One thing you wish you knew...

[Lucas Willett]

Hi all,

From the conversations on the Groups and general Twitter chatter, it
seems that for many, RailsCamp 6 will be a first (for some, even their
first developers conference). With all the uncertainty and
anticipation, I'd like to appeal to the RC veterans to impart some
knowledge to us newcomers.

If there was one thing you wish you knew prior to your first
RailsCamp, what would it be?

Lucas.

[Chris Lloyd]

2009/11/16 Lucas Willett <strikerw...@gmail.com>

If there was one thing you wish you knew prior to your first
RailsCamp, what would it be?

Pick one small, fun thing to do. And be prepared not to do it.

The first Railscamp I went to I wanted to code, learn Mandarin and (if there was time on Sunday arvo) have a crack at curing cancer. I just ended up playing alot of Werewolf.

Cheers,

Chris

--
chrislloyd.com.au

[Daniel Neighman]

bring berrocca?

Seriously I think just expect a great time, and be relaxed. We're all there because we love it and are passionate about ruby, the web and the community. There's so many great people that come to railscamp I question if I'll get much time to do much serious hacking on account of all the talking I'm sure I'll be doing.

The important part to me is catching up with all the great people, and hacking on cool stuff if time permits! Actual code writing can happen anytime anywehere (although a bit of coding at railscamp isn't a bad thing ;)

Cheers
Daniel

[Glen Maddern]

How much alcohol a single person can consume in a day, given ideal conditions.

--
Glen Maddern
0423 118 405

[Dr Nic Williams]

Bring more beer.

Cheers
Nic

Mocra - http://mocra.com
Blog - http://drnicwilliams.com

On 16/11/2009, at 9:29 AM, Lucas Willett <strikerw...@gmail.com>
wrote:

>

[Jonathan Clarke]

No stealing other people beer..otherwise...

On Nov 16, 10:36 am, Dr Nic Williams <dr...@mocra.com> wrote:
> Bring more beer.
>
> Cheers
> Nic
>
> Mocra -http://mocra.com

> Blog -http://drnicwilliams.com
>
> On 16/11/2009, at 9:29 AM, Lucas Willett <strikerworldw...@gmail.com>

[Dylan Fogarty-MacDonald]

My 2c:

1. Ropes courses can be dangerous http://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanfm/3278976072/in/set-72157613796625664/

2. Some people snore

3. Don't be too attached to your hacking plans

4. First person to pwn the new Duke gets a beer from me

Dylan

2009/11/16 Lucas Willett <strikerw...@gmail.com>

[Alan Harper]

Then some more beer.

Get plenty of sleep before you get there

[Glen Maddern]

first person to show restraint and not pwn the new duke gets two beers from me

[Pat Allan]

What Daniel said.

Sometimes I'll hack on my projects, sometimes I'll hack on someone
else's projects, sometimes I won't get much hacking done at all. Don't
come with a checklist, just come along to meet cool people and learn
awesome things. And to be lynched in Werewolf ;)

And don't forget to bring earplugs, because as Dylan's pointed out,
some people snore.

--
Pat

[Ryan Bigg]

Last Railscamp I came prepared to do some hacking and that went out the window with Guitar Hero and ping pong. Then on Sunday I coded like mad and then got some really awful cold (aka "I spent every day in bed") I spent the next 2 and a bit weeks recovering from.

Werewolf will be played, other than that there's no guarantees :)

[Mark Mansour]

I made the mistake of working on my own project for the first half of
RailsCamp #5. I thought that I'd give myself some dedicated hacking
time and that RailsCamp would be a good place for it. Although I did
accomplish my goal, I didn't have fun. Not RailsCamp fun.

I should have picked something new to work on with some other people
(either their idea or mine, whatever) and built it together. Pairing
and hacking and learning (and maybe some drinking and guitar heroing).

Mark

--
Mark Mansour
ma...@agilebench.com
http://agilebench.com/

[Lachlan Hardy]

Pick a project to work on that you wouldn't do by yourself - because
it's too hard or requires skills you don't have (yet). Then find
somebody to help you!

