Headline July 26, 2017/ ''' \ *HACKERS* BY HUNDREDS / '''

''' \ *HACKERS* BY HUNDREDS / '''

ANYWAY,......    TO FOCUS ON  what they're doing obscures    what they *Are Not*   doing.

Most people under late capitalism identify, at least in part, by what they consume their media preferences, possessions, fashions.

But  David doesn't listen to music. Nobody's huge on  Silicon Valley or Mr. Robot,  but they're cultists for  Westworld    [which happens to be about whitehat  and   blackhat  cowboys in a futuristic simulation of the Wild West].

Nobody smokes  dabs or vapes  or snorts study drugs. The only thing I see them consume, is medically unsound amounts, is candy   -David's trash can is stuffed with  Kit Kat  and  Twix wrappers, and Alec is on his second 5-pound sack of gummy bears this semester.

Most surprisingly, none of them use  social media, except for occasional event invites. To them, putting  information online  for no practical purpose is senseless and boring.

''I get depressed what I look at Facebook,'' Alec says. ''It makes you compare the highlights of everyone's lives to your unedited reel.''

The Sthacks members have a  group chat channel   that  on Discord, but other than that they meet in person, usually in this room in Stetson West, This is their Network.

And when I leave for the night, thet finally take a break from hacking to watch a  YouTube  video of John McAfee snorting bath salts through a crazy straw. It's 3 am, and they're wide awake.

The next evening, I follow  David  and other Sthackers to a meeting of Nu-Hacks, the College's official  Hacking Club , whose website describes it as :

''A community of artists, programmers, makers, breakers and rump shakers,'' -and tonight, in a midsize lecture hall, they are voting for next semester's leadership positions.

''WHOA, the population of women just went up  in here by   a hundred percent,'' says Niousha, the club's president, as she enters the room.

To be precise, it's  14 men to two women in the room tonight, and aside from a few Asian faces [including Niousha's], the room is dominated by reedy white guys-

Which is more accurate reflection of what's really happening in  computer science    at most colleges right now.

The club's got an open door, and of the dozen or so members I speak to, all of them say they wish more types of people would walk through it.

In the meantime:

''Yo, I have ducks! Does anyone want ducks?'' Niousha asks. She starts tossing out rubber ducks, a reference to  ''rubber-duck debugging,''  where you work through a problem by talking to a rubber duck.

Then the election begins.

By now I've learned that Hackers  will always look for exploitable holes; they follow rules but also test them. 

Sure enough, with every office open and so many candidates running unopposed, someone says:

''Wait, what of we just did  'No Confidence'  for everybody?''

Others join in : ''Let's Elect Bernie.''

''I'm raising money for a recount.''

''Rigged!''

''Wi-Fi causes autism.''

The meme catches on as the speeches begin; each candidate is now running against  No Confidence.

Danielle, the lone presidential candidate, is a regular NU Hacks attendee.   

''I always feel guilty if I don't go,'' to the meetings, she tells me later. she's big on inclusion and worried that potential new members would see a room of dudes and assume they don't care about including women.

''I feel like my presence there helps against people who might say those things.'' She had to put up with some  sexism  in the  CS world, like enduring flirting a male classmate just so he'd teach her about C pointers.

Rather than about trying to blend in she plays up her gender : ''I wear pink all the time, skirts, everything. I'm here to be the beacon of : It's OK to be feminine here, and it's OK to be a woman.''

She stands on a desk to make her pitch.   ''I'm just really glad that we breathed new life into this place. And I knew there had to be a place where CS people could gather and do social things together..........

What's happening? Why are you all snickering?'' 

The audience heckles and squeaks their ducks at her. She concludes    : ''So yeah, vote for not-No Confidence, and we will, uh, strive to make this the place..........for you to do the thing.''

''Do the thing!'' the audience calls back applauding.        

Student Peter Abbondanzo :  Age 18. 

First Computer : I don't even remember the model, because I was bouncing around between various, you know dumpy computers at my house.

Tech Hero : Elon Musk.

IOS or Android : IOS.

Preferred Coding Language : Web devs, like HTML and CSS.

Current Computer : It's not really a build you can get,  I call it my Phantom build: 17.477OK with a GTX 280 dual-monitor display.

Most Recent Hack : A chrome extension called  Modern  myNEU that makes our school's platform not look like a complete ass.

A.I. Friend or Foe : Right now I think a friend. only because it's so underdeveloped.

WikiLeaks  -Friend or  Foe : That's for time to tell. I'd say right now more friend than foe. But until we understand who's operating it   -aside from Julian Assange   -and their intentions, I can't really say.

What would you do with a  Trillion Dollars? : I'd invest a lot into renewable energy.     

The Honour and Serving of the latest  Operational Research on Nu-Nerds and Hackers,  continues.

With respectful dedication to the Students, Professors and Teachers of the world. See Ya all on !WOW!   -the World Students Society and................. Twitter-!E-WOW!   -the Ecosystem 2011.

''' Hacks-Hoax '''

Good Night and God Bless

SAM Daily Times - the Voice of the Voiceless