Jan24 news: 2024 forms, (no) DVD, TUG'24, TUGboat, comp.text.tex

[TeX Users Group]

Hello TeX users - welcome to 2024! The membership forms for 2024 are
posted, and automatic renewals have been done. For those not on autorenew,
please see https://tug.org/join to either renew or join for the first
time -- the trial membership option, with full benefits for $35, is
available again this year for newcomers.

One change this year, previously announced, is that as of this year we
will no longer be distributing the TeX Collection DVD as a benefit of
TUG membership. The images will be available for downloading, and
volunteers may be available to burn and mail them for those who still
need physical discs. The current information and plan, to the best of
our knowledge, is posted at https://tug.org/texcollection, and will be
updated there. (If you would like to volunteer to help, please contact us.)

One other membership tidbit: prizes were awarded (at random) to new TUG
members Daniel C., Prasheel S., and Timothy H. The prizes were physical
and electronic copies of The LaTeX Companion, Third Edition
(https://tug.org/tlc3), and a large-format broadside of the Golden
Section designed by Hermann Zapf. We'll be awarding prizes again for new
members in 2024, so join for your chance :). (Info at https://tug.org/forms.)

Looking ahead: TUG 2024 will take place from July 19-21, 2024, in
Prague, Czech Republic. A LaTeX developer workshop (precise topic tbd)
will likely take place on July 18; if anyone would like to lead an
introductory LaTeX user workshop, please contact us. The conference
itself will take place at the Hotel Grandior in downtown Prague, but
room reservations are not quite in place yet. All information will be
posted when available:
https://tug.org/tug2024/

TUGboat: as always, early submissions for the next TUGboat (45:1) are
welcome and encouraged. The deadline is March 24, 2024. Author info:
https://tug.org/TUGboat/location.html

In other news: the comp.text.tex newsgroup has been popularly accessed
through Google Groups for many years. Google has announced that they
will no longer accept Usenet content in Google Groups, as of February
22, 2024. Although Usenet still exists, it becomes ever harder to find
active servers (especially ones not overrun with spam). So, if you have
not already done so, you may want to use one of the many other available
methods to seek or provide TeX help, such as those listed at
https://tug.org/begin.html#help.

Finally, two close-at-hand events, though not specifically about TeX,
may be of interest:

- DEIMS2024 (https://workshop.sciaccess.net/deims2024), the fifth
International Workshop on Digitization and E-Inclusion in Mathematics
and Science 2024, will be a hybrid event taking place 15-17 February
2024, online and at Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan. Accessibility of
STEM material is the focus. Pre-register for online access.

- Back to School in Babylonia (https://isac.uchicago.edu/backtoschool)
is an exhibit running until March 24, 2024, at the Institute for the
Study of Ancient Cultures, part of the University of Chicago. Much
information is available about the Babylonian writing system and
mathematics. On January 25, Eleanor Robson, a renowned author in this
area, will give a free online lecture: Back to House F: Personal
Reflections on 25 Years of Research on Old Babylonian Schooling.
Registration:
https://events.uchicago.edu/oi/event/221961-back-to-house-f-personal-reflections-on-25-years"


For upcoming TeX meeting dates and other news, please see the TUG home page.
https://tug.org/

Happy TeXing,
Karl Berry (on behalf of the TUG board)