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Caltech Pranks MIT's Prefrosh Weekend 530

doughnuthole writes "Caltech students ventured to Massachusetts this past Wednesday to unleash a series of pranks at MIT's prefrosh weekend. They distributed shirts with MIT on the front and '...because not everyone can go to Caltech' on the back. They placed inflatable palm trees in the infamous Tomb of the Unknown Tool and around the great dome and floated Caltech balloons in building seven. A banner transformed Massachusetts Institute of Technology into That Other Institute of Technology. Saturday night a LASER spelling the letters C-A-L-T-E-C-H was directed at the top of the Green building. A full account of the pranks is located at www.caltechvsmit.com."
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Caltech Pranks MIT's Prefrosh Weekend

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  • spelling? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Wizy ( 38347 ) <`moc.liamg' `ta' `chgtaggerg'> on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:21AM (#12198183) Journal
    Being that caltech is so much better than MIT you would think that they could find a good spell checker...
  • by unclocked ( 854664 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:23AM (#12198191)
    Who's Caltech, by the way?
  • by ImaLamer ( 260199 ) <john@lamar.gmail@com> on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:24AM (#12198198) Homepage Journal

    All your freshmen are belong to us!!!
  • MIT Email (Score:5, Funny)

    by doughnuthole ( 451165 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:24AM (#12198200)
    The following email went out on the MIT hacking mailing list:
    >Someone apparently released a number of balloons in lobby 7 with
    >CalTech written on them. There is also a much larger Mylar Balloon
    >with C.I.T. My initial reaction, and the reaction of most people I
    >talked to was "C.I.T, what's that?"
    >
    >Several suggestions were made on what to do about this since if we do
    >nothing the balloons will float mockingly over lobby 7 for days:
    >
    >-Remove the balloons tonight (might be able to get a number of them
    >with a needle on a stick from the intersticial space).
    >
    >-release a second large mylar balloon that says "SUCKS"
    >
    >-Hack Caltech.
    >
    >one friend I talked to commented that she was friends with the moles,
    >the "legitamate" hackers at CalTech, and they claim to have no
    >knowledge of this and are busy with some other project. It would be
    >good if we could find out who did this. Could it have been an overzealous prefrosh?
    >
    >
    >As I said my initial reaction was "what is C.I.T? I have drafted an
    >article that I hope to send to the Tech Newspaper. Offering an
    >alternate explanation.
    >Comments, and suggestions are highly encouraged as this is a first draft.
    >
    >Amilio
    >amilio@alum.mit.edu
    >
    >
    >
    >>>proposed tech article follows below>>
    >
    >
    >C.I.T Looses BALLoonS
    >
    >The Center for Incompetent Technologies lost all of their display props
    >on the way to the activities midway today. Representatives from the
    >research group lost numerous small balloons and a larger one bearing
    >the group's acronym while crossing lobby 7, "We thought slip knots
    >would hold," said Ben Bitdiddle director of C.I.T.
    >
    >The Center for Incompetent Technologies is a newly formed nationwide
    >research group interested in developing ineffective, arcane, and
    >generally useless technologies. "So many companies and institutes are
    >focused on doing 'good research' and developing 'useful technologies'"
    >said Mr. Bitdiddle accenting his comments with air quotes, "we decided
    >there was an untapped niche market for useless technologies." The
    >group's motto is taken from an episode of The Simpsons: "Aim so low
    >that even if you succeed, no one will care"
    >
    >The smaller balloons were apparently leftover from numerous C.I.T
    >events at Caltech. The balloons were custom printed for the school
    >where the group is apparently very popular. Many of the poorly made
    >balloons have already popped and are littering the floor of lobby 7.
    >"We probably should have had some new customized balloons made, but if
    >we wanted to do things well, we wouldn't be CIT."
    >
    >The lost balloons were originally mistaken for a hack, but
    >representatives for the hacking community quickly corrected the error,
    >commenting "No, that was just a screw up, hacks are generally more
    >interesting and creative," Jack Florey.
    >
    >>>>>
    >
  • by Dancin_Santa ( 265275 ) <DancinSanta@gmail.com> on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:25AM (#12198204) Journal
    While I tend to understand the enthusiasm that each of these groups of students have towards their alma mater, I have to wonder if the Caltech kids are as smart as they think they are.

