WHYcast transcript episode 19
| WHYcast episode | |
|---|---|
| Episode Nr. | 19 |
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Transcript episode 19
Nancy: Hi, and welcome to the WHYcast episode 19. I'm Nancy. Hi, Ad. And we are the hosts of the only podcast about a hacker camp in the universe. This volunteer-run event will take place this year in the Netherlands, approximately 42 kilometers above Amsterdam, from August 8 to 12. So, Ad, what are we talking about today? And we finally have sold more than 50% of the tickets! But keep an eye out on your mailbox if you have signed up for the waiting list—because you might receive an email that there’s a camper spot available for you. Okay. That was the news already, right? I think so. I just hijacked your part of the equation here. I’m sorry, man. Sometimes that happens. It’s just because I was so happy. But we made it part. Unreal. In other news, it might also be a great idea to mention yet again that the next in-person meetup will be on the 22nd of February in Arnhem, with our friends at HEC42. I’ve seen that only seven people signed up—which is fine—but last time 75 people showed up, so probably that’s not the reality. Okay. And it’s just not the amount of people that we need to arrange food for, and we really like to have dinner for everybody who shows up. So if you’re planning to come, please sign up on the wiki. You can find the meeting on the left side in the meeting section, and I will also share a link in the show notes. So you can sign up there. We will see you in Arnhem on the 22nd of February. I think that was it for the news part. And let’s talk about where to hack. Each week, we share where you can find WHY-minded people—where to hack. So I guess when this episode of the WHYcast comes out, I am on my way to Brussels, to FOSDEM. If you still want to come and you’re listening to this as soon as it comes out, you are still able to make it. Head over to Brussels and meet us there. You can find our big version of the WHY-light. If you watch this on YouTube, you can see a tiny version—but I brought a big WHY-light as well. Find the big WHY neon sign at FOSDEM and come talk to us. I will be there together with Bukoburm, Christel, Pindakaas, and Robert (he is Number3), also part of Team:Info—a colleague of Ad. We’ll also be there, and probably way more WHY-minded people as well. We most certainly will be there. If you want to find out more or just have a chat with us, please visit our stand at FOSDEM. Right after that will be Configuration Management Camp. I reacted to a post by one of the organizers on LinkedIn yesterday—Walter—because I know him from the DevOps Days community. So I said, “Thanks for organizing! We mentioned you in the WHYcast.” I heard it is a cool camp as well.
Ad: Well, it’s becoming a tradition. We have news, we have interviews, we have a vacancy of the week, we have some messages from listeners. Yeah, and we don’t have to go back and re-record stuff like that, because now we actually blew past the halfway mark by a lot. I guess it was payday, end-of-the-month moment, and now people were like, “Okay—now let me get a ticket.” Yeah, that was definitely—you can definitely see that in the statistics. Suddenly it almost froze. Payday came by and double the amount of a regular day. Yeah, so that was probably it. But now we can safely say we are way beyond halfway. There’s also been an update on the camper spots. They’ve added 42 camper spots—four people on the waiting list. So they are with the Pouchy system, specifically for these people. They will get their opportunity to buy a camper ticket in order. And I guess by the time this is published, they’ll be sold out again. I don’t know. That is too far in the future to say. And I don’t want to do the re-recording stuff again. But there have been some messages from listeners…
Listener: I don’t know anyone who can come with me. So it’s scary to go there by myself.
Ad: One of the places you can visit at WHY is Millieways. To call them just a village would be… It’s a group of travelers, basically. But I think the person I interviewed—Obsidian—explains it way better than we can. So let’s listen to his explanation.
Nancy: Here with me today is Obsidian, and I’m very happy because I know you’re at least one of the avid listeners to the WHYcast—that is very cool. We’ve received some lovely compliments as well, so thank you for that. I’m very happy you’re here today to join me for an interview.
Obsidian: Thank you for having me. Welcome. So the thing we’re going to talk about today, I guess, is Millieways. Most people who have been to all sorts of camps probably know exactly what Millieways is, or maybe Douglas Adams readers know exactly what Millieways is. But could you please explain for someone who has no clue whatsoever a little bit about who you are and what Millieways is?
Obsidian: Yeah, sure. My name is Obsidian. I am one of the travelers with Millieways. I haven’t been with Millieways all that long. My first encounter with them was in 2002. I was 23 at the Chaos Camp above Berlin—I can’t remember the name of the place anymore. So what is Millieways? Millieways is an international group of technology enthusiasts. Sometimes we’re professional. We offer an inclusive and welcoming space to anyone and everyone from all walks of life at these hacker events—large ones like Congress, Camp, WHY, and EMF, but also smaller ones like Easter Egg and GPN. We’re not bound together by a physical space. Often you see villagers bound by a physical hackerspace, like the one you visited in Valencia. But what we also see is people grouping around a particular theme. Recently at Congress, we had people grouped through their interest in the use of cryptography—they call themselves the Church of Cryptography. So Millieways doesn’t really have a theme. We are a hackerspace without a space, and we offer a space for international travelers who might not have all of their infrastructure aligned to come to these huge events. We started as an inside joke in the late ’90s, and in the early 2000s it became real when a group of under-prepared friends from the States visited a European camp. We had to put things together—tents, sleeping accommodation, a kitchen, and things like that. That’s grown into what we are now, where we can support 400 to 500 people with a full-serve kitchen offering three meals a day and social events in the evenings. It doesn’t need to be security or hacking; it can be someone’s favorite music or art installation over drinks—that’s many ways.
