WHYcast transcript episode 35

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Transcript 35

Nancy: Hi and welcome to the WHYcast episode 35. I’m Nancy.

Ad: 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 this year in the Netherlands—approximately 42 kilometers north of Amsterdam—from August 8th to 12th, which is coming closer and closer.

Nancy: So, Ad, what are we talking about today?

Ad: We have some news, a cool interview, where to hack, vacancies of the week, and a listener question.

Nancy: Yes. So I guess we will start with the news. Seventy-six days left.

Ad: Yeah, it's really getting close now.

Nancy: That’s about eleven WHYcast episodes and still a lot of work to be done. At this point we have around 350-ish tickets left, although I’m not quite sure because in the Netherlands it will be payday this week. What we’ve seen over the last couple of months is a bump in ticket sales by month-end. In the Netherlands, you get paid more in May because of holiday.

Ad: Yeah—some in June, some in May. But pay is a thing here.

Nancy: So I do expect a boost in sales this week. We’re recording this prior to release on Friday, so I might be wrong.

Ad: We’ll see what happens. Keep an eye on the stats.

Nancy: Another very important deadline is the closing of the CFP this Sunday. It will be Towel Day, May 25th, and at the end of that day—midnight—the CFP closes. If you’ve been waiting to send in your CFP, this weekend is the time to do it.

Ad: Click the button. If you’re not completely satisfied, send it in. It’s a proposal—you can edit it later. Just leave a note like, “OK, this bit I want to expand on later.”

Nancy: As long as your outline is there, the reviewers can take a look and make a decision.

Nancy: As an example, we plan on proposing a talk about what happened behind the scenes of this weekly WHYcast. Who in their right mind had the idea to start a weekly podcast? We’ll cover the ins and outs, but we don’t have the presentation done yet—still, we’ll send in the CFP. That can be a nice example or maybe you want to discuss Telegram versus Instagram, repair cafés—anything. Just send it in this weekend before the deadline.

Nancy: Thanks. From my perspective I’m in high season with my company, so I’m doing the bare minimum plus the WHYcast because we love it. I’ve also been working a lot on permits—interesting.

Ad: Yeah.

Nancy: Party without a permit is no party.

Ad: Yeah.

Nancy: It’s very Dutch, but sometimes a hassle. We will get there—there are willing people on the other side of the table, and the fire department and police all want a say. There’s a lot of bureaucracy; it feels a bit Kafkaesque at times, but we’ll manage. It’s important, because without permits we won’t have an event.

Ad: We’re also nearing—in about four weeks—the next in-person orga meet.

Nancy: Right. We’ll have a big event on June 21st in The Hague Refspace. Thanks for hosting us again. We’d love to see as many of you as possible so we can share the latest updates and work together on the final sprint.

Nancy: Mind you, there’s a NATO summit the next day, so if you want to stay in The Hague, be aware it might be hard to get out. I hope to see a lot of you there—please sign up on the wiki so we have food for you. That was the news for now.

Ad: Let’s go straight into the interview with Vito.

Nancy: Off-site logistics—that was lovely. I want to introduce Vito: he was hesitant, saying “my team is not that important,” but every volunteer’s contribution matters. Every hour someone puts in helps make this event happen. Vito is too modest, so thanks to everyone. We need all 42 teams working together—cogs lubricated and spinning—to get an event. Now, here’s my interview with Vito about off-site logistics.

Nancy: Here today with us is Vito. Vito, how long have you been going to Dutch hacker camps?

Vito: The first edition I went to was HAR 2009. I fell in love immediately and have been going ever since.

Nancy: Awesome—never missed one?

Vito: No. This will be my fifth camp.

Nancy: Have you always worked for the same company?

Vito: Yes—I started there in 2006. As colleagues we’ve been going to camps; I think one of my colleagues even went to the ’97 camp.

Ad: Cool—awesome. And have you been involved in organization prior to this camp?

Vito: No. I’ve done angel shifts before, helping at parking and the sign-up desk by the entrance—saying “Welcome, here’s your badge”—and a few other chores, though I can’t remember them all.

Nancy: Shout-out to anyone new: please sign up for angel shifts. It’s part of the experience and makes camp even better.

Vito: You meet lots of people with different stories and get a peek behind the scenes.

Nancy: This time you signed up for the orga meet and became a team lead?

Vito: Right—leading a small team with limited responsibilities, but necessary ones. I know others put in more time, but if everyone does a bit it helps.

Nancy: It’s not a competition. Tell me about your team and what you’re doing.

Vito: I’m team lead for off-site logistics: transporting stuff to camp and back. We prepare transports from various hacker camps to the terrain, and then a few days after camp we return items. I like that most chores are before and after camp, leaving time to enjoy camp itself and maybe do angel shifts.