Apart from the socialising and conversational-learning-over-beers,
that has always been my favourite part of Railscamp. I've learnt new
things every camp. Usually lots of them!

[Ben Schwarz]

The best projects are the ones that you come up with at the camp.

Don't bring your own project and expect others to hack on it.
Don't code in isolation.

Smile, be friendly, talk to people you've never met before.
Most importantly, have an awesome time.

[Dr Nic Williams]

New people: there will be a chance during the event to showcase/show-off what you've hacked up during railscamp. Last year there were prizes. People won them.

--
Dr Nic Williams
Mocra - Premier iPhone and Ruby on Rails Consultants
w - http://mocra.com
twitter - @drnic
skype - nicwilliams
e - dr...@mocra.com
p - +61 412 002 126 or +61 7 3102 3237

[Matt Allen]

Hi Lucas;

Everyone is obviously different, however my list of RC tips would be

1. Bring ear plugs
2. Help others, this whole "it's better to give than receive" thing
really rings true at RC.
3. Say gday to everyone. You'll get a whole bunch of "ohhh you're __
on (twitter|IRC|list|flickr)" type moments.
4. Don't wait to be told to do stuff. This covers both fun stuff and
the mundane stuff. If something needs a quick clean or something, just
do it. Remember that RC is what *you* make of it.
5. Bring panadol. A headache can really ruin your weekend.

Lastly, I've found that I alternate between a drinking and
non-drinking RailsCamp ... in theory this one should be of the
drinking variety. We'll see how my theory goes.

Matta

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 10:28 AM, Lucas Willett
<strikerw...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

[Dr Nic Williams]

Perhaps the railscamp t-shirts could have the following on the back:

I'm ______ on ____.com

[Matt Allen]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 1:05 PM, Dr Nic Williams <dr...@mocra.com> wrote:

> I'm ______ on ____.com

So many smart-arse replies, so little time :)

Matta

[Dr Nic Williams]

I thought it was a good idea :) Worked for the github t-shirt. :)

[Korny Sietsma]

Surely just a semacode would do?
You know, a semacode t-shirt could be kind-of tempting...

- Korny

--
Kornelis Sietsma korny at my surname dot com
kornys on twitter/fb/gtalk/gwave www.sietsma.com/korny
"Every jumbled pile of person has a thinking part
that wonders what the part that isn't thinking
isn't thinking of"

[Dylan Egan]

French wineries don't really carry shotguns.

[John Barton]

And you're never as stealthy as you think

2009/11/16 Dylan Egan <dyla...@gmail.com>

French wineries don't really carry shotguns.

--

http://whoisjohnbarton.com

[Pat Allan]

Matt is spot on. This isn't a conference - if you think something
should happen, make it happen. This could be a code project, a
discussion on a certain topic, beach cricket, whatever. If you're
unsure or would like some feedback, come speak to me (or anyone else -
we're all a friendly bunch), I'll be happy to help.

--
Pat

[Dylan Egan]

2009/11/16 John Barton <jrba...@gmail.com>:

> And you're never as stealthy as you think

And (barbed) wire hurts when you run in to it? ;)

[Ben Schwarz]

> And you're never as stealthy as you think
>
> And (barbed) wire hurts when you run in to it? ;)
>

And ladle shots are best while wearing cardboard armour.

[Lucas Willett]

...so confused right now.

[Ryan Bigg]

So what night are the noobs doing the keg stand? Was it Friday or has it been moved to Saturday?

[John Barton]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/johotravels/3040461790/

2009/11/16 Lucas Willett <strikerw...@gmail.com>

--

http://whoisjohnbarton.com

[Lachie]

Don't try and keep up with other people's thirst because before you
know it you will have overtaken them and lose the whole next day to
catharsis &c. and self reflection/loathing.

Actually thats probably good advice for any time, but I'm going to
take it especially to heart this weekend :D

:lachie

[Ben Schwarz]

I don't know what this is supposed to mean? Did I miss something at
the last camp?

[Matt Allen]

I think Ryan is trying out for a spot on Dr Nic's Amazing Comedy Tour.
i.e trying to be funny.

