That school up the river, you know, the one with the brick buildings, big yard, and law students? The one whose t-shirts hog all the space on the souvenir racks, leaving room for one MIT shirt? That school who thinks they . . . anyway, we're talking about Harvard here.

There's a slight rivalry between Harvard and MIT. Whenever I'm talking to prospectives or tourists, I explain that the rivalry is kind of a one way rivalry. MIT loves to trash Harvard, tell all sorts of stories about how Harvard is inferior, that while on the outside they seem nice and p(r)eppy, but deep down they really just want to study alone in their rooms and go on to be traders on Wall Street. I think the class of 2012 t-shirts say it best:

Roses are Red
Violets are Blue
If I went to Harvard, I'd hate myself too

I've got wonderful stories about Harvard that I'll be more than happy to tell you if you come to CPW, but our first story about Harvard is brought to you by, well, Harvard.

Two days ago I was chatting on the phone with my dad. I was crossing Mass Ave so as to get to Building 7, MIT's main entrance. As I walked up the steps I noticed a white sign tied up above the doors that said

"INSTITVTE OF NOWLEDGE"

I related this odd sight to my father on the other end of the phone:

"Wait, there's something hung up over the doors. It's a sign, it looks like it says 'Institvte of Nowlege.' Maybe it's a hack? Obviously it wouldn't be the only part of the hack, there's gotta be something else inside. Wait, no, there's nothing inside, maybe that was it? It couldn't be a hack, it was probably just an advertisement for some event going on today or something. It seemed legit, it was a printed sign and had grommets, something you never see in an MIT hack. Weird, whatever, not worth my time."

Somebody, somewhere, was wetting their pants with excitement over this sign. Turns out, this sign was an "experimental prank" designed to test which school, Harvard or MIT, has a better sense of humor. Just hang the sign up and see how people react.

Apparently, according to their website, MIT students have a much better sense of humor than Harvard students. While this is no doubt true, I question the scientific rigor of their experiment. Perhaps it would have been more effective if it had been, I don't know, funny? Or even a prank?

Let's put it this way.

Dear Zug,

You attempted to determine whether Harvard or MIT students had the better sense of humor. What you discovered, albeit through a flawed experiment, is what everybody already knew, MIT is of course better than Harvard. I must inform you, however, that your prank was deemed "lame sauce" by the majority of people who saw it and that we expected better from a website who claims to be "the world’s funniest comedy community." As such, if within 6 months time you have not improved upon your "prank" with something much more spectacular and actually blogworthy, we will be forced to show you what a real hack is.

Yours Truly, MIT

Comments (Closed after 30 days to reduce spam)

Vilnius University also hacked.
http://www.fidi.lt/blogas/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/img_1586-420x280.jpg

It's an invitation to come to Physicit's day(upcomming Saturday) events by bike.

Posted by: Vytautas on April 1, 2009

That was a really lame hack. Maybe Snively could use some of his electroplushies to hack Zug and retaliate to show them what hacking means.

Man I sound wierd in this post

Posted by: '14 hopeful on April 1, 2009

I saw that but I still don't understand what the point is?....

So lost...haha.

Posted by: 0 on April 1, 2009

Talent hits a target no one else can hit; Genius hits a target no one else can see.

Harvard=Talent
MIT=Genius

Posted by: LOL on April 1, 2009

It is funny. Get it, its an institute of knowledge, but they can't spell the phrasre right. So its a oxymorone type of haha. Oh, happy april fools day!

Posted by: KayCee on April 1, 2009

Perfect!

Posted by: Monorina on April 1, 2009

Hi Snively
Did you get my email about my story?

Posted by: 0 on April 1, 2009

"It is funny. Get it, its an institute of knowledge, but they can't spell the phrasre right. So its a oxymorone type of haha. "

That's not funny at all.

Posted by: first anonymous on April 1, 2009

What's funny, KayCee, is that you can't use the correct article before a vowel sound when trying to explain a joke based around one's knowledge.

Oh, wait, that's not funny either!

All they REALLY proved is that MIT students are less uptight than Harvard students, seeing as the Harvard students promptly destroyed the sign on their campus.

Posted by: Narce on April 1, 2009

After reading both pages, the one good part of their joke was leaving behind instructions on how to remove the sign. At least they're familiar with past MIT hacks.

Posted by: Narce on April 1, 2009

Oh, get over yourself. I thought it was amusing. No, not hilarious, but it got a chuckle out of me. Typically, hacks aren't even actually funny. They might be cool, or interesting, or technically impressive, but they're not FUNNY.

I don't see the need to go around trashing everyone for this. So it wasn't an MIT-style hack. So what?

Posted by: Laura on April 1, 2009

...someone needs a nap...

Posted by: 0 on April 1, 2009

Narce (1/2). Not classy. The End.

I would have liked to see a picture of the sign. THAT would be funny.

Posted by: JonTec '13 on April 1, 2009

That prank was major lame sauce.

Posted by: Ngozi '13 on April 1, 2009

Huh, I like Harvard.

Posted by: '12 on April 2, 2009

I was having a bad day yesterday, but I stand by the fact that the obvious joke of a sign that KayCee felt the need to point out was not funny. Maybe it's because I've heard (read) that joke before, just not in sign form?

The instructions made the joke at least somewhat amusing.

Posted by: Narce on April 2, 2009

When I saw it I thought it was meant to be a kinda serious thing pointing out what we do is important today: NOWledge

Posted by: 0 on April 2, 2009

Hi again Snively
If you did not get my email, it is about this story:
http://www.thenerds.net/gadget/vote.php?storyid=133

Posted by: 0 on April 2, 2009

I agree with Anonymous above but like Snively kept looking around for the "rest of the hack."

Posted by: Kim '86 on April 2, 2009

Hey Snively,

I'm trying to pick between MIT and Harvard. These stories are helping more than you think.

Posted by: Rediet '13 on April 3, 2009

Harvard is awesome. But I just wish some of them would laugh at lame hacks. I bet the Harvard guys are laughing at the guys who hacked it

Posted by: 0 on April 3, 2009

I'm not sure it's useful to be spending time being critical of people who are just having a good time in a way that brings no harm to anyone. As you can tell from their photographic evidence, the sign made some people's day a little a brighter. I see that as a net positive for the world as well as our little 'institvte of nowlege.'

In any case, I also thought it was an advertisement for some event until I saw the paper with removal instructions on it.

Posted by: Fausto '12 on April 4, 2009

muahahaha... that was awesome.

MIT is deff better than harvard.

Posted by: 0 on April 5, 2009

Hey Snively, I am sitting next to you in 2.004 LOL

I just thought I say high since you seemed to be busy "working" LOL I would take a picture but I cant.

All right Ill see you later

PS: Tim says hi

Posted by: Yoshio on April 6, 2009

Hi once again Snively
You can delete my above two comments about the story (and this one), because that is over now, and I do not need to get in touch with you anymore.

Posted by: 0 on April 6, 2009

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