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MIT Gnome Invasion

J. Arthur Random writes "On Wednesday, April 23, hundreds of gnomes invaded the main public computer cluster at MIT. There were big gnomes, little gnomes, even naked gnomes. A gnome army carried the GNOME banner. Fortunately, the ACME Gnome Exterminators took care of the infestation within a few days."

44 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. fr1st ps0t by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    gnome is about as user friendly as girls are

  2. Run.... by Blaine+Hilton · · Score: 3, Funny
    Better watch out for the genetically altered, gnomes with a higher gnomedex...

    Go calculate something

  3. Exactly how do you exterminate a gnome? by Elpacoloco · · Score: 4, Funny

    Must you use the magic word, Kappa Delta Edward?

    1. Re:Exactly how do you exterminate a gnome? by yerricde · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, wouldn't this be Kappa Delta Epislon?

      For one thing, the Greek for 'E' is "Epsilon" (s before i).

      For another, "Edward" was funnier.

      --
      Will I retire or break 10K?
    2. Re:Exactly how do you exterminate a gnome? by RayChuang · · Score: 2, Funny

      Try this: use a Jarvey. =)

      (For those who don't know, you'll have to read the Harry Potter books to find out. ^_^)

      --
      Raymond in Mountain View, CA
  4. HELP! by JWSmythe · · Score: 4, Funny


    HELP!

    The Gnomes are coming! The Gnomes are coming!

    The colo just called. They're coming through the raised floors, and just appearing inside cages and cabinets! They're overrunning us!!!!

    --
    Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    1. Re:HELP! by Oloryn · · Score: 2, Funny
      The Gnomes are coming! The Gnomes are coming!

      Thank you, Mr Revere

    2. Re:HELP! by Tumbleweed · · Score: 4, Funny

      I say we take off and nuke the site from orbit.

      It's the only way to be sure.

  5. You guys at MIT are smart and all, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    But you guys really have to get out more.....

    1. Re:You guys at MIT are smart and all, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, this coming from a guy who spends friday night posting on slashdot.

  6. All the bases covered! by Corvaith · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looking at the pictures... wow. Pirate gnomes! Goth gnomes! Alcoholic gnomes!

    I think some people really need to get lives. :)

    1. Re:All the bases covered! by exhilaration · · Score: 5, Funny
      Where are the African-American gnomes? The Arab gnomes?? The South Asian gnomes? The Jewish gnomes??

      THIS IS BLATANT DISCRIMINATION - I cannot allow this exclusion of minority gnomes to stand!

      I shall be filing a class action lawsuit against MIT; all minority gnomes should contact me immediately.

      (Now to figure out some way to bring the DMCA into this...)

    2. Re:All the bases covered! by Ellen+Ripley · · Score: 3, Funny

      LADIES @ NJ/NYC: 23 YEAR OLD GUY SEEKS YOU!

      Shouldn't this be:

      IN SOVIET UNION: 23 YEAR OLD GUY SEEKS YOU!

  7. GOT A GNOME PROBLEM?? by exhilaration · · Score: 3, Funny
    HERE'S YOUR SOLUTION!!

  8. phase 2 by cygnusx197 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thank god it wasn't the underpants gnomes!

  9. Re:Other MIT hacks by GnarlyNome · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is this what happens when you run GnomeMeetings?

    --
    Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
  10. MIT???? by Bearded+Pear+Shaped · · Score: 4, Funny

    Last time they struck the Harvard School of Eco-gnomics.

    *click click click click click*
    What's that noise??

    Why it's a metrognome

    I'm truly sorry for this post.

    --
    Who are y oo ?
  11. Re:As a professor at MIT, by Strom+Thurmond+(R-SC · · Score: 0, Funny

    Jeeez, that is fucking weeeeeeak!

    --

    Strom Thurmond; the dean of the US Senate...
    the deadest fart on slashdot.

  12. Bouncing Gnomes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Were any of the gnomes bouncing and throwing flowerpots?

