it’s monday again. another new week! but wow, we have some serious recapping to do.
defcon 13 has come and gone and boy has it been a blast. we saw a lot of great and horrible talks, met tons of cool people, gave out tons of stickers and t-shirts and pins, and also got hacked! w00t!
we still have a few shirts (and tons of stickers) left though. we’ll let you know how you can get your hands on the in the next few days!
Defcon has really been great despite being a bit dissapointing in a lot of ways. It made me get back into my hacking roots that are so much fun to do. For instance, while we were hanging with the dudes over at rackspace, I created this nice little php page making it very easy to test Movable Type installations for the default username and password. I like it, it’s very fun. Just copy and paste the http://www.cfrirgrg.com/mt.cgi address in the box. No HTTP:// is required (don’t do it) so it’s easy to paste from the google results. i plan on improving it and eventually automating it.
what the hack was also over the weekend too. it took place all outdoors and was probably better than defcon. if you went, we wanna know.
then there’s the whole up-in-arms-over-this cisco exploit that came out that could “bring the internet to it’s knees”…ouch. the guy who found it quit his job at his security firm so he could bring attention to it and now he’s screwed basically.
props to this guy (rich) for shoving us to in-n-out burger too. he also exposed us to “the weight lifter” if i recall right. we don’t thank you for that. we also want to thank corey, dirk, jason s., ryan, justin (blogcadre raps), justin (lettingusstayathisplace), torrone, mike (same), jason c. of course, and all of you guys who came up and found us and said hi!
i think i’ve got a man-crush on vince… eek!
(from CT)
how was defcon disappointing?
In and OUt Burger…Nice. I’m in NOrCal and there just isn’t an In and OUt close enough for a fix. Great Burgers and I’m looking forward to seeing what your going to do with the rest of those shirts.
josh d.,
i was dissapointed in some ways as well, but it’s mostly my own fault. here’s the deal – if you go as a spectator, you will probably be underimpressed.
don’t get me wrong, some of the presentations were really interesting, but if you’re going to defcon, you need to participate to really have a good time. here are some ideas:
– stay at defcon. the folks who got rooms at the hotel there seemed to have a blast. you dont have to take taxis all around and you can participate in more events.
– participate in the events and contests. this was the biggest thing i missed. next time i’m preparing before hand so i can compete in the robotics and wardriving competitions, etc.
– interview and talk with as many cool people as possible. i found this really hard because a lot of people are freaked out about being recorded, having their pictures taken, etc. this is lame, but the few interviews i did get were really rewarding.
– for pete’s sake, let people interview you. the fbi has you on file anyway… the people who ask to take your picture are just trying to make the most of their experience. hell.. just take a picture of them too and toss an interview back at them.
give the cisco guy a t-shirt :)
4×4 grilled onions, animal style fries, neopolitan shake. Oh god. In-n-out rocks.
Also, this is my first post, but have been reading forever. Good job guys!
It never changes. The guy who tries to do the right thing always gets fucked over.
Vince Veneziani is undeniably sexy. Does anyone have any good pictures of him? His likes, dislikes, preferences? I’d do him silly.
hah! vince, with all these admirers, how on earth did you miss your chance to get married in vegas?
tracy, since you really want to know, come to defcon next year with a case of beer (none of that bellagio shit), a 50 patty burger, and a night vision camera. being an emaciated trust fund dilletante with pelvic bones fit for hanging coats, trashy blonde hair, and a coke-nose helps. i’m not allowed to say more.
oh.. and he likes long walks on the beach at sunset..
i was at wth (what the hack). it was stellar! i’m so glad i opted for camping even though we had some rain, the talks were good overall compared to what i saw at dc10. i stayed w/ the bsd guys, which was a very good choice. it was a very international crowd and lots of super intelligent people. being a girl was as usual still a bit rare, but having my hardware projects with me helped break the ice. great atmosphere! superb setting! [wired] network pretty much stayed up 90 percent of the time which rocked. oh and there were little semi-tame miniature bunny rabbits bouncing around on some of the fields: they were too cute! overall i had a fantastic time, learned a ton, and networked in person with many cool knowledgeable peeps.
—f
In-n-Out is a decent burger joint, you’ve gotta check out the “Secret Menu”, though!
http://www.in-n-out.com/secretmenu.asp
There’s a small chain on the East Coast, called Five Guys, they have better food than In-n-Out, but YMMV.
http://www.fiveguys.com/
Ha, I was in the BSD-tent also, I guess it’s been a very good choice (although I was more out on the field than in the tent) :-)
I made a pic of one of the bunnies! aka HaXX0R-bunny (yes, I know, that’s lame but I couldn’t resist…)
http://geektechnique.org/gallery/wth2005/DSC04464
markie: yes i saw you with your crazy lime green ibook at the end of my table. random thought: boy am i sick of eating fries and ramen though, it was amazing to be back home with my real kitchen and a real bed and my towers. the cold shower bank at wth was good though for waking up after a long night/morning of hacking.
p.s. i thought the black bunnies were cuter. *smile*
cheers,
f
since were talking about food… everyone from mass seems to be in love with sonic – we have all these commercials for them but none are round here… i don’t even know where then closest one is!
Hahaha, even though we haven’t actually met at the conference, it sure is a small world this way (Were you the girl that had some DECT-phone project and helped some of the guys out with making UTP-cable? ;-))
About your random thought: Same here when I woke up in my own bed, having a nice shower and something else than tosti’s for breakfast…
I sure regret that i haven’t taken a picture of the BSD-developers chasing the rabbits :d
Staying at the con was definitely a plus, although the Alexis Park is kind of a dump. Purple pools (or for that matter, liquid-nitrogen-cooled pools) are as fun as hacking presentations. Speaking of the pools, you’ll also see the pastiest collection of skin ever witnessed in Vegas.
Partying went on pretty much all night every night, and we watched a lot of presentations from the comfort of our room. Just as well, there were too many talks that were impossible to get into.
having a margarita with vince and eliot wasn’t half bad either.
markie yes i’m the girl that was down the table from you with the dect to rotary phone hack project and i did make some straight through ethernet cable one night.
final note on what the hack: i heard more languages spoken in a given radius than anywhere else i’ve ever been.
—f
>p.s. i thought the black bunnies were cuter. *smile*
Ha! I found a picture of one of the black bunnies (on another gallery) :-)
http://ozeanos.gxis.de/gallery/WhatTheHack/AB_2005_0729_150457AA