So I figured I needed a bit of time to decompress from my contract work tonight (So what if I have a huge deadline Friday that I'm absolutely nowhere near being prepared for, THIS SHIT IS STRESSFUL), and decided I'd catch up on some personal projects. One of which involved going back and looking at some information I obtained at the hacker* convention Defcon last year (I didn't get to go this year because of shitty contract work ramping to production in the middle of when I'd normally take my big annual west-coast trip).
So I pulled out my con CD and checked out the relevant powerpoint. And then I decided I really needed video of the speaker as well because Defcon presenters are actually decent and the powerpoint is marginally useless without at least the audio, so I hit the website and downloaded that. And then I saw all the talks I wanted so badly to go to but missed because of scheduling conflicts with other talks, or because the room was full, or a minor medical emergency involving my gf's nipple (NEVER BRINGING A GIRL TO CON EVER AGAIN), or because I was drunk, or whatever.
And then I saw all the cool stuff I missed this year.
I have now spent the better part of 8 hours watching presentations on a variety of really fascinating (and often really scary) security-related stuff. My favorite part, however, is the presentation style. Half of these guys aren't drinking water during their talk - they've got beer. Defcon is the major informal hacker con (it's immediately preceded on the calendar and in the same city as the major FORMAL one, Blackhat) and it really shows - everyone's talking about their pet favorite subjects, they're really enthusiastic, and these conventions are really the most fun things that I've done in my LIFE - and they're also INCREDIBLY information-dense and informative - if you have the right mindset and inquisitive nature to care.
(*Yes, I identify and have been tentatively recognized by others as a hacker. If you have a problem with that, you have the wrong definition of the word and we can have a chat via PM. Or you can be ignorant and neg-rep me for being a criminal, your choice.)