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Comment by tomcam | Hacker News Reader

trying to envision said parties

Rooftop parties in the city, drinking beer from bottles, strings of vintage lightbulbs, people wearing plaid, taking out your phone to say “Hey look at this!” and pointing out a spot in the sky where an iridium flare streaks across while everyone gasps “Wwwooww!!” High fives

The University of Sydney Physics Society (physoc) used to have some great rooftop parties (in the late 80s). Invariably someone would raid the dry ice freezer and put it in the empty bottles and screw the lids on to make "depth charges". These would get dropped over the edge and go off with a resounding boom sometime later, scaring the wits out of anyone at ground level. University Security would invariably arrive to find everything peaceful at ground level and so sign of the party above.

That's one of those things that wouldn't fly at universities these days.

At least in NZ, all the traditional student events and activities have been slowly neutered over the past decade or so, to ensure that nobody gets hurt, and that everything is tame and hurts nobody's sensibilities.

I was about to prove you wrong by demonstrating that couch fires are still a fun student tradition in NZ, but googling shows the very opposite. https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/heat-out-couch-burning.

Only 11 fires in the first three months of last year, a massive 65% drop on the previous low of 31 for the period.

Every time I saw a couch fire at Canterbury, the fire brigade arrived shortly to put it out.

They were definitely frowned upon. Especially when the couches were stolen from the halls of residence and burned on Ilam fields.

Then you put your phone back in your pocket, laugh dramatically, and close with "And that's the last time NASA messes with me."

Sounds like my experience in Melbourne. It was the plaid that really hit the spot.

I'M IN

I've wowed "normal" people at outdoor parties by "showing" them the ISS, they knew about the it but have never seen it. If I were more charming and better prepared I could also claim I'm an alien, and my spaceship is up there, here let me turn on the headlights, timing it to an Iridium flare.

But people usually say isn't that (the ISS) a plane? And you'd have to explain that plane lights blink.

— You want to see a party trick?

— Yeah!

— Let's see… hmm, not today.

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