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I have two pieces of good new for you.

First, you're not alone! Plenty of people feel the same way not only about their levels of knowledge, but about crowds of strangers. Vegas particularly sucks for introverts because the casinos make so much noise.

Second, you aren't broken! You have perfectly normal feelings, and you don't need to fix them.

So how do you have a good time at a place like Defcon?

First you just need to understand yourself. You need to know why you feel what you feel and what triggers positive and negative experiences. Understanding yourself is the first step to loving yourself, which is in turn the first step toward others loving you. I highly recommend reading Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking. Once you know what drains your energy and why, you can minimize your exposure to it without feeling guilty.

Second, I can recommend one super easy way to start conversations: compliment people. See someone with a funny shirt? Say, "I love your shirt!" See someone with a fancy badge or a helmet with antennas sticking out of it? Say, "OMG I love that! What does it do?" That guy isn't wearing a hardhat with an LCD playing Super Mario Bros. because he doesn't want to talk about it. :) There are a ton of people walking around DefCon literally wearing their passions on their sleeves, and most will be happy to talk about them.

Finally, if you don't like to approach people, you don't have to. Sit down and let them approach you instead. Take a seat in a chill out area or a common area of the casino. I particularly like the open tables with the stools at the bottom of the escalators up to the Jubilee Tower in Bally's. Just take a load off, have a drink, and play with your phone for a while. People will come and go, and many of them will have cool shirts, backpacks full of tech, or other good compliment targets.

The same goes for the villages. Plop yourself down and look lost, and eventually someone in a white coat will come along to help you. :)

I'm dispensing my advice from this being year seven, and from the angle of being a worker/support and manning a booth (go /r/dcdarknet) . Makes for a lot of walking and a lot of time staying put at a booth. (Note, I add and update this every year, and then save it because the question will always be asked again).

Fluids (if any tl:dr -- keep fluids up at all cost)

• Water flask - Go and get a durable bottle that you'll use the whole weekend to refill. I have a couple of these water flasks You are going to want to drink the water down, and refill this when you can. I've found a lot of times there are water coolers, but the cups ran out. This flask tucks nicely into a bag or large pocket. Doesn't seem to leak or puncture.
  
• Water additives - Go get something to add to your water for electolytes. Yes, you'll lose more than just water. Pack a small batch of something like these NUUN tablets and mix them into that water flask. Bonus, retain the little tube they came in to store lockpicks or whatever other little itmes you might accumulate.
  
• Caffeine - you should do caffeine as the water additives. A lot of the "caffeine delivery systems" you will encounter will also dehydrate you. See the section on vitamins and drugs. There is also little refrigeration, so you'll just be drinking warm Mountain Dew. Get some caffeine with your meal if you need to.
  
• Alcohol - you can use one of those water flasks to carry some booze. But one flask must be water at all times. I generally have two flasks on me, one of water, one of moonshine, etc. Minibottles are great too, you can get them at home and pack them into toiletries.
  
  Note: I've stopped drinking for the duration of the con, since it is easy to get into a bad spot, dehydrated, and I've got contests depending on my help (plus you get to see more cool things). Just my stance after six years, and probably why the goons don't drink on the job: not that they can't, just that they are responsible. If not responsible for anything, hell, you're in Sin City, do what you want.
  
  "The best things I put in my mouth all weekend of DEFCON":
  
  These natural throat losenges are great. I gave out all that I had to the good people working booths, and got the quoted reaction. It helps for just socializing an talking for hours and hours in the desert, and getting your voice back.
  
  Snacks
  
  
• Protein - it's just natural energy. Get some protein bars, eat one each morning. Beef jerky works out well too. A lot of people crowd breakfast places, when you should be lining up for awesome things instead. You should also match this with water/electrolytes. It'll fuel you for the day.
  
• Sugar - yeah, don't really load up on this. You'll just crash at the most inconvenient time. This ties into the sodas/caffeine thing.
  
• Chips and General Snacks - sure, find these somewhere if you have to. Best place is offsite, head towards the Tuscany, and there's a 7Eleven over there. Or do a run with people to Wal-Mart or something. If you're doing that, get PB&J ingredients.
  
  Drugs
  
  
• Multivitamins - Get some multivitamins, and start taking them now or in the month leading up to DEFCON. I generally get StressTabs Energy and take them to keep me on my game. Combats hangovers well.
  
• Vitamin D - this also rocks, and most of us won't see the sun for a few days anyways.
  
• Hangover additives - again, back to that water flask. Use some sort of tablets like these I like tablets, because then you'll drink water. Just packing tylenol/asprin will generally get you to take a swallow of water with the pill, when you really should get a full flask of fluids, or more.
  
• Anti-diarrhea drugs. I know there is the fun of Shittercon, but you eat some bad party food or share a flask with someone that has some bug, you'll rather have the anti-diarrhea drugs than become a Shittercon VIP. Plus, diarrhea dehydrates you in the desert.
  
  Tech
  
  
• Ethernet cable - you'll at least want to try to be on wired vs wireless. Plus, you can connect into LAN Taps, etc., should anything like that arise among your buddies.
  
• Laptop? - My thoughts, bring something. I've had years where I didn't use it. But having the ability to look something up, examine a forensics challenge, is useful.
  
• Thumbdrives - useful for a LiveCD boot, and also useful if you need to take files that are being distributed. Copy off a new distro or a tool that is released. Again, be safe with taking files from strangers.
  
• Battery charger - small and large works for me. These are also handy for providing a charge to any pis, badges, or random devices you might use.
  
