oh, the pain!

I was lucky enough to be invited to this year's scifoo camp (see email included below for posterity). It is a huge honor to be invited and excruciatingly painful not to be able to go. Ack!

Of the few reasons that one might have for missing an opportunity to meet some of the smartest, most creative people in the world, and to visit the Mecca of geek society, mine is perhaps the best. I'll will be stranded on a tropical island with the woman I love.

Damn I'm a lucky man. (but oh, the pain of missing scifoo!)

Ben,

We'd like to invite you to join us on the weekend of August 8-10 for
Science Foo Camp (or "Sci Foo"), a unique, invitation-only gathering
organized by Nature, O'Reilly Media, and Google, and hosted at the
Googleplex in Mountain View, CA.

Now in its third year, SciFoo is already achieving cult status among those
with a passion for science and technology. The Economist said that it
"capture[s] the essence of innovation"; in a photo essay for Edge
(http://tinyurl.com/3o9sam), George Dyson wrote of the "the impossible
choice" when deciding which sessions to attend; another attendee described
it simply as "The best gathering ever. Period."

As before, we will be inviting about 200 people from around the world who
are doing groundbreaking work in diverse areas of science and technology.
Participants will include not only researchers, but also writers, artists,
investors, and other thought-leaders.

The format is highly informal: all delegates are also presenters and
demonstrators; the schedule is determined collaboratively on the first
evening; and sessions continue to be organized and re-organized throughout
the weekend. This creates a unique opportunity to explore topics that
transcend traditional boundaries, and discussions are of a kind that
happens at the best conferences during breaks and late into the night.
Of course, there will also be time to have fun and relax at Google's
legendary campus.

SciFoo 2008 will run from about 6pm on Friday, August 8 until after lunch
on Sunday, August 10. Campers need to make their own way to and from the
event, but Google will provide accommodation and meals, and there is no
registration fee. For those who don't have cars, there will also be free
shuttle buses between the hotel and the Googleplex.

Please RSVP by replying to this email. We do have space restrictions, so
if you'd like to attend please be sure to reply as soon as possible, and
in any case by May 16.

We hope to see you at the Googleplex in August!

Tim O'Reilly, O'Reilly Media
Chris DiBona, Google
Timo Hannay, Nature