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When Geeks Go Camping
mikep.maine writes "CNN and Business 2.0 have an interesting article on Tim O'Reilly's Foo camp for geeks - not just any geek - people like Google founders, Tim Bray (invented XML), and venture capitalists. Stashed away in the rolling hills north of San Francisco ... Foo Camp, a new breed of geek gathering organized (somewhat) by O'Reilly & Associates. The idea: Get 200 or so smart folks with a lot in common together in one place at one time, let them pitch tents, toss in a Wi-Fi network, and see what happens. Turns out, quite a lot. You are as likely to bump into a founder of Google (both were there) as the vice chairman of Warburg Pincus. Yes, they had Wi-Fi and marshmallows."
Well, I consider myself a geek, but when I go out camping, all I need to take with me is a couple of gallons of gasoline and then I got entertainment for a whole weekend.
Duped again.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
If you went camping with your geek friends and you woke up the next morning and your butt hurt and you couldn't remember what happened would you tell anyone?
no...
Want to go camping?
they had Wi-Fi and marshmallows
I suppose that's a typo. You meant mushrooms, no?
Isn't that called Pennsic?
"Choosy browsers choose
Do they all sit around the campfire popping pimples and telling network management horror stories while holding LED flashlights under their chins.
I'll stick with the city, thank you very much.
We'll go snipe fragging!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
. . . like orienteering, starting fires with sticks, learning how to walk on dirt, and not petting badgers.
Stefan
Chaos Communication Camp sounded more fun. Wish I could have made it.
sulli
RTFJ.
So, were the VCs there for comic relief then? Please say so, it'll be very hard to sleep tonight when I keep grinning like this...
Hate me!
There's not a lot of difference between outdoorsy boyscout types and computer geeks -- I have several friends who enjoy both, and I'm sure there's a lot of overlap between both groups in general. Both camping and hacking require an ability to pay *very close* attention to relatively tedious tasks, and offer a similar feeling of relaxed accomplishment.
My dad and I go camping all the time, and he's the one who's encouraged me to get into computers!
Where can I sign up? Are we going to be creating little stick RIAA/SCO men and burning them in the pit later on?
Camping is the anti-tech. It's the ultimate getaway when over-teched.
Camping is not about wi-fi. It's about burning things. And reading fiction.
SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
I think Slashdot'ers should organize such things!
I'd go.
Here is the link for those geeks who have never gone camping...
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
I am a geek but when I go camping the gear stays at home. Instead I drink alot of home brewed beer and play cool games with the ladies like spoons, mexican, naked twister,etc ...
Got Code?
Nice to see that they mentioned dashboard in the article and at Foo Camp.
Founder of Mirror Moon - Tsukihime Game Trans
put all the wi-fi access points in one spot :)
and you have yourself an outdoor lowpower microwave
Candle burns its brightest in the dark
This storyline on UserFriendly is about geeks camping. It's one of the best storylines, IMO. It continues until July 04, 2000.
Join moola.com, play games to earn money.
Ladies and gentlemen of the audience, you are cordially invited to supply your own joke here.
In Soviet Rush, today's Tom Sawyer gets high on you.
But a computer is fucking heavy. My pack is heavy enough with food and shelter and extra clothes. About the most high tech thing I take is my iso-butane stove and my water filter.
Jack Valenti and Orrin Hatch will be first up against the wall when the revolution comes.
So it's pretty much what geeks do at home, sans campfire and threat of animal attacks?
Geek camp? I guess the fact that the campsites don't have showers won't be a problem for these folks.
'nuff said.
Everybody Wang-Chung tonight!
Um, Sebastopol's not near any rolling San Francisco hills. I lived their a few year ago. It's at least an hour and a half north... if traffic is good.
:(
:(
And on a side note. I wish I would've stayed friends with the folks I knew at O'Reilly, Then perhaps I could've gone to geek camp
damn
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
and not petting badgers.
We don't need no stinkin' badgers!
You can't take the sky from me...
identify the bodies? RFID or fingerprint scanners? I'd privacy issues with either if I died thank you very much!
