Cats, good books, AI, and religious walking in the city of Sofia
I only have a few photos from the WordCamp contributor day that happened today. I joined the polyglots. This photo doesn’t give enough credit to the group that managed to almost fully translate WordPress 6.9 in Bulgarian. I participated by translating or approving hundreds of strings. The group was led by Vladimir Vasilev, who has lots of experience and helped us translate better.
We had free food and free Coca Cola Zero.
I had the privilege to be part of the organizing team of WordCamp Sofia. Day 1 of that event is behind us, and Day 2 is a contributor day, which will happen tomorrow.
We gave away over 430 badges, however the exact number of attendees will need some special counting and may be lower. As the Volunteers Lead, I didn’t watch many talks but still had the chance to hop in and see some.
This is a tiny part of the front row, with Petya Raykovska speaking and some current and former organizers. Petya shared about how instrumental WordPress is for the people who make Bulgaria a better place, the Open Source community, and made me cry by sharing how important Kaladan was to her life. Kaladan, who was a WordPress contributor and volunteer, passed away.
Myself before the opening, still no red T-shirt.
A group selfie with some of the attendees.
An AI panel, so we can stay current with the hype. WordPress is adjusting to the AI adoption and all of the panelists are treating it as a tool that’s helping people rather than replacing people.
And Afrodita Dobreva, with another really fantastic session about public speaking. I thought the 2024 talk can’t be exceeded but she had a blast.
It was a great event for me. Time to rest a bit 🙂
This is the Track 1 hall, looking forward to seeing it full of fellow WordPress people.
I didn’t do much advertisement on the blog but didn’t need to – more people got tickets than we hoped for. The team is great and I hope that we’ll have a nice event this weekend. By this time, the things are in motion and the conference should be fine even if most organizers stay late at the speakers dinner and don’t come tomorrow.
Given that the last catseller was a bestseller, here’s another one, selling books and postcards. Same place, Ivan Asen II street, a few hundred meters from the other cat.
A revolt is brewing. The occupation of Kisua has turned into something closer to enslavement, and the cultural rift between Gujaareh and Kisua makes the coexistence expensive. The soldiers from Kusia abuse their powers a bit too much and the locals use every opportunity to disobey.
In the middle of it all is our new hero Hanani, an apprentice healer, and Wanahomen, the heir fighting to reclaim what was unfairly taken (according to him). As they find allies and fragile trust, a quiet front opens. A dream-plague slips through the dark and kills innocent people’s souls in their dreams. Hanani is good but this plague kills far more talented healers. Can she stop it while also organizing a war?
If this were a Joe Abercrombie tale, there would be a bloody final battle where the disinterested and the clever slip through the cracks while the idealists and the fools die. But here the clash is inward. The battlefield is the hearts, minds, and dreams.
5/5. A long book, somewhat unusual, and also a bit romantic. I liked it very much but can’t really say why. Had some unpleasant scenes of cruel violence and abuse, but was otherwise good.
Veselin.blog 