Defcon Kids in the news.

[StealHead]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Yup, you have got to pay for yourself and your child to get into DefCon.

You would have to do the same thing at an amusement park or a movie theater, where you as an adult would rather not pay to ride/watch the kids content. However, as a responsible adult, you pay to make sure you child is safe and happy.

IMO there is a very high probability that any child will not sit in a room for 8 hours straight anyway, I think you might start wandering around to other events/tracks.

Um, not since I've had kids. I think the last one I attended was in '97 or '98.

Look, this sounds really great. But $150 a piece to attend two days of a single track of speakers is straining what I would consider reasonable. And that's what it is, because if you're coming with a kid, you're not going to be going to any of the other talks or events. It's like charging an adult theme park admission price to a 1 year old that can't go on any of the rides. Not only that, but I've got to pay full price too, even though I can't go on the rides either since I've got a 1 year old with me.

[HighWiz]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Um, not since I've had kids. I think the last one I attended was in '97 or '98.

Look, this sounds really great. But $150 a piece to attend two days of a single track of speakers is straining what I would consider reasonable. And that's what it is, because if you're coming with a kid, you're not going to be going to any of the other talks or events. It's like charging an adult theme park admission price to a 1 year old that can't go on any of the rides. Not only that, but I've got to pay full price too, even though I can't go on the rides either since I've got a 1 year old with me.

See DefCon kids is an Unofficial Event happening inside DefCon... It's not run by DefCon and DT, it's run by other people. Like the BBQ or the Shoot.. They are unofficial events happening with DefCon... So everyone (Press, Law Enforcement, Kids, etc..) needs to be badge to get into DefCon and everybody pays...

I'm not affiliated with DefCon kids, but my guess is that you will get somewhat of the same answer from them. And if you read the DefCon Kids threads, you'll see that a lot of people don't like the idea of DCkids.. So if they didn't have to pay the same price to come, I'm sure there would be a shitstorm of complaints that followed.

At this your best bet may be to email someone from their website, since most people are in Vegas and partying already (e.g. they won't be checking the forums).

[cheeky]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Have you been to DefCon before?

Um, not since I've had kids. I think the last one I attended was in '97 or '98.

Look, this sounds really great. But $150 a piece to attend two days of a single track of speakers is straining what I would consider reasonable. And that's what it is, because if you're coming with a kid, you're not going to be going to any of the other talks or events. It's like charging an adult theme park admission price to a 1 year old that can't go on any of the rides. Not only that, but I've got to pay full price too, even though I can't go on the rides either since I've got a 1 year old with me.

[HighWiz]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Sorry, since I can't start a new thread, I'm posting here.

Can someone clarify the cost for the kids? Do I really have to buy a $150 conference badge for my 9 year old? Honestly, add that on top of the other expenses - travel, room, my badge - and that pretty much puts me at the threshold of "forget it."

Thanks

Have you been to DefCon before?

[cheeky]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Sorry, since I can't start a new thread, I'm posting here.

Can someone clarify the cost for the kids? Do I really have to buy a $150 conference badge for my 9 year old? Honestly, add that on top of the other expenses - travel, room, my badge - and that pretty much puts me at the threshold of "forget it."

Thanks

[Tynius]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Mommies and daddies have to sort that out as they take responsibility for what they expose their kids to

This. IMO the most important thing a parent can do is try to objectively determine your kid's personality. This does NOT mean attempting to do a cp /dev/me/personality /dev/kid/personality. It means looking carefully at what your kid does when (s)he thinks noone's looking.

It's always tough to be objective about your own kid. It helps if you have friends you can trust to be honest with you.

Tyn

[saxdr]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

the blogger doesn't really make any sort of compelling case for why [sending a 9-year-old to a gun safety class] is anything but a smart and responsible activity. then again, she's a New Yorker who now lives in Aspen, Colorado. i am hardly surprised to learn that she's dubious about firearms, lockpicking, and anything marginally interesting if it is exposed to the children!!1!

