Stealth Force Beta 107
YetAnotherName writes "Geeky college pranks are not just the purview of big name science and technology schools. Now that statutes of limitations have expired, Stealth Force Beta, a group of 'constructive vandals' who operated at New Mexico Tech, tell of their exploits. From crawling around steam tunnels, to mounting complex radio surveillance, to getting trapped in elevator shafts, the stories are inspirational, funny, and probably familiar in some way to many /. readers."
I'm a slacker (Score:1)
Pure Fluff (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Pure Fluff (Score:5, Funny)
Lemme guess, you were one of those humorless business majors who saw the benefits of going to college strictly in terms of return on investment, weren't you...
Re:Pure Fluff (Score:1)
Secret Society Eh? (Score:4, Funny)
Stealth Force Beta was a secret society...
Now, they're Slashdotted! Nowhere to hide! LOL
Groups of FBI, CIA, WhatHaveYou are coming... Dum dum dum
Re:Secret Society Eh? (Score:5, Informative)
That's what the mean by "statute of limitations". In the US, most crimes have to be prosecuted within a certian number of years of their comission. If they aren't, they statute of limitations runs out and you can no longer be prosecuted for them.
Re:Secret Society Eh? (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Secret Society Eh? (Score:2)
I personally believe this is not true, so I'd like you to back up your statement with some facts.
(Yuu can just imagine how it could be abused. A prosecutor delays investigation for the sole purpose of extending SOL... nah... I can't see it happening)
Re:Secret Society Eh? (Score:2, Funny)
Attention, this is the FBI. You forgot to carry the one. Come out with your hands above your head.
Re:Secret Society Eh? (Score:1)
Re:Secret Society Eh? (Score:1)
However, most states do not carry a SOL for murder.
REAL GENIUS (Score:5, Interesting)
And of course there are the classic stunts at caltech taking over the rosebowl. like the time they hacked into the score board and changed the teams to MIT and Caltech. Another time they replaced all of the audience half-time flash card with there own so that when all the cards were flipped instead of showing a stadium sized picture of a washington husky it showed a stadium sized caltech beaver. Both of these staunts were recorded on national TV.
Other stunts there I've read about include restriping a parking lot over night so as to make the spot reserved for a certain professor 'vanish'. Or replastering/painting a building wall overnight to make the doorway for a certain professor's office 'vanish'. Another time this same professor entered an elevator, the doors closed and a few moment later a trapdoor on the ceiling opened and filled the entire elevator with foam packing peanuts, then delivered the packaged professor to his floor. SInce I've met that professor since I know they are true.
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:2)
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:1)
You can't say "i am *that* old" when it just came out in 85. I mean seriously, you could be no older than 25 and say that you saw it in the theaters and it wouldn't be wrong.
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:1, Informative)
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:5, Informative)
here [museumofhoaxes.com] And a detailed explanation of how it was done here [216.239.33.100]
here's a write-up of the mcdonalds contest scam here [216.239.33.100]
other caltech stunts including the rosebowl score board prank, and the great barberpole theft. here [globalprovince.com]
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:2)
Or maybe it's just these spicy black-eyed peas.
see the movie (Score:2)
the other flabbergasting thing in the movie is the science is correct in almost every detail. when val kilmers's character gets an inspiration for a new kind of laser its actually a really clever idea that could plausibly work. even the equations and potential energy functions he draws on the board are the ones uniquely correct for an excimer type laser
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:1)
I enjoyed a good, solid hour of reading thanks to the links in your post, and I'll be looking for a copy of If At All Possible Involve a Cow: The Book of College Pranks [amazon.com] when the book stores open tomorrow.
An Insightful comment that makes up for the fact that the Article was /.ed faster than you can type "FP!".
Thanks
Documentation (Score:5, Interesting)
There's a book out there entitled "If At All Possible, Involve a Cow." [mit.edu] (I'd link to Amazon, but according to them it's out of print; they don't even show a decent picture of the cover.)
Almost everything you mentioned is in there.
