This seriously could not have come at a better time. I'm in LA and just started getting into the community. There are some hack labs around the city as well, but nothing specifically like this that I'm aware of. Massive props to steveeq1 for the link.
Just a stab in the dark, but there could be several reasons to try a font like Verdana:
1) Cheap licensing fees. The best typefaces cost plenty of money to use. There is a recession going on but.. c'mon.. you know?
2) It is a challenge to set and make professional use of a shitty typeface. Perhaps this was a ballsy exercise in flaunting an anti-elitist sort of position by using a "proletarian" font. Who knows?
I used to get into friendly, though heated, debates with a friend who would accuse me of being an academic typographer. As a defense, I challenged him to make good use of a junky font like Times New Roman to determine who actually had skill and who was a stylistic fashion whore.
Maybe this is some such attempt by the designers, I don't know? I kinda have a hard time believing that the print designer(s) for Ikea of all places simply made a bonehead error by using a screen font for print.
Just my 3 million bajillion cents. Side note: if anyone has a magical potion that helps to make a succinct point, I'd like to have a teaspoon or so :D
Five years in muay thai (MTA in North Hollywood) and blue belt in brasilian jiu jitsu. Lots of concussions, broken hands, messed up hips and tendons ;)
Seems like hackers are more into martial arts rather than MMA or muay thai or boxing, BUT I've met some guys that are engineers and programmers.
Fighting takes a couple years to get good at and keeps you goal oriented and focused under extreme stress and failure.
The first round is all hype, but when the third bell rings you feel like shit getting ready to go out there. That's when doubt creeps in. Killing that doubt in your mind or staying attacking even when you're losing is what makes a fighter a special breed of person. Lessons are learned the hard way, but they stick with you.
I like what you're getting at in the last sentence, it really resonated with me.
I think almost as importantly fighting (in a sport context anyway) teaches you that there's a time when it's best to let things go. Learning to tap when you recognize that someone really has something locked is an important skill!
I listen to metal (Mastodon, Neurosis, Isis, Misery Speaks, Cult of Luna) in the day if I'm wired on coffee. Otherwise, I listen to a lot of ambient/IDM (Marconi Union, Signer,Arovane, etc).
Generally if I'm drawing, daydreaming, designing, or what have you I listen to a lot of indie, downtempo, sexy/chill house.
Don't forget that the legal system started updating itself and now has laws on the books more akin to being charged with terrorism. Another thing to consider is people getting threatened with bogus associations to organized crime.
People keep a low profile and things are more implicitly communicated when out in the open. A good hacker is creative, so a creative individual can just as easily imagine the "alternate" possibilities of a particular technology.
If I don't eat and have coffee I'm like a monster.