user@host $:~ man 3 memcpy
What could possibly go wrong?
user@host $:~

...but it's aliens.

Silly one, such are stories told by conspiracy theorists and science fiction authors to entertain and amuse. It is good to know that the old tales are still being told, though...

Taking one of Elliott's noisemaker classes at HacDC is a lot like practicing chaos magick: you're never sure what you're going to have to work with at any given time, you don't know what sort of result you're going to get until you're halfway through the process, a large part of your instructions will consist of "Let's try this and see what happens," and you're guaranteed lots of funny noises (often modulated with different kinds of light).

Scaring the neighbors is completely optional.

Well, not so much. I was hoping to riff off of a famous Red Dwarf quote or two to make this post more entertaining, but after a few revisions it's just not coming together the way I'd hoped, so I'll spare your delicate sensibilities and optics the horror and push on.

As the title to this post suggests, I'm in the heart of Alabama on assignment. Granted, it's not too bad... the people down here are quite friendly, and the stereotypical southern hospitality isn't a stereotype, it's a way of life. People down here are so nice, polite, and helpful …