The only thing that the first timers *might* want to do, is introduce
themselves on the first night.

In fact, although it's hard to do, I think that a whip around, 30
seconds intro by everyone could be good. 130 people X 30 seconds ==
interesting without being boring?

Matta

[Lachlan Hardy]

Fuck no. We tried that last time. It took 2.5 hours for 83 people.
Nobody sticks to 30 seconds.

Not that I'm a downer on intros, but random party games (as much as
most folks hate playing them) are fantastic for icebreaking and
introducing everybody to at least several people they didn't know.

Making friends doesn't scale to 120 people. I think it's more
important to find 3 new friends I think are awesome than to meet 60
people without getting to know any of them.

[Thomas Sinclair]

+ 1 Lachie to that, last time was pretty painful going through everyone

--
@anathematic
Inner Core Designs
We make websites.
www.icdesign.com.au

[Lincoln Stoll]

And vineyards have wire to hold the vines up?

And generally there's a road about a metre to your right?

[Gareth Townsend]

And scouts have advanced laser weaponry.

[Phil Oye]

On 16/11/2009, at 6:38 PM, Lachlan Hardy wrote:

> Fuck no. We tried that last time. It took 2.5 hours for 83 people.
> Nobody sticks to 30 seconds.

Right on. Last time, it was boring AND ineffective.
I think Railscamp 2 had it right, randomly sort of people into groups to play werewolf.

p.

[Ben Schwarz]

Everyone _must_ wear their nametags.

Being that most of this list are old-hat - Please take it upon
yourselves
as fine ruby citizens to step outside of your little boy clubs and
talk to
people that you don't know.

There will be good opportunity for this on Friday :-)

Suitably excited,

Ben

--

[Ben Schwarz]

Also, as one of the current organisers I'd like to note that
some feedback of what didn't work could be worded a little
more tactfully. Running a camp takes a shit load of time and
previous organisers may feel slightly under appreciated :-)

[Phil Oye]

My comment should in no way be construed as an attack in Nigel, Ryan, et. al. Whether the introductions phase of RC worked or not has nothing to with their efforts. Intros seemed like a good idea going in, but didn't work out. That is all.

p.

[Ben Schwarz]

Don't want to make something of this (I failed, sorry)

I don't think anyone will be offended, I'm saying that
a little bit of sensitivity will make the organisers feel
warm and fuzzy.

[Ryan Bigg]

And dropping F-Bombs definitely doesn't make it that way. Phrase it in more diplomatic terms like: "The introductions were a good idea but it seems like you were not aware that the introduction section would take so long. Perhaps we could try a different format this camp?" rather than "Fuck no." Save those for situations that require them, please.

[Korny Sietsma]

My only concern is the lack of network. I rarely if ever do any
hacking without much web browsing - I can see the theoretical
enjoyment of avoiding distractions, and of working under artificial
constraints, but I'm still trying to come to terms with doing anything
out of the ordinary, without being able to google, and with no ability
to load the *very* latest version of that app that is a bit out of
date...

Obviously this hasn't been a problem in previous camps, so I guess
I'll just see how it works out once I get there. And try to
desperately fix all the things that are probably out of date on my
laptop - starting with emacs, and a pile of gems, and various other
IDEs, and macports (hopefully without breaking it)...

- Korny

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 12:01 PM, Lachlan Hardy
<lac...@lachstock.com.au> wrote:
>
> Pick a project to work on that you wouldn't do by yourself - because
> it's too hard or requires skills you don't have (yet). Then find
> somebody to help you!
>
> Apart from the socialising and conversational-learning-over-beers,
> that has always been my favourite part of Railscamp.  I've learnt new
> things every camp. Usually lots of them!

[Mark Mansour]

Let's hug it out guys.

--
Mark Mansour
ma...@agilebench.com
http://agilebench.com/

[John Barton]

have you tried http://railsbrain.com ? you can download a zip with
their very nicely searchable rails docs, i reckon i check it 4 or 5
times a day.