<potentially irrelevant rant>My father bought me a .22 at the ripe old age of five. He took me out to the range, instilled the fear of God into me concerning the potentially deadly consequences of failing to do exactly what he said, and taught me how to shoot. I am ever grateful for those times that we got to hang out on the range. Some kids are grounded enough to do that sort of thing; some are not. Mommies and daddies have to sort that out as they take responsibility for what they expose their kids to. I think the biggest value of a firearm safety class for any child is rule number one: always treat a firearm as if it is loaded, regardless of whether or not you believe it is.</potentially irrelevant rant>

[Tynius]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

(this post turned me from a lurker to a poster... after 3 yrs :))

Background: I'm a father of a 2 yr old, who if she continues on her current personality trajectory will be a candidate for DefCon Kids when she hits the lower end of the age. She got her first defcon shirt before her first birthday.

I take her to the Pride Day parade every year, so it's probably reasonable to say that she's seen most of what happened at the AP from the stories I've read. (Naked same sex dancing is a bit tame for the local pride day parade).

So this background was a long winded way to get to the point. There are computer users and there are defcon participants. There are also parents and there are defcon parents. I think it's probably reasonable to assume that if we're bringing our kids to defcon we know enough to take responsibility for appropriately educating them. The "think of the children" crowd is not likely to be bringing their kids within 100 miles of "Sin City" never mind to defcon.

I do however understand that having my 8 yr old daughter going through the Con would make some of my fellow con goers uncomfortable, so if an option like defcon kids is available I will avail myself and my daughter of the option when that time comes (always assuming her personalty runs that way.) Otherwise I'll take her to the main con, just like I take her to Pride now. She asks questions and I provide her answers tuned to her current understanding of the world. I challenge her and she learns. I don't know any other way to teach. That's how I learned. Some crusty 50 yr old guy threw a stack of IBM PC 4.77 mhz pieces at me and told me he thought I might have what it took to run a Fidonet node, if I could figure out how to do it. I follow his example.

Anyways, thought I'd provide another parent's viewpoint.

Tyn

[eris]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

It just says "beverage cooling contest." Soda is a beverage. :-) And home made ginger beer or root beer is a fun project!

[Deviant Ollam]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

KidCon Shoot

Hey, that may not be a a bad idea!

i am 100% supportive of people bringing their kids to the DEFCON Shoot. in fact, i should have pointed this out earlier... i'll grant free badges to anyone under the age of 12, provided they are accompanied by someone responsible.

i'm going to post about that in the DEFCON Shoot sub-forum. thanks for the inspiration!

KidCon Beer Cooling Contest

i also would support this 100%... that is, a team entering the contest who is all kids. hell, we had a team of vegetarians enter the Titanium Chef Challenge at the ToxicBBQ one year, and they did quite well.

seeing a team of kids create a contraption where they cannot sample the output but still get to potentially win prizes... that would be epic.

[Bbox]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

I suppose it would be considered inappropriate to spin up the KidCon Shoot

Hey, that may not be a a bad idea! we may have to modernize it for the kids though, bring a bit more technology into it. My kid is pretty good with his walther p38 by itself,
But in the spirit of Defcon and technology he would probably want to hook it up to an Arduino board with servos and write a python script to fire it over the internet.

[sintax_error]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

I suppose it would be considered inappropriate to spin up the KidCon Shoot and KidCon Beer Cooling Contest .. Maybe we can handout noisemakers and have them flood the CTF room .. or have them go sticker the hell out of random attendees?

Nah, KidCon TCP/IP Drinking Game might be a stretch though.

[converge]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Nothing in the past has ever prevented anyone, goon or human, from bringing their children to defcon and allowing them to participate in anything and everything defcon-related up to maybe the age-restricted parties.

I suppose it would be considered inappropriate to spin up the KidCon Shoot and KidCon Beer Cooling Contest .. Maybe we can handout noisemakers and have them flood the CTF room .. or have them go sticker the hell out of random attendees?

[The Dark Tangent]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Just to be clear, the ID thing is not mine or a DEF CON requirement, but what the organizers of the event want. I'm not sure what they will do with the data, and I expect them to make that clear, after all we are inquisitive and privacy oriented.

[StealHead]

Re: Defcon Kids in the news.

Nothing in the past has ever prevented anyone, goon or human, from bringing their children to defcon and allowing them to participate in anything and everything defcon-related up to maybe the age-restricted parties. We've never asked for so much as a name, let alone ID and signing of lawerly forms, so why are we doing this for two little rooms during the con?

Please see DT's post above about liability: https://forum.defcon.org/showpost.ph...4&postcount=32