Geek Generosity

You know you're at a geek conference when Little Bobby Tables makes an appearance during the charity auction:



Thanks to all who donated generously during LCA2010! The Life Flight people were extremely surprised that delegates would open their wallets so quickly with no other apparent reason than some silly competition between the Rusty and the Wenches supporters :)

Hacking LCA badges

It is an open secret that it is possible to "hack" the registration code which picks the random description printed at the bottom of your LCA name badge.

Here's a selection of this year's hacked badges:

• colonel hacker


• A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill


• generic humanoid unit


• I know how to use sha1sum


• This badge built on Gentoo, I started with a pine forest.


• Yay, I cracked it!... Now what?


• You will be assimilated.


• coding WTFs since last millennium


• double shot espresso, no sugar


• echo -n "sysadmin at rimuhosting.com" | sha1sum


• ImportError: No module named dcoles


• Aaaarrrrgghghgh! Look behind you!


• [======================------] 95%


• Oops. Wrong Window (ask me)


• i beat the internet


• intentionally left blank

See if you can find them all during the week :)

Tips for International Guests coming to LCA2010

Here are some tips for our Australian and overseas guests:

• Bring some trousers/pants. Wellington can be cold at times so you might need something else than just shorts.


• Wellington can also be very windy, think about bringing a windproof jacket if you are planning to venture outside of the conference venue.


• When changing your money, make sure you ask for North Island money, few shops in Wellington accept the Southern Dollar.


• Your passport will be your only drinking license in NZ (foreign drivers licenses are typically not accepted in pubs).


• All of NZ is currently UTC+13. This is 2 hours ahead of HST (Hobart Standard Time).


• As you de-plane and recover your luggage, mind the sheep, they are a protected endangered species in New Zealand.


• You can bring heaps of duty free alcohol. Should you have more than you can safely drink, the organisers are happy to accept bribes can help you sort it out.

Disclaimer: as with respectable travel guides, none of these facts have been checked and this post may contain some slight inaccuracies.

If you have any other questions, feel free to join the LCA2010-chat list or the #linux.conf.au IRC channel on Freenode.