[GeekDinner-announce] Reminder: Cape Town GeekDinner - July 2008 - Iridescent Iceplant

[Jonathan Hitchcock]

Hello,

The initial announcement of the upcoming GeekDinner (http://tinyurl.com/julygeekdinner 
) came in the form of a mini-Greek lesson.  This is the one-and-a-bit  
week's reminder of the dinner, so I'd like to tell you about another  
ancient Greek, called Herostratus.  Exactly 2364 years ago yesterday  
(July 21st, 356 BC), he burned down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus -  
one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and one of the most  
beautiful buildings that was then in existence.  His reason for doing  
it?  He wanted to be famous.  The Ephesian authorities were so furious  
that not only did they execute him, but they banned any mention of his  
name, to prevent his motive from being fulfilled.  (Although it  
clearly didn't work, since we still talk about Herostratic Fame today.)

Herostratus wasn't the only person who thought like that.  John  
Hinckley Jr tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan, just to get  
the attention of Jodie Foster, with whom he was obsessed.  We all do  
funny things to try to get attention.  For example, I'm sending out an  
email talking about Ancient Greeks, to try to get your attention, so I  
can remind you about the dinner next week.

So, here we go:  next week Thursday, we're having the ninth Cape Town  
GeekDinner, named Iridescent Iceplant.

Date: Thursday, 31st July
Place: Da Capo, Greenmarket Square
Time: 6:30 for 7

Details of the speakers, menu, etc on the wiki as usual:
     http://wiki.geekdinner.org.za/wiki/Cape_Town_July_2008.

We'd also like to thank Perdeberg Winery for their very generous  
sponsorship of the wine for us - we appreciate their support!

Two important notes:

- Please remove your name from the list on the wiki if you can't make  
it.  There is a waiting list of people who want to come.
- If you are coming, but are a vegetarian, please indicate this on the  
wiki by putting a "(v)" (which stands for "venue needs to know how  
many to cater for") after your name.

We look forward to seeing you there!
Cheers,
-Jonathan