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North Korea, a country hitherto not noted for its entertainment value, is putting on its first rock festival. Jean-Baptiste Kim, a South Korean born Frenchman who's running the "Voice of Korea" site, invites bands from all over the world. Intent on brushing up the hermit kingdom's image, he highlights that "This is the very first time in history that North Korea allows western musicians in the heart of DPRK territory to play capitalist popular music."

Before you start writing your application, be sure to check the requirements. Not all subjects of your lyrics are equally welcome:

There are few restrictions and conditions on participation but any band will be
considered even though you are from USA. The lyrics should not contain admirations 
on war, sex, violence, murder, drug, rape, non-governmental society, imperialism, 
colonialism, racism, anti-DPRK, and anti-socialism.

For a sample of what's acceptable, check here and here (Warning: This will make your brain run out of your ears and nose). 

Oh, and travel costs are on you. But they'll transport your equipment at no charge.

via Telepolis 

The author of a howto book about the free Asterisk VoIP software invites all and sundry to review his work before publication. Heise.de reports that German Asterisk consultant Stefan Wintermeyer has put the book up on his website, and is asking for bug reports. (Sorry, all in German.)

He's going even further: The whole book, due around February, will be published under the GNU FDL. It will be available in stores for about EUR 50.-, as well as gratis via download. Wintermeyer considers this an experiment, hoping that people will buy hardcopies anyway, or in even greater numbers.

Makes sense. When I was struggling with LaTeX, I always had the LaTeX Companion on hand, despite abundant online help being available. The money spent for that book was a very good investment, and I'd choose the same route for any other serious project I'm working on.