I suppose everyone has heard about this already, but just in case there's someone out there who hasn't (I myself just got the news), our good friend and colleague Dr. Charles Lowe, aka cel4145, will no longer be administering Kairosnews, or, for that matter, teaching classes. He's been offered--and accepted--a distinguished and important role that he feels will allow him to more directly support the FOSS movement and give him a better chance to "facilitate on a daily basis the type of open source collaboration that will lead not just to better software, but to a better planet." To put it simply, Charlie has agreed to become a Tux the Penguin mascot for the Linux community, and will be waddling at every major Linux convention and event to help promote FOSS awareness, particularly to young people and the infirm.

No doubt part of Charlie's decision has to do with his height, which is prodigious, and will allow him to emulate a particularly tall (and visible) penguin from quite a distance. Furthermore, Charlie has been preparing himself by watching and re-watching the March of the Penguins documentary, and (as you may have noticed at 4C's) imitating that trademark shuffle that so distinguishes the noble avian. In fact, I was given a chance to watch Charlie's penguin march first-hand, and was moved to tears by the performance. To watch Charlie "doing his penguin thing" is really a life changing experience; it's wham-bam double-wow wow to say the least. At one point, I was asked to play the part of the Leopard Seal, and Charlie's look of utter dismay and horror was so convincing that several other conference goers suspected him of existential anxiety--or at least a victim of a malfunctioning zipper.

I think I can speak for all of us here at Kairosnews when I say, we're going to miss you, Charlie, and we wish you all the best with your new career as a mascot. As for Kairosnews, besides a necessary move from Drupal to Sharepoint, I intend to keep everything "as-is" in the event that the whole penguin thing doesn't work out.