Reference lost on younger audience.
To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.
--E.C. Stanton
http://www.rootstrikers.org/
Camping is the anti-tech
Codswallup. Camping is very high tech. It may not typically have many electronic parts, but it is very high tech in almost every other way. Heck ever when it comes to transistors GPS and two-ways are devices many wouldn't care to do without.
*And* you've missed (or made light of) the entire point. Get away from the office and chat with your peers about the work that makes you peers. They happened to do it camping. Sounds fun to me!
Maybe we should have slashstock at a national park somewhere.
Around the campfire sat the founders of Google when someone came around and tried to scare them with a SCOst story..
Elites have been grouping together in these kinds of retreats forever. Bohemian Grove is one of the older ones, although it tends to attract more of an "old money" crowd and I believe is all male as well. Then there's that one out east that Clinton made somewhat well known during his tenure.
All in all, I don't really see why its news. That VCs were there just explains its about figuring out new business schemes under the guise of fun. I guess Tim O'Reilly's presence there somehow adds a sheen of approval over all of it.
As far as camping goes, the most advanced thing I take with is a gas stove. Why the fuck you'd want Wifi or any of the other trappings of city life in the peaceful woods is beyond me.
"It is pitch black, you are likely to be eaten by a grue"
From excellent karma to terible karma with a single +5 funny post...
This is why they are under those umbrellas. The image clearly shows that not a drop of sunlight is hitting their tender, precious skin.
It's always interesting reading his journal and here's his take on the camp.
/ FooNotes
http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2003/10/11
Camping is not about wi-fi. It's about burning things.
Actually, I'd say that a great deal of the thrill in geek-camping comes from having lots of sophisticated electronic equipment in a setting where it's not really supposed to exist. The surreal superposition, the defiance of nature and embracing of technology -- I mean, cool, eh?
And reading fiction.
So load up Slashdot while you're out in the forest.
The coolest voice ever.
If it has "foo" in the name, I already automatically hate it.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
But none of the latest hand-held submersable GPS equipment can play OGG, damnit.
Life is the leading cause of death in America.
it looks as though they did not hike very far before setting up their tents
Get a life.
Enough said.
Ok, that entire idea of "slashstock" is just so hilariously funny I think it should be given a try. Take over yosemitie with nerds! (or something like that)
snowulf.com
Camping is for hippies.
Have you ever been to a turkish prison?
Propose a campground as the next venue.
There were 11 other people on the committee and a couple hundred more in the discussion group. Geez.
Do they all sit around a campfire and Instant Message ghost stories??
Don't fret, folks, the novelty of being able to swear up a storm wears thin even with kids eventually.
I still haven't gotten over being able to run around the place with a goddamn pair of motherfucking scissors with no one to yell at me.
Get 200 or so smart folks
... under the Cone of Silence....
A bunch of geeks in Michigan have doing something similar for ten years or so. My wife, prior to our marriage, used to go all the time. She's been trying to get me to go for years, but I'm afraid I'll get nature on me. SiO2
I plan to set up a nearby Bar camp, which will be about getting drunk. It will be the ultimate getaway when over-everythinged. And no newfangled CO2 tap for me- I'm going to pump that keg the old-fashioned way.
pi = 3.141592653589793helpimtrappedinauniversefactory7
No fire needed for toasted marshmallows!
You know what?
They're only campers if they wait in the same spot for a whole round and then kill you. PWNED!@#(@!
WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
For news, status, updates, scientific info, images, video, and more, check out:
Mars Exploration Rover Highlights (AXCH).
But if you're not The Inventor Of XML then we don't have a simplistic tag for you. Without such a tag, you cease to exist for much of the world! We can't have that!
I live about 20 minutes from Sebastopol! I rock! :-p
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
caption this picture if you dare! It's from the camping expedition...
g e/ foodoc_38.jpg
http://www.searls.com/doc/foocamp2003/roll1/ima
I believe the Hacker's Conference happened at or near Yosemite a few years back. I was told it was very cool.
In a remote area of New Mexico called Los Alamos? And we all can see what the Japanese got from it...
