Major Handwaving

Replacement badge
I went to DefCon 17 this year and had a really great time. The talks were interesting, the people were cool, and the food was great. However, for a brief time after my first talk, I was in a great panic. You see, I had some how lost my badge. You may think to yourself "oh no big deal, go get a replacement by showing your receipt", but not at DefCon. There are no receipts at DefCon. Everything is done with cash only. This means that I was out a badge with no proof to show anyone that I had already payed for one. I searched around the room looking for it, but in the time it had taken me to realize that I no longer had it, it was gone. Outside the room, there were a few goons (people who keep the peace at DefCon). I went over and asked if anyone had reported a badge. While I was assured that no one had, or would, they checked the room again with me to no avail. Just when I thought I would have to go buy another $120 badge, one of the goons said that he would go with me to the registration desk to give some legitimacy to my story. When we arrived to the desk, he explained my situation to the skeptic staff. With a glance and me, and their trust of the goons, I was given a replacement temporary badge with a stern warning that this wouldn't happen again. With my replacement badge in hand, I profusely thanked both the goon and the registration desk attendant, and securely stored the badge in my room, to be replaced the next day by a real circuit badge. In retrospect, much of the fault lay with the temporary badge itself. A flimsy, laminated piece of paper punched within a few millimeters of the edge is in no way, shape, or form sturdy enough for even an hour's usage. This does not change the fact that loosing it is (usually) pure doom. I wrote this article as both a warning to newbie DefCon goers, and as a thank you to the staff. Don't lose your badge. Ever. To the Goons who helped me scour the room, and the one that went with me to the registration desk: Thank you. I have an immense respect for the jobs of the Goons, having to control such and unruly group of people. I have a (partially) renewed faith in humanity because of this experience: that in even the most hostile, most distrustful group of people, honesty and altruism can exist. Thank you again.