[1287] in Discussion of MIT-community interests
Re: The stolen beaver paws
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jennifer J Tu)
Fri Apr 12 04:52:00 2002
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Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.30L.0204120430480.31054-100000@mormal.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 04:50:33 -0400
From: Jennifer J Tu <jtu@MIT.EDU>
To: MIT-Talk@MIT.EDU
In-Reply-To: <5.0.2.1.2.20020412021524.046104a0@po14.mit.edu>
In defense of hacking....
As a hack, humping a statue fails.
It's not funny. Really. Originality, style, and humor are about on the
same level as toilet papering a house. And requires about the same level
of technical know-how.
It's not deft. One of the great things about hacks is the invisibility of
it all. You never see how a hack is pulled or who did it (with the
exception of performance hacks, for obvious reasons). Spectators should
be left with only appreciation for the humor and wonder at how it was done
or who did it. Gawking at and disrupting a "hack" doesn't quite cut it.
Yeah, it was a cute, entertaiing college prank. And yeah, it was the
right thing for Amal to continue taking responsibility for the costume
after things didn't go quite right (that would be the safe, do-no-harm
part of pulling a hack).
But this was no hack.
--Jennifer
On Fri, 12 Apr 2002, Ryan Williams wrote:
> I'm not one to send this type of flame to MIT-talk, but hey, the night is
> ripe. Also, I'm not 2004, so I don't really come from your Millenial
> demographic. But let me lecture you as an upperclassman.
>
> Mr. Champy (if that is your real name), I find your email disturbing for
> two reasons:
>
> One, the fact that you send this out now, well after the fact and
> subsequent discussion (and Tech article!), indicates that either 1) you are
> behind the times and out-of-date, or 2) you are a big coward who's afraid
> to stick your neck out when the shit is going down.
>
> Secondly, I think your sentiment is quite out of line. What MIT needs more
> of is exciting, creative, ballsy folks like Amal. Humping the statue was a
> bold idea that will go down in the annals as one of the classic hacks on
> Harvard. Did you even read the story? I'm proud to be associated with
> such a hardy-hearted crew of friends. I'll be talking about it for years,
> so will Amal, and you guys (2004) can feel proud that a member of your
> class was willing to go out on a limb for his school pride. And for all
> that you say it wasn't "cleaver", I can't really say I've heard of you
> doing anything interesting at all.
> And you claim he shouldn't have done it because he was risking a "valuable
> item"? Please. You'd have us all sitting in front of the TV for our
> entertainment, I suppose. No chance of costing money there! Did you know
> you have a 1 in 40,000 chance of dying by falling out of bed? Better sleep
> on the floor to be safe!
> Life without risk is really no life at all. I don't see how you could call
> yourself an achiever and not know that.
>
> I hear you saying "that money should be spent on ME!" I think it will be
> spent on you, little as I like the idea of you getting any benefit out of
> this. Your class officers have intelligence enough to see that value comes
> in more forms than free food, my friend. Amal did that stunt for you, his
> class. Even if the Class of 2004 was paying the full $650 from Institute
> funds (which they are not as I understand), I'd feel it was perfectly in
> line. And I'm contributing to the Paw Fund as soon as I get to an ATM.
>
> I bet if he had asked the whole class at Premiere (as you mention) they
> would have said "hell, yeah!". And you would have said it too, then,
> because you're a wannabe follower. Get me? Ripping on someone who's
> trying to hack Harvard for your class is just poor, no matter how
> successful he was.
>
> -RYaN
>
> At 12:22 AM 4/12/02 -0400, Adam Champy wrote:
> >As a member of the class of 2004, I find it very interesting that any part
> >of ringcomm's money should be spent on replacing the lost beaver paws. From
> >what I read last week in the tech and in email, it seems that Amal and his
> >friends, many of whom seem to be from other classes, went over to harvard
> >with a costume rented by the ringcomm and did something stupid which
> >doesn't seem cleaver enough to be a hack, and they ended up losing a
> >valuable item. It doesn't matter if someone stole it or if they just lost
> >it, when they left campus to go over to harvard, they took the
> >responsibility upon themselves for the beaver suit.
> > Now, to bring me back to my main point - the 2004 ringcomm should not be
> >paying for this. I applaud the fact that Amal decided to try to collect the
> >650 dollars on his own, but I find it wrong that in the case he will not be
> >able to find 650, the money will come from that which should be spent on
> >our ring delivery. That is money spent by the class of 2004 and from
> >general institute funds, and it should go to the class of 2004. If someone
> >had asked the entire class at the ring premiere "should I go over to
> >harvard tonight with the beaver costume and hump john harvard's statue?", I
> >can almost guarantee the answer would be a laughing no. The 2004 ringcomm
> >money should not be spent on such a blatant disregard for personal
> >responsibility to the class, and it seems wrong that it should be a
> >fall-back for those who appear to lose nothing from their own failed actions.
> >
> >
> >---------------------------------------------------------------------
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>
> Ryan D. Williams, MIT Class of 2003
>
>
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