I have another parking spot story for you -- this one's a little more practical though.
Since the person whose spot they'd duplicated never knew any better, never missed anything, the spots were assured until the next time the lot was painted.
(He never did go bowling in that long underground hallway between buildings, though.)
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:1, Informative)
Another oft neglected Caltech stunt was the "improvement" of the Hollywood sign [caltech.edu]. There is actually an "official day" for pranks called "Ditch Day." [caltech.edu]
The only measly prank I was involved in was a disappearing parking space.
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:2)
They changed the 'Hollywood' sign to read Cal-Tech. The built a huge slingshot and used it to launch oranges at the nearbye community college. Filled a students dorm room with crumpled newspaper and drywalled over his door.
There is an endless list of anecdotes.
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:2)
not quite (Score:3, Informative)
Apparently, the caltech administration didn't really appreciate the anti-starwars tone of the movie (since they had lots of starwars funding for phase conjugate mirror technology). Instead they ended up filming most of Real Genious at a nearby school (occidental college) which has similar mediterranean architecture.
The "burger king" entries were actually computer printed entries for a Mcdonalds contest. Since then, sweepstakes have required "hand written" entries. This was originally inspired by a ealier frito-lay sweepstakes. More recently, this was tried again with a "submit the most entries" contest among southern california school for a free oingo boingo. Despite being much smaller than UCLA and USC, caltech managaged to submit more entries, but oingo boingo decided to backout of the concert (because they probably thought performing for free at a "tech" school would ruin their reputation)...
And you're missing the most recent stunt changing the hollywood sign to read caltech
Caltech Brought Down Nixon (Score:2)
BTW, George Bush, Jr., now has a real Techer, ie confessed criminal Poindexter, working for him.
Re:REAL GENIUS (Score:2)
Big schools still have the better pranks, though (Score:1, Redundant)
Who can forget the numerous attempts to decorate the Great Dome at MIT? Or someone at CalTech managed to sabotage a spectator placard display so when the placards were displayed at a football game it read CALTECH?
Re:Big schools still have the better pranks, thoug (Score:5, Informative)
NMT != NMSU (was: big schools ...the better prank (Score:2, Informative)
Get it right, bonehead!
I knew everybody in Stealth Force Beta and they were great people and truly helped the campus out with their pranks. I miss their company and reading these on spril.com brings back quite fond memories!
Re:Big schools still have the better pranks, thoug (Score:1)
Re:Big schools still have the better pranks, thoug (Score:2)
I think it's cool... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:pictures (Score:1)
Memorieees (Score:2)
"They dropped pumpkins, typewriters and bags of McDonald's hamburgers down a
nine-story stairwell of the Center for Industrial Innovation. Then the Drop
Squad made a mistake. They sent police a videotape of themselves and were
finally caught and punished."
Doh! Hate when that happens!
Who cleaned it up? (Score:2, Insightful)
Who is left having to clean up these messes? Probably an unglorified housekeeper or lawn-worker. They're the real heroes.
Re:Memorieees (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Memorieees (Score:1)
My favorite is from the "Poly" Incident Blotter
8:30am Larceny: Mini-fridge stolen from 8th floor lounge
and right below it
8:45am Destruction of property: Mini-fridge found smashed at bottom of stairwell
Do ya thunk public saftey put 2 and 2 together? nahhh...
Gotta Love the 'tute... Ya Know... Maybe I should bring the dropsquad back
Steam tunnels (Score:2, Interesting)
These darlings connect all the residences to every building on campus. Since the campus is built on a hill, there are a lot of steps.
Once went as far as the hospital! (that's a long walk above ground let alone going through the tunnels.)
Every so often there are vents that you can peek out of (locked of course) so you can try to figure out where you are.
Money Damages? (Score:3, Informative)
The statute of limitations on civil suits isn't as black and white as the statute of limitations on criminal charges.
And if they are still trying to cover up who did what, a overly aggresive, and loophole savvy DA could try to go for conspiracy charges, since that crime is on going.