    I'd much rather stay in warm CA during April than go to MA. Invite the MIT whiz kids down and haze them in the relative comfort of your own hometown. For chrissakes, what fun is it to freeze your ass off over there?
  • um... (Score:4, Funny)

    by ImaLamer ( 260199 ) <john@lamar.gmail@com> on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:26AM (#12198212) Homepage Journal
    This is "Slashdot" news, you know news for nerds.

    The topic is MIT and Caltech, not much nerdier than that!
  • by TummyX ( 84871 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:27AM (#12198214)
    Some oil company i think
  • by Electroly ( 708000 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:28AM (#12198219)
    They don't have girls at Caltech. (T-shirt picture.)
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:28AM (#12198220)
    i guess spelling isn't a popular course


    intersticial
    legitamate
    C.I.T Looses


    i think ill stick with my current school thanks
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:30AM (#12198227)
    In response, MIT slashdotted a server carrying accounts of the pranks.
  • by MAdMaxOr ( 834679 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:30AM (#12198234)
    destroying CalTech's web servers...
  • MIT wins (Score:5, Funny)

    by donutello ( 88309 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:31AM (#12198236) Homepage
    Looks like they slashdotted http://caltechvsmit.com
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:31AM (#12198238)
    What if the burger was made from the ground-up flesh of the Pope? It's newsworthy then, isn't it?
  • Last laughs (Score:5, Funny)

    by ari_j ( 90255 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:31AM (#12198241)
    Caltech may have pranked MIT's prefrosh weekend, but MIT got the last laugh by having their puppet doughnuthole submit the story to Slashdot. Caltech is a small (no, tiny) campus, and that one server fire could take the entire place out by morning.
  • by lost in place ( 248578 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:44AM (#12198294)
    Newsflash: Dorkwads Prank Dickwads in Famous Wad Rivalry!
  • by Inspector Lopez ( 466767 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:45AM (#12198300) Journal
    Yikes! I married a Caltech girl! Or ... at least that's what I thought I did.
  • by cmacmanus ( 713176 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:48AM (#12198308) Homepage
    No you dolt, it's the nerd Super Bowl. Soon we will have collegiate teams of geeks that contest with each other in great fashion like the other college sports..betting on such, making regional trees, ranks, etc :p
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:48AM (#12198311)
    Travel 4k+ miles to put balloons up and put on a laser show? When I was in college all we ever did was get drunk and have sex, I am glad I never turned in my app to CalTech.
  • by John Newman ( 444192 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:50AM (#12198321)
    A bunch of Yalies pulled a similar prank at this year's The Game, but there was no lock-picking or theft involved - just pure social engineering. They reconnoitered the Cantabs' stadium and designed their own card stunt. The day of the game, they dressed up as the "Harvard Pep Squad", and passed out their cards, without, apparently, raising an eyebrow. And not once, not twice, but three times (or more!), they got 1800 Havard students and alums to declare as one: "WE SUCK" [harvardsucks.org].

    In their own words [harvardsucks.org], or as told by the Yale Daily 'News' [yaledailynews.com].
  • by I33II3 ( 875039 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:56AM (#12198341) Homepage Journal
    Also, nearly immediately after the banner was placed that read:
    "That Other" Institute of Technology
    "That Other" was changed to "The Only" by the M.I.T. kids.
  • by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @02:59AM (#12198354) Journal
    And it looks like that is the film where they got their prank ideas from, the laser lights. Too bad they did not have the frozen ice that turns directly to gas... maybe... or kaboom. I couldn't finish the equations last night so I don't know how volatile it is.
  • by qval ( 844544 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:00AM (#12198362)
    you'll hopefully have all heard of http://www.harvardsucks.org/ [harvardsucks.org]. I bet their video will be slashdotted before morning though...
  • by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:10AM (#12198394) Journal
    Nobody who is anyone has been at MIT in ages. I think the last smarty pants there was Richard Feynman and all he did was help make the nuclear bomb.

