
Minutes of the SIPB Meeting of 10/11/1999


The meeting was called to order at Mon Oct 11 19:29:55 1999 by gisele.

In attendance were 
	Voting members: yak gisele yandros gemery jmorzins lnemzer amu
                        sly lgdean kolya | cordelia
	Associate members: marc rls tb nathanw eichin kcr fastcart
                        jweiss srz wesommer jdaniel mhpower melbonte | bjaspan raeburn
	Prospectives: ocschwar tivol nemo mwp arolfe jajafm xwxin xela
                        gamache jim tibbets cmceniry goodell 
	Guests: rbraum@cstone.net

Treasurer's Report:

 '()

Chairman's Report:

 '()

Office Report:
 
    zacheiss: mwhitson couldn't be here tonight, so I am remaking his
	      motion from last week to buy an alpha for the office.  Some
	      research on pc hardware for it was done

	      I move to allocate up to $6000 to purchase an Alpha for use
	      as on office head/hot spare for machine room Alpha.
    yak: second
    tb:       Are we sure that it'll work better than zsr?  
    discussion: consensus is `yes'.

    zacheiss: I've looked at the budget; this plus mac plus pc leaves us ~$2500

    PASSES:     12-1-6+rls 


    sly: apparently jhawk researched and found that there weren't any
	      chairs currently on order.
    xela: there's an order in Jane's hands; I should make sure that
	      things are ok.


    fastcart: graphics cards for snork and antisnork were supposed to be
	      delivered a few weeks ago; has anyone seen them?


    fastcart: the zip drive on steve-dallas failed to work today.


    jweiss: there is some chance that someone will come in to replace
	      filters.  Please assist them in any way possible, and
	      please send mail when it happens so that I will know.
    tb:     should they use dropcloths?
    jweiss: often it's ok not to use dropcloths; we've had one critical failure, but that
	      was an extreme circumstance (caused by the fact that the
	      filters hadn't been changed in far too long)


    kcr: the office rj45 crimp tool appears to be missing (I sent mail
	      last week and have heard no followup).  I'm concerned that
	      it may have been `borrowed' inappropriately.
    gisele: if anyone does know the whereabouts of said tools, they
	      should please return them, even if its done anonymously.


     jweiss: I cleaned up the office rack, installed a KVM siwtch, and
	     found some UTP drops.  mail was sent.
     sly: the KVM switch may fail to work with bill-the-cat, according to one
	      report.

 
Office Cleaning Report:

    jweiss: office cleaning happened last tuesday, and it was good.

    gisele: I am the current temporary fish.  Unlike the other fish, I
	     can come and bite.

MIT Computing Report:

    jweiss: last monday postmaster made some changes to the mail system to
	     make it suck less.  It made some some parts suck less (many
	     fewer long delivery delays).  However, subsequent new
	     suckage, mostly affecting athena workstations, is being
	     fixed.  Postmaster says that that the mail system is under
	     enough load that backing out the changes made last week is
	     not possible.  Problems should be reported to
	     postmaster@mit.edu.  If it is also an Athena release
	     problem, it should be cc'd to bugs (likely).

    sly: w20 fell down on Friday becuase a machine in w20 was ping
	     flooded.  Rumour says that the problem has been ``dealt
	     with''.
 

Computer Services:

    yak: I dumped a stupid perl script in the outland locker that tells
	     you which locker stuff lives in.  ``whichlocker foo''
    marc: where's the database it uses?
    yak: /mit/outland/share

    zacheiss: I placed the order for the bulk of sipb's machine room
	     stuff this friday

SIPB Backup Report:

    zacheiss: done
 
Publications Report:

    xela: we've run out of `Installing Linux'.  ocschwar is fingered for
	     lameness.  He apologizes.
    bjaspan: there is one copy of iMatlab.  We should get more.

    gisele: remember to give blood, even to documents.

    zachiess: the new iLatex is ``bled all to death''; we should use the
	     new one.

    jweiss: move to allocate up to $50 for 100 copies of iMatlab
    WHITE BALLOT

Orientation Report:

    kcr: `Bah'

IAP Report:

    xela: IAP planning month.  deadline for planning guide is 2 weeks
	      from today.  If you're interested in teaching something,
	      contact me.  If you're maybe interested in doing something
	      but you're not sure what, contact me.

	      I'll be on vacation; tibbets will channel me while I'm
	      gone.


    xela: move to allocate up to $1000 for materials and printouts for
	      all classes.
    zacheiss: second.
    jweiss:  isn't that a lot of money? 
    xela: last year I ended up using about $200 of it; the number is
	      so large because I pre-allocate $50 for 20 activities.
    PASSES: 15-0-4


    gisele: Everyone should be aware that you need not be a MEMBER to
	      teach classes; it's a fine, fine thing for prospectives
	      to do.


    tb: I've been told that I should teach a book seminar, perhaps on
	      _Godel, Escher, Bach_, but I'll be gone for one week of
	      IAP, which doesn't leave enough time.  I'm still open to
	      suggestions, however.
 
CokeComm Report:

    gisele: People should take down redeemable cans and bottles


    fastcart: gif bought new coke last week.  Yay


Other:

    wesommer: ipv6/ntwork cluedump after the meeting.  find and follow me
	     post-meeting.


    yak: Mac OS 9 was released.  It does a very good job of pretending to
	      be a multi-user, multi-tasking OS.
    tb: does it suck?
    yak: no.

Other Other:

    ocschwar: I'm a twit.


    jmorzins: it takes the the office drinking bird ~5 hours to stop
	     drinking after the water is removed.


    fastcart: my birthday was last friday.
    tb: <encourages SIPB into singing `Happy Birthday'>


    gamache: According to the packaging, the sipb drinking bird is both
	     flammable and non-flammable.


    tb: sly's birthday is tomorrow.  <again with the singing.>
    gisele: <thwacks tb with gavel>
    office: <applauds>
    nathanw: move to add a nail to the gavel.
    gisele: black ballot


    jweiss: It is exciting to have a bike pedal break off of the bike
	     while biking across Mass. Ave.  [Ouch!]


    tb: I have a large number of extra jordan almonds.  If people would
	     like some, they're welcome to help themselves.


    fastcart: I could use some help moving a couch..


The meeting was adjourned at Mon Oct 11 19:55:22 1999.


	Minutes taken and submitted by yandros.
