The Freehacker's Union

Dupe: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=282731" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=282731</a>, <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=309195" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=309195</a>

Nicely said. That very fact bothered me for a long time &#38; now I'm happy there's at least one in this universe who think like me.<p>I was unlucky that I was not there when "home brew computer club" formed. Dammit I missed the golden age. I regret that.I really do.<p>I was looking for a place for me to fit in. A guy with the hacker gene. Grown so carefully in me thanks to all those hackers lived &#38; left their experiences behind, on text files or whatever media. A guy who has lot of things to learn but struggling to find people who are willing to make another hacker with their knowledge &#38; skills, like the real hackers who lived on this planet some times back.<p>I was looking for the right place. Right place for me to grow. I went there, I came here. No where is perfect. Maybe that's the way it is. Since the time is changed, the hackers of new days has to build their own world like a kid building a lego castle with pieces picked from HERE &#38; THERE.

The postmortem<p><a href="http://www.zedshaw.com/blog/2009-03-16.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.zedshaw.com/blog/2009-03-16.html</a>

"One thing I found through doing all this hardware hacking is that people who wield a soldering iron in NYC are kind of secretive. I mean, they’re nice enough, but they really hold their secrets close to their chest. Take sourcing parts as an example. I would go to meetings where people showed off cool projects they made, and ask them where they get their parts. They would just evade the question, or tell me “digikey”, which is bullshit because I saw some Radio Shack shit in their gear."<p>Why is this so?

I actually joined and then attended the Boston FU meet a few times (there were only four of us that ever showed and after a few meetings it fizzled out). Here's something I whipped together in 30 minutes to bring to the first meet:<p><a href="http://blog.raamdev.com/2008/08/27/boston-fu-retractable-earbud-hack" rel="nofollow">http://blog.raamdev.com/2008/08/27/boston-fu-retractable-ear...</a><p>I love the idea behind FU and wish there were more open hacking groups around where people could attend, even if only to watch and listen to others. I don't necessarily have a ton of time for hacking stuff, but if I could spend an hour or two every week looking over someone's shoulder while they make something, or listen to someone explain their crazy ideas and then have open discussions as a group, I think it would help everyone explore new ideas and opinions.<p>If not for my ridiculous schedule (working at a start-up), I'd be more inclined to get such a group going myself.

It started out sort of vague (I joined the mailing list quite early), but as it acquired definition, it seemed to be ending up excessively concentrated in a "Zed"-like niche, i.e. the combination of scripting hacks and music / theatre-like performances.<p>So I drifted away and terminated subscription, and I guess many others did the same (and have had that impression confirmed from a couple of private emails).

One related question. I came across this book from the article "Making things talk" and I kind of like it (from what I can tell by reading excerpts at books.google.com). Can I enjoy this book and make cool programs like the one in book if I don't have a background in Electronics? Just curious.

&#62; Everyone who attends has to eventually show something. If it’s your first night,<p>Reminds me of Fight Club.<p>Can't wait for Project Mayhem.

"I’m finding that every geek gathering is full of asshole MBAs, groupies, and their wannabes."<p>Someone please explain to me how MBAs show up at geek meetups of any description. I would think stuff would be way too oriented away from money for them to show up. Maybe I'm just crassly stereotyping too much.

Apparently, he want this to be open. I was hoping for a secret cabal since then we could make programming mystical and perhaps attract more people.

I went to two meetings here in NYC. Met some great people and had a great time seeing what other hackers were up to. I keep assuming all the layoffs combined with the onset of winter were to blame for things kind of petering out. It was a particularly weird time to keep momentum going for anything, but it'd be nice to get together again. I'm glad some links to similar groups have been posted, I hope to check them out.

These things do exist everywhere. They're just invite-only.

angry man... just ignore the mbas if they bother you. or move to california.