    I remember meeting a kid from Cal-Tech, and to this day his impression remains with me. I have never met such a mix of intellect with insanity. He was working for the summer at Northwestern University, and I spent a couple days at his rented house (which a friend of mine from high school was renting with his girlfriend, there were 6 people living in this old house). Anyways, this guy had a pet spider, but not any spider, a black widow. And one night he wanted to cook for all of us. He boiled a big pot of water, Dropped in a head of chopped lettice, and two slices of american cheese. He then served it to us with so much pride. Later that night I broke out a huge jug of Vodka and a half gallon of OJ. We were making screwdrivers that were nearly see-through. After his first glass, he started crying about how he's never been with a woman. By his second glass, he was singing in chineese. He could not finish his third glass, he fell asleep on the floor right there. So the next morning we wake up, and I look in his fishtank, and the black widow is gone. I ask him what happened, and he said he felt bad for it and let it lose the night before. I asked where, and he said "I don't remember, maybe in your room" FUCK! I left that day, and never returned.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:20AM (#12198429)
    one time, in middle school, some people let some pigs onto the campus. They painted on the pigs "1", "2", and "4". The faculty spent weeks looking for the third one.

    http://www.bash.org/?482717
  • Re:Argh... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:23AM (#12198435)
    Caltech = balloons, a banner, and some t-shirts

    MIT = a freaking huge droid [mit.edu]

    I don't know about you, but the winner is clear...
  • by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:24AM (#12198439) Journal
    Being that caltech is so much better than MIT you would think that they could find a good spell checker...

    To: All Admissions Staff
    From: Director of Admissions

    In order to continue fundraising, we have to admit 40% legacies that are shit for brains. They can't read or write, but their fathers have us on an allowance, and we want the money. Plus, without legacies, there would be nobody there to say "You got me again, you silly nerd!". The other 60% will be merit admission, with 30% comming from India. Please be mindful that engish is their second language, and some of them might feel more at home taking baths in the Boston River. The other 30% are American Chinese students. Unlike the other 70%, they know american grammer and spelling.

    But feel good, at least we are not Harvard. There legicies are dumber than our legacies.

  • by wirelessbuzzers ( 552513 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:27AM (#12198445)
    While I tend to understand the enthusiasm that each of these groups of students have towards their alma mater, I have to wonder if the Caltech kids are as smart as they think they are.

    I'd much rather stay in warm CA during April than go to MA. Invite the MIT whiz kids down and haze them in the relative comfort of your own hometown. For chrissakes, what fun is it to freeze your ass off over there?


    MIT has a weather machine. It's always warm and sunny on prefrosh weekend. This one was no exception.
  • Best theoretical college in physics and engineering. Best. In the world. Period.

    So has anyone done any experiments to determine whether or not this theoretical college exists?
  • by ari_j ( 90255 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:47AM (#12198518)
    Okay, someone is catching on that these are two different words. That's good, but "to loose" is a perfectly cromulent word, with its own meaning. It was properly used here. If you lose something, you no longer know where it is. If you loose something, you unleash it (generally against someone or something).

    To use both in a sentence: If you lose your dictionary again, I will loose my wrath upon you!

    Or, to use some other tenses: Loosing her exquisite talent on me last night, she made it clear that she had long since lost her virginity.
  • by Zorilla ( 791636 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:48AM (#12198520)
    You know, the conventional way to preserve your dignity on Slashdot is to stop writing your corrective post when you realize the joke.
  • by John Seminal ( 698722 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @03:56AM (#12198540) Journal
    They don't have girls at Caltech

    They have enough engineers, they'll probably build one from scratch using an Apple IIe computer and pictures from magazines. And she'll take a shower with them, but the engineers will be too embarassed to take off their undewear in the shower.

