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ToorCamp: Adventures In an American Hacker Camp
jcatcw writes "While a tech camping event might sound like an oxymoron, hackers, makers, breakers and shakers assembled at the northwestern tip of the USA for ToorCamp and dispelled the notion that all hackers avoid sunshine and the great outdoors. As you would expect from a hacker conference, there were workshops like the one for lock picking and a plethora of presentations from "hacking computers to brain hacking, from brewing soda to fighting robots, from civil rights to lightning guns." Then unique aspects of this cool hacker camp get more bizarre . . like the laser that was so bright it required FAA clearance to deploy it, the ShadyTel community 'payphone,' the Temple of Robotron, an RFID implantation station, bike jousting, dancing robots and of course campfires. Need an even stranger adventure that's also in the ToorCon family of hacking conferences? There's the upcoming WorldToor, the first ever hacker conference in Antarctica."
Do members of a group really need to be told they don't necessarily conform to the stereotype? Imagine telling a crowd of women that they aren't all irrational and overly emotional because some subset of them joined the debate club. It's still insulting, because of the presumption.
They have a whole cooking class devoted to making dishes with foot cheese! Mmmm mmm!
Foot cheese is really the only completely free cheese since you make it yourself.
No shaggers, then?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
See you all there (or on 29c3 in Hamburg)!
You can have my lightning gun when you pry it from my charred, tetanized hands!
"FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
Pekka Himanen (The Hacker Ethic) articulates how hackers represent a new, opposing ethos for the information age. That there are values underneath their actions and creations that challenge us all. They share a spirit that they can discover and create great things in imaginative ways. They questions cultural "norms" in a society that is often overly focused on outcomes at the expense of privacy and equality.
The cost and potential profit motives of such adventures (and lack of universal access) seem to be very oxymoronic given the audience and ideals. I question the motives of the sponsors. I also worry that the sensational aspects overwhelm or drown out the very real risks in young, impressionable minds. Additionally, there is the potential "Big Brother" list generating opportunity for government [shudder].
On the whole, I think this is a wonderful idea. It is something I would have enjoyed. But in the absence of any guiding principles or philosophical grounding, I am concerned that we are nurturing western-style martyrs. Every action has consequences...
https://plus.google.com/events/cs8qqqn96f2ktfvm66s3sb2cpes/103112149634414554669
That salmon was caught fresh that day. Also pics of the laser near the bottom.
If you're in the UK and want to go to a hacker camp EMFCamp is weekend after next!
*CONTIGUOUS* United States.
There.
I fixed it.
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Once: you're a philosopher. Twice: a pervert.