-jb

[Bodaniel Jeanes]

http://railsapi.com/ is nicer IMO + have rdocs for Ruby and a few other common gems. Also downloadable.

There is also a gem called sdoc (i think) which will make this layout the default locally for all existing and new gems so running gem server gives you awesome JS-searchable doco.

Bo

[Lachlan Hardy]

My apologies. I know damn well the pain of volunteering immense
amounts of time and mental well-being to run a community event and
then getting slagged off and bagged out.

So I'm very sorry if anybody took my missive above to heart. My point
was not about any kind of failure on the part of the organisers. I
thought the intros were a great idea at the time. But I wanted to
point out for those who weren't there or didn't know, that they didn't
work out. Nobody's fault - some things don't scale well.

As for my swearing, I do swear a lot. Sometimes, I think too often.
Particularly when somebody points it out, obviously. But it certainly
doesn't indicate anything more than normal emphasis in my language. As
I'd thought most of this list would know. My mistake.

[Ben Hoskings]

On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 10:20 PM, Korny Sietsma <ko...@sietsma.com> wrote:

My only concern is the lack of network.  I rarely if ever do any
hacking without much web browsing - I can see the theoretical
enjoyment of avoiding distractions, and of working under artificial
constraints, but I'm still trying to come to terms with doing anything
out of the ordinary, without being able to google, and with no ability
to load the *very* latest version of that app that is a bit out of
date...

Obviously this hasn't been a problem in previous camps, so I guess
I'll just see how it works out once I get there.  And try to
desperately fix all the things that are probably out of date on my
laptop - starting with emacs, and a pile of gems, and various other
IDEs, and macports (hopefully without breaking it)...

That's what the server's there for :) It's set up in a way that Rails API searches, gem installs, etc, just work.

If there's any particular software you're after, just add it to the server thread and I'll take care of it.

You're right, though — it's definitely a different kind of developing when there's no google to turn to for research.

- Ben

[Lachlan Hardy]

> You're right, though — it's definitely a different kind of developing when
> there's no google to turn to for research.

I find it makes me go searching for somebody who knows. Which leads to
all kinds of interesting things - at least some of which mean you get
your problem solved :)

[Dylan Fogarty-MacDonald]

Anyone had any luck getting the jquery docs air app from http://api.jquery.com ? It doesn't seem to work for me. I'd like to have some docs like this available.

Cheers

Dylan

2009/11/17 Ben Hoskings <b...@hoskings.net>

[Lachlan Hardy]

Me either, Dylan.

I've pinged Rem to see if he can fix it for us

[Ben Hoskings]

I've added api.jquery.com to the list of sites to mirror. :)

- Ben

[Nigel Rausch]

Hey no offence taken here... We are coders, we try something and if doesn't work we do something different next time...

On that note... I think the lanyards & name cards worked well, people are more approachable when you know their name.  

Cheers,

Nigel Rausch

Logical Plus

Mob: 0418 72-8880

Skype: nigel.rausch

[Lachlan Hardy]

Awesome news, Ben!

For those who want the local version, Remy Sharp got on the case and
you can download it from GitHub:
http://github.com/jquery/jquery-api-browser/blob/master/update/jquery-api-browser-2.0.air

Just click View Raw, download, double-click :)

I'll keep a copy of the file for those who don't hear about it.

That doesn't mean the mirror wouldn't be great, Ben, (URLs are fun!)
but it does drop it down your list of priorities a long way, I'd say
:)

[Dr Nic Williams]

Now perhaps if we had a railscamp app where people can upload 30-sec "who am I?" videos, then you could watch the ones you want to watch, when you wanted.

Who's cloning youtube this camp?

--
Dr Nic Williams
Mocra - Premier iPhone and Ruby on Rails Consultants
w - http://mocra.com
twitter - @drnic
skype - nicwilliams
e - dr...@mocra.com
p - +61 412 002 126 or +61 7 3102 3237

[Andrew Grimm]

Will there be a wiki (as opposed to *teh* wiki), for the luddites who
prefer plain text for describing themselves?

Andrew

[Ben Schwarz]

@drnic, I think that videos would be scarier for new
comers than pretty much any other medium.

