WHYcast transcript episode 12

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Transcript 12

Nancy: Hi, and welcome to the WHYcast episode 12. I’m Nancy. I’m Ad. And we are the hosts of the only podcast about a hacker camp in the universe. This volunteer run event will take place next year in the Netherlands, approximately 42 kilometers above Amsterdam, from August 8th to 12th, 2025. So, Ad, what are we talking about today?

Ad: Today we have some very exciting news about the tickets. We have some fun stuff to do tomorrow. So, if you’re listening to this later on, I’m sorry, you’re probably too late. We have a cool interview with Walter again, and we had an interview with Kato at Wiccon, talking about the bar and food court teams. Important. Important. We got to stay hydrated—we got to eat—yes, yes, yes, yes, good food. Yes, we have a vacancy of the week. We have messengers from listeners. But first, I think we should start off with the exciting news about tickets. Because, how many have we sold by now?

Nancy: We have went through the magical…

Ad: Well, first of all, the thousands.

Nancy: The thousands. So, we sold… No, first of all, we sold out all the early nerd tickets. But we shared that last episode. And then we went through the roof and went on… There are thousands. So, we went through the thousands barrier. And, yeah, will the next stop be 1500 before Christmas?

Ad: Yeah, because I saw a social post saying we broke a thousand. Will you make it 1024? It didn’t last. It didn’t last. I mean, before the message was out, it was 1024, because we’re now on our way to 1100.

Nancy: Let me check. As we speak, as we… Oh. Thousand forty six at the moment at the time of recording, yeah, so who knows what it’s going to be on Friday. I don’t know when this is going to be edited but we could put in the edited at edit time how much it is then it will be this number and probably by the time you’re listening to this this was the number for now.

Ad: Yep, we hope so because, um, well at least we’re not throwing this party for no one. No no no no, there’s going to be more than a thousand friends. What would help us a lot and everybody a lot was what we shared in our presentation about the history of Dutch hacker camps as well, um, a while back, when the internet wasn’t that much there yet—viral went through snail mail through hectics and sharing okay bring all your friends and bring your friends’ friends and so we became the first viral campaign. Nowadays we have Blue Sky, Mastodon, LinkedIn, all the other platforms to share the fact that you have gotten your ticket and you want your friends to tag along. So please help Team:Info—which is the team where others in Team:Info I’m helping out with that department—help us out and share the why love, share the fact that you were coming. Soon we will have a social media package with images that you can use to share with your network. I’m going to WHY 2025, so keep an eye out on that and yeah let’s try and make it to the 1500.

Nancy: Around Christmas that will be a really cool Christmas present.

Ad: Yup, and um, yeah exactly. The thing about the selling out of tickets: not only the 512 early nerd tickets are gone—that was within how much time? Four to five hours. Yes, I was asleep and I missed it. So there’s that. So now we’re on to the regular tickets. I mean we have early nerds buying early nerd tickets, we have regular nerds buying regular… no there are no regular nerds but we have regular tickets. Those will be available until the 28th of February 2025, so there’s a bit of time. If Christmas is too expensive then in January, February you can still buy the tickets, no problem, and there’s no limit to those tickets.

Nancy: There was a limit though to camper tickets and there’s no limit to those tickets, and this also sold out in record time. Currently we are investigating with the appropriate teams to figure out if there are options to find extra spots. We’re not rushing that much because a lot of teams are under a lot of pressure already, but please do know that we are investigating what options we have to add maybe more camper places as well.

Ad: Tickets as well. Cool. Yep, yes, that was I think the news. Yep. So where are we going tomorrow? We will share where you can find wide-minded people, where to hack.

Ad: Amersfoort, yes—tomorrow we’re going to Amersfoort for an in-person Orga meet.

Nancy: Yet again at Bit Layer. The doors will open at 14:14—it’s 14:15 but it’s the 14th of December, so if you come a minute early that’s nice because I’m a geek, I’m a sucker for numbers. Please do register on the wiki which you can find in the show notes if you want to come, because we can make sure we can provide you with food and beverages, which is important of course. Yes, and we will both be there. We will both be there. We will both be there. If you are interested in giving an interview for the WHYcast about what your team is working on or other cool stuff, please let us know and we will put you in front of a camera, give you a mic, and we will record an interview with you—yes, like we did with Kato. Stick around for that, and I hope to see you all tomorrow at Bit Layer. If you have a very cool story about a previous camp that you want to share with the WHYcast, that is an opportunity.

