RIPE69 karaoke – excruciating 🙂
T’was a week of excess. Excess conference sessions, excess coffee and excess alcohol. It would be difficult for an outsider to understand that the internet is actually fuelled by coffee and beer. That’s what makes those packets move. No sleep is involved. There is also whisky.
On Thursday night, deep in the bowels of the Novotel, far below anywhere you might see a member of staff at night, unless in pairs, the Karaoke BoF was in full fling. Excruciating, gruesome noises emanated. Wild men sprang from their laptop cocoons. Cockroaches scuttled for the safety of the air-conditioning ducts. Loud music thundered. Lights flashed and dazzled.
Men and women danced in their free conference t shirts. Beer, whisky, whisky, beer. Lights, music, whisky beer. As the night drew on more people arrived to press the momentum of the Karaoke. Microphone fodder.
That night the internet was invented, disassembled and reinvented. DNS, BGP, dark fibre, SDN, IPv6.
5am came. Then breakfast, for the few. There is a rule. Work hard, play hard, and work begins at 9am no matter how hard the play. So the internet keeps working, for the people. Breakfast is optional. The @lonap sponsored coffee station worked overtime.
Then came the wrap-up plenary. After that the doors were closed, 750Mbps of internet pipe shut off and the meeting went into its final session1.
Afterwards we hailed an Uber and made our way to KIngs Cross Station. Preparation for the journey North. Fish and chips accompanied by pints of London Pride. Then we went our separate ways, back to our homes and loved ones and an early night.
What do I remember most about the week. The excellent WiFi access. It is as you would expect from an internet conference. Next time it is in Amsterdam and they will have 10Gbps of connectivity. That’s a proper broadband connection.
Have a good day now…
1Nod’s as good as a wink to a blind ‘orse.
