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One Ring Rules the MIT Dome
Patiwat Panurach writes "The Great Dome of MIT was overtaken on the morning of Monday the 17th by a great golden ring, inscribed in red Elvish with text that translates to: "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." The hackers were apparently not completely successful, for neither the Great Dome nor Building 10 managed to vanish into the realm of shadows."
I saw that on my way into work this morning and flashed back to when they did the dome up as r2d2 years ago...
I could be horribly wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the script on the one ring was written in one of the ancient languages of Mordor, not Elvish.
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There's actually three locks up there now. Medeco, Primus, and Yale, all on the same door. Doesn't seem to pose much of a problem...
The Institute Screw Contest is run by Alpha Phi Omega each spring. Here's a list of recent winners...
http://web.mit.edu/apo/www/charity.html
(at lael (dot mit edu))
Please see the Jargon File Apendix A which discusses "The meaning of 'Hack'" at http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/The-Meaning -of-Hack.html.
*** Sigs are a stupid waste of bandwidth.
Ah, a wise question. Allow me to enlighten: (from the IFTHP page @ mit):
"The word hack at MIT usually refers to a clever, benign, and 'ethical' prank or practical joke, which is both challenging for the perpetrators and amusing to the MIT community (and sometimes even the rest of the world!)....hardly a term goes by without strange objects appearing in odd places."
In other words, "hacking" in the MIT-sense of it has developed as an internal term that's gotten mixed-in with with mainstream usage. In the same way that traditional hackers tinker with computers and mechanical things, MIT hackers tinker with the campus itself -- they put 'strange objects in odd places'.
Also, look up the phrase: "Institute for Hacks, Tomfoolery, and Pranks." for more info...;)
nlh
Ferrari and other exotic car rentals in New York
It's a tough lock right there on the roof door (which is flush with the roof, like the door on the top of the Millenium Falcon). When we went there (frobozz magic graffitti company) it was clear that it would be much harder to pick than almost any of the other locks we encountered. Our first guy gave up. One of us took a look at it and realized that someone had hacked the entire mechanism, so that the un-pickable lock actually did nothing to actually secure the door, if you simply pushed on the door, instead of concentrating on the handle.
For those interested in the whole MIT/Caltech hack/prank scene, this is an excerpt of a review I did some years ago of books from The MIT Press, the Caltech Alumni Association and St. Martin's Press.
First up, Legends of Caltech and More Legends of Caltech. These two 80 page volumes chronicle technopranking at Caltech from the 1920s to the late 1980s. Learn about the classic Rose Bowl card section prank that was broadcast live on NBC, See the HOLLYWOOD sign become the CALTECH sign before your very eyes. Vicariously enjoy the revenge of Caltech students upon a greedy police department.
These books MUST be ordered from the Caltech bookstore, as they are privately published by the Caltech Alumni Association. Ordering info is at the bottom of this page.
Ah, but what of MIT? For their history we must turn to a pair of books.
The Journal of the Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks at MIT. Published by the MIT Museum, this is a 158 page book with lots of photos and text concerning the hacks pulled by MIT men and women over the decades. See The Great Breast of Knowledge, The Great Pumpkin, the legendary Smoot Marks on the Harvard Bridge. Read about the chronic humiliation suffered by the inmates at Harvard as MIT has its way with the statue of John Harvard and the Harvard Stadium.
"Is This The Way To Baker House?" - A Compendium of Hacking Lore. 165 pages of legends, essays, photographs and stories of and about hacking at MIT. This book, published in 1996, continues where the Journal leaves off. The MIT Campus Police car on the Great Dome, arguably one the greatest hacks in MIT history, graces the cover and several inside pages. Regrettably, only black and white photographs are used in the body of the book, as there are several hacks, most notably, the Cathedral of Our Lady of The All Night Tool (The "stained glass" panels in Lobby 7) that really should be seen in full color. That minor gripe aside, this is a fine companion volume to The Journal and shares the same binding dimensions as The Journal, making them a handsome pair of books to grace the shelves of any creative malcontent. (The title refers to the canonical reply to an MIT Campus cop when one is discovered in a spectacularly inappropriate location, such as the apex of the Great Dome at 4:00AM.)
Our final book is published by St. Martin's Press and should still be available via any bookstore that will special order books for its customers.
If At All Possible, Involve A Cow - The Book Of College Pranks, is a 240 page history of collegiate pranking in America, beginning with the earliest colleges in America, and even taking note of some hijinx taking place in Canada.
This is an excellent companion volume to the preceeding four books, as it covers collegiate pranking in general, as well as detailing some events that are NOT covered in either the Caltech or MIT books.
If I were sending a son or daughter off to college, I would certainly include all five of these books in their "books to bring to school" box. Start 'em off right!
I have all five books and have enjoyed reading and re-reading them. I trust that these will be inspirational to all who enjoy a good hack and tweaking the nose of Authority, be it the State or the School.
Ordering information
Legends of Caltech is $9.00
More Legends of Caltech is $15.00
The mailing address of the Caltech Bookstore is:
Caltech Bookstore Mail Code 1-51 San Pasqual Street Pasadena CA 91125
The website for the Caltech Bookstore looks like you might be able to order these online.
The toll-free number for the Caltech bookstore is 800/514-2665. For those of you outside the US, their non-free number is 818/395-6161.
In my case, shipping was $6.00. Call to find out what your charges might be or to use a credit card.
(Neither book has an ISBN, so ordering via your local bookstore is not recommended and may very well be nigh-impossible.)
The Journal of The Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks at MIT is $20.00 The ISBN is: 0-917027-03-5
"Is This The Way To Baker House?" - A Compendium of Hacking Lore is $20.00. The ISBN is: 0-917027-04-3
The address of the MIT Museum is:
The MIT Museum 265 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge MA 02139
The Museum Shop online ordering is now being handled by Tha Harvard/MIT COOP.
The URL for ordering The Journal of The Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks at MIT is here and the URL for "Is This The Way To Baker House?" is here
If At All Possible, Involve A Cow - The Book Of College Pranks
by Neil Steinberg
$9.95 St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-07810-2
I'm told by Editor Keith at SMP that as of September 1994, there were about 4000 copies still in the warehouse and SMP will fulfill orders for the book. St. Martin's Press officially urges you to order this book from your local bookstore or Amazon.com.
I've just found out that this book has now made it's way to the remainder tables at some bookstores. If you want a copy, order it NOW from Amazon or inspect those remainder tables very carefully.
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Actually, it is harder than you think to get it up there. You'll note the dome has a trench around the base. The banner is hung 18 feet above this trench. Also, how do you think one gets a banner up that high? Fabric does not slide on concrete so you can't just raise it. How is it held in place.
It took about 20 MIT students over 12 hours and two nights to get it up, and that doesn't include the month of design, planning and construction.
-N
Here is how I heard the hack described when I was an undergrad. I heard it from an alumnus who claimed to be one of the perpetrators. The hack took place on one of the Green Line trolleys at one of the BU stops that is consistently crowded. The hackers made up several dixie cups of thermite (a mix of several metal powders). This stop was chosen because the traffic volume would ensure that they would have enough time to place the cups in front of the wheels on the rails. When the trolley rolled over the cups, the current flow through the thermite ignited it, welding the wheels to the track. Another hack on the trolleys involved greasing the tracks where they come up from underground past Kenmore Square... Steve