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."

Comments

Other MIT hacks

[Michael's a Jerk!]

The Hack Gallery

Re:Other MIT hacks

[Michael's a Jerk!]

Working Link. I like the dome beanie :-)

Re:Other MIT hacks

[GnarlyNome]

Is this what happens when you run GnomeMeetings?

Run....

[Blaine Hilton]

Better watch out for the genetically altered, gnomes with a higher gnomedex...

Go calculate something

This is Slashdot worthy?

[clbyjack81]

Is there really no news at all? Wow, astonishing!

Re:This is Slashdot worthy?

[SweetAndSourJesus]

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!

Re:This is Slashdot worthy?

[Art Tatum]

This is the annual MIT hack. It's an old tradition that is *definitely* Slashdot worthy. My favorite has always been Buzzword Bingo!

Re:This is Slashdot worthy?

[Bonker]

This is news for nerds. This is stuff that matters.

This was a truly beautiful hack, and it looks like the perpetrators, may they be snickering to themselves in their dormrooms, put a hell of a lot of effort into it.

It had class, beauty, and best of all, didn't hurt anybody.

As a nerd, I am truly glad that Slashdot brought this to my attention. /salute the anonymous Gnomesters.

Re:This is Slashdot worthy?

[The Evil Couch]

it's not annual. guys at MIT do hacks all year round.

Re:This is Slashdot worthy?

[altstadt]

Umm, no.

By my count (from the pictures) this was approximately 78 little bits of plaster placed around a few computers. Aside from the painting, this is about 5 minutes worth of work for one person.

News for nerds? Maybe, if they haven't found the big blue (grey) room yet. Stuff that matters? There are people at work with bigger belini (sp) figurine collections decorating their cubes.

Re:This is Slashdot worthy?

[GnarlyNome]

You mean they cain't get dates either?

Exactly how do you exterminate a gnome?

[Elpacoloco]

Must you use the magic word, Kappa Delta Edward?

Re:Exactly how do you exterminate a gnome?

[yerricde]

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.

Re:Exactly how do you exterminate a gnome?

[RayChuang]

Try this: use a Jarvey. =)

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

HELP!

[JWSmythe]

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!!!!

Re:HELP!

[Oloryn]

The Gnomes are coming! The Gnomes are coming!

Thank you, Mr Revere

Re:HELP!

[Tumbleweed]

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

It's the only way to be sure.

You guys at MIT are smart and all,

[Anonymous Coward]

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

Re:You guys at MIT are smart and all,

[Anonymous Coward]

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

All the bases covered!

[Corvaith]

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

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

Re:All the bases covered!

[exhilaration]

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...)

Re:All the bases covered!

[Ellen Ripley]

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

Shouldn't this be:

IN SOVIET UNION: 23 YEAR OLD GUY SEEKS YOU!

GOT A GNOME PROBLEM??

[exhilaration]

HERE'S YOUR SOLUTION!!

phase 2

[cygnusx197]

Thank god it wasn't the underpants gnomes!

MIT????

[Bearded Pear Shaped]

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.

HEY SLASHDOT, A CS PIONEER HAS DIED

[circletimessquare]

slashdot editors care about fluff like this, but not that the father of relational databases passed away.

2003-04-26 00:59:52 Father of the Relational Database, Ted Codd, dead (articles,storage) (rejected)

the register story here

flood your submission queues until they get the idea that we care about the death of computer science pioneers as much as porcelain gnomes placed around campus. geez.

Ted Codd was a great theorcist r/o

[polished look 2]

he shall be missed.

I greatly respect and admire the man. He achieved a good deal.

Pshaw... Gnome invasion.

[Torgo's Pizza]

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?

Re:Pshaw... Gnome invasion.

[Tyler Eaves]

Sure, an OC3 and a cluster of FreeBSD machines.

Slashdot troll invasion

[arvindn]

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."

I am from the government and I am here to help.

[www.sorehands.com]

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.

Jhonen Would Be Proud

[DarKrow]

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

Bastard gnome stole my panties . . .

[pariahdecss]

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

Re:Bastard gnome stole my panties . . .

[mizhi]

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

Just kidding...

Metrognome

[meldon corintur]

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

Re:Metrognome

[Aliencow]

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

This is new?

[LongJohnStewartMill]

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! =)

More bummers

[fm6]

Hm, Von Neumann's role as a computer science pioneer is controversial. He did forsee the coming dominance of "stored-programming computers" -- but contrary to popular belief, he didn't invent the model.