Being that we're all in the same place once or twice per year,
maybe we can solve this problem without software.
--

On Nov 17, 9:33 am, Andrew Grimm <andrew.j.gr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Will there be a wiki (as opposed to *teh* wiki), for the luddites who
> prefer plain text for describing themselves?
>
> Andrew
>
> On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 9:14 AM, Dr Nic Williams <dr...@mocra.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > Now perhaps if we had a railscamp app where people can upload 30-sec "who am
> > I?" videos, then you could watch the ones you want to watch, when you
> > wanted.
> > Who's cloning youtube this camp?
>

> > On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 10:20 PM, Lachlan Hardy <lach...@lachstock.com.au>

> > wrote:
>
> >> My apologies. I know damn well the pain of volunteering immense
> >> amounts of time and mental well-being to run a community event and
> >> then getting slagged off and bagged out.
>
> >> So I'm very sorry if anybody took my missive above to heart. My point
> >> was not about any kind of failure on the part of the organisers. I
> >> thought the intros were a great idea at the time. But I wanted to
> >> point out for those who weren't there or didn't know, that they didn't
> >> work out. Nobody's fault - some things don't scale well.
>
> >> As for my swearing, I do swear a lot. Sometimes, I think too often.
> >> Particularly when somebody points it out, obviously. But it certainly
> >> doesn't indicate anything more than normal emphasis in my language. As
> >> I'd thought most of this list would know. My mistake.
>
> > --
> > Dr Nic Williams
> > Mocra - Premier iPhone and Ruby on Rails Consultants

> > w -http://mocra.com

[Dr Nic Williams]

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM, Ben Schwarz <ben.s...@gmail.com> wrote:

Being that we're all in the same place once or twice per year,
maybe we can solve this problem without software.

I don't understand the premise. I'm confused. No software? Perhaps someone can do a presentation on "Living without Software".

[Alan Harper]

When I went to my first RailsCamp in Adelaide, I thought werewolf was
a good way of actually mingling with people I didn't know.

On Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 8:44 AM, Ben Schwarz <ben.s...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

[Ivan V]

Hey Dylan, They got the URL wrong in the AIR installer badge, if you
have AIR runtime installed you can download the jQuery Docs AIR app
package directly from here http://api.jquery.com/browser/update/jquery-api-browser-2.0.air

Ivan

On Nov 17, 12:22 am, Dylan Fogarty-MacDonald <dylan...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> Anyone had any luck getting the jquery docs air app fromhttp://api.jquery.com? It doesn't seem to work for me. I'd like to have

[Michael Pearson]

Vary your drinks. Coopers Pale gets pretty old when it's all you've
been drinking all weekend.

Bring something non-code related to do. Camera, books, Nintendo DS,
etc. Sometimes you need escapism.

Resist the temptation to 3G/EDGE/GPRS your way back on to the
internets.

[Ben Hoskings]

Yep, the wiki that's online at http://wiki.railscamps.org will be at the camp at http://wiki.

- Ben

[James Sadler]

I am thinking about bringing a fishing rod and a handful of tackle
seeing as we will be so close to the ocean...

Any other fishos (or wannabees?) that might want to join me in a
fishing session for an hour or two when we're sick of
coding/werewolf/guitar hero?

--
James

[Paul O'Keeffe]

At the last BarCamp in Bris, we had a couple of 5 minute sessions where everyone had to stop what they were doing, find someone they didn't know and introduce themselves. I'm hoping we won't need to go to such lengths, but it might be a good thing to throw in if nature isn't taking its course. Works far better than the 2.5 hour quick whip around.