Nancy: What kind of stuff? 3D printers, bottles of mate…?

Vito: Often teams just tell us, “We have a load on a Euro pallet, this size,” and we arrange transport. We don’t ask for the exact contents. For example, DECO requests signage, the NOC team requests IT gear, parking gear, etc. Anything the organization needs to bring but can’t bring itself.

Nancy: So it’s organization items—except tents, chairs, or tables, which another team handles. You don’t transport goods for villages.

Vito: Correct. Villages manage their own tents. So far requests are within the Netherlands. I wouldn’t mind crossing into Germany or Belgium for pickups, but not farther. If items are collected at one place rather than 60 locations, we can manage with available trucks.

Nancy: Please work with us on that.

Vito: Teams have been clear on transport size and weight; no issues so far.

Nancy: Do you have team members?

Vito: Yes—six other members. We haven’t met physically because some are non-Dutch and it hasn’t been necessary. We just ensure trucks are reserved and the schedule is made before and after camp.

Nancy: How has your experience been as a first-timer in the organization?

Vito: Very welcoming. I’ve listened to the WHYcast and everyone says the same—it’s true. People are friendly and help if you have questions. I’ve had conversations with previous team members which helped a lot.

Nancy: Awesome. If someone is in doubt about coming, what would you say?

Vito: I can’t imagine regrets about going to a hacker camp. Everyone I’ve spoken with was happy to be there. It’s a creative community with lots to learn and incredible projects you can’t imagine.

Ad: I remember in 2009 someone built a flying ostrich—before drones were commercially available.

Vito: That was awesome.

Nancy: I saw that too.

Vito: And at OHM in 2013 there were blinking lights everywhere. Once there was a wind-powered installation on a dike that played music and changed lights when people approached.

Ad: There’s so much creativity.

Vito: I also remember Dan Kaminsky’s presentation—he broke DNS and explained it. Lots to see, hear, and learn.

Nancy: Great to hear. Are you looking forward to anything in particular?

Vito: I’ll just be surprised, as at previous camps.

Ad: Be ready to be surprised.

Nancy: Thank you for the interview, Vito. We’ll see you at the orga meet or in August.

Vito: Thank you, and good luck with preparations.

Nancy: That was a lovely interview with Vito. Next, where to hack.

Ad: Next weekend we’ll both be at TiTo’s—and so will many WHY-minded people. Bookworm will be there too. We’ll have a WHY stand with stickers and tiaras.

Nancy: If you have WHY-related questions, you can ask me, the alt-fluencer, Bookworm, or others. TiTo’s is the technical Dutch open source event with cool talks.

Ad: If you want to meet Nancy, go on Saturday; meet me on Sunday—or avoid me on Sunday if you like.

Nancy: Who’d want to do that?

Ad: One of the biggest open source projects, Home Assistant, has Community Day tomorrow worldwide. Utrecht is one location—celebrate open source home automation. Visit home-assistant.io and find your local event.

Ad: It’s sold out in Utrecht, but there are 42 events in Europe. Go find like-minded people and have fun.

Nancy: If you can’t go to Home Assistant, in Ghent at the hackerspace they have “New Line”—a celebration of the newline character. Details at hackerspace.gent.

Ad: We find events using fos.events (international) and hacker.out.nl (Dutch). fos.events features our WHY 2025 page. Shout-out to them—follow on Mastodon.

Nancy: Thank you so much. Now, vacancies of the week: we still need help with parking—drawing maps, coordinating car flow—and with Team:Merch to get merch to people and coordinate before the event.

Ad: Please reach out to net smurf or check the link in the show notes. We also need people for Team:Volunteers (our angel system)—visitors who do two-hour shifts helping with parking, bar, audio/video, and food. They also need coordinators. All information is on the wiki under “Vacancies.”

Nancy: If you’re missing anything or have questions, message us or Team:Info. We love listener questions.

Ad: We got a question about nighttime noise. There’s an official silent time slot per our permits—people need sleep. With 3,500 attendees there will be some noise from, say, a CTF team celebrating a solve or someone troubleshooting a soldering iron.

Ad: So, will it be absolutely silent? No. Will everyone try to keep it quiet? Yes. If you’re extra sensitive, plan a backup time slot. There’s a noise gradient on the wiki showing party areas (noisy) and family zones (quieter) so you can choose your tent spot.

Nancy: It will definitely be quieter than daytime, but not absolutely silent.

Ad: That brings us to the end. If you have feedback or questions, leave a comment (or “doobly-doo”) on YouTube or email whycast@why2025.org. Please like, subscribe, hit the bell, and rate us five stars if you can—it helps our algorithm so more people learn about WHY.

Ad: Thank you all so much for listening, and hope to see you next Friday—WHYday. 35