    Come to think of it, now it all makes sense. That is why they are trying to recreate life in the bio labs, all the early earth atmosphere tests. They want some pussy.

    Damn crazy Cal Tech kids. What is next, filling a house with popcorn using solar rays??

  • Re:um... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Gentlewhisper ( 759800 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @04:06AM (#12198566)
    The topic is MIT and Caltech, not much nerdier than that!

    Why does the person wearing the T-shirt in that photo has 2 lumps on his chest?
  • by Phil Urich ( 841393 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @04:09AM (#12198570) Journal
    There legicies are dumber than our legacies.

    Ahem. "Their legacies". I take it you're not part of the American Chinese 30%.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @04:25AM (#12198603)
    Considering you missed the obvious 'grammer', I guess you arent part either.
  • by NitsujTPU ( 19263 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @04:26AM (#12198608)
    *cough*

    "Grammer" is spelled "grammar". ...which is part of why I got to go to Cornell, despite not being a legacy :-)
  • by Lord Prox ( 521892 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @04:54AM (#12198694) Homepage
    Why does the person wearing the T-shirt in that photo has 2 lumps on his chest?

    That would be a rare example of what is known as a FE-Male. Fulminate of Estrogen infused male. Handle with caution as they can be extremely volatile, but with proper care can be quite nice to have around.
  • by FleaPlus ( 6935 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @05:06AM (#12198729) Journal
    IMHO, MIT's R2D2 Great Dome Hack [mit.edu] was pretty cool, and that was just a few years ago.
  • Re:Huh? (Score:1, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @05:08AM (#12198732)
    > .. If At All Possible Involve a Cow by Neil

    At first, I thought that read "Involve a CowboyNeil"

    Great story BTW.

  • I got you all beat.

    A proud S.F.A.S.U. alumnus!

    Ax 'em Jacks!

    So there...
  • Re:Argh... (Score:5, Funny)

    by eric76 ( 679787 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @06:11AM (#12198900)
    I visited Caltech once.

    I was doing some work at the Pasadena Police Department for a few days.

    While I was there, the traffic seargeant asked me if there was anything I'd like to see while I was there. He was obviously thinking Hollywood, Movie Studios, Disneyland, the beach, ... .

    I really surprised him when I said that I'd like a tour of JPL. It turned out that the father of one of the cops was a scientist at JPL so it might just be possible.

    The next day he told me that they couldn't set up a tour of JPL at the last minute because some big project was going on. I think it was a Mars launch that week.

    So he asked what else I'd like to see. Again, he was thinking of the standard tourist sites.

    My second choice was Caltech. That kind of shook him up a bit.

    The seargeant called the head of campus security for Caltech and asked him to arrange the tour. Since I'm a computer type, he called up the computer center and arranged for us to meet him to give me a tour that afternoon.

    So the next day, we went over for the tour. One of the people with me grew up in Pasadena, knew exactly where Caltech was, but had never been on campus at all. I was a bit surprised to find out it was right around the corner from the motel I was staying at while in town.

    We went to the security office and the head of security showed us over to the computer center for the tour. We were on time, but the student who was supposed to give us the tour didn't show up for about 45 minutes. When he arrived, he said "Nobody has ever called us up for a tour. I thought it was some kind of joke."

    So we looked around the computer center a little while. Then we went over to see the seismographs. I wanted to walk through the physics building, but the security dude couldn't believe anyone would actually want to do that.

    The tour was a bit disappointing.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 11, 2005 @07:41AM (#12199165)
    Score 5, ignorant racist shit. P.S. Your spelling is atrocious. What are you, Indian?
  • by geminidomino ( 614729 ) * on Monday April 11, 2005 @07:45AM (#12199183) Journal
    ...dignity on Slashdot...

