I agree with all the points, and yet at the same time I like these hackathon jam thingies.

I have a real life with real responsibilities and I live deep in the countryside to so I just don't get hackathons happening around me.

But I've started to make 'me' time to go meetups, game-programming jams, 'make' kind of things and that kind of stuff. And I love it, even if just a spectator and just for a few hours.

Along those lines I recently invited myself to look around a real rocket project (I'm an armchair enthusiast) and here's my pictures: http://williamedwardscoder.tumblr.com/post/102953980123/home...

I think that kind of project is like a years-long hackathon if you squint from a sufficiently high altitude.