Hackers for Charity

After seeing the latest post on the Hacker's for Charity site, I decided I should write a quick post for my readers that don't know about this awesome organization so they too could lend their thoughts and prayers to Johnny Long and his family as they're currently going through some very rough times, both as a family and as an organization.

From the site:

What is HFC?

Picking on charities is just plain rude. Thankfully, that’'s not what we’'re about. We'’re about proving that hackers have amazing skills that can transform charitable organizations. We'’re about stepping into the gap to feed and educate the world’'s most vulnerable citizens. We are virtual, geographically diverse and different. We are Hackers for Charity.
So what do we do?

• We feed children through our  "food for work" program.
• We build computer labs to help students learn skills and land jobs that are key to disrupting poverty's vicious cycle. 
• We provide technical assistance to charities that can not afford IT services.
• We provide job experience and references to our volunteers.

Our largest project is headed by Johnny Long in East Africa. In June 2009, he and his family relocated to Uganda to focus on HFC full-time. Read more about their journey here or fund their volunteer work here. 

Any help that could be sent their way would be much appreciated by all involved in the project. It really is a wonderful thing they're doing, and they have great t-shirts as well.

Phreaknic 14

I'll be spending this weekend in Nashville at Phreaknic 14. I went to Phreaknic last year, and loved the experience. That was not only my first time at Phreaknic, but my first time at a hacker con.

Phreaknic is a "conference for the curious mind" as this year's flyer says. The conference features speakers from all over who talk on everything from roasting coffee beans to building a home nuclear reactor to penetration testing and many other interesting things.

If anyone is going to be in the Nashville area this weekend, you should stop by and check out the conference.

From the website:

PhreakNIC is an annual convention held in Nashville, TN. Originally started as a "hacker convention," it has since grown to include all things of interest to the technology minded individual, such as sci-fi/fantasy, gaming, anime and other areas of tech culture. PhreakNIC is organized by the Nashville 2600 Organization and the Nashville Linux Users Group. There are technical presentations, cultural exhibits and panels, as well as plenty of socializing. 

You can find out more about Phreaknic at the conference website.