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MIT 'Hall of Hacks' Gone

Posted by timothy on from the a-sad-day dept.

WhyCause writes: "The MIT "shrine to clever pranks" has closed it's doors due to space concerns. I thought this development particularly pertinent after the review of "The Hacker Ethic." You can read more about it here." This is a real shame -- it was on my list to visit the next time I traveled to Boston. There are still some great online resources detailing MIT pranks, though, and the exhibits aren't being thrown out, but their future home is uncertain.

3 of 50 comments (clear)

  1. Purdue Pranks by MAXOMENOS · · Score: 5

    In the first phase of my undergraduate career (long story), I was at Purdue, a place famous for engineers and infamous for its mind-numbing, unspeakable conservativism. We didn't get many pranks, but one of the better ones was the time someone erected three outhouses outside of the Math building: one for Men, one for Women, and one for UNIX. Sadly, they were torn down only a bit later. Steve Beering had no sense of humor.

    ObJectBridge (GPL'd Java ODMG) needs volunteers.

    --
    Finding God in a Dog
  2. "Locks pose no barrier" by Twid · · Score: 5

    >`These kids are splitting atoms and stuff, so a
    >lock poses no barrier to them,'' marveled Barber.

    A little overdramatic, I think, this sounds kinda like something out of the Matrix, I can see it now in Matrix 4:

    MIT Undergrad: "You mean to say that I can dodge padlocks?"

    Morpheus: "I mean to say that when time comes, when you have your PhD in nuclear engineering and you want to put a cow on the dome, you won't have to."

    - Twid

    --
    - "When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to give it to you" -Paulo Coelho
  3. I think this is one of MIT's keys to a good rep by IvyMike · · Score: 5

    The hacking museum is one of the coolest things about MIT--it gives current and former students a shared culture, and it gives new students something to aspire to. After all, what could be cooler than being imortalized in a museum of cool hacks? (And come on, MIT students: You may claim that you went there for the academics, but we all know that you all secretly want to be the Val Kilmer character from Real Genius.)

    I knew of a few cool hacks that happened at my school while I was there, and I'm sure that there were cool hacks in the past, and cool hacks after I left. But these hacks are destined to fade into history until they are forgotten, which is really too bad. I sure hope someone at MIT wises up and does everything possible to keep the museum alive and opened; it would be a shame for them to lose something that makes the school unique and cool.