Smile for the camera boys.
inspiring (Score:1)
Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:4, Interesting)
Just as an example, let us examine "Operation Up Your Shaft" (http://www.spril.com/StealthForceBeta/UpYourShaf
In this "prank", not only did they climb around in an ACTIVE elevator shaft, they filled the elevator with objects that would deliberately pour out upon an unsuspecting user of the elevator in order to scare them. Climbing around in an elevator shaft that is OPERATIONAL is exceptionally stupid. They are very fortunate nobody was injured or KILLED. Most of the story reads like the beginning of a Darwin Award entry.
First, who cares about a couple of dorks who engaged in a bunch of silly pranks and "Mission Impossible wanna-be" activities.
Second, why condone this sort of DANGEROUS and often illegal behavior. Giving praise and recognition to people who engage in this kind of crap is unwise, misguided, and exceptionally dangerous.
Third, there are FAR more interesting stories in the world of technology and geekdom that could occupy the scant few front page slots on the
I was hesitant to post this because I frequently see (and despise) the ridiculous flamers who seem to only post here so they can be critical of
Re:Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:1)
It's not like Mission Impossible where spikes come out of the ceiling. It's an elevator shaft. It isn't something that has big teeths, moves with the speed of the cheetah, and spits venom.
It's a piece of machine. Yeah, it's dangerous, but not stupid as long as you know what you are doing. Yes, I have climbed in an active elevator shaft. No, it wasn't for a stunt, more of an emergency. It is not a dangerous act in and of itself.
Re:Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:1)
Who peed in your Cheerios this morning, mate?
People are fully within their rights to risk their lives for others' humor. The problem is the morons who try to sue other people for their own (or deceased relative's) incompetence or bad luck.
If my son was crushed by an elevator doing something like this, I would mourn his loss forever, but who would I blame? It was clearly his free will, lack of sensability, and probably poor parenting that caused the situation.
Re:Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:4, Interesting)
The other *really* stupid one was trying to wriggle up a 6 inch gap between an active elevator and the wall when the students ended up in a pit at the bottom of the elevator. That was *dumb*. I say sit tight and cope. Another student with his hand on a (potentially operable) emergency stop button does not make it safe.
That being said, a lot of the other "safety" things they broke aren't that bad, like taking out lights and whatnot. Some of the things they did were pretty constructive (I'm not even sure that swiping the railroad ties that campus maintenance wouldn't haul away would be considered a prank.)
Some were pretty neat.
Re:Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:2)
Re:Why is this being "dignified" by Slashdot? (Score:2, Insightful)
There is no such thing as a nerd who doesn't like the thought of sneaking through steam tunnels; this is just a fact of life.
If you do not like reading about such things, perhaps you should stay away from Slashdot.
I bet you're the person who always insists that grammer be correctly employed, aren't ya?
a good book about college pranks... (Score:4, Informative)
It's a well researched cronicle of the history of college pranks, and covers the famous MIT and Caltech pranks, but goes beyond the more publicized events to get behind the scenes as much as possible. It also covers the history or college pranks and includes the origins of several college rivalrys, such as midnight raids to capture and recover "prized" school artifacts.
Sadly, it now seems to be out of print, but it's worth finding a used copy or checking your local library.
ISBN 0-312-07810-2
They were lucky!!! (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.ncfelonymurder.org/janet.html
to see how one stupid prank gone awry earned a young woman life imprisonment without possibility of parole.
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:1)
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:2)
Oh, I love the stupidity of that page:
'Oh, yes, they meant to set a fire, and no, they didn't warn anyone when they saw it was going to burn the place, they just ran off and hid, but gee, don't punish Janet for killing 4 people, anyone could have done it, besides, you didn't punish any of her friends.'
Anyone that lacking in intelligence and self control ('it wasn't their fault, they were drunk, haven't we all done crazy stuff like that?') is a threat to society.
This makes me see more clearly why some people are driven to become Republicans.
