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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

On the fourth floor of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, there is a hackathon. Just walk in the door and follow the signs depicting George W. Bush wearing a Photoshopped Oculus Rift during his famous "Mission Accomplished" speech. Past the VR Lab you'll find a half-dozen tables full of hackers, staring at their laptop screens elbow to elbow. They're young, disheveled. Hair has had been mussed, collars tugged at, sleeves rolled up. A deep, computerized voice mutters incoherent gibberish off in the distance. A quirky machine with a tangle of wires twitches and squirts out Easy Cheese. Someone in VR makes a kissy face and waggles her head at nothing in particular. No one bats an eye.

Welcome to the third annual Stupid Shit No One Needs and Terrible Ideas Hackathon [popularmechanics.com].

Founded two years ago by Amelia Winger-Bearskin and Sam Lavigne, the Stupid Hackathon [stupidhackathon.com] is an outgrowth of the duo's time as students in the school's Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP), a two-year grad program that melds technology and art. This year's event is the largest by far—there around 100 people here today, Lavigne tells me. (A later count puts it at roughly twice as many.) To either side of him projection screens display the day's topics, which include:

        VIRTUAL REALITY (FOR BABIES)
        ARTISANAL AD NETWORKS
        OPEN SOURCE DEBTORS PRISON

The Stupid Hackathon shares a portion of its DNA with the more common, often corporate-sponsored variety. Participants register ahead of time with an idea for a project and show up on event day to spend several hours in each other's company, working diligently to duct tape their ideas together—figuratively and literally—before the event closes with presentations and awards.

Sounds like more honest fun than the corporate variety, which are just pitch-a-thons.

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