day 0

content/posts/why-2025/day0/index.md

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++++
+date = '2025-08-08T00:00:00+02:00'
+draft = false
+title = 'WHY 2025 - Day 0'
+tags = ['travel', 'WHY 2025']
++++
+
+I am trying to write more, so I am experimenting with a series of travel-log style post.
+The resulting text is boring to read, the contained conclusions are obvious for anyone with two or more brain cells and you will just waste your time reading it.
+
+This is the second part, covering everything happening on day 0 after arriving on the site.
+I may update previous days, so you may want to wait until after the event is over to read a more polished version.
+
+This post contains some photos, so I should probably tell you about the photo policy of events like this.
+People are allowed to take pictures, but only after asking every single person in the photo individually.
+In practice this means you cannot really take good pictures to capture the vibe of the place -
+you are either photographing an object or a mostly empty space.
+
+### Entrance
+
+![Map of the area](map.png)
+
+The shuttle dropped us off on a parking lot next to the event area.
+To my surprise, there was also a team you could pass your luggage to that were driving everything to the info tent.
+I wondered what would happen if there were issues with your ticket in that case.
+Also, I did not want to have to search where I could get my tent back in case time mattered to get a good spot,
+and I wanted my tent near the border between the cyan and red fields, which meant I did not have to walk _as_ far.
+
+The ticket checking was very fast without any queue.
+This year's ribbon is dark blue with star patterns on it - pretty!
+I also liked the fact you only had to show your ID in case you wanted an  additional "18+" ribbon to be able to buy alcohol and so on (and you did not need an ID later to get drinks).
+I felt kind of flattered by the fact I had to show mine, as I started getting self conscious about my age when someone guessed 10y too high a year ago.
+
+![Entrance and 18+ ribbons](ribbons.jpg)
+
+People were handed a paper goodie bag which were supposed to also include stickers, but ended up mostly containing ads for the sponsors of the event.
+I usually _really_ dislike ads, but in this case I liked the organisations beaing advertised for (e.g. NIST and Support for Ukraine), so I did not mind.
+It also contained _one_ sticket and a paper map as well as guidance for muggles that did not read the wiki.
+
+### Tent
+
+I found a good spot exactly where I wanted one.
+
+It ended up right next to a power station, which meant my short extension/splitter was enough to reach it. Being able to charge laptop and phone overnight in your tent is a _must_ on a hacker camp.
+
+At CCCamp, I did bring a router and long ethernet cable, but did not end up using it much because there was great WiFi coverage.
+This time I did not, and because life is hard and unfair, neither my laptop nor phone were able to keep a connection while in the tent.
+That meant I sadly did not use a _Datenklo_ (data toilet).
+
+![Datenklo in it's natural environment](datenklo.jpg)
+
+While I got my home base ready, the sound check on the stages started, as stated on signs at the entrance earlier. The next half hour was filled with an instrumental version of "Never gonna give you up" with different equalizer settings and volumes.
+
+### Buildup
+
+With events like this, the days are literally numbered, with day one being the day of the opening.
+A big team consisting of mostly unpaid volunteers had already spent a week on site building up the infrastructure.
+As with the German camp, the existing fixed infrastructure is not enough for the thousands of people going to the toilet, expecting cooled mate, playing on [arcade machines](https://wiki.why2025.org/Project:Arcade) or running [pop-up data centers](https://wiki.why2025.org/Village:Yolocation). On Day 0 (also sometimes called Day -0), heavy machinery was still driving around when I started exploring.
+
+![real unicorns](unicorns.jpg)
+
+### 😱🍾💸
+
+Being near the food court had the advantage that the first thing I found was a bar, so I wanted to get a mate.
+I was shocked (_shocked!_) twice.
+
+The first thing was the mate itself.
+I was used to choosing between brands, Flora Power being my favorite, but here it was all the different flavors of Club-Mate.
+
+// FIXME: ask at the bar to take a photo of the fridge and put it here
+
+The other thing was that they did not acccept any cash.
+The German hacker events I went to were very proud about _not_ accepting digital payments (_Jede Kartenzahlung wird überwacht_), and here it was the other way around!
+There was a way to pay pseudonymously though, and that was to charge an event paymen card with cash at the info desk.