  13. Re:This is Slashdot worthy? by SweetAndSourJesus · · Score: 5, Funny

    In the US, it's friday night. Little news is being generated. Most people are out doing something.

    Except us, of course.

    Party on, clbyjack81!

    --

    --
    the strongest word is still the word "free"
  14. Pshaw... Gnome invasion. by Torgo's+Pizza · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hundreds of Gnomes couldn't take down the MIT computer labs, but Slashdot does it with one story submission. Is there anything that can stop the Slashdot army?

    1. Re:Pshaw... Gnome invasion. by Tyler+Eaves · · Score: 2, Funny

      Sure, an OC3 and a cluster of FreeBSD machines.

      --
      TODO: Something witty here...
  15. Slashdot troll invasion by arvindn · · Score: 3, Funny
    In related news...

    "On Wednesday, April 23, hundreds of trolls invaded the front page stories at slashdot. There were long trolls, short trolls, even goatse trolls. A troll army carried the spiralx banner. Fortunately, the moderators took care of the infestation within a few hours."

  16. As a student at MIT, by Tall+Rob+Mc · · Score: 1, Funny

    It is 11:20pm on a Friday. I am sitting in the cluster in question. It feels like it will take me years to create and compile all of these modules. It started out as a class, but grew into a final project and I will keep coding until I reach critical sleep deprivation levels. It has taken me well over 4 hours to get this far. The hardest part of doing it is resisting the party nearby. Screw it. Beer time.

  17. I am from the government and I am here to help. by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 4, Funny
    I am from division 6 of the Homeland Security department. There are no gnomes, all you saw was a group of midgets through a cloud of swamp gas.

    We have proven that gnomes do not exist.

  18. Jhonen Would Be Proud by DarKrow · · Score: 2, Funny

    Look! It's one of Zim's Lawn Gnomes!

    --

    It lives up to it's name: http://www.sanspoint.com
  19. Bastard gnome stole my panties . . . by pariahdecss · · Score: 2, Funny

    It does not take a mensa grade detective to notice there are no female gnomes at the MIT Athena cluster. Those wacky MIT natives and their cunning stunts - Whatever happened to panty raids at the local girls college - Thongs and bras hanging from the girders of the Athena cluster white room
    http://www.sdplotkin.com/img/gnome.jpg

    1. Re:Bastard gnome stole my panties . . . by mizhi · · Score: 4, Funny

      The lack of female gnomes in the Athena cluster are representative of the general student population. :-)

      Just kidding...

      --
      Humorless sig goes here.
  20. Metrognome by meldon+corintur · · Score: 4, Funny

    But I thought a metrognome was a gnome that lived in the city. :)

    1. Re:Metrognome by Aliencow · · Score: 2, Funny

      Insightful ? Someone had a big gnumber of beers before modding !

  21. This is new? by LongJohnStewartMill · · Score: 5, Funny

    So the computer lab is filled with hairy little men. What's so great about this? You should see my friends at a LAN party... Woohoo! Hack! =)

  22. ACME? by Dunkalis · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bah! ACME Gnome Extermination has, in my experience, been a waste of money and time. I prefer calling in the...

    KDE Extermination Service. Their superior technology and leadership has led them to victory against the GNOMEs time and time again. Their great Konqueror crushed the Gnome legions before, and can do it again. Even the mighty Gnome Republican Guard fall when faced with the awesome power of the Konqi Special Forces!

    Fear the Gear!

    Now, I await the Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf joke.

    --
    Slashdot is a waste of time. I enjoy wasting time.
  23. From the desk of Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    There are no Gnomes, we have butchered them all! They have no foothold in MIT, we have pinned them down at community colleges!

    These Gnomes shall burn the the stomach of a Beowulf Cluster Allah willing! I repeat, there are NO infidels with funny hats and beards in MIT! I shall take you there myself to show you, we are butchering the invaders as we speak! The LAN will flow with their non-beleiver blood! I blame Slashdot, they are the IT Media for the community colleges. Be assured. MIT is safe, protected. I triple guarantee you there are no Gnomes in MIT, blood sucking bastards. We will welcome them with small shell scripts and shoes! We will kill them all........most of them.

