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Star Wars Hack @ MIT
jmtpi writes "Hackers at MIT turned the top of the Great Dome in the center of campus into R2D2 yesterday. See story in Yahoo News. " Anyone have more pics? If so, label accordingly and make a submission - I'll be sure to link them. Update: 05/18 07:06 by J : An article at Wired.Update: 05/18 07:42 by J : Shot 1, Shot 2, and Shot 3. Thanks to Aidan Low. More pics from tcs.
There is a whole page at MIT about their hacks -- hacks.mit.edu. Very nifty. Other "modifications" to the dome have been a police cruiser at the top and the whole thing done up as a jack-o-lantern.
Sure is classy. And shows that the perpretators were responsible enough to care about others' safety when they did it. The Jargon File ( http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/) describes some other similar hacks performed previously by MIT alumni, and show the same characteristic touch as this recent one.
But what I like most is the fact that the police officers were cool enough to leave the decoration 'til Thursday.
In Soviet Russia, Jesus asks: "What Would You Do?"
Ha ha. Very funny.
The test of a true troll on a slashdot forum is the "Anonymous Coward" tagline. No one who _actually_ believed something as silly as what you wrote would have hid behind an AC identity.
Please find some other way to amuse yourself.
-Dean
... is that the official MIT web page has a link to this on their front page. I don't know about other schools, but Duke has a pole shoved so far up it's a** that if we pulled anything like that, not only would we be arrested, the school would do everything in their power to suppress the news. No way it would stay up for a day- much less make it to the school's front page. Argh... if only I could tolerate cold :)
~luge
IAAL,BIANLY
_The Journal of the Institute for Hacks Tomfoolery & Pranks at MIT_, Brian M. Leibowitz, 1990, published by the MIT Museum, ISBN 0-917027-03-5
_"Is This the Way to Baker House?"_, edited by Ira Haverson and Tiffany Fulton-Pearson, 1996, published by the MIT Museum, ISBN 0-917027-04-3
Both are B&W illustrated, the first is a history and the second is a collection of essays.
They aren't availible from amazon.com or bn.com, but the MIT Museum shop online has them for $20.95 each here. Ordering Instructions are here.
I moved to the Boston area about two years ago. One day a coworker and I headed over to the MIT area for lunch. He pointed out a tall building on the campus with a dome on top (not the R2-D2 dome) and told me that one day, students managed to put a car up there, they did it piece-by-piece.
Is this true?
Of all the comments I've ever posted, this is definately one of them
The meaning of hacker has become diluted in recent times, but we must all remember and pay homage to those folks who may or may not program computers, but still implement the most ingenious hacks.
If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
MIT issued an official press release praising the hack. You can read it here.
There is an excellent book on college pranks by Neil Steinberg, entitled If At All Possible, Involve a Cow. A few pages are dedicated to the various decorations which have graced this dome at MIT over the years; my personal favorite is the phone booth which began ringing when campus security approached. The book has a whole chapter dedicated to MIT/Caltech type "Tech Pranks," and another covering Caltech's Ditch Day. Good reading.
Weblogging Considered Harmful:
MIT was the first place at which the term "hacking" was used to describe computer tinkering. By then, it had already been long used to describe elaborate, carefully-engineered pranking. If someone from MIT calls it a hack, it's a hack.
Weblogging Considered Harmful:
I like the fact that they left behind donuts and removal instructions. The kids had some class, didn't do any damage, didn't want damage to be done during the cleanup, and left a little treat for the ones who would have to do the cleanup. That's Class.