On 16/11/2009, at 5:50 PM, Thomas Sinclair wrote:

>
> + 1 Lachie to that, last time was pretty painful going through everyone
>
>
> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 6:38 PM, Lachlan Hardy <lac...@lachstock.com.au> wrote:
>>
>> Fuck no. We tried that last time. It took 2.5 hours for 83 people.
>> Nobody sticks to 30 seconds.
>>
>> Not that I'm a downer on intros, but random party games (as much as
>> most folks hate playing them) are fantastic for icebreaking and
>> introducing everybody to at least several people they didn't know.
>>
>> Making friends doesn't scale to 120 people. I think it's more
>> important to find 3 new friends I think are awesome than to meet 60
>> people without getting to know any of them.
>>
>>
>>
>> On 16/11/2009, at 18:27, Matt Allen <matt....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> I think Ryan is trying out for a spot on Dr Nic's Amazing Comedy Tour.
>>> i.e trying to be funny.
>>>
>>> The only thing that the first timers *might* want to do, is introduce
>>> themselves on the first night.
>>>
>>> In fact, although it's hard to do, I think that a whip around, 30
>>> seconds intro by everyone could be good. 130 people X 30 seconds ==
>>> interesting without being boring?
>>>
>>> Matta
>>>
>>> On Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 6:21 PM, Ben Schwarz <ben.s...@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> I don't know what this is supposed to mean? Did I miss something at
>>>> the last camp?
>>>>
>>>> On Nov 16, 3:14 pm, Ryan Bigg <radarliste...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> So what night are the noobs doing the keg stand? Was it Friday or
>>>>> has it
>>>>> been moved to Saturday?
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>>
>>
>>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> @anathematic
> Inner Core Designs
> We make websites.
> www.icdesign.com.au
>
> >

[Paul O'Keeffe]

Can we swim in the ocean somewhere near there? Or I am just a noob Queenslander who knows nothing of the freezing currents coming direct from the Antarctic?

P.S. I'm a good enough swimmer to dodge penguins...

[Will Marshall]

People swim in the ocean in New Zealand. Sunny Melbourne can't be remotely as bad ;)

[Pat Allan]

We're right by the beach, so bringing swimming gear is a good idea.
Whether the weather is pleasant enough for a swim is up to you to
judge. The current forecast:

Wed: 32
Thu: 36
Fri: 32 (with storms and showers)
Sat: 23
Sun: 24
Mon: 25

--
Pat

[Hugh Evans]

Nice, the cooler conditions will suit my brains bot ;)

Hugh

[Clifford Heath]

... and the water temperature will probably be around 16 degrees, up
from the 13 low in winter but not quite the 19 high in Feb.

Clifford Heath (who has spent large slabs of the last 40 summers in
Bass Strait)

[Lucas Parry]

actually, the water is unusually warm for this time of year; we're
already up to 19-20º inside the bay

http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/~awatkins/temps.html

lucas

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[Will Marshall]

Can someone enlighten a non-Australian as to the danger of Death By Jellyfish?

Also: what safety precautions should be taking to cope with all the poisonous animals?

[Matt Allen]

Hey Will;

You have precisely 0% chance of getting stung by a jelly fish in the
bay of Melbourne. They the like tropical waters of QLD ... mostly :)

There might be some snakes around down there, esp given it's heating
up. My suggestion is don't touch any of them. They usually scoot
pretty quickly when a bunch of loud humans come towards them.

In other words, don't be afraid. Look at the ground if you are
walking through scub other than that you should be fine.

Matta

> --

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>
>

[Ryan Bigg]

Kangaroos are not as friendly as Hollywood makes them.

[Glen Maddern]

It's the land-jellyfish you've got to watch out for, anyway. And they only come out at night.

-glen.

On Wed, Nov 18, 2009 at 8:57 AM, Ryan Bigg <radarl...@gmail.com> wrote:

Kangaroos are not as friendly as Hollywood makes them.

--

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0423 118 405

[Will Marshall]

Does anyone have any thoughts on drop-bears?

[Ryan Bigg]

Oh shit almost forgot about the dropbears!

You know how America has grizzly bears? Imagine one that size but it awaits up the top of the tree. When its prey (hereafter referred to as "us") walks underneath BAM! They drop and attack leaving nothing but a bloody toe and blood smears. They have no soul and make a sound that is so unholy it is unreplicable by man OR machine. 

Bring your Miltary Grade Helmet and Large Pointy Stick of +10 Dropbear Awareness and be on the lookout for these fearsome, cuddly creatures.