Nancy: And someone who already did that is Walter.

Ad: Yes—each episode will be diving into a piece of history, something special from the predecessors of WHY 2025. That could be from the Galactic Hacker Party 1989, Hackers at the End of the Universe 1993, Hacking in Progress 1997, Hackers at Large 2001, What the Hack 2005, Hacking at Random 2009, Observe Hack Make 2013, Still Hacking Anyway 2017, May Contain Hackers 2021, No Mac of It Happened 2022. And we have cool stories again with Walter, and this time we’re talking about OHM, which was my first camp being actively present and volunteering. Ah, there it is—I recognize that one. There should be one over here as well somewhere. Let’s explain what’s happening: Walter is wearing his OHM hat. That was a hat that not only showed the event but you could also get all kinds of patches and stickers on there—with flags to show which languages you could speak, and also badges for orga and volunteers to show what teams you were part of.

Walter: I don’t think these ones had it in earlier editions—the previous ones it was printed on the cap. Here I was a volunteer but it doesn’t say so on the cap. But we did have different wristbands or lanyards, different colors—themes, very cool. If you want to see those you have to look at the YouTube instead of listening to the audio podcast.

Ad: We’ll put a link in the show notes or just search the WHY channel on YouTube—WHY 2025. But stories about OHM: it was in 2013, it got quite big with the thousands of people, it was also sold out—I believe. I was a volunteer again and I also did some lectures there. It was funny because I thought “I want to do a lecture but I don’t really have a topic,” so I wrote a proposal to do a talk about DNSSEC, which I didn’t know much about. When the proposal was accepted I had a few months to dive into the topic, make a presentation, and learn it at the same time—and that worked really well. So people there who want to talk at the hacker conference just send in a proposal of something you’d like to learn about and that gives you incentive to actually do it. This is a great tip.

Nancy: And the CFP for WHY is open until the 25th of May, so that’s more than enough time to get become an expert on whatever—cfp.WHY2025.org. Now, the big thing that happened at OHM was probably Julian Assange—he did a live video link from the Ecuadorian embassy in London to present. But what I remember most vividly is: I was doing press, and we had golf carts to drive across the terrain. There was controversy because Fox-IT was a sponsor, seen by some as the enemy because they did stuff for police and wiretapping software. I was with another company in security assessment, we had a little tent giving away Fred’s Cola, the new high-caffeine cola. Luckily not much happened with us, but there were some non-hacker-like dramas. I know people who worked for Fox-IT got burnout from verbal abuse. But there were also amazing things—like a blacksmith hacking with iron on site, melting iron and forging tools, which made for great press photos. And artist Bart Johnson turned his stuffed cat into a flying “Orville copter.” I saw the picture—it was amazing and bizarre. He’s now got a flying rat and tarantula. Maybe we should invite him again.

Nancy: I’ve seen the picture so I’ll insert it in the YouTube video here. It was great.

Walter: Yeah, that looked bizarre. He also had an emu or ostrich turned into a helicopter. And again, there was a radio station—Psychic—and I did late-night shows on Omroep. I even made songs and performed on Om radio with a colleague.

Ad: So I think Astrid Oosenburg was on Omroep back then as part of our government in the Tweede Kamer, and now she’s deeply involved with all radio stations.

Nancy: So that was pretty cool.

Ad: I thought.

Nancy: But from what I heard from old organizers, OHM was an edition where we learned a lot about things to do better, but for visitors it was still amazing. I really enjoyed myself.

Walter: Yeah, it was an amazing event. It was getting bigger but the organization and logistics were really good. It ran smoothly—teams bring in new people and continue experienced ones. It works wonderfully. Everyone at the event is a volunteer, and delegating some tasks to visitors helps a lot. At another festival they had trash cans with QR codes—scan when full and someone comes to empty it. A mini society in action.

Nancy: Very cool. And Manduca, who’s done a lot of logistics since HIP, wants to be on the WHYcast. We’ll talk to him soon.