Whatever happened to the Geek Cruises? Or is that just for posers?
--
make install -not war
http://www.whatbadgerseat.com/
"Sic Semper Tyrannosaurus Rex."
Oh my god, don't you all get it?
It's a dupe from last summer!
Like X-Mas was a dupe too, from last winter...!?
I thought it was +1 funny.
Dyslectics of the world, untie!
Sadly for most of these people, it is roughing it with only a laptop, instead of 2 data centers around them
theSyClops aka Andrew Holland in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king
For relaxation, campers ... disassembled a Toyota Prius, then put it back together again (it was a rental).
Sounds like fun!
http://tomgould.com/
Umm... The BOFH (Bastard Operator From Hell) concerns the machinations of a certain evil sysadmin called Simon.
It's fiction (we hope). It also happens to be a damn funny read. Why was the parent modded 'informative' of all things?
Colision probablity is a strong function of velocity, cross section and shielding. It is a weak function of shape.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I don't know if they're still going, but a bunch of the local Cypherpunks gang decided that CCCC would be fine to do and went to the first few. 2500 people and six E1 lines the first time :-) Electricity was a constraint at the first one - "Use gas stoves or fire for cooking - conserve electricity for the computers!" It was a geeking focus rather than Burning Man's arts focus, but lots of the same crowd do both.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Depends on how you camp. My tent is kind of high tech (if you consider aluminum poles and canvas high tech), as is the stove.. Sure, we've got a tent with fiberglass poles, but it seems like the dogs always crash through it in the dark, breaking the poles.
My reason for camping (which I do a lot of) is not to get away from the office. It's to get away from the noise of the city. It's to get back to the way I grew up. I don't take my peers camping. I take my freinds, and my family.
I sure don't need a gps to know where I am. A map, a compass and the sun seem to work pretty good. I sure don't have WiFi in camp. Can yell almost that far. I don't bring my laptop, because I don't go out there to do the same thing that I do everyday.
They brought Venture Capitalists to the picnic says to me that this was a purely bussiness meeting in an abnormal setting, nothing more. I'm sure that the folks who went will remember it for the rest of thier lives. I'd have run for the woods, personally.
josh
How do you help society or mankind if you bring together 200 dot-com millionaires and let them talk about how to make more money by relaying emails?
Yeah I am oversimplifying this, but here in Europe, we have been doing geek camping for years. We have a geek summer camp every two years, alternating between Holland and Germany. And you know what? We let everyone in, not just the rich and famous.
And it pays off. This kind of elitism is bad for everyone. Where do you expect the next generation of good hackers to come from if you don't let them come to your hacker camps? Elitism leads to losing the ground under your feet.
And it makes the whole thing less fun. The harder you have to fight or the more you have to have achieved to be perceived as the "brightest and most intelligent" people who are then allowed in, the less you can just be yourself, the more this becomes an ego show where everyone is concerned about how to look good so he will be invited again next year. It's style over substance.
And frankly, who cares about the Google founders?
Who cares about some egomanic bloggers who write up profound sounding essays on their blogs to keep their name in circulation? The people who are really important and interesting are people like Brewster Kahle (archive.org) and John Gilmore (eff).
I was just going to suggest that somebody push you off a cliff, in case you feel like inventing something else.
-- Repeat with me: "There is no right to profits".
...Nine months later...nothing notable happens.
"Who are in control, they are not in control of anything - they don't even control themselves!" - Glen Beck
Here's my 'Geeks go Camping' story. I go to the national Rainbow Gathering every year and camp for a couple weeks. For the majority of you that don't know about Rainbow, it's a gathering of twenty to forty thousand freaks of all stripes. All kinds of people go, not just hippies: there are large Christian, Jewish, and Krishna contingents, even an AA group. It's free, but donations are accepted (they go mostly toward food, which is also free) and it has a mostly non-heirarchal, anarchistic sort of organization. Volunteer wherever you want, or don't, donate money, or don't, it's all good. I usually work at least six hours a day at the medical tent while there, and pitch in money the years that I can afford to.
