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MIT Hackers Appropriate Caltech Cannon

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the those-wacky-nerds dept.

Bob Hearn writes "Some Slashdotters might remember the story Caltech Pranks MIT's Prefrosh Weekend from a year ago. MIT Hackers have gotten even. Sometime in the middle of the night, Caltech's famous cannon appeared at the base of MIT's Green building. A plaque in front of it reads: 'CALTECH CANNON April 6, 2006 MIT hackers posing as the Howe & Ser Moving Company Appropriated this cannon on March 28, 2006. It later appeared on MIT's campus with the addition of a large brass rat made of gold-plated aluminum. In honor of its previous owners, the cannon points towards Padadena, CA.' The brass rat (MIT ring) is really a rather impressive bit of aluminum machining. Harvey Mudd College previously stole the cannon, in 1986, but later had to give it back."

9 of 329 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Gold plated aluminium brass rat? by CrazyWingman · · Score: 4, Informative

    The ring itself is referred to as a "brass rat" around MIT because it's gold (brass-ish colored) with a beaver (rat) on the face. The version on the cannon is gold-plated aluminum.

  2. a big relief by DCTsunami · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's actually a big relief to us to hear that MIT has it. For the last week, we've been wondering where the hell it got off to. The administration thought filed a police report for grand theft. MIT stole it in the early hours masquerading as contractors. Security stopped them, but they social-engineered their way out of it, and security let them go.

    1. Re:a big relief by pz · · Score: 4, Informative

      I was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to have attended both MIT and Caltech, and spent sufficiently many years at both to have understood the hacker culture and the relative prowess of the campus constabulatory.

      Bottom line: Caltech's security guards are rent-a-cops; MIT's are policemen. I cannot recall a single incident in my six years at Caltech where security responded to a call fast enough to see perpetrators. I personally committed a number of, ah, acts at leisurely pace because there was no reason to hurry. I've been to the rooftops in the middle of the day countless times. It's no big deal. You cannot do the same thing at MIT with such cavalier ease because the campus has been hardened against hacking, and the MIT Campus Police are reasonably quick to respond, and reasonably quick-witted.

      Kudos to the MIT group for pulling off an impressive feat!

      --

      Put my fist through my alarm clock with its ding-dong death inside my ear. - The Blackjacks.
  3. Check out the offsite link... by HoosierPeschke · · Score: 5, Informative

    See Subject: Howe & Ser Moving Co..

    --
    Mr. Universe: "They can't stop the signal, Mal. They can never stop the signal."
  4. Pictures Mirrored by Zackbass · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since you all killed our webserver I put the pics up on our personal server: http://donkeykong.mit.edu/cannon/. It's only an old AlphaServer DS20 so play nice.

    --
    You gotta find first gear in your giant robot car
  5. Re:Weighting by texbot · · Score: 5, Informative

    I am running the caltechvsmit.com site. The one point was for last years retaliation against the "The Other IT" banner. They get at least 10 points for this; I haven't decided yet. (I am arbitrarily keeping score).

  6. Re:MIT hacks by cinnamoninja · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those not in the know, IHTFP actually stands for "I Hate This F* Place"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IHTFP

    -Cinnamon

  7. Re:From an HMC mailing list by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I'd be surprised if the HMC administration didn't ask the students.

    I was a Mudder in '86 when we took the cannon. As far as I am concerned, the point of the prank was taking the cannon and preventing Caltech from taking it back. That was a success, and there were some seriously frustrated students in Pasadena. Keeping it wasn't really the point. Mudders loaded the cannon in a truck and drove it back Caltech after being asked by the Mudd administration. It was an exciting ride with an escort of Caltech people swerving at the truck on the freeway.

    We had what seemed to be a very one-sided rivalry with Caltech. I'm still embarrassed by the T-shirts which read "Caltech: A division of Harvery Mudd College; but Caltech didn't seem to know that HMC existed. (For those who don't know, both have outstanding undergraduate programs in science and engineering). Caltech has a long history of pranks, so it they were a natural target for Mudders. I hope Caltech shows better character this time around.

  8. Re:caltech students say- Good Riddance! by qromodyn · · Score: 5, Informative

    "Caltech" is capitalized sometimes like that, but never in mixed case, ie "CalTech" or "Cal-Tech" or "Cal Tech" are all wrong. A few old timers are allowed to call it "CIT", but that is considered quaint. BTW, for non-techers, an "RF" is a Rat Fuck, a prank that entails freezing a rat in liquid nitrogen and smashing it to bits in someone's dorm room. RF has come to mean any prank now.