    -I had to post AC so they dont find me
    ~M.S.S.

  24. Do the Gnomes Talk to You? by hillct · · Score: 2, Funny
    Do you hear voices? Did the gnomes tell you to put them in the computer lab, or is this a precursor to an all-out invasion? If the gnomes don't talk to you, then you can read about all the things the gnomes tell others across this expanse we call the internet:
    Top 39 Things the Evil Lawn Gnomes tell only You
    We swear, we knew about the invasion of the lawn gnomes long before those MIT students ever got wind of their master plan (although, like anyone who knows the truth we can't prove it and no one would believe us even if we could).

    --CTH
    --

    --Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
  25. You think you have problems ... by WillASeattle · · Score: 2, Funny
    --
    > --- All Of The Above --- >
  26. Recycled joke by mao+che+minh · · Score: 2, Funny
    Much to the contridictary behest of the Labor Party, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced that he fully supports the military actions of GNOME. Despite swelling support within his own ranks to "allow the KDE inspectors more time", Blair has decided that it is in his nation's best interest to support a full, all out GNOME invasion against the rogue college. Early reports from the battlefield place the GNOME armies at the steps of the MIT intelligence officials' walls just days after initial operations began. It is said that a jubilant crowd erupted from at least two dormitories from the North Eastern MIT desert.

    Iraqi intelligence quickly refuted the claims on Abu Dhabi and Al Jazeera, claiming that the imperialist GNOME crusaders have been meeting swift ends well before reaching the university level. "We have already plunged the burning spear of Allah deep into the hearts of thousands of infidels. KDE shall prove victorious"

    1. Re:Recycled joke by evilviper · · Score: 4, Funny

      "They have aluminum centerfuges," Bush said, "that they are using to make atomic weapons."

      "Uh, Mr. Bush... Some people call those 'soda cans'."

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  27. Re:As a professor at MIT, by GrouchoMarx · · Score: 3, Funny

    It took all of us (literally) years to compile and create all of these gnomes.

    It took you years to compile GNOME? Dude, you need a faster computer.

    --

    --GrouchoMarx
    Card-carrying member of the EFF, FSF, and ACLU. Are you?

  28. Re:This is Slashdot worthy? by GnarlyNome · · Score: 3, Funny

    You mean they cain't get dates either?

    --
    Diplomacy is the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a rock. Will Rogers
  29. MIT of course by ChrisGuest · · Score: 5, Funny

    They've all gone there to meet Gnome Chomsky.

  30. why this is a hack by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Hacks don't always require getting into unusual places, they just need to be entertaining. What's difficult to express in the post is the sheer number of gnomes. They were everywhere. Also, the vast majority of them were hand-made (plaster of paris) and hand-painted, and many looked a lot like particular people.

    If it's Mission Impossible stunts you're looking for, the naked gnome is on the outside of the window, on a ~12 inch ledge 5 stories up. (When ACME Gnome Exterminators came, they didn't get this one, since the window stopped him from getting gassed.)

  31. Stuff that matters by den_erpel · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am just wondering of these kinds of student jokes are news for slashdot. News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters, yeah, that applies for this news item, yes it does, it has changed my life!

    Or could it be that if anything happens at MIT, this gets posted?

    ah, the benefits of peer review...

    --
    Genius doesn't work on an assembly line basis. You can't simply say, "Today I will be brilliant."
  32. Re:HEY SLASHDOT, A CS PIONEER HAS DIED by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    This is slashdot, remember? You have to wait at least 48 hours before information like that can be posted. Then it will be posted twice in the same day.

  33. And somewhere... by Chemisor · · Score: 2, Funny

    And somewhere in a lab deep within the MIT complex, a lone scientist named Gordon Freeman just found a crowbar...