contributors and hackers in the world, then you need to head to

http://foss.in/news/fossincfp-2009.html

right now, read about the event and what is new this year (including my own take on things), then go to

http://foss.in/register/speaker-registration-2009

and put in your proposal. If you have questions, feel free to ask on the mailing list or (if you are shy :P) via the contact system.

The closure of the CFP will also signal the opening of delegate registration this week, as well as the Call for Sponsorship.

Team FOSS.IN will meet Monday night in Bangalore to start going through all the submissions, discuss plans and actions, and take decisions. You should start hearing the first few announcements by Tuesday.

So are you going to be sitting there on your hands, mutely watching the giants on stage, OR BE ONE OF THEM?

For those of you who haven't yet realised it: this year the Indian FOSS community completes TEN YEARS of organising FOSS community-oriented events - the first one happened in 1999. I'll be writing more about this over the next few days.

http://foss.in/news/fossincfp-2009.html

and then head to

http://foss.in/register/speaker-registration-2009

And submit your talk/workout/workshop/bof/hacker-session/project-of-the-day proposal.

It's best NOT to do what most people do every year - procrastinate till the last moment, especially since talk evaluation is happening as they are received, and we are interacting with proposers to fine-tune things. After the 26th, you will not have the benefit of this interaction.

Also, don't restrict yourself to submitting just one item - feel free to submit as many as possible - you never know what we will find most appropriate/interesting!

And please spread the word in your offices, colleges, mailing lists, twitter, facebooks, etc.

Remember - all content at FOSS.IN comes from the FOSS community!

Now go, Go, GO!!!!!