Date: 13 July 2001
A few of my friends and I decided to take a break from the stresses of working in the summer to check out a white- and black- hat hacking conference in Las Vegas at the Alexis Park hotel.
- 115 1554 IMG
Big M&Ms Location: Las Vegas Strip We went out to see the sights on the strip after we got to the hotel. We still hadn't seen or heard from Drew, whom I was expecting at 10:45 or so. It was about 11:00 at this point. - 115 1561 IMG
More Bruce Location: Alexis Park Hotel I'm currently working through another of his books, Applied Cryptography I got interested in it after reading Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon, in which one of Schneier's algorithms is used. Schneier also submitted a proposal to use his own encryption, TwoFish, as the new national standard ("AES"). It didn't make it. - 115 1562 IMG
Pirate radio gear Location: Alexis Park Hotel The FCC who? - 115 1563 IMG
File sharing Location: Alexis Park Hotel There was no love for copyright law on the DC9 LAN, that is for sure. - 115 1568 IMG
Wireless heaven Location: Alexis Park Hotel Who needs to pay attention to the talk on renegade wireless networks when we've got our own right here? - 115 1572 IMG
It's Hot, and the Day is long Location: Alexis Park Hotel Many of the talks were located in a tent on the roof of the hotel that was, in theory, air-conditioned. Right. - 115 1573 IMG
Location: Alexis Park Hotel - 115 1574 IMG
Intelligent, Adaptive IP IDS Agents Location: Alexis Park Hotel This guy was so full of himself. Good talk, though. - 115 1579 IMG
Heading to the black and white ball Location: MGM Grand George and Doug went back to the Alexis Park for the Black and White Ball (which turned out to be a bust), while Drew, Ali, and I got ready to go see George Carlin. - 115 1581 IMG
George's checking balance Location: MGM Grand Here you see the ensemble of the hotel phone, a defcon pass, and an ATM slip showing that George's checking balance has just jumped up by $20k, as his parents are buying him a new car. - 115 1582 IMG
Hacking challenge Location: MGM Grand A private hacking party that turned out to be not so 1337. Didn't want to take the paper around with me, so I took a picture and tossed it. - 115 1599 IMG
Reunited Location: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport Clare had been in France for too long, and this was the first they had seen of one another since she had left. Aren't they cute? - 115 1600 IMG
The Defcon Program Location: Sonterra Apartments - 116 1601 IMG
The Defcon Pass Location: Sonterra Apartments Liquid filled and uber-c00l! - 116 1602 IMG
George Carlin ticket Location: Sonterra Apartments - 115 1534 IMG
Getting on the plane Location: Austin-Bergstrom Int'l Airport George and I had tickets together all the way out to Las Vegas. Here we are taking an evening flight out. We were scheduled to arrive at 9:30 PM, but actually made it in a little earlier. - 115 1536 IMG
Location: Austin-Bergstrom Int'l Airport Julie recoils after a sneak tongue attack from George. - 115 1537 IMG
On the plane Location: Austin-Bergstrom International Airport - 115 1538 IMG
Stopping in Houston Location: Houston International Airport We stopped in Houston, and changed planes. The next leg had us on the same plane as Doug and Ali. - 115 1539 IMG
On the plane to Vegas Location: Houston International Airport - 115 1540 IMG
Regrouping Location: Las Vegas Airport Here we discuss plans for getting to the hotel. I suggested that we stay and wait for Drew, who, I thought, was arriving at 10:30. It turns out that waiting for him would have been a bad idea. - 115 1541 IMG
Our first celebrity Location: Las Vegas Airport George meets the first celebrity of the trip, Angelina Jolie. Funny, she always seemed looser and more natural in the movies. - 115 1542 IMG
Our first slot machines Location: Las Vegas Airport Literally the first thing you see when you step off the plane are slot machines. These were a few spotted further into the terminal. - 115 1543 IMG
A limo? Location: Outside Las Vegas Airport As we stepped out of the airport, Ali and I started looking for the MGM Grand hotel shuttle. Before we could find it, though, we discovered that George and Doug were already having there things loaded into a limo. I guess they decided we should get the trip off on the right foot. - 115 1544 IMG
Location: En route to MGM Grand - 115 1545 IMG
Location: En route to MGM Grand - 115 1546 IMG
Location: En route to MGM Grand - 115 1547 IMG
Location: En route to MGM Grand - 115 1548 IMG
The lobby Location: MGM Grand When we entered the lobby of the MGM grand, I immediately got the impression that it was a place for normal, boring people to think they were somewhere glamorous. The marble colums were painted drywall, and the velvet curtains were wood. The place was saturated by the smell of cheap cigar smoke from the cigars they sold tourists to make them feel like they were living the high life while the casino was extracting their money from them. - 115 1549 IMG
The interminable hallway Location: MGM Grand The wings of the MGM Grand seemed at least a quarter of a mile long. We were near the end of the wing.