MIT student blogger Laura N. '09

Another hack by Laura N. '09

Snow and hacks and exams.

Responses to Comments:
A: Hey Laura,stupid question : I just wanted to know if you have to buy the TV, or do you rent it or… ?
The TV is mine- I ordered it from BestBuy and had it shipped to my dorm just so I could watch Veronica Mars every week. =)

Phil:
Not to say that it’s even close to the amount of brain-shocking work that your two math classes will require, but im taking AP stats and AP calc ab. I guess this doesn’t really make me appear any cooler/less cool than before, but whatever. I could use some community sympathy also. :)
What? Of course it makes you appear more cool! Haven’t you ever read Mollie’s favorite column in the Tech?

So, we’re going to backtrack to a little over a week ago. If you remember from the Mario hack entry, I was friends with a bunch of people involved in the hack, so I knew all about it ahead of time. Last Saturday night, I received an anonymous email telling me there would be a hack put up the following morning at several locations around campus. Then, I was even sent pictures to use in my blog. I think that’s pretty darn cool.

Well, Sunday morning was the beginning of the big snowstorm. I had to be up super early to go to drill sessions for MIT-EMS. I knew it was really early when I got to the front door of the dorm and saw:

No footprints. I was officially the first person to leave the dorm that morning since it had started snowing. This made me slightly unhappy, since it meant everyone else was still asleep. Of course, I had my camera with me because of the email from the night before, and I quickly discovered the hack:

This poster is a spoof on The Evolving MIT Campus, the name given to a large construction initiative meant to “update the look and feel of MIT.” The spoof poster claims that the latest phase of the project has already increased the amount of greenspace on campus by 0.0005%. And here’s how:
(The following pictures are a mix of pictures I took on my way to drills and the ones which were sent to me.)

Hackers placed small sections of roped-off turf around campus- to increase campus greenery. This was placed right in front of the main entrance to MIT on Massachusetts Ave.


Both of the above pictures were right outside 10-250, one of the largest lecture halls at MIT.



The student center.



Building 66. (Last time I was by there, this was still there.)



Building 16 greenery, complete with golf ball.

On my way back from drills it was really snowing. This is what I saw as I was leaving Lobby 7:

Speaking of EMS, I took the certification exam on Saturday. It was, um, ok. I guess. I find out how I did in about 2 weeks. If I don’t mention it by 3 weeks, it probably means I failed and don’t feel like talking about it on the Internet. So don’t ask!

11 responses to “Another hack”

  1. Alan says:
    February 21, 2006 at 9:16 am

    This isn’t quite up to MIT hack standards, but at my high school, every time there has been fresh snow something exciting has happened on the soccer field: once, there was a 15-foot-tall snowman, and two other times, designs were stomped into the snow– first, a certain profanity beginning with the letter f (which quite accurately expressed everyone’s feeling’s about school at that point in the year– we all HTFP), and just recently, a giant member.

  2. Sam T says:
    February 21, 2006 at 10:12 am

    lol I wanna do hack already

  3. Mollie says:
    February 21, 2006 at 11:00 am

    Yay, I was hoping somebody would have good pictures of the hack. I saw it last week but didn’t have my camera.

  4. D says:
    February 22, 2006 at 11:17 am

    [already increased the amount of greenspace on campus by 0.0005%]

    Jesus! Thats so ridiculous!

  5. Matt says:
    February 22, 2006 at 12:19 pm

    I got to see this hack, also, there was a redphonebooth in the student center, i guess thats just a monument to the previous redphonebooth hack… but either way, the green was nice while it lasted… i remember seeing one with snow on it though.

  6. Eric Asava-Aree says:
    February 22, 2006 at 6:46 am

    Hilariously lame hack. Hahaha…….

    The hackers actually did it so literally. How funny, eh?

  7. thekeri says:
    February 23, 2006 at 9:53 am

    Ha. I like the hack. It doesn’t hold a place in my heart the way the Mario hack does, but increasing greenspace is always a good thing. ^_^

  8. Anonymous says:
    February 22, 2006 at 11:20 am

    Hacks don’t always have to be large and over-engineered to be worthwhile. Hacks also are a way for the students to express opinions and viewpoints, as such. Great ideas don’t always turn out to be “impressive” hacks; conversely, well done hacks sometimes disappear from view before noticed by many people. But that, I suppose, is the price of expression.

  9. gm says:
    February 24, 2006 at 3:41 am

    Neat hack. The golf ball was the perfect finishing touch.

  10. Jess says:
    February 25, 2006 at 1:44 am

    hahahahahaha :D that’s adorable.

  11. Drew says:
    February 28, 2006 at 9:34 am

    That hack although not as extensive as some of the others is still pretty entertaining. The one that I remember was told to me by my interviewer who took part in the hack. Some years back they set up around the dome some lettering that had been rolled up a night or two before a presentation given for the entering class. The message was revealed at the start, from Dante’s work, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter” By the time the president of MIT that had been speaking had gotten far enough out some of the letters had torn loose due to the wind, an obvious oversight by the engineers, but it was still clear what the meassage was. His response to the missing letters was, “must have been from Harvard” Just shows the attitude that MIT has had