Friday Day One of Hope_16

I woke at 6, and while I had slept well, 14,000 steps that day, it seemed way too f**king early when my alarm woke me. The skies, resembling Oregon in the fall, were gray, but the sunlight was bright. It would be another hot and humid day in Queens and Fresh Meadows. Deborah was awake, and we talked by phone and text much of the morning. We enjoy starting and ending our days together.

As is my habit, I started the blog in my room, 302, at the Fairfield Inn with coffee made in the room. I used to bring Deborah coffee when we were together, and I think of her when I make coffee in the room machine (she always gets the first one). I later showered, dressed, and went to the lobby for a better breakfast. While not a treat, it is better than most industrial breakfasts I have had free at other hotels. I wrote the blog through most of the early morning, and noticed many folks heading to Hope_16, which made me realize I should switch to a more sinister T-shirt. I had the Kickstarter Night Stalker one with me, and I changed to that after breakfast and getting myself ready for my first exposure to a Hacker’s conference.

I dropped off the postcard for Mom Wild at the mailbox (surprised to see one), and waited a short moment for the Q30 bus ($2.90). I boarded the bus and took the short trip in a nearly empty bus, and soon I was off the bus and walking into St. John’s University. The place was filled with NY’s Finest. There was a police academy for kids, and the police were often in their dress blues. Quite a startling moment for folks headed to a Hope_16!

With something like, “Surely, this can’t be right,” going through my mind, I returned to the area where I was registered. It was a kind of polite chaos of a mix of a rock concert, but for introverts and computer geeks. I did not bring my laptop, and my iPhone was set to no WiFi or Bluetooth, as I had been warned. I would do my note-taking on a pad, totally analog!

My notes indicate that my initial impression was that the attendees were quiet (though the noise level increased throughout the day as people became more comfortable) and predominantly male (though I would later decrease my estimate to be 80% male, as more attendees appeared and clearly identified as female). Dark T-shirts were the de rigueur. Many folks were reconnecting from what I witnessed, and young, especially those projecting female, were the usual, with only a few people with gray hair and even fewer folks in their 60s.

Opening comments included the observation that “you can’t possibly pull this off.” And that it always works anyway. “Do the impossible anyway,” was the advice. But to do this in the “most positive way.” “It is hard,” they told us. Volunteers are needed, and thanks for the help. “We evolve” was shared as the reason it was still working, and that “goodwill makes it work.” And the last comment I recorded was that they “shone light where it is needed.”

Kody Kinzie was my first speaker, and I would take multiple workshops from him and paid a few hundred bucks for those workshops and the interesting devices for hacking and running a Meshtastic network (and how to break one). Kody runs the Hack.gay website and is a security researcher on the open-source side of things. He is also good with small devices, and I enjoyed building my own hardware in his class (just a few through-hole stuff, but still fun).

Kody demonstrated how to utilize his devices, specifically older Chinese-made hardware capable of modifying packet headers, to both scan and attack. Parts are about $3-10, making it almost throw-away stuff. I was happy I did not have a laptop with me, though I could not run the things myself, and my iOS stuff likely would not work anyway. Hmmm. I needed a throw-away image and a basic laptop next time. Double Hmmm.

Next, I listened to a talk about security for small to medium-sized businesses and learned that these are the usual targets of criminal computer attacks. I was told that, on average, an attack costs $200K and that 60% of the victim companies shut down within six months of an attack. Sobering. I also learned that Amazon shares its security training for its employees for free.

I skipped a Python class as it required a laptop, and instead did some lectures.

I listened to a rambling but interesting presentation on a person’s experience with their aphantasia, the inability to visualize while thinking. He suggested that AI has this same problem, and he, Dr. Brown, showed how chatbots tried to help him build his presentation. Dr. Brown was clear that he saw no intelligence, imagination, or clear reasoning being demonstrated, just a kind of pattern application. He implied that AI has aphantasia and worse.

Davis DeWin, a YouTuber, covers how he built a robot for a movie, including how to make it cute and sort of lovable for a kids’ movie. The movie did not want CGI but real machines. The machine used parts I know well, and the body was all 3D printed. DeWin says he learned a lot, including the challenges of 3D printing something that needs to be used as a robot, and he suggested, “Try to build things that don’t make sense.” This will yield 1) Increased options, 2) Allows for unconventional questions, 3) and “Build it for you.” He also suggests that getting help for what he did not know how to do was important to his success.

I met the designer, Clyde, of GameTank, which is an old 6502-based game console (that is the chip from the original Apple machines) with plug-in game cartridges. It was fascinating for me, and Clyde was happy to talk to someone who understood what he had done. I often daydream about building a 6502 machine when I see the chip set for sale. Clyde did it, and his colleague has a Rust port to build 8-bit games for it. I am really tempted to buy a pre-built model ($250, using SMD) and pick up some games ($30 or so each), then start coding for it. Do I need another thing to do? I will try to resist, but it is a daydream brought to life by Clyde!

Lunch was my leftover sandwich from last night. It was excellent cold. I found that in the evening, the conference had a food truck, and I had chicken fingers with a waffle and syrup. Not exactly low sugar for me, but pasta (!) was the other option. I brought an apple (the kind from a tree) from the hotel, but it was bruised to an uncomfortable level, and I did not finish it.

From the 2600 store, I got the conference T-shirt (black, no surprise there, with terminal green print), a mouse pad with their government-like seal, and a copy of the magazine with my story.

I was sleepy before the food, and there was no coffee (yikes!).

I found the Q30 bus and was soon in my room and chatting with Deborah. I was thinking of going to the pub next door or writing, but I just put my head down and soon I was asleep.

I did meet the pizza guy from Two Brothers in the elevator; he was delivering a meal. He did not remember me, but I again thanked him for the excellent pizza.

I woke up at 10:30, put on my PJs, and slept until 5ish with the sunrise.

Thanks for reading.