    You MUST be joking...
  • by JeremyALogan ( 622913 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @08:01AM (#12199237) Homepage
    I realized how badly I needed to leave the house when my first thought at seeing the shirt was "wow... she's hot"
  • by The-Bus ( 138060 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @08:27AM (#12199362)
  • by DirkDaring ( 91233 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @09:18AM (#12199663)
    An inspiring story from the pages of the Yale Daily News:

    The "Harvard Pep Squad" ran up and down the aisles of Harvard Stadium at The Game [between the Harvard and Yale football teams] Nov. 20. They had megaphones in hand and their faces were painted as they encouraged the crowd to hold up the 1,800 red and white pieces of construction paper they had handed out. It would read "Go Harvard," they said.

    But the 20 "Pep Squad" members were actually Yale students. And when the Harvard students, faculty and alumni held up their pieces of paper--over and over again--they spelled out "We Suck" in giant block letters the whole stadium could read.

    Yalies Michael Kai and David Aulicino, both of whom are to graduate next year, had to overcome great adversity to realize their dream. They originally planned to do this a year ago, and rather than handing the pages out, they taped them to the seats. "The prank derailed when security guards, trying to clear the stadium out during a pre-game bomb scare, asked Kai, Aulicino and their cohorts to leave."

    In the year since, they rethought their plan:

    They created a system to have the Harvard crowd pass out the 1,800 cards themselves. The "Harvard Pep Squad" went to each row and handed out a pre-ordered stack of the red and white papers. In five minutes, Kai and Aulicino said, all the papers were passed out.

    It took a great deal of planning, however, including a road trip to Boston. Kai and Aulicino attended the Oct. 9 Harvard-Cornell football game in Cambridge, simply to scout out the stadium and count the number of rows.

    They also created "Harvard Pep Squad" T-shirts and even fake Harvard IDs. "It was almost sad," says Dylan Davey, another Yalie who joined in the gag. "There were all these grandfather and grandmother types--and they all had big smiles, saying, 'Oh you're so cute, I'm so glad you're doing this.' I felt bad for about two minutes. Then I got over it."
  • i wonder... (Score:2, Funny)

    by ballsanya ( 596519 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @09:29AM (#12199727)
    if messing with so many asian kids is considered a hate crime...
  • by Deadstick ( 535032 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @09:43AM (#12199835)
    George P. Burdell? An AC? Well, I'll be dipped.

    rj
  • Re:Argh... (Score:2, Funny)

    by chiefthe ( 672735 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @09:46AM (#12199850)
    ...but Feynman did his undergrad at MIT. MIT--building the future of Caltech, one undergrad at a time.
  • by abb3w ( 696381 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @09:50AM (#12199872) Journal
    Handle with caution as they can be extremely volatile, but with proper care can be quite nice to have around.

    Oh, much like any other high explosives? If you're careful and not unlucky you'll get a great bang?

  • by ChrisMaple ( 607946 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @11:00AM (#12200508)
    In Los Angeles, the rivers are paved.
  • by Qzukk ( 229616 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @11:40AM (#12200962) Journal
    The only commonality of Texans and Bostoners is that within two minutes of the start of a conversation they'll let you know where they're from... whether you care or not.

    Hey now, I'm from Texas and I take offense at your sterotyping! While being Texan, I certainly do not tell everyone that I'm from Texas at the beginning of every conversation held right here in Texas. In fact, none of my Texan neighbors here in the great state of Texas go around telling the other Texans here in Texas that they're from Texas.
  • by poot_rootbeer ( 188613 ) on Monday April 11, 2005 @11:54AM (#12201139)
    The other thing they were working on that is referred to is their yearly get-drunk-and-get-laid-party

    Any college student that only gets drunk and laid one time per year clearly has more than enough free time to plan and execute pranks like these.

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