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:1)
In most states a charge of first degree murder requires INTENT TO KILL, get the point here, the intent DOES MATTER. The law Jannet was prosecuted under failes to take that into account. As stated on the page, a charge of involuntary manslaughter would have been much more appropiate to these circumstances.
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:2)
I would agree, save for the fact that she was additionally and quite plainly criminally negligent. Having caused the arson, she could have taken steps to prevent the murder of her 4 victims. She may not have originally intended to kill, but the fact that she did not try to stop them from being killed shows she was not sufficiently averse to it.
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:2)
Why is she spending 50 times as long in prison as people who repeatedly drive drunk? Why is she spending 10 times as long in prison as people who drive drunk resulting in deaths of other people? Why is she spending as much time in prison as people who abducted, imprisoned, tortured, raped and murdered multiple young women on non-consecutive occasions? Why is she in prison while the other two people she was with got nothing? Why is she in prison while corporate directors who make "mistakes" that kill dozens to hundreds of people to save money go free and the corporations pay 1% of one years profits in judgements?
Nobody is saying she shouldn't spend a number of years in prison.*
But no rational person can understand why she should spend 20-60 years in prison for the mistake she made.
.
(*) In fact I'd say that the laws should be amended so that anyone who commits petty arson of this type gets a couple years in prison in appreciation of the fact that it *will* eventually result in someone dying. My big peeve with the current western justice systems is the fact that people who commit the same acts get sentenced differently depending on how "unlucky" they were - petty arson no deaths VS petty arson and deaths - driving drunk and getting caught in a roadblock VS driving drunk and killing someone - the acts committed by the individuals were the same, but the punishments are vastly different...
.
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:2)
Also, the only lives that were ever at risk as a consequence of any of their stunts were their own. There was no reckless endangerment of other people, unlike the linked case in the parent post. They did not perpetrate malicious acts against others, just some fairly harmless--and often public-spirited--fun.
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:2)
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:1)
Under most any other state law, the girl would not have gotten life without parole. There was no intent, which would prevent 1st degree murder.
Nowhere in the page was it argued that she shouldn't have gotten prison time.
Re:They were lucky!!! (Score:2)
Duct Tape (Score:1)
Yet more proof that anything is possible with duct tape!
Good Ole New Mexico Tech (Score:4, Interesting)
It wasn't so much a prank, but I remember being called out as a member of the local Search and Rescue unit to get some people out of the local mine where someone had managed to get stuck. It was fun to get up there and find students from my classes involved - at about 6 AM yet. I, naturally, refrained from giving them a hard time (well, mostly). I didn't tell the poor terrified person who had actually managed to get stuck that there was a (small, but significant) cave-in just as I reached the mine opening.
This is very much a science/engineering phenomenon - liberal arts students write poems and make films. Science/Engineering students explore mines, build gadgets and construct elaborate pranks involving doing interesting things.
Despite the risks and annoyances I'd like to raise a glass to the engineering pranksters - on the large scale or on the small scale. And in particular I'd like to include those NMT students who kept things interesting.
Re:Good Ole New Mexico Tech (Score:2)
good ole nMImT... (Score:1)
Another thing of interest was the occasional bit of envy we experienced when MIT or Caltech were mentioned (eg, when a Boston local mentioned that he was going next semester to the local school, MIT). A small school with a little ego problem. I doubt there are many schools with such a large fragment of insecurity complex per capita.
Re:good ole nMImT... (Score:1)
NMT Alum. (Score:1)
If at All Possible, Involve a Cow (Score:4, Informative)
Operative Fingers (Score:2, Funny)
To the Danger Cart! (Score:3, Funny)
</humor>
neat (Score:1)
There was also the GSF (Score:4, Interesting)
Stealth Force Beta was countered by a group called The GSF. Some of us said it stood for "Green Sheep F---ers". An allusion to the lonely miners and their pasttimes in the glowing deserts of New Mexico.