One camp there, called cybercamp, is a meeting point for geeks. I don't know if they have ever set up a local wi-fi network, but a lot of folks bring laptops. One of my friends there, Rob Savoy, is very involved in open source (he works on the gcc project, porting the compiler to new platforms). He also helps set up our old fashioned communications system, consisting of walkie-talkies with a repeater.
Like I said, it's a free event, and cash isn't used in the gathering except for donations, but people love to trade. Trade circle, as it's called, looks like a hippy version of a middle eastern bazaar. One year another friend of mine made a killing there, scoring a number of interesting, um, items by burning custom CDs for folks (eek! copyright violation! damn hippies want everything for free.)
If you live out in the boonies and you hear that a national Rainbow Gathering is coming, don't freak out. These hippies don't (generally) shoplift, and we won't steal (many) of your children, but we will pump hundrds of thousands of dollars into your local economy. Most every place that has had one says, "come back any time!"
So that's my 'geeks camping' story, and my little plug for the Rainbow Gathering: coolest anarchist gathering anywhere, non-anarchists, geeks and libertarians welcome too.
- None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
Then I get some kind of message like, "fckin campr!!!1 stp cmping u fag" and then I get booted of the server.
- A
Since when is a VC considered a geek? It seems to go against a true love for whatever you are investing in. Since the VC are the first to pump and dump, meanwhile leaving the tech firm they invested in holding the bag. Much of the time this stifles technology, as opposed to helping.
I've met a few VC's over the years and would put them in a completely different kind of boat than anyone who cares about anything beyond lining the wallet, hence the term 'venture capitalist'...
When I used to work at a small start up company, we weren't full of those stereotypical portly nerds that drink mountain dew all day long and have a goofy laugh.
Instead, we had nice upstart individuals that were well motivated and very athletic. (if it's any consolation to you, they didn't take showers after working out)
Whenever there were any sorts of group events, we'd have at least two individuals with experience with hiking, backpacking, rock climb, scuba diving, spelunking, sky diving, flying jets or planes, rocketry, maguyvering stuff(a lot of them were engineers in mechanical, electrical, chemical, etcetera btw), and even inventing little items for personal use with fellow hobbyists.
Yes, I believe it is the insatiable quality of nerds that keep them above the rest in society. Always prepared for any event. If you stuck them on an island without electricity or any signs of human life, they'd be able to make a quaint existence on it until someone rescued them.
For examples of weirdness and whackiness for self made items. Check out this forum for flashlight enthusiasts.
A bunch of them make their own flashlights, or even offer modifications to Mag-Lites to make them into hand-held HID setups just like the UnderWater Kinetics Light Cannon 100 HID Dive Light
Yes, nerds are too overprepared.
Steve drew his final breath and whispered one word. "Deveeeellloooppeeerrrrsss..."
"I don't know what happened, she was sitting right here!" "You must be talking about old Hillary Rosen - she stepped down as the head of the RIAA *LAST YEAR!*
"We've gone ahead and traced the GOTO, Linus. It seems that the kernel is being recompiled *FROM YOUR OWN HOUSE!*
this ones for you ralf :)
"You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
No no no. Camping is meant to get away from it all... from technology and work. Taking tech stuff kind of defeats the purpose. Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinion; so whatever helps you relax.
The idea of "organized" camping with something like slashstock sounds cool. But what would be the entertainment focus? Say we had an open forum discussing the pros and cons of the latest graphics cards. Not a lot of entertainment value there!
I'm all for some sort of camping with techies, but lose the gear.
D'ya think Tim might have some issues surrounding exclusion from the Bohemian Grove?
Man brign a HF radio and I'd be set for a week! :)
Gorkman
1. Pile combustibles. Type, amount and moisture content don't matter too much. Rocks and pinecones will do.
2. Apply lighter fluid. More is better.
3. Stand back and use your "emergency" firestarter (flint stick glued to a bar of magnesium.) Bear down hard with your metal stricker and you can get a good 3 foot spray of sparks. Try to practice for distance before you start the fire if you like having eyebrows.