[Lucas Willett]

Drop-bears too. Frickin' things are vicious as hell...

[James Sadler]

And the hoop snakes too. Don't forget those!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoop_snake

2009/11/18 Lucas Willett <strikerw...@gmail.com>:

James

[James Sadler]

The jellyfish are more of a tropical north Queensland problem. If
anything, you're more likely to come across some nasty spiders, but
I'm not sure about Melbourne. Up in Sydney we get funnel web spiders
among others. They're not very nice. Any melbournians care to pass
on any info regarding the local arachnid population?

2009/11/18 Will Marshall <willrj....@gmail.com>:

> --

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--
James

[Ryan Bigg]

You'll maybe encounter a huntsman spider: http://www.vc-herzberg.de/australia/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/huntsman-spider.jpg

They're not poisonous / deadly as the jellyfish / dropbears and most definitely not as cuddly.

2009/11/17 James Sadler <fresh...@gmail.com>

--
Ryan Bigg

[James Sadler]

I remember on Christmas day a couple of years ago, we were all sat
around the telly letting dinner digest when I noticed there was a
huntsman as big as in your photo sat on my wife's shoulder. Much
panic ensued when I pointed it out ;)

2009/11/18 Ryan Bigg <radarl...@gmail.com>:

[Andrew Grimm]

Stingrays can occur in Melbourne according to
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/03/13/2188576.htm?site=news .
Crickey!

Andrew

[chendo]

I lost half my siblings to dropbears. Thankfully I still have 20 left.

[John Barton]

Actually there are jellyfish in port phillip bay, a few of my mates have gotten stung during triathlon training. But they're nowhere near as scary or common as they are up north.

2009/11/18 chendo <che...@gmail.com>

--

http://whoisjohnbarton.com

[Lachlan Hardy]

Redback and silvertail/whitetails are the only spiders you really have
to worry about in Vic. So if you see one with red or white across the
back - don't touch it.

Redback bites have been known to cause serious illness and/or death
but they rarely leave their web so they're not too much of a concern.

Whitetail bites *will* mess you up. Blisters and lesions, even
necrosis around the bite area. But they're unlikely to be deadly
unless you're allergic.

And, yeah, don't go near snakes, but if you do, they're more likely to
run (well, slither). I don't think (*not* an expert) that any of the
more aggressive species of snake commonly live in Victoria.

[Daniel Neighman]

Tiger and brown snakes are common in vic (amongst others). Tigers being the more aggressive, but I don't think there should be any where we're going.

From someone who lives in country Vic, I don't see very many snakes about. They keep to themselves. Like others have said.. just make noise (which I'm sure we will be) and you'll be fine.

Snakes are on my list of things to worry about at rails camp just below "oh crap... did I remember to pack my cumber-bun"

[Mark Ryall]

As a matter of fact, I was attacked by a tiger this morning while
walking up lonsdale street - luckily i was wearing a protective
cummerbund.

We must remain in a high state of alert this railscamp - the only
thing that will prevent something from eating our brains will be our
ability to write code.

[Andrew Grimm]

The severity of white-tail spiders' bite is thought to be slightly
exaggerated, but still isn't pleasant.
http://australianmuseum.net.au/White-tailed-Spider
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-tailed_spider#Bites_to_humans

Andrew

[Elspeth Thorne]

I see I'm going to be missing an epic railscamp ...

Elspeth

[Gareth Townsend]

The Rules to Mexican.

I know them, if you want to learn them, find the drunk people with dice.

Cheers,
Gareth Townsend
http://www.garethtownsend.info
http://www.melbournecocoaheads.com

[Clifford Heath]

Note that the temperature inside Port Phillip Bay has very little
to do with the temperature of Bass Strait. Lord Somers camp
is on Westernport Bay, which is basically open to Bass Strait.

I've never encountered jellyfish along that coast, though you do
see them in the bay (along with stingrays and manta rays). I've
even surfed with a seal - who was catching a wave beside me.

Clifford Heath.

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[Ben Schwarz]

I'd just like to quote this statement and then move to blame Pat for
the weather.