Ad: So he’ll have some stories as well.

Nancy: Absolutely.

Ad: So I guess that was OHM.

Nancy: Yep.

Ad: Yep. See you next time—for some stories about WARCamps.

Nancy: We just checked the wiki—if Manduca is at tomorrow’s meet, we’ll get him in front of the camera. He’s willing to share stories. Future episodes will have Manduca too. Very cool.

Ad: Yeah, and that ties in with our next item: tomorrow is the Orga meet in person. At Wiccon we had people on camera, including Kato from Team:Bar and Team:Food Court—she tells what her teams are working on.

Nancy: Awesome. Let’s listen. We’re at Wiccon today. I’m glad to see you here. I’m not quite sure when we’ll put this in the episode, but that’s okay. Kato, please tell us more about who you are and what you’re doing.

Kato: So many questions, yes. Well, it’s great to be on your podcast. I’m Kato and I’m here at Wiccon because I work in cybersecurity. These hacker community events give me good vibes, so I volunteered at MCH 2022 on Team:Bar. We provided event bars—nice drinks, enough mate, and good food, which is everything. That’s my passion: making sure people have a good time. For WHY 2025, we started with a bar team and now we’re looking at the food court. I’m making sure people get fed and hydrated and have a good time. We plan three event bars: one 24/7 near the main stage, one near the food court with a terrace and varied carts (maybe a barista, pancakes, ice cream), and one along the canal with a karaoke bar. If you want to help, we need people for upfront planning—floor plans for tents, beer carts, dustbins, freezers, tables and chairs; ordering lists: crates of mate, coolers, snacks; menu for the food court. There’s a small team now, same as MCH, but new people are welcome.

Nancy: OK, so there’s experience there.

Ad: New people are welcome.

Kato: Yes—we have new people, some came as angels at MCH and became shift leaders. Experience counts: knowing where to place coolers and bins. We also need ideas for the food court range. Lots of work now—if you want to help, great. All ideas for karaoke playlists: any song with “why” in title or lyrics. And if you can’t help before but you’re on site, be an angel—do a two-hour bar shift, we’ll show you how fun it is. Yes, very cool.

Nancy: Do you have a fond memory of MCH 2022—something funny or a success?

Kato: We had a big problem at first: angel shifts in four bars—you can’t be in four places. We needed a plan. One guy, Mark, typed up a protocol: how to open and close the bar, what to do if something goes wrong, how to keep atmosphere cool post-COVID. We noted it down, tweaked it, asked first-day bar volunteers to refine it, and turned them into shift leaders. It worked like a charm. That’s the format we’ll continue—input from last time, learned a lot. Everyone from MCH is welcome; you don’t need bar experience—pour coffee, help, we’ll teach you.

Nancy: Thank you so much for your time and effort to make Y25 a great success and for this interview.

Kato: Yes, thank you too. It’s fun.

Nancy: Cool. One nice thing about these camps: volunteering as an angel lets you try new things like making a podcast or video editing for the first time—and meet people. Friendships come from volunteering.

Ad: As I said, if you can pour coffee, you can help the team. If you want to help Team:Info with promo or social posts, get in touch—we need extra hands. More news needs sharing and we only have so much time. Contact Team:Info via the wiki or info@why2025.org. Hope to see you there and tomorrow.

Ad: If you missed it or can’t make the December 14 meet, there’s another in-person Orga meet on February 22. Location TBA.

Nancy: I’ll check with Bookworm. It’s close to her birthday—bring a present!

Ad: Good excuse for a party.

Nancy: Maybe not Christmas-themed but birthday-themed—celebrate The Birthday Paradox next episode.

Nancy: Don’t we love Ad?

Ad: Yes. We’ll put links in the show notes to all meetings and teams mentioned today. If you have remarks or questions for the WHYcast, send them to whycast@why2025.org. We’ll answer questions from a listener who asked based on a previous camp—useful for many. More background deep dives coming.

Ad: Follow us on social media, click likes, subscribes, share on YouTube, leave comments. Socials and email are easiest to contact us.

Ad: And with that, we are at the end of this 12th episode.

Nancy: Thanks for listening to us, and we hope to see you next Friday.