This technique doesn't work well in really cold weather.
Of course somebody told me about this. I wouldn't know anything about it, personally.
Why do I have this? I don't smoke.
-cp-
Alaska Bugs Sweat Gold Nuggets
When I go on vacation I bring my laptop and digital camera. The laptop is for storing the pictures. You can visit Slashdot, play games, whatever at home. The laptop has no games aside from the default games installed with Win98 and no modem. It's an old 133mhz.
The idea of going camping, going on vacation, is to get away from the everyday. If it's not helping you explore or survive, don't bring it.
If you want to play shoot-em up buy some paint-ball guns. If you want to play some racing games, rent some ATVs.
Any excuse to get away from computers is a good excuse.
Slashdot will still be here when you get back. The idea is to enjoy new things. Not to enjoy the same old same old in a different setting.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
I sure don't need a gps to know where I am. A map, a compass and the sun seem to work pretty good.
A horse and carriage work pretty well too, doesn't mean you need to forgo a car. GPS is the more advanced method and it works well. Why purposely decide not to use it when it's available?
Grue?
....
Did somebody say grue?
> frotz lantern
There is no lantern here.
(oh shit, I dropped it back there)
> frotz me
You emit a bright white light. The room
(ah.... creativity is useful in a pinch, as is the proper spellbook memory)
[Kiff, Bender, Fry and Leela around a campfire]
Bender: And even though the computer was off and unplugged, an image stayed on the screen... It was... THE WINDOWS LOGO!
Get 200 or so smart folks with a lot in common together in one place at one time, let them pitch tents
This sounds like a recipe for a gay bukkake movie...get 200 guys together and let them "pitch tents"? Ugg.
So we are out camping, and there is wood and no matches so I turn to my buddy and ask "How can we start a fire?" He aswers "Lets google it" and we both turn to the geeks next to us and ask.
The panic on everyone's face when someone asks about TP and everyone thinks it's related to IP.
I have to wonder how their laptops get power... from the looks of the photos it wasn't a whole lot of camping in the wilderness.. at least by my standards an extention cord running into your tent doesnt count
When Girls Go Wild!
Though rarely do those events coincide. You could combine them into When Geek Girls Go Wild Camping! I'd buy that for a dollar.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
They thought charging to send e-mails is
a) new
b) a good idea
Charging for e-mails is going to work just as well charging for instant messaging. Fuck you if you think you're getting my credit card number just so I can send an e-mail. I'm sure the kids who can't get credit cards are going to just love this idiotic little plan.
"Information wants to be free"
Unless it's an e-mail. And why? Because old grandpa asshat decided it was "the price to pay to fight spam."
I'll stick to filtering links.
I'm down to maybe one or two spams a day and all I do is update my filters, which takes all of a few minutes, and I'm free of all like spam. I block dozens of spams a day.
Here's a crazy idea, stick to the ideas that don't invade my privacy and my pocket book.
Ben
Work Safe Porn
I really need to get out more.
Well, my name is Chris Shiflett, and I was invited.
(For those who don't get it, Chris Shiflett is also the name of a Foo Fighter. I'm not sure which one.)
And it's not fun. My brother got it in India, and the medicine he had to take was measured in grams, not milligrams.
Eagles may soar, but weasles don't get sucked into jet engines...
An importan question:
With everybody there being an equally good candidate to be the guy whose underwear are run up the flagpole, who would they choose?
A Good Intro to NetBS
That's not camping! This is camping!.
"Yeah, well, Dracula called and he's coming over tonight for you and I said okay."
Because you don't want it with you. I pity those that bring their GPSes, walkie talkies, and cellphones. Ditch them. They don't do you any good whatsoever and are not reliable in the outdoors. I don't go camping to live like I do at home, I go camping to camp. I don't know if what I am saying is lost on anyone, but it makes a hell of a lot of sense to me.
So they were drinking,
There must have been a Foo Bar
I'll get my coat...