+According to the sticker on the card, you can reprogram them to do something else afterwards, which is nice.
+
+![Payment card](payment-card.jpg)
+
+What this prepaid card did not solve though was that you cannot pay if power is down.
+Later in the evening one of the bars had to close early due to exactly this issue.
+Whenever power was cut, the switch that provided PoE and internet to the payment terminals had to reboot, which took a while.
+Because they were frequent enough, that process repeated mutliple times without them being able to sell anything.
+
+![The problematic switch](switch.jpg)
+
+As with the mate, I think there would be a good middle ground somewhere in between.
+Maybe there could have been one cash register per bar at WHY and one accepting cards at C3.
+But I am not an organizer of things like this, so what do I know.
+
+I continued exploring properly caffeinated.
+
+### Light and sound installation
+
+// FIXME: ask V what it is called
+
+Near the entrance of the event, there was a hill with a huge sign on it.
+A colorful contruction caught my eye, so I wanted to take a closer look.
+
+![isopod](isopod.jpg)
+
+I got to know the artist, let's call them V here, who was still setting it up.
+They built a tent out of foamy, semi-translucent packing material, with RDB light strips adding movement.
+It looked like a giant isopod crawling up the hill.
+
+The installation noticed when someone was outside and made an old rotary dial phone inside ring, which prompted the visitor to go inside and listen to the voice on the other end.
+
+![inside the isopod](future.jpg)
+
+### Angel badge
+
+As I was already exhausted, I did not feel like volunteering that day, but I still got my angel status set to arrived and got the very pretty badge:
+
+![angel badge](angel-badge.jpg)
+
+### Milliways
+
+I also checked Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe.
+They have a village or assembly at many hacker events and seem to have grown a lot over the years.
+Hacking area, bar, kitchen and midnight snacks all in one.
+
+As usual, they brought their geodesic dome, this time decorated to feel jungle-like inside.
+The dome was one of the places playing techno most day and night.
+
+![Looking up in the dome](dome.jpg)
+
+What I did not know was that they usually get [challenge coins](https://wiki.milliways.info/index.php?title=Challenge_coins) made to finance the material costs.
+They were very pretty, but only payable in cash.
+As I hoped to not have to go to the next ATM in Alkmaar because of the cashless bars and food court, so I made a mental note to come back at the end of the event.
+
+### Need a pillow?
+
+I found V at one of the other bars and we talked for a while.
+As this was their first hacker event, it was a great opportunity to share some great experiences I had at other events while drinking our first [Tschunk](https://entropia.de/Tschunk).
+When I told him that when someone needs anything, it can usually be found, they asked for advice regarding camping gear.
+V did not know this was a camp before coming here, which was also why the installation was tent-shaped.
+I told them to ask at the info desk, which apparently worked great as they just got handed a blanket and pillow there for free.
+
+I was yearning for exploration, so we went our separate ways.
+Even though the opening was still more than half a day in the future, the camp was already glowing in all colors of the rainbow.
+Parties and hackers everywhere, I had a great time finding orientation in the big area.
+My phone said I walked around 13,5k steps before 12 am.
+
+### Going to sleep
+
+The sanitary conditions were _great_ for a festival, and would still have been okay for a conference.
+After such a long day, I was not going to sleep without a proper shower.
+Without control over the temperature, I did not expect it to be super comfortable, but I really struggled cleaning myself because the water was _freezing_.
+Maybe it was my tiredness at 3:30 am after being awake for 21h, but I did not take a shower as cold in a decade.
+The next day the water was heated and maybe even too warm, so I do not know what happened there.

content/posts/why-2025/prep.md

@@ -1,12 +1,12 @@
 +++
-date = '2025-08-08T02:00:00+02:00'
+date = '2025-08-07T12:00:00+02:00'
 draft = false
 title = 'WHY 2025 - Preparations'
 tags = ['travel', 'WHY 2025']
 aliases = ["why-2025/why-2025-prep/"]
 +++
 
-I am trying to write more, so I am experimenting with a travel-log style post.
+I am trying to write more, so I am experimenting with a series of travel-log style post.
 The resulting text is boring to read, the contained conclusions are obvious for anyone with two or more brain cells and you will just waste your time reading it.
 
 This is the first part, covering everything happening before arriving on site.