Nancy: Very cool. So if people are worried about what to bring, or they don’t have a tent or anything, they can always reach out to you and say, “Hey, can I become a traveler?”
Obsidian: Yeah—sure. There are no barriers to joining. Simply turn up and say hello, and we’ll always find somewhere for you to fit in. A lot of us are used to being in environments where we’re not comfortable, and we try to be as welcoming and inclusive as possible. We won’t judge. We’ll accept you as who you are and make sure you’ve got a plate with some food.
Nancy: Awesome. Yeah. So you don’t have to worry about your primary needs. That’s a good thing. From your last experience with Millieways, you were at Congress—I saw a big thing there. Can you give us cool stories from what happened there?
Obsidian: Cool stories from Congress? Well, one of our larger social events is called Whiskey Leaks—usually one evening only at various hacker events. You turn up with either a bottle of something special or just a glass if you’re under-prepared, and you hang out with people you might not know and talk about favorite art installations, technology—security if you want, but it doesn’t need to be. It always turns out to be a great and welcoming environment. At Congress, I saw members of the YPL—I think Tindercast even turned up. I didn’t expect to see anyone from the YPL there, but it was pretty fun. People from the Chaos Furs community turned up. There are people from all walks of life who just come by and hang out. It’s awesome.
Nancy: It’s like at any of these events—everybody has an interesting story to tell, right?
Obsidian: Honestly, everyone has an interesting story.
Nancy: That’s always blown my mind. Have you been to earlier Dutch camps as well?
Obsidian: No, I haven’t. WHY will be my first Dutch camp.
Nancy: So let’s talk about how you got involved.
Obsidian: I have a group of friends on the internet who coalesce around a community that likes to hack on phones in Discord. They tried to get me to go to MCH in Zeewolde, but I was too late with organizing. So I couldn’t make it. Luckily, a year or two later, at Camp 23 somebody peer-pressured me into going. One friend was part of Chaos West from Düsseldorf, and others had their own communities. I was like, “Where do I go?” They said, “You can always turn up at Millieways.” So that’s what I did. The rest is history.
Nancy: And I see you’re wearing an EMF shirt…
Obsidian: This is the Camp 23 hoodie—EMF was last year, obviously. I was at Congress. And I have a WHY pin as well. I met Danny in Hamburg to pick up my bag of WHY pins.
Nancy: Great—fun. Is there anything else? Any advice if someone has never been to any of these events before, how to convince them to come?
Obsidian: You will find your people and your thing. If there’s something you’re excited about—something you know a little bit about and can talk about—you’ll find people with the same interest. You’ll have a whale of a time. It’s amazing—definitely come. Don’t think you need to be an elite super hacker like in Hollywood films; leave your impostor syndrome at home. I brought my wife to EMF—she’s into embroidery, textiles, and fabrics, and she found her people and her thing. She even helped with some workshops she originally signed up for. That kind of transformed into her helping out. How awesome is that? To anyone who hasn’t been to one of these events, definitely come—it will broaden your mind.
Nancy: That’s lovely. If you’re passionate about something, please also consider turning in a CFP—there’s a stage for everybody. It’s one of the friendliest crowds to put yourself on stage for.
Ad: Definitely. Don’t forget to breathe. You said interviews—if someone is listening and thinking, “Should I go to a camp? Should I go to a hacker event? Should I socialize with people I don’t know yet?”…
Listener: I don’t know anyone who can come with me, so it’s scary to go there by myself.
Ad: One of the places you can visit is Millieways…
Nancy: We’ve just finished that interview. So let’s move on to the vacancy of the week: we’re still looking for someone to be team lead parking. We could really use someone who speaks Dutch fluently and lives in the Netherlands. It’s not because we don’t want everyone to join, but specifically for team lead parking, it’s convenient to have a native Dutch speaker for local legislation and regulations. We had someone, but unfortunately they can’t do it anymore—hope you feel better soon! We need someone for that. Big thanks to everyone—we have at the moment 232 volunteers signed up on the wiki. That is a mind-blowing amount. You rock—you make this all possible. You can leave feedback in the comments or email us at whycast@why2025.org.
Ad: Next, a question came in: are there places to sit down with a laptop on the event? Yes: there’s the lounge, the food court, hack tents, workshop tents, and all the villages—there are currently 44 on the wiki (probably 50 by the time this airs). Villages are a cool way to camp with friends or represent your hackerspace, community group, or favorite open-source software. Check Team:Villages on the wiki, read the FAQ, and sign up your village—they’ll help with tents, a spot in the field, tables, chairs, or even a fridge. If your village is for your company, check the sponsor brochure—some packages include a tent. Big shout-out to BIT for being a sponsor again—great to have you back.
Nancy: If you’ve signed up your village and want to do more—if you have a wild idea—go look at the CFP (call for proposals), cfp.why2025.org. Team:Content’s blog post (posted earlier this week) answers “Should I submit a talk at WHY2025?” The short answer is yes—absolutely yes. You’ll be surprised how many people share your interest. Past talks have ranged from building a homebrew Hadron collider, folding clothes efficiently, classical piano recitals, buying a complete prison facility, how playing serious games makes you a better hacker, even someone who accidentally bought a water tower. If you’re hesitant, we can help you prepare—reach out to Team:Content or to me. There’s a community stage for breathing insects or dinosaurs talks. We need your stories on stage.
Ad: That brings us to the end of this episode. If you have comments or questions, leave them below on YouTube or email whycast@why2025.org. Click like, share, and subscribe, and we’ll see you next WHYday—next Friday.