Nosce te ipsum

I stopped by 2600 to download this weeks Off the Hook show and noticed some two new cool items.

First, they have just finished publishing all of the audio files from the Fifth Hope conference. Can view the vast number of listings all available panels for either streaming or downloading, including the keynote addresses from Jello Biafra (Part 1 & 2), Steve Wozniak (Part 1 & 2) and Kevin Mitnick (Part 1 & 2).

There was an incredible amount of computing history on that stage during the event and even though many of use could not attend (myself included), I give much respect to everyone associated with the event for making all of these audio sessions available to anyone who wants them - all for free. That part of the Hacker Ethic (the free and open exchange of thoughts and ideas) has always been an appealing part of the culture to me. Instead of the 'what's in it for me' mentality that drives so much of the rest o the world, the mentality in the Hacker** world is more of 'how can I use my skills and abilities to contribute something meaningful to society?'.

** I'm using the term Hacker here to represent the more accurate and literally meaning of the word, people who explore systems and technologies if only to understand how they work - not the typical Hollywood & mass media definitions where every 'Hacker' empties people bank accounts, deal in identity theft and generally causes havoc with their computers - of course there are Hackers who do those things but more generally, that group goes my any number of different names (cracker, etc) -- sure, sure to the media it's all the same and a war or words that was lost years ago but it's a point worth clarifying when talking especially about what you will likely hear on the 5th Hope recordings. Thanks Emmanuel and company for all the hard work involved with making all of this happen.