Description

Book Synopsis
A lively introduction to MIT hacks, from the police car on the Great Dome to the abduction of the Caltech cannon.

An MIT hack is an ingenious, benign, and anonymous prank or practical joke, often requiring engineering or scientific expertise and often pulled off under cover of darkness—instances of campus mischief sometimes coinciding with April Fool's Day, final exams, or commencement. (It should not be confused with the sometimes non-benign phenomenon of computer hacking.) Noteworthy MIT hacks over the years include the legendary Harvard-Yale Football Game Hack (when a weather balloon emblazoned “MIT” popped out of the ground near the 50-yard line), the campus police car found perched on the Great Dome, the apparent disappearance of the Institute president's office, and a faux cathedral (complete with stained glass windows, organ, and wedding ceremony) in a lobby. Hacks are by their nature ephemeral, although they live on in the memory of both perpetrators

Nightwork A History of Hacks and Pranks at MIT

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    A Paperback / softback by Institute Historian T. F. Peterson, Eric Bender

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      Publisher: MIT Press Ltd
      Publication Date: 11/03/2011
      ISBN13: 9780262515849, 978-0262515849
      ISBN10: 0262515849
      Also in:
      Educational psychology History of education Impact of science and technology on society

      Description

      Book Synopsis
      A lively introduction to MIT hacks, from the police car on the Great Dome to the abduction of the Caltech cannon.

      An MIT hack is an ingenious, benign, and anonymous prank or practical joke, often requiring engineering or scientific expertise and often pulled off under cover of darkness—instances of campus mischief sometimes coinciding with April Fool's Day, final exams, or commencement. (It should not be confused with the sometimes non-benign phenomenon of computer hacking.) Noteworthy MIT hacks over the years include the legendary Harvard-Yale Football Game Hack (when a weather balloon emblazoned “MIT” popped out of the ground near the 50-yard line), the campus police car found perched on the Great Dome, the apparent disappearance of the Institute president's office, and a faux cathedral (complete with stained glass windows, organ, and wedding ceremony) in a lobby. Hacks are by their nature ephemeral, although they live on in the memory of both perpetrators

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