• Batteries - you'll have electronic badges, and the batteries provided might suck. Bring some good and fresh ones. The few spots that sell them charge an outrageous amount. I'm talking AAAs, AAs, CR2032s.
  
• Solder gear - bring a soldering iron if you can. You're dealing with a lot of the cheapest irons being used by people with varying degrees of skill. The tips can get kinda janky too. Using a bad tip that is about the shape of a pencil ERASER is gonna be a frustrating time for you.
  
• Solder gear pt 2 - If not bringing an iron, bring support items. Bring better solder. Bring better solder wick, solder sucker, desolder braid, flux. Also bring a flush cutter to cut the wires. That small list of stuff is invaluable and can fit in a ziplock bag. HHV generally provides cheap irons with bad tips and the lowest-grade solder. (No fault to them, they're setting it up free, and the tips simply get bad from heavy use).
  
• I've never done a throwaway or burner phone. Lock down / harden your phone and back it up / take an image before you go, and restore from it after. If anyone wanted to target you bad, you're going to have a bad time regardless of what phone you have, but there are probably softer targets anyways. And make friends, don't give people a reason to come after you and your phone should be fine.
  
  Inventory
  
  
• Footwear - bring two sets of con footwear. I have super-comfy things, but I use two, because sometimes your feet just need to be in something different.
  
• Bags - don't be a damn turtle. I usually either carry what I need in my Utilikilt, or use a small slingbag such as the Bag of Holding and you can add to any bag a Grid-It system , as this 8x12 fits well. Helps keep smaller things organized, and I also use it to organize charging cables, with the battery at the bottom, and the device able to connect up top.
  
• Bags (2017 Addition) - This BUBM organizer / bag is outstanding, and I keep this in my bag now instead of (or sometimes in addition to) the Grid-It.
  
  
  Prepare Thyself
  
  
• Start drinking your water now or in the month leading up to DEFCON, just to get the habit up. I scripted a box that pops up at my work computer every hour to have me finish my water and refill.
  
• Start doing drugs. I mean, the multivitamins referenced above, and vitamin D.
  
• If you want to brush up on first aid, or even Wilderness First Aid (for when aid might be a bit distant, which kind of happens in the craziness of the con), and have the means to do so, please do. It'll help us and your fellow con goer.
  
  Some last notes:
  
  
• This is not to scare you out of the horrors of the con. It is not that bad, just Be Prepared is all that.
  
• If you're having a shit time and can find me (I will make myself identifiable as Belouve), I'll help you out. Goons are also good people too.
  
• If Official Defcon peeps like /u/DTangent or /u/1o57 or the mods want to pin or use my tips somewhere, feel free to do so. I might copy this to my GitHub so I can reference, update, and copy/paste this easier.
  

I agree with pretty much everything said here except I prefer a different iron:

https://www.amazon.com/Hakko-Digital-FX888D-Soldering-Station/dp/B00AWUFVY8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1501705119&sr=8-2&keywords=hakko+fx888d

Hakko FX-888D. Not inexpensive but not the most expensive either. One of the best irons I have ever worked with, was a night/day experience compared to prior cheapo irons I'd used in the past.

Ya, I had plans on nailing all that down once I got my radios in. (I had noted that in the "Spec")

Pretty much I have two of these and one of these and I was going to figure out some settings that would allow all three of them to behave.

Edit: Suggestions are def welcome, Mostly we are looking to do a blast and forget network, not a whole ton of two way traffic. (And def not doing LoRaWAN, that looks like too much work)

I recommend The Hacker Ethic:

The Hacker Ethic https://www.amazon.com/dp/0375505660/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Kp2nDbAM9QMP1

Also Kevin Mitnick's book, Ghost in the Wires is a really good read:

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker https://www.amazon.com/dp/0316037729/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_Ar2nDb1YSE47W

I was really surprised no one mentioned either of these yet 😎

Here is the non-mobile link from the comment above
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Hacker romance novel...

https://www.amazon.com/Wired-Buchanan-Fbi-Julie-Garwood/dp/0525954465

A laptop is bulky and you often end up keeping track of it at parties etc.

I usually just bring my iPhone + a battery pack. (Anker) makes a decent one

You can route your data (including 4G) through a VPN. (I use Algo)

Both wifi and 4g will be saturated anyways so I mostly use HackerTracker to look at the schedule and Signal to keep in touch with my wolf pack.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0054MLMLA/?tag=wireleshackt-20

Another vote for Snowcrash - and a link.

https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Novel-Neal-Stephenson-ebook/dp/B000FBJCJE/

I was thinking of putting mine on eBay.

You can get one without the logo at:
https://www.amazon.com/Rothco-Canvas-M-51-Engineers-Field/dp/B004NRDD3W

You'll find it for less on amazon.co.uk.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Underground-Database-Electronic-Vol/dp/156866043X

/u/Breaking_David THIS is the bag without the logo if you cant find one.

Had a couple of logic level shifters from sparkfun.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FGD7ZZ4?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Its about $30 anywhere else
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00E4WM3PU/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1416243974&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX200_QL40

I'm not certain, but I think this will get you in: https://www.amazon.com/Georgia-Commercial-Grade-Universal-Dispenser-Dispensers/dp/B00DDULFPS/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_229_t_1

>pop off the the quartz front

if you want to put the quartz back, replace the adhesive with some double sided foam tape https://www.amazon.com/3M-110-3M-Scotch-Mounting-75-inches/dp/B00004Z498 and the jconnect will fit without butchering a $60 cable! :)

i didn't really finish the timing but https://gist.github.com/charlie-x/aba3728313d3da66565e027e048dce1e
just remember to change or remove the lyrics print if you just swap the song that is in there otherwise it'll crash.