22c3 day one

after a long night backing up my notebook just in case of security compromises at the conference, i woke up in a groggy state, grabbed what gear i could think one would need whilst using a mind lacking sufficient caffeine that has to be all smarts like at a nerd gathering, and warbled like bumpy spheres out of alexanderplatz station and into the BCC.

many groups were rep’n full effect, including the nice peeps over at de.wikipedia.org.  one interesting thing regarding the german language branch of this internet encyclopedia is that before any other ‘faction’ of wiki in the world, de.wiki has agreed to have parts of its knowledge printed, bound and sold as books.  they had some retail level products on site, and it was nice to see that even though information can be constantly lucid in its current definition as wiki has demonstrated, the qualities of the printed word are still acknowledged as a means to communicate.  we were once toying with the idea to do an art piece that involved painstakingly hand printing and binding sections of the internet to make these instantly classic – as in obsolete – leather bound and gold leaf clad tombs of knowledge.  we later realized that we aren’t monks.

the first lecture i attended was Hacking CCTV hosted by Adrian Dabrowski and Martin Slunksy.  this lecture was quite fun to see because the two hackers resided in Wien, Austria and i just came back from a great trip there a few weeks ago.  some of there CCTV hacks include wireless signal scanning and alternate video feed insertion, and how to maintain an invisible state in the eyes of the CCTV watchmen, which referenced everything from laser-pointer-mounted binoculars to fashion bending LED hats that would create a white space on CCTV feed compostions and therefore make you invisible.  i took some bad pix of their powerpoint so you can catch some info for yourself if you are interested.

i was sitting on bended knee, for this particular lecture was very popular.

next up was Frank Rieger and Rop Gonggrijp hosting a lecture entitled We Lost The War.  the lecture was mostly a wake-up call for the community to acknowledge that we lost the war against “them”; them being the “powers that be” and how we have to come to terms with the reality that we are now living in a police state, that companies and governments work in conjunction to data mine and retain all our emails, phone-calls and even face recognition CCTV videos of where we go… to be honest, they were a little vague about who exactly “them” were, but more importantly asked and answered what our course of action should be as we ride this wave  of intellectual fallout, being a highly knowledgeable and skillfully equipped but fractured community of activists existing in a continually escalating police state.

after some heavy talks of apocalypse, what better way to relax then to caffein-ate yourself with a club-mate and lax-out in the chill section of the hack-center.  the picture is red not because it is redly lit, but because it’s hothothot down there!  there must be at least twice as many running computers as there are running people/robots so a lot of heat is just emanating from places.

after the relaxing sauna type environment that is the hack-center, we proceeded up to the main theater to see the next lecture i was personally interested in, VOIPhreaking MC’d by The Grugq.  it was a somewhat technical introduction to SIP based VOIP networks in the first half and later went on to discuss all the fun things you could do hacking SIP, like making other people pay for your phone-calls by fooling your ISP that they are calling themselves (checking your voicemail) and other fun things involving the sniffing and analysis of packet headers.  for a full recording of the lecture plus a lil’ Q&A, click here to download the file but just to warn you, its a 40mb download.  worth the download if you are interested in the subject tho.

to finish off the day and send me off to sleep (actually to send me of to home to compose this post on time and to drink more caffeine drinks and basically stay up to ungodly hours of the morning), i attended what was mostly a technically dry lecture regarding development for OpenWRT.  pretty boring stuff, like william shatner reciting out loud your VCR instruction manual, but i was conscious long enough to get a good picture.

post of day two after the bump!

that fluffy white stuff

it snowed the day after xmas, here in berlin.  leave it to global warming to almost get xmas weather right for once.

now time to grease up my plastic bag and go tobogganing or “slaying” if you prefer that term instead.

villainous.biz welcomes [SmarcH] and binary.koala to the family bid-nezz

hi all.  22C3 is coming up starting after xmas and the geeks of the world tremble with anticipation.  as a special treat for Masterpiece Cleaners, emile, danja and i will be in attendance, fronting like we’re a crew of +-=:::::: 1 3 3 7 h 4 x 0 r 5 ::::::=-+ what better way to spend our xmas then with fat, stinky, bearded programers… whom we regard as gods and goddesses, i might add.  surely we wont be there for the chicks, but to learn and be learned.

because of this most special of special conferences, i have agreed to bestow my partner in grime, emile with the supreme position of “DA DADA DA! contributing writer!  we will see if he lives up to this gloriously honorable position.  does he even know his login/password for villainous.biz?  only time will tell.  and without a doubt, danja will take the position of resident supa-tech-artist-electrician-MPC-h4x0r-1337 guru and pretty good with a camera and photoshop too.  hey, we are kinda like the three stooges!  duh, does that make me the stupid one… awe..

danja will also bring his notebook with a hardened version of auditing gnu/linux to test his skills, but mostly to see how it will get smashed and 0wn3d, and grow from the experience.  i’m not even thinking about bringing my notebook.  probably a camera… can that be hacked?  well maybe a pencil and paper notebook, unless that can be hacked too.. if you are thinking of coming to 22C3 with a notebook i would advise reading this wiki regarding survival at the conference.  after you read this you will see why i am not even considering bring my computer, so posts will be delayed by a day, yet we will endeavor to bring you info regarding the events and pix of the backs of people sitting with there heads bowed down in front of computer screens, praying to whatever computer coding language god they pray to.

