A Few More DEFCON 15 Thoughts

Assorted random stuff that I didn’t mention in my first DEFCON 15 post:

• For a roomful of hackers, DEFCON had a disturbing amount of stupidity for the closing ceremonies. If you have all the lights off to show off the badges, and especially the persistence-of-vision mode on the badge, why would you use a flash when you’re taking a picture of the crowd? How crappy must those pictures look? And not only that, you’re screwing up all the pictures that everyone else tries to take where they actually use a long enough exposure to see the POV text show up, since all those flashes will show up. It wasn’t just a few people taking flash pictures here and there, it seemed like they were non-stop. Constant flashes going off. That was the stupidest I’ve ever seen DEFCON attendees act.
• Speaking of stupid, did anyone else catch the argument between the lazy asses on their mobility scooters and the old security guards by the CTF room? From catching the end of it, my impression is that both sides were assholes. It sounds like one lazy guy on his mobility scooter was trying to get in without a badge, and the guard told him he couldn’t get in without a badge. So he goes and borrows his friend’s badge, and the guard takes the badge and keeps it because it wasn’t scooter guy’s badge. So then scooter guy just starts yelling and insulting the badge, swearing at the guard and going on about how much more money he makes than the guard. Sure, I’m prejudiced against scooter guy and his also-scooter friend, since they’re so lazy and arrogant that they’d clog up the narrow Riviera hallways with their huge scooters without regard for everyone else (I saw them up on the skybox floor earlier trying to get in and out of the elevators for a minute while everyone else was unable to get around them). But the fact that he was acting like an asshole didn’t help his case. It was pretty funny overall.
• Not as funny as all of the hilarious clubbing guys you see in Vegas, though. They all look identical, with the same funny hair and jewelry and shirts — and probably reeking of cologne if you got too close — standing around like dorks hoping to get into some club full of girls who looked like they worship Paris Hilton. It’s too funny.
• I’m sure I’m not the first one to notice that Michelle Madigan’s linkedin profile has been removed. For anyone curious, her position was Associate Producer, she’s in the NYC area, and had 43 linkedin connections.
• Anyone know why they didn’t confiscate Madigan’s badge when they kicked her out?
• It looks like the eBay market for DEFCON badges is slowing down, as expected as more and more people put their badges up for sale. Only one badge has sold so far, which was a buy it now for $175. The first one listed is still at $202, but has much more time to go than any others. The prices for the other current auctions are a little all over the place, currently between $23 and $162. Meanwhile someone’s posted an auction with badges from 7 different DEFCONs, including this year’s, with a starting bid of $300. Interesting. Good thing I still have mine. These things will let me retire early some day.