Gee, that's funny -- my walkie-talkies (ham radio, FERN, and Civil Air Patrol frequency-capable, not some stupid $10 FRS radio) have helped rescue injured and lost people from mountains or rugged backcountry terrain, the GPS has pinpointed the location for other SAR members when necessary, and the cellphone sometimes even works.
It's not about leaving them at home. It's about knowing when it's appropriate to use them.
You may leave your toys at home when you're in the woods, that's fine -- when an active, prepared volunteer Search & Rescue team member happens by and you've fallen down and broken an ankle, you'll be happy we have ours with us.
+++OK ATH
...in Quake.
I object to the next comment.
If you open your mind too wide, people will throw trash in it.
I enjoy this from of camping a lot. I bring everything I need on my bike: tent, cooking equipment, sleeping bag, clothes, tools, food etc.. I really enjoy the feeling of being self sufficient, I can ride anywhere I want and get rid of all worries. On a bicycle you see and smell a lot more than travelling by a car. Including rain of course..
Who gets voted off first?
That's the point! I have very good memories from a vacation trip to the mountains with my son. We ended up one-on-one multiplayer shootout of "Age Of Empires" played on a peer2peer network made of our two Airport-equipped iBooks. I took my cell phone so in the evening, when he went to sleep, I could even do some slashdotting from the wilderness.
Exactly. The picture and description in the article makes it sound like they were sitting around in folding chairs with laptops under outdoor-wedding style tents, not "you can't sit up without hitting something" tents. I wouldn't be surprised if there were generators and porto-potties like you'd see at an outdoor concert. I'm sorry, that's not camping. It may be a lot of smart people getting away from their normal offices or homes, and doing something outside. But it ain't camping.
The Linuxbierwanderung does that since 1999. It's a gathering of geeks, making holiday together while doing the tech-stuff. Don't be bothered by the name Linux, every Geek is welcome.
:)
And yes, it is non commercial. But Tim is surely invited, if if bothers to deal with geeks
See http://www.linuxbierwanderung.org/
Alex.
You look like a million dollars. All green and wrinkled.
Read the fucking FAQ. If you don't get it, don't mod. Twat.
They say one of the most important things for a good tech startup is "good chemistry" with your Venture Capitalist(s). Maybe going camping together helps to find out more about that.
What about the converse, taking a bunch of campers and lumberjacks into a Monday morning 9 a.m. business meeting?
Yes, people do sell low-number IDs on Ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item =2978087619&category=1469
I'm sorry, the number you have dialed is an imaginary number. Please rotate your phone 90 degrees and dial again.
from the stereotype against big corps (particularly MS, everything they do must have alterior motive... sometimes it doesn't though), against jocks or sports types, against management. Part of the joke about the "stereotype" is that we're not really being serious, but rather making fun of the common image portrayed for various groups - including ourselves.
No, we don't all wear horn-rim glasses and pocket protectors, but it's funny to laugh at the fact the some people think so. Hell... I think that what being a good is really about is being up to new activities, concept, etc - that includes both physical and intellectual ones. That being said, a large portion of us are actively involved with mice/keyboard/joysticks, but that doesn't mean it's our whole lives.
Good post, and good points.
How did your SAR team teach you to Navigate? Map and compass, or GPS?
When I was doing SAR (State explorer post 181 out of Salem, OR, if you are interested), orienteering was conducted entirely by map and compass. It was good training, but if you are going to search professionally, I would suggest having at least one team member equipped with GPS. It just makes life a lot easier.
A set of good radios is necessary when for conducting a good search. With out it, team members have difficultly locating each other, and calling in help once you have located your objective is also problematic. Definitely a good thing to have with you under those circumstances.
I don't carry one when I'm camping, though. I mostly camp in area that feels like my backyard, and I don't do much back packing. I notify a family member when I head out, and tell them where I will be. If I were really concerned about getting lost or injured and being unable to find help, I would rent an Emergency location transmitter. There are several good teams in the Portland/Vancouver area with a response time of around 2 hours, providing you use the ELT..
Much easier than trying to give your exact location over a radio.. Also cheaper in the short run.
josh
Yeah, ELT's are gooooood.... Front Range Electronic Direction Finders.
+++OK ATH