Tschuess!

that mad russian scientist is at it again

so danja, not letting his exodus to enschede bring him down, has been quite busy in the pursuit of…. desktop space!  check it out folks and danja, keep up the good work!

electro!cute

… and now a note of inspiration …

villainy.biz » Blog Archive » the time has come….:

i believe in you, emile.  todays son, tomorrows star!

beginnings…

so last weekend the boys and i (minus danja, for he is still in the netherlands figuring out his visa.  we miss you, danja!) came to the workspace all together for the first time; with the intent of doing work, that is.  still collectively undecided regarding the primary function of the space beyond an atelier, we at least all came to the conclusion that it had to be stripped bare and cleaned.  the fugly-ass wallpaper has gotta go!

using guido’s recommended technique of ‘making it wet’, emile, markus, guido and i proceeded to use those plastic spray gun thingys usually used for plants and attacked the walls like we were bombing subway cars (and with the same lack of skill and poor level of inaccuracy, i might add).  here we have emile getting his hands dirty;

it didn’t take too long and was not terribly difficult to do.  after an hour or so, the beautiful, water stained plaster began to reveal itself.

here we have markus demonstrating his perfect wallpaper peeling technique;

some plans for the space include a hybrid workspace plus (insert money making scheme here) or possibly a bar of some sort, since there are certain legal issues that can be avoided if one plans the environment appropriately.  did you know that if you do not display a menu or fixed prices for drinks, you do not need to acquire a license to sell alcohol? also, if you have a limited number of pieces of furniture, you only need one toilet for both sexes?  and if we don’t have a kitchen or serve food, we can avoid health inspections (always important if you don’t want to get sued for food poisoning)!  these were some of the considerations taken to mind as we tore apart what will soon be our home away from home, away from home!

being of environmentally conscious minds, we had guido stuffing all the leftover wallpaper and compacting the paper into recycling bins.  we filled up a couple but in the end, could not convince guido that it would be better for the environment if he just recycled himself too.

at the end of the night, we finished stripping to reveal a beautifully water-stained plaster and concrete facade that provides an ambiance that speaks… east german underground bunker!  perfect for a workspace / wine bar / wedding reception hall, if anyone is interested in renting it out…

we are planning to consider the possibilities of maybe having a new years party, maybe.  i will keep you all posted if this actually happens, and if it does, of course you are all invited!  there will be booze and food and a small entrance fee, of course…

Sabrina visits

Sabrina Basten is a practicing contemporary artist who graduated from the aki’s esteemed monumental kunst department in the netherlands.  she is currently living in amsterdam, but had a chance to come visit us in berlin and to also establish some contact with local berlin fashion designers interested in her knitting works.

Site seeing included visiting the beautifully designed Akademie der Künste, Berlin.

what i remember as being the last warmish day in berlin, we managed to find a spot in the park to have a picnic lunch and enjoy the sun.

sabrina’s visit to berlin was so good that she will come back to more closely work with some local berlin fashion designers and help with their store opening this december.

PEE & POO TOY

PEE & POO TOY:

hi all!  here is something to keep you occupied until the next post.  i know i’m a lazy bastard but i have been working.  no, seriously.  more posts after the jump.  i promise!

smallcaps

danja in the slammer!

i have been trying to write this entry for a couple days now but new information was coming in so quickly that i didn’t really have enough time to revise the post and publish it, not being able to use the internet from my bed and all.  this was going to be an entry outlining the conditions of danja’s captivity, but he is out already… yay!

he was locked up in the slammer for only one stupid reason; he did not have a valid passport with him.  no, he is not a russian gangster and has not made new connections with the mafia since his time spent in the slammer so stop asking for favors.  he also would have been out much earlier, if it wasn’t for him being detained on friday.  the dutch immigration and visa office was of course closed over the weekend.  since this was where his only form of valid identification resided, the german authorities along with danja had to wait till the next working day.  this ment danja had to stay in the holding facility for the weekend in its entirety.

the day after his detainment, emile, markus and i travelled to kopernick; a neighborhood in the east of berlin, to see how he was doing, and to bring him things like fresh fruit, books and clean socks.  we also got him a box of cigarettes for those moments where he might need some kind of bargaining tool.

we arrived at the citadel that was to be danja’s home for the next few days.  the complex (which looked very much like a jail, but was actually a holding facility for refugees and light offenders, i.e. illegal workers, etc… i wonder why they would need all those 10m high concrete walls and razor wire…) danja tells me, was home to some refugees for more then 3 years.  he also observed that people were segregated by ethnicity.

to enter this place as a law abiding civilian; for i have not have had the fortunate opportunity to enter the complex through the VIP, or very important prisoner entrance, one has to walk down a couple hundred meters corridor defined by steel fence, concrete walls, and a combination of barbed and razor wire.

unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures after this point least risk finding a place of our very own within this kind of refugee purgatory hotel.  i can only describe it as follows: upon entering the complex proper, we were ushered into a waiting room.  all of our possessions had to be placed in a locker, while we were searched.  i considered hiding a file or lock pick in danja’s sandwich which we brought for him, but didn’t want him to break a tooth while biting down so decided not to at the last minute.

after the search, we were given a visiting card with danja’s name of it.  we then came to another room with tables where inmates and there loved ones (or lawyers, or the ones they owed money to) could sit in conference, under the watchful eye of the guards, naturally.

while we were there, danja explained to us that the guards and jail workers were treating him well, and that he had already made some friends at the Ping-Pong tables.  he was optimistic and explained what he needed to do to get out and how we could help.  he also expressed his wish to get the fcuk out ASAP.

the next day, emile and i went to a calling center to try to get a hold of the dutch authorities on his behalf.  we also called guido to get any new updates, for he was in the netherlands at the time.  he told us that peter ban muller, the coordinator of danja’s department at the aki, was also working towards danja’s freedom, and was in contact with the proper dutch and german authorities.

after spending some time trying to organize our possible courses of action, emile and i travelled back to the penitentiary again to relay to danja about our efforts.  when we got there and after going through all the procedures to actually come face to face with danja, we were informed by the guards that he was released the very moment we entered the visiting area.  we met danja outside of the complex after hearing the good news.  he was a very happy man, to say the least.  i guess this next picture says it all:

so to all my loved ones, please stay out of jail.  thanks to those who helped during this strange and difficult time.

first dinner at our new home

having recently moved into a new flat in prenzlaurberg, a dinner party would naturally be the right course of social behavior if one who is trying to make some friends in the big new city should survive.  myself and my new flat mates, kristen, uli and emile welcomed a few friends to enjoy the first dinner at our new place.

the newly designated living room was formally a studio for katrin, a fashion designer and graduate from the AKi.  using her worktables, the spot became an area where most of the food was prepared.  in this collage, we find myka, kristen and uli in the early stages of quiche making.

there was some loose designation for who was to prepare what, and i had the task of making the soup and salad.  for the salad i made a grape, rocket leaves, tomatoes, sprouts, feta, walnut mega mix.  the dressing was balsamic vinegar, olive oil, walnut oil, honey and fresh peper.  for the soup, i checked out allrecipes.com for publicly submitted and reviewed recipes from all around the world.  the recipe i used was one called Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup Submitted by Karena, godz bless her soup making soul.  the recipe is as follows:

Absolutely Ultimate Potato Soup
Submitted by: Karena
I have made this for many whom have given it the title. This takes a bit of effort but is well worth it. Please note: for those who do not wish to use bacon, substitute 1/4 cup melted butter for the bacon grease and continue with the recipe. (I generally serve this soup as a special treat as it is not recommended for people counting calories.)
Servings: 8

Ingredients:
455 g bacon, chopped – 2 stalks celery, diced – 1 onion, chopped – 3 cloves garlic, minced – 8 potatoes, peeled and cubed – 950 ml chicken stock, or enough to cover potatoes – 45 g butter – 30 g all-purpose flour – 235 ml heavy cream – 2 g dried tarragon – 3 g chopped fresh cilantro – salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a Dutch oven, cook the bacon over medium heat until done. Remove bacon from pan, and set aside. Drain off all but 1/4 cup of the bacon grease.
2. In the bacon grease remaining in the pan, saute the celery and onion until onion begins to turn clear. Add the garlic, and continue cooking for 1 to 2 minutes. Add the cubed potatoes, and toss to coat. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Return the bacon to the pan, and add enough chicken stock to just cover the potatoes. Cover, and simmer until potatoes are tender.
3. In a separate pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Cook stirring constantly, for 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the heavy cream, tarragon and cilantro. Bring the cream mixture to a boil, and cook, stirring constantly, until thickened. Stir the cream mixture into the potato mixture. Puree about 1/2 the soup, and return to the pan. Adjust seasonings to taste.

here is a picture of my attempt at following the recipe.  i guessed about the butter.

once uli and kristen’s beautiful quiches were out of the oven, we gathered around and had the best dinner a group of people could possibly have.  there was good company, good drinks, pretty decent music and supa-amazing food.  here is a civilizing picture of all of us at the beginning of the feast.

and here is a picture of all the plates empty and everyone full of food and wine!

and of course after every good meal, a good smoke was requested by the company.  being the most skillful in rolling, i had to oblige our dear guests.

as a final treat, mami and emile prepared a chocolate vanilla swirl cheese cake that was absolutely divine, and most likely a recipe that emile will take to his grave just to have a one up on me in the desert section of our culinary expertise.  here we find mami preparing the base of the cake.  trust me, it already tastes delicious, even in this pre-cake form!

so now all you know how we do down here in berlin.  if you are ever in the neighborhood, give us a shout and we’ll make beautiful food together.

*thanks to emile for the wonderful photoshop work, and thanks to all who were there, making it the best-est meal that has graced my belly in a long while!