DEFCON is a Social Networking EventDEFCON makes all of the audio and
video content available (for a price) afterwards, meaning you can watch all
of the presentations as if you were there anyway. What you can’t do is mill
about and catching up with your with your friends and colleagues from all
over the country (or make new friends and colleagues). That’s invaluable,
and it should be the main reason for attending these types of events.
You Can Tell a Lot About a Person by the Shirt They WearMost people
wear regular shirts — polos, t-shirts, etc. — that have no writing on them.
Those don’t count. What I’m speaking of is those who are trying to make a
statement by calling attention to themselves with text or images on their
shirts. Among those you can tell who is most skilled by the shirt they
choose. Simple rule: if the shirt they choose represents an old meme that
died a long time ago, they’re most likely followers with very little
creative power. If the shirt they’re wearing is something really obscure,
they’re likely leaders.
Examples: There were many guys walking around with the binary shirt — the
one that starts with “There are only 10 kinds of people in this world, those
who understand binary and those who don’t.” This was a cool shirt. In fact
it still is a cool shirt. But the only reason to wear writing on a
shirt at a con is to have others read it. In other words you’re calling
attention to yourself on purpose. And in the case of a hacker convention,
the goal is to impress.
If your method of impressing a convention full of hackers is to support a
joke that was old a few years ago, you’re not a thought leader. These people
are likely to be followers who simply mimic others and do very little on
their own. Not because they wear a shirt with an old joke on it, which is
fine in other settings, but because they thought it would impress the DEFCON
crowd three years later.
Now, contrast that to people like Dan Kaminsky and H.D. Moore. They both
wore shirts that had cryptic icons or text on them. Unknown icons or
text. In fact, there are likely to be very few people at the whole con who
knew what those shirts meant — and that’s the way they like it. They’re
trying to make a statement just like the guys with the binary shirt, but the
difference is that they are actually succeeding by wearing something obscure
and interesting. You would never catch any of these thought-leaders
promoting a tired meme at a con.
In other words, the elite group create and promote new memes, while
the followers are attracted to the well-established and therefore stale
ones.
It’s like in the writing world. Good writers find new ways to say things
while poor writers use cliches. The thing is, cliches are still good
writing. The only reason they are bad choices is because they’ve been
overused — just like the binary shirt meme.
Meet Mary — Your Smart AI ICT Teacher for O-Level Secondary Education in Uganda! Welcome…
Journey Through Faith: An Introduction to Senior Three Islamic Religious EducationWelcome, students, to an enriching…
Meet Isha Karungi — Your Smart AI Islamic Studies Teacher for O-Level! Welcome to the…
Having studied Spanish for over 6 years, I knew what dulce de leche meant. Sweet.…
I found kiwis on sale. Five for $1! In the middle of winter. In January.…
An experience. That’s what Ghirardelli is to me. For many years, San Francisco was a…
Leave a Comment