Howe & Ser Moving Co., MIT vs CalTech, and Good Sportsmanship
The marvelous thing about sportsmanship is the ability to accept the high level of ambiguity that is essential to the requisite "give and take."
This past week several news outlets have indicated that the supreme academic achievements of the past year have been in the hands of the Massachusetts and California institutes of Technology -- MIT and CalTech. Well...maybe: on the 20th anniversary of the snatching of the CalTech cannon from that campus by a corps of creative studetns at Harvey Mudd College, hackers from MIT entered the CalTech campus complete with moving truck and forklift, secured the necessary papers to move the famous cannon, and snatched it for the long ride to the MIT campus where it now resides.
The beaver is the mascot and symbol of the well-deserved and industrious MIT campus -- administrators, faculty, and students, but especially the latter. When Howe & Ser Moving Co. dropped off the mysterious missing cannon on the MIT campus recently, it now was found to sport a replica of the gold "Beaver" classring earned by MIT students.
Also, now there is a catch: CalTech has filed grand theft charges and is coming after the prize --- and the students who managed to pull off the prank for the second time in CalTech history, well-soiled history, I might say -- and I do.
Here then is my cheer to the clever (which actually means good-natured, don't you know!) MIT undergrads who so well planned, orchestrated, and pulled off this wonderful long-distance effort, even marking the event with an appropriate and tasteful plaque to commemorate the effort, thus establishing the superiority of MIT ingenuity (and memory) over that that of their West Coast cousins. But no...CalTech established that the instant they filed the charges.
This past week several news outlets have indicated that the supreme academic achievements of the past year have been in the hands of the Massachusetts and California institutes of Technology -- MIT and CalTech. Well...maybe: on the 20th anniversary of the snatching of the CalTech cannon from that campus by a corps of creative studetns at Harvey Mudd College, hackers from MIT entered the CalTech campus complete with moving truck and forklift, secured the necessary papers to move the famous cannon, and snatched it for the long ride to the MIT campus where it now resides.
The beaver is the mascot and symbol of the well-deserved and industrious MIT campus -- administrators, faculty, and students, but especially the latter. When Howe & Ser Moving Co. dropped off the mysterious missing cannon on the MIT campus recently, it now was found to sport a replica of the gold "Beaver" classring earned by MIT students.
Also, now there is a catch: CalTech has filed grand theft charges and is coming after the prize --- and the students who managed to pull off the prank for the second time in CalTech history, well-soiled history, I might say -- and I do.
Here then is my cheer to the clever (which actually means good-natured, don't you know!) MIT undergrads who so well planned, orchestrated, and pulled off this wonderful long-distance effort, even marking the event with an appropriate and tasteful plaque to commemorate the effort, thus establishing the superiority of MIT ingenuity (and memory) over that that of their West Coast cousins. But no...CalTech established that the instant they filed the charges.
posted by Duct Tape at 4:48 PM
4 Comments:
The charges were filed days before the removal of the cannon was revealed as a hack. Most students at Caltech, now that they know the whereabouts of the cannon, are very good-natured in response. The hack was to some degree a response to the attempt of some Caltech students last year to start a much-desired "prank war."
Caltech's pranking ethics require leaving a note at the scene of a prank, providing at least information that the events were indeed a prank and some way of contacting, if not identifying, the pranksters if necessary. The original grand theft complaint was not filed for a couple days after the cannon was taken, in hopes that the disappearance would indeed turn out to be a prank.
Thank you, Anonymous: it is exceeding good to learn such charges have been withdrawn in recognition of the time honored tradition -- I guess that is to include both the CalTech and MIT campuses -- of the hack or college prank.
Good news, indeed!
However, I'll not withdraw this blog posting: your comments are useful to clarify so that everyone now learns "...the rest of the story."
Again, thanks!/Duct Tape
The folks at CalTech have sent a ... a horde of folks to MIT to pick up the cannon (sans "the beaver" ring, which stayed with MIT folks).
You'll be interested to note the sense of humor of one of the MIT graduates, now in England (Oxford), reporting on the "cannon culture" vagueries that can erupt -- emerge? See: Foonyor Barzane on the MIT Campus Police.
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