Now, Turing has some claim to being the very first computer scientist. His attempts to explain mathematical logic in terms of mechanistic abstractions predates the computer revolution by a couple of decades. And when actual computers did start to appear, he was one of the first to deal seriously with what we now call software.

For details of Turing's life, I heartily recommend Andrew Hodges's biography.

But here's another bummer. It seems pretty obvious that the security bozos murdered Turing because they couldn't stand the idea of faggot with all those state secrets in his head. I should emphasize that this is my paranoid theory, not Hodges's -- as a UK citizen, he could get in trouble just for suggesting the possibility.

ACME?

[Dunkalis]

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.

From the desk of Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Do the Gnomes Talk to You?

[hillct]

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

Labs of Sun machines, that's why

[green pizza]

Look through the pictures. Several of them have the Sun Microsystems logo prominently displayed....

That's because most of the computers in the Athena clusters ("computer labs") at MIT are Suns.

There are also many linux boxes and SGIs as well. MIT's Athena network is un*x only.

Where is the laughing Gnome?

[G3ckoG33k]

I was walking down the High Street
When I heard footsteps behind me
And there was a little old man (Hello)
In scarlet and grey, shuffling away (laughter)
Well he trotted back to my house
And he sat beside the telly (Oaah..)
With his tiny hands on his tummy
Chuckling away, laughing all day (laughter)

Oh, I ought to report you to the Gnome office
(Gnome Office)
Yes
(Hahahahaha)

CHORUS
Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
"I'm a laughing Gnome and you can't catch me"
Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
"I'm a laughing Gnome and you can't catch me"
Said the laughing Gnome

Well I gave him roasted toadstools and a glass of dandelion wine (Burp, pardon)
Then I put him on a train to Eastbourne
Carried his bag and gave him a fag
(Haven't you got a light boy?)
"Here, where do you come from?"
(Gnome-man's land, hahihihi)
"Oh, really?"

In the morning when I woke up
He was sitting on the edge of my bed
With his brother whose name was Fred
He'd bought him along to sing me a song

Right, let's hear it
Here, what's that clicking noise?
(That's Fred, he's a "metrognome", haha)

Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
"I'm a laughing Gnome and you don't catch me"
Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
"I'm a laughing Gnome and you can't catch me"

(Own up, I'm a gnome, ain't I right, haha)
"Haven't you got an 'ome to go to?"
(No, we're gnomads)
"Didn't they teach you to get your hair cut at school?
you look like a rolling gnome."
(No, not at the London School of Ecognomics)

Now they're staying up the chimney
And we're living on caviar and honey (hooray!)
Cause they're earning me lots of money
Writing comedy prose for radio shows
It's the-er (what?)
It's the Gnome service of course

Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
"I'm a laughing Gnome and you don't catch me"
Ha ha ha, oh, dear me

(Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
"I'm a laughing Gnome and you can't catch me"
Ha ha ha, hee hee hee
"I'm a laughing Gnome and you can't catch me")

(One more time, yeah)

Blatantly from Teenage Wildlife, David Bowie fansite. Oh yes, he wrote the song, back in 1968 or 1969.

You think you have problems ...

[WillASeattle]

here in Fremont, Center of the Universe, we have parties with trolls, goblins, and other creatures, a Giant Troll which lives under our bridge, and space aliens on our Space Needle.

And that's on a good day ....

Recycled joke

[mao che minh]

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"

Re:Recycled joke

[evilviper]

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

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

Re:As a professor at MIT,

[GrouchoMarx]

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.

MIT of course

[ChrisGuest]

They've all gone there to meet Gnome Chomsky.

As a student at MIT, the parent is a troll

[Frac]

Don't mod someone up just because he claims to know what's going on.

See for yourself - http://web.mit.edu/bin/cgicso?query=stanley+blizte r

Stuff that matters

[den_erpel]

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...

Re:HEY SLASHDOT, A CS PIONEER HAS DIED

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

And somewhere...

[Chemisor]

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

Uninspired

[dnoyeb]

I am not impressed. Where is the skill? Where is the "how did they do that?" factor?

Maybe if the gnome had been *inside* the 'alarmed room,' that would have been something.

You know, guys throw toilet paper across trees all year around at colleges, is that news worthy? Oh, maybe if its at MIT?