Testing the Ballmer Peak: Ballmer Peak-a-Thon SF, open bar hackathon | Hacker News Reader

Testing the Ballmer Peak: Ballmer Peak-a-Thon SF, open bar hackathon

ballmerpeakathon.com

15 pointsMrDunham15 comments

See, now this is how you promote something like this without coming off as a tool.

Well done!

I'm not sure when the last time a HN post made me actually laugh out loud. Well done yourself!

Also, it helps to be part hacker :)

Haha my team and I tested the peak in San Antonio on the StartupBus following 3 long days of coding and a long day at Rackspace. Result of Initial Trial: Night ends down one developer (sleeping at the hotel at this point) while the remaining three of us walk to McDonald's which we soon discovered was located in a "less than desirable" area. +1 to the cop who got us safely out of there.

We're going for more of a party in SF, and get discounts at a bar after the event.

No McDonalds though, sorry.

I know the organizer. It should be a fun event.

Relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zj50DmBFp0

Will breathalyzers be provided? How will programming ability be measured? :)

Haha we're still looking into that... though the test might be less than scientific for legal reasons.

Programming ability might have to be more subjective, but we've also built a Ballmer Calculator based off well established formulas.

Basically, you put in your weight and sex, we tell you how much you 'should' drink to get to the Ballmer Peak.

I personally like to drink and code because it is a natural way to alert me when to call it a night.

Also, I am a bit of an obsessive 'pre-thinker' so it helps get over that hump and get me coding.

Strangely, I wake up more refreshed after those nights than when I 'just want to get through one more TODO'.

Remember: Lots of checkpoint commits to your local repo...you'll probably have to trash the last couple. and you should avoid committing to the master until you've had a chance to clean up in the morning. Alarms are good for this.

That might be a good time to use a BAC calculator and post your findings...one 'measurement' per commit and judge the code later. If you do this, please post a graph. I would be interested in seeing this data.

And may your Ballmer peak become a Ballmer plateau!

As a thank you to the HN community that made Hacker Fair (for the Hacker Dojo) so great, I'm giving $5 off... which means it's $10 for an open bar on Cinco De Mayo.

Use HackerNewsLovesBeer (not case sensitive)

I've been to the Peakathon in Los Angeles. Unforgettable evening!

These guys are super epic, looking forward to another fun event.

Just signed up. Looking forward to it!

Sweet! See you there!

Fantastic! I'll be there

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