Linucon 2005 opening ceremony

It's that time of the year! Linucon 2 -- a joint Linux and science fiction convention -- is upon us! After spending a frustrated half an hour trying to find the Austin Ambassador hotel, I make it to the opening ceremony. No Linucon opening ceremony would be complete without the liquid nitrogen ice cream stories. Chase Hoffman, the convention chair, says that when he ran some convention in Dallas not long ago, the convention shared the hotel with FEMA workers. When Chase brought a can of liquid nitrogen into the hotel, the hotel employees thought it was a giant keg, so they didn't mind. Then the FEMA saw them and yelled: "Why are you carrying dangerous chemicals around?" Chase replied: "To make ice cream." "To make WHAAAT?" Chase then infromed them about making of ice cream with liquid nitrogen. The FEMA guys said, but you realize that the nitrogen vapor will push all the oxygen out of the room and you'll die? I didn't catch Chase's reply, but anyway... I think he reassured them that they knew what they were doing. In the picture (click for a bigger image): liquid nitrogen in the Con Suite.

Here are more images of Linucon 2005.