text: Next in the main track the different regions of Belgium will present their open (geo) data sets. Moreover Christian Quest from Open StreetMap France will explain how the Openstreetmap community was actually part of the creation and maintenance of the address database in France.
  In our parallel sessions we have presentations covering all aspects of Open source geospatial. Presentations on the usage of some of the most widely used programs, such as QGis, Openlayers3 and PostGIS, but also less well known solutions for handling 3D data, building SDI and doing advanced analyses. With the open streetmap conference happening just the day after this conference, we also have a special track with specialised
  Last but not least, conferences are all about meeting networking and meeting new people, and you will get the chance to do so during our breaks!
  In two weeks from now, from 22 september until 26 september 5 big events from the open geo movement will be happening in Brussels.
  On 22 september there will be two conferences: one FOSS4G Belgium conference organised by the local , which focuses on software for Geo. There will also be a lot of attention to open (geo) data sets provided by different governement agencies in Belgium.
  On the same day in a different location the Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team will also be gathering for their HOT summit. After both events, forces will be joined for a mapathon.
  Last but not least on Monday after all events, there will be a hackday, focused on OSM and OSGeo technologies.
  Next monday, OSGeo.be will be organising their first GeoDevEvening. The theme will be webmapping and especially Openlayers 3. There will be two speakers, Pierre Marchand of Atelier Cartographique wil give an overview of Webmapping tools. Later we will take a deeper dive with Thomas Gratier, one of the authors of the OpenLayers 3 Beginners guide.
  OSGeoDevEvening is an event where developers / researchers can learn & speak about a specific tech. We are always looking for speakers for the next events, so if you want to give a presentation about R, grass, QGIS, PostGIS... please contact us.
  
  After Microsoft’s conference at E3 yesterday, it was Sony’s turn and boy, they certainly did not disappoint. Here is a…	
  
  This is one of the dangers we face. People are getting used to having their freedoms violated. Some people get it. But others don’t:
  As the daughter of airline employees, I was practically raised on an airplane. I’ve been swabbed for drugs, had my shoes examined for explosives, had my bag torn apart and been patted down in plain view.
  Whenever some nutcase tries to sneak a knife on board to prove a point, there is an immediate reaction of, “Oh look! Security is insufficient! Another 9/11 could happen now!”
  Until you stop complaining about having to take off your shoes, you cannot complain about a lack of security.
  “An inconvenience but not the end of the world.” I’m sure similar words were used by a lot of the homosexuals when they had to wear the pink triangles in Germany in the late thirties. Or maybe by the Jews when their shop windows were broken on the Night of Broken Glass. It’s only in hindsight everyone can see things clearly.
  What this woman doesn’t realize is that she is completely missing the point or perhaps even willfully avoiding the point. She thinks the point to be learned from the “nutcase” is that existing “security” is inadequate. It’s not. The point to be learned is that we are spending billions of dollars each year and getting nothing good in return for it. That money could have been better spent on something else. What we do get from it is a desensitized population. It’s just a pink triangle or a Star of David you have to wear. What does it matter? Just go along with it and don’t make such a fuss. Right?
  It’s the creeping of the searching that is the problem. You are searched before you can enter a Federal Courthouse, tour Grand Coulee dam, or visit the top of the St. Louis Arch. You can be stopped on the road for no reason and your car can be searched if a dog takes an interest in it.
  People are getting used to being searched for almost any reason. It’s “an inconvenience but not the end of the world”. Those people are wrong. It fails my Jews in the Attic Test. End of story.
  
  I've been testing this release ("Lucid Lynx") on a Dell Precision M4400 laptop. Initial impressions very favourable. It boots quickly, even with full-disk encryption (via the Alternate Install CD): around 30 seconds to the login screen. Much quicker than MS Windows on the same hardware.
  Initial setup tasks like setting up MP3 playback, using the WLAN, using the GSM radio, and setting up a Bluetooth mouse (Microsoft Notebook Mouse 5000) were all very simple, and very quick. No messing around with obscure config files.
  The desktop looks more polished than previous versions. It's easy on the eye, with a good choice of default colours and fonts really making good use of the hardware.
  Only slight oddity is that changing the Ethernet MAC address (e.g. for MAC spoofing attacks) isn't possible using 'ifconfig'. But it's easy with "macchanger-gtk", which is in the Ubuntu repository.
  The box itself initially ran a bit warm, and the fan came on a bit. Evidently this is a known issue with the M4400 laptop, due to its ridiculously fast processor. Most of the time I really don't need all that speed, and by adding the CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor to the panel at the top of the screen (right-click, Add to Panel) it's easy to set the CPU frequency to "OnDemand", to keep it running slower and cooler when there's not much going on. By clicking on the icon, you can change the mode as required, so you can nail it down to 800 MHz if that's what you want to do.
  UPDATE: Ubuntu 10.04 works happily with VMWare 7.1. I've imported the VMs from my old machine, so this will become my main work machine now. The screen on the Dell M4400 is much easier to read than my old Dell D620: brighter and sharper.
  
  Did you know that cats are 30 percent less likely to see a veterinarian than dogs? Many cat lovers skip annual vaccines and checkups for their cats, especially if they have an indoor cat.
  “Part of the problem is that people believe that cats are low maintenance,” says Jane Brunt, DVM, Executive Director of the CATalyst Council and owner of the Cat Hospital at Towson in Maryland. “Some cat owners think that their indoor cat won’t be exposed to disease. Indoor cats can get exposed to viruses and rabies.” (As odd as this may sound, it is true. I had a rabid bat in my house.)
  According to Dr. Brunt, “Having regular checkups with your cat’s veterinarian shouldn’t be about the vaccines. You and your vet should decide together about what is and what is not necessary for your cat’s health. Every cat is an individual and has different needs. Your vet can help guide you with the specifics of what your cat needs.”
  Dr. Brunt believes annual visits are essential. “Have a relationship with your veterinarian,” she says. “Don’t just take your cat in for a visit when he’s sick. Your cat may seem healthy. However, that annual visit is important. Did you know that 68 percent of cats over the age of 3 have dental disease? Just like with us, it’s important to catch something before it develops into a bigger health issue. It’s better for your cat, and your pocketbook!”
  Vaccines protect against specific infectious diseases. Skipping vaccines can put a cat’s immune system at risk. Last year, after adopting my kittens, I took them to the vet to be spayed, microchipped, and vaccinated for rabies. Kittens get an initial rabies vaccine that must be boostered in one year.
  I recently spoke to my vet who said that in my state (different states have different requirements) they will be able to get a three-year rabies vaccine (the vaccine is good for three years) a full year after receiving their first one. “Three-year vaccines are available, but many DVMs choose a non-adjuvanted vaccine. (An adjuvant is added to a vaccine to stimulate your cat’s immune system so it will make antibodies to protect your cat in the future. Historically, adjuvanted vaccines were suspected of causing a certain type of cancer in cats. More recent scientific studies report that not to be the case. Dr. Brunt says vaccine-induced sarcomas are very rare, occurring in fewer than 1 in 10,000 cats. She uses the canarypox-vectored rabies vaccine.)
  In most towns a rabies vaccine is mandatory. Check with your local government to find out what is required.
  After the kitten series and a booster one year later, certain vaccines like feline distemper, Feline Viral Rhinotrachetis, and Calicivirus are recommended every three years, and instead of a shot, some veterinarians are using an intranasal vaccine.