Any topic that is of interest to Hackers

It’s not often that I comment on HPR episodes – other than to beg for you to send them in – but I want to make an exception for today’s show. Episode 0853 :: Pat Volkerding of Slackware Linux chats with Klaatu

I’m not making this exception because it was “better”, I would find it impossible to make such a call. The HPR community produces a massive amount of content and I have listened to every single one at least once. There has not been a single HPR show that I have not enjoyed and learned from.

Nor is it that it was submitted by Klaatu as given that he has submitted 12 ½% of all shows, I would have written this long before now. Sure today’s ‘topic’ was special – a interview with Patrick Volkerding the man behind SlackWare, the longest continually developed Linux distribution – but we’ve had other interviews with people of note before.

The reason for this deviation is simply because it embodies the qualities that I feel define Hacker Public Radio.

It’s about taking a topic and exploring it, looking at all sides, exposing otherwise hidden and unknown facts, it’s about events, it’s about community, it’s about people, it’s about technology, it’s about music, it’s about history, it’a about life, it’s about questioning – everything – our very existence – space time – ancient cultures. In short it’s about “Any topic that is of interest to Hackers”

If you have never listened to a HPR then this is surely the best sample of what you are likely to find. Sure it arrived just in time to fill an otherwise empty slot, the audio isn’t perfect, it might not follow a script, random people wander in and out, there may be tangents from the topic at hand but if you can open your ears to listen you’ll hear the passion of the community, our community. Then maybe, just maybe, you too will be inspired to share your unique point of view with us.