Day 0 #emfcamp
A month of rain falling one day before a festival makes for interesting logistics (shout out to all those building up during this for being amazing). Fortunately EMF attendees seem to be prepared for quite literally anything...
During my shift I overheard part of a conversation that made me smile:
"This is basically all the people who'd rebuild after an apocalypse. EMF would be the best survivor camp."
Hard not to agree when you walk past things like this!
Day 0 #emfcamp
After food from the vendors (more later there 👀) a quick trip via the shop netted me a patch and pin with the amazing artwork for this year. My nerd battle jacket will wear these with pride.
The @robotarms is always a highlight of EMF and the spread was amazing again.
To the person on their first shift who served us right as Cloudwater ran out but he person who wanted it had left their lights on so wasn't there: you did good, hope the rest of your shift was less confusing!
Day 0 #emfcamp
As night descends the lasers and lights begin. If you've never read a NOTAM for EMF you should, aircraft being warned about a laundry list of laser, lights and fire feels delightfully unusual.
Not all roads lead to Rome but giant sky lasers always lead to Null Sector. However that's a trip for the next day while the finishing touches are applied.
We'll just have to survive with the music playing giant tesla coil for a bit, oh no...
[Short break in content due to arriving in London for Spirited Away. Coverage of Day 1 shall continue on the return trip!]
@FroggyMakes Exercises Will Take Place 
#EMFCamp
We reach the morning of #emfcamp day 1!
A fine view from my tent, grabbing a coffee and helping ensure that we're being very, very safe when driving any form of vehicle.
Shout out to the Leeds Hackspace crew for letting me camp with them again this EMF, it was as always a lovely group of people.
Spoiler: the sun literally did not stop shining from this point forwards and it was glorious.
Day 1 #emfcamp - opening ceremony!
Everyone headed on down to Stage A to see @jonty officially open things up (I can only apologise for my amateur photography here).
I believe the stat for talks/workshops was 12 days straight of content and that's just the 'official' stuff. It's literally impossible to "do all of EMF" and to me that's what makes it magical.
I said it earlier but I really loved the Stage A layout and I think this shows why. Look at all these people ready to do cool things!
Day 1 #emfcamp (repost, all hail train signal)
Went for a wander before getting into the talks - did you know EMF has both a DECT and copper phone network? ( @CuTEL )
I was FORG this year as someone nabbed FROG, but I did enjoy the racoon noise and RAT FACTS phone extensions. Last time I had 7253 play the "new emergency service" jingle from IT crowd, it's such a fun thing to exist.
The noticeboard was already filling with cool things happening around the campsite and event!
Hello! (Co founder of the RSPCR (rat facts) here) Glad to hear you enjoyed our service,
I'm still collecting stories from people about rat facts so if you have anything of note I'd love to hear it!
@John - oh amazing! I used to keep rats so they're very dear to my heart so rat facts was so cool.
I used this exact phone the day after to call for a rat fact:
_[dial tone]_
RSPCR: "Hello rat facts"
Me: "Hello, I would like a rat fact please."
RSPCR: "Certainly. When you see rats gathered around musician ensure you pay them or they will steal your children."
Me: "That is a very helpful fact, thank you for that."
RSPCR: "Not a problem, have a nice day."
_[extremely satisfying clunk hangup]_
@FroggyMakes @John Hold on, was rat facts run by people managing a hotline
@jonty @FroggyMakes
Yes it was a copper phone and line "bought" from cutel, in our village
https://chaos.social/@John/112576920346617718
we had great fun pretending to be a call centre!
269 calls and 142 minutes of total call duration!
@John @FroggyMakes Extremely regretting not calling Rat Facts
@FroggyMakes @jonty @John dibs on tru'fax.
Now I just need to figure out fax machines.
@pieceofthepie @FroggyMakes @jonty @John
Nobody’s done hat facts yet…? Or perhaps even bureaucrat and aristocrat facts…
What about facts about faxes?! People could send a fax with a fact to fax facts!!!
@herdingdata @pieceofthepie@social.n8e.dev @FroggyMakes @jonty @John I for one would love to fax fax facts facts.
@herdingdata @pieceofthepie @FroggyMakes @jonty @John @Floppy @pikesley we need to nab Hat Facts for Hat Village in 2026!
@jon @FroggyMakes @jonty @John this idea is not 10 minutes old and I am already chatting with @blue about implementation details. I feel like we need to make this happen 😃
@John @FroggyMakes @jonty might have to branch out into Tardigrade Facts next time. Perhaps a combined call centre with one of those big “calls waiting” type displays would be in order.
@John @FroggyMakes Operated by the technovoles themselves. They just reply with annoyed squeaks (at 140bpm)