I attended NMT for only two years - '99, '00 - but was a participant in GSF 'operations' during that time. The GSF, according to those older and wiser than I, was created by some, including significant members of the student union as an unofficial guerrilla group to compete/oppose STB. I'm not sure if STB was still around when I was there... GSF participated largely in whimsical pranks and actions bringing the schools administration's focus to various issues amongst the student body when regular campus politics just didn't the trick.
Btw, I've seen some comments that liberal arts students generally don't pull pranks like that... as a CS major when I was at NMT and now something of social science student, I'd have to say there's no empirical data to support that claim. It just takes a combination of creativity, free time (or negligence of other things), and some sense of adventure and/or poltiics. :)
NMT does have something of a complex when it comes to competing with MIT and the like... but it has good reason. It's EE dept has produced robotics teams that have regularly beat MIT, NASA engineers, and hundreds of other schools and institutions at a firefighting competition in Connecticut, it has significant ties to Linux for PPC, RTLinux (the patenting by Victor Yodaikenof that sending a lot of heat in the direction of NMT's mail servers from Slashdot readers/trolls) development by NMT faculty and grads, and several innovations and unique features associated with the school and certain departments also seem to get less attention than the same would elsewhere. Of course, it doesn't help to be small (less than 2000 undergrads) and stuck in the middle of the desert.
Socorro is a hell of a place.
http://machination.org/matt/index.cgi/2003/01/01#2 003-01-01_secretsocietiesNMT [machination.org]
Re:There was also the GSF (Score:3, Interesting)
Both groups had good pranks, for sure. But let's not forget Charlene and Victoria's group and their little pranks that included alphabetizing the periodic chart in the main lecture hall, putting shamrocks on all the desks in said hall, and painting the sidewalks with the school's president's name. And how about the group in '93 that "borrowed" the backhoe from p-plant and left it at the administration building? Even when I moved up to Albuquerque, I helped students with pranks at the University of New Mexico like the classic turn-their-wolf-into-a-sheep-with-cotton-balls-an
My point is that when you're in the middle of the desert and there is nothing to do, we all find ways of amusing ourselves.
Re:There was also the GSF (Score:1)
Indeed. And I'd like to add that my comments were just on my periphial awareness and involvement in stunts that are comparably tame to the documented and mythical big pranks, and during a relatively short timeline - well after the peak efforts of both of these groups on the campus of the little college I still have to describe as "Ever see the movie Contact? Right, well remember the VLA? Ok, that was in my backyard almost."
I'd also like to add I'm pretty surprised this became an article on Slashdot. I mean, it has relevance to me, but had I no personal connection I never would have made this a front page feature... so I have sympathy with the critics of this discussion happening here & now (not that it's not fun).
Re:There was also the GSF (Score:1)
Campus pranks (Score:3, Informative)
- Neil Steinberg
Offensive Content (Score:3, Funny)
boneyard (Score:1)
B. Bunny: Maybe I shouldn't 'ave taken that left toin at Albuquerque?
In addition to the Strike Force Beta book... (Score:1)
...mentioned on the SFB homepage, there are other books available detailing similar goings-on at MIT & Caltech, as well as the aforementioned "If At All Possible, Involve A Cow".
Some years ago, I wrote a review of all of these books, complete with ordering information.
You can see this review HERE [slashdot.org].
As soon as I hear back from the gentleman selling the SFB book, I'll be ordering a copy for myself. If the web pages are any indication, this will be a very good addition to the MIT/Caltech books,
Last Post! (Score:1)
contrary to popular opinion, fireplaces actually remove heat from houses.
Really, that's what scientists believe. In fact many scientists actually
use their fireplaces to cool their houses in the summer. If you visit a
scientist's house on a sultry August day, you'll find a cheerful fire
roaring on the hearth and the scientist sitting nearby, remarking on how
cool he is and drinking heavily.
-- Dave Barry, "Postpetroleum Guzzler"
- this post brought to you by the Automated Last Post Generator...
Re:What kind of degree? An MCSE of course! (Score:1, Informative)
(NMT's CS department wasn't bad. A bunch of the PPC Linux stuff was done by a Tech CS guy. Only a couple of these guys were in the CS department though.)