One Ring Rules the MIT Dome 234
Patiwat Panurach writes "The Great Dome of MIT was overtaken on the morning of Monday the 17th by a great golden ring, inscribed in red Elvish with text that translates to: "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them." The hackers were apparently not completely successful, for neither the Great Dome nor Building 10 managed to vanish into the realm of shadows."
Way more impressive than my tribute (Score:3, Funny)
R2D2 (Score:1, Informative)
The ring IS working! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:The ring IS working! (Score:1)
Even lesser known fact: CowboyNeal is Frodo.
Re:The ring IS working! (Score:1)
It's making hacks.mit.edu [mit.edu] server disappear...
Don't worry, you are not missing out on much - its just a yellow banner with red text placed around the dome.
They could at least have used mirror gold banner material.
Buildings (Score:4, Funny)
However, they were successful in making Building 15 vanish.
Re:Buildings (Score:2)
I'm with ya sulli....:)
nlh
Re:Buildings (Score:2)
Re:Buildings (Score:1)
Re:Buildings (Score:3, Interesting)
Information on building 20:
http://tmrc.mit.edu/bldg20.html [mit.edu]
Re:Buildings (Score:1)
http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/1999/elevato
More appropriate places? (Score:1, Flamebait)
I am sure that we can come up with lots of suitable places.
The hell? (Score:1)
Hell, I wouldn't even remember where it is if I hadn't had to take my brother over there for a few licenses and exams. The City Annex probably gets more traffic.
Language (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Language (Score:4, Informative)
"Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul"
Re:Language (Score:3, Funny)
Never before has anyone dared to speak that tongue in the house of
Re:Language (Score:1)
Re:Language (Score:1)
Re:Language (Score:5, Informative)
Note, however, the commonly used character set in Middle Earth is Tengwar. The characters used on the MIT dome are indeed Tengwar. I haven't been able to find an image of the complete ring on the dome, so I can't fully translate it, but it does appear to be correct, from what I can see.
(Yes, I am truly a geek when it comes to Tolkien).
Re:Language (Score:5, Informative)
Actually, the script -- or "character set", as you put it, is the Tengwar. Tengwar and Cirth are the common character sets throughout Middle-Earth. Cirth (runes) is used for carving in stone or clay; Tengwar for writing with pen or brush and for ornamentation.
However, the Tengwar can be used in several different ways, or "modes". Each mode is a mapping of the sounds of a language onto the character set. Quenya uses one mapping; Sindarin another; and so forth. The most distinction between modes is whether they place vowel signs atop the consonant preceding or following the vowel sound. However, the consonant sounds attributed to the characters also vary. For instance, the character for "n" in one language may represent "ng" in another.
It's times like these (Score:1, Funny)
Re:It's times like these (Score:5, Funny)
Heh. And I'm not even a conlanger [geocities.com]. You ain't seen obsessive.
(Honestly, I don't see how knowing facts about something "historical" or literary can qualify as obsessive. Old facts don't change, so they don't require constant pursuit to keep up one's knowledge. Following things which change, such as technology or fashion, requires a great deal more active engagement -- obsession, as you put it -- than knowing dead facts does.)
For a little bit more "obsessive" information on the Ring inscription and Dr. Tolkien's languages: Tolkien used over a dozen invented languages in his works, of which the most well-developed are the Elvish languages Quenya and Sindarin. Less developed were, for instance, the languages of the Rohirrim, the Adûnaic language of Nûmenor, and the Black Speech of Mordor (the language of the Ring inscription).
The Tengwar, the Elvish script used on the Ring, was Tolkien's attempt at a logical system of writing. The majority of the consonants fall into a simple arrangement which describes the relation of their sounds. For instance, the pairs of sounds ("T", "D"), ("P", "B"), and ("K", "G") all have similar relationships -- in each pair, the latter sound is merely the "voiced" form of the former. So, in the Tengwar, the symbols for these sounds are closely related. A few sounds, such as "L" and the rolled "R" do not fit the system, and have unrelated letterforms.
Historically, very few real-world alphabets have been based on the relationships of sounds. Most "natural" alphabets derive from ancient hieroglyphic or pictographic systems. The Latin letters A, B, C and the Hebrew aleph, beth, gimel both derive from Middle Eastern pictograms meaning "ox", "house", and "camel" -- hence Joyce's "Semper as oxhousehumper." Most "invented" alphabets are derivatives or composites of natural ones. For instance, Cyrillic (created by Sts. Cyril and Methodius and now used to write most of the Slavic languages) is a fusion of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets. Cherokee is worse. By comparison, Tolkien's alphabets are radically simple.
However, unlike Prof. Zamenhof (the creator of Esperanto), Tolkien did not intend or even imagine that his languages or scripts might be adopted by real-world populations. He invented them as an intellectual or linguistic game, and later as historical and cultural background to his stories. It is in that sense, not in the evangelical Esperantist's sense, that Tolkien fans pursue them.
Re:It's times like these (Score:2, Insightful)
that said, it's a sad comment on society (especially geek society here on
there's even some online courses;
check it out: http://www.esperanto-usa.org/ [esperanto-usa.org]
Tengvaroj (Score:2)
Well, Slashdot types speak English natively or are polyglots so they don't feel the language barrier much.
On the other hand, how many of the Esperanto speakers know at least two languages more? I'd say lots of them.
Anyway, for geeky stuff try ESR's Esperanto mode for tengwar [tuxedo.org].
Featural alphabets (Score:2)
The only alphabets I know that don't stop at the phoneme level and reflect phoneme features (as voiced / unvoiced) are, apart from Tolkien ones, Shavian (a proposal bespoken by GB Shaw for a new alphabet for English) and Korean Hangul (its writing can be analysed as syllables, phonemes or phoneme features, neat). Are there another ones?
I read that Tolkien was inspired because of the relationship between B and P and C and G. He started thinkling that adding a mark could tell voiced from unvoiced.
Re:Language (Score:2)
Can this be enoded in UTF8? Please say it can or I'm really screwed.
Not bad. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2, Interesting)
Pat
Re:Not bad. (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2)
Re:Not bad. (Score:2, Informative)
Image Mirrors Due To Slashdotting (Score:5, Informative)
onering-5.large.jpg [3dactionplanet.com]
Re:Image Mirrors Due To Slashdotting (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Image Mirrors Due To Slashdotting (Score:2)
Re:Image Mirrors Due To Slashdotting (Score:2, Funny)
graspee
The U's are V's !?!? (Score:2)
MASSACHVSETTS INSTITVTE OF TECHNOLOGY ?
Why the V instead of U ?
Compared to other Hacks . . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Compared to other Hacks . . . . (Score:2)
I still like the Harvard/Yale/MIT [tuxedo.org] football game.
Re:Compared to other Hacks . . . . (Score:2)
the Great Dome nor Building 10 managed to vanish.. (Score:1, Redundant)
My Favorite MIT Hack (Score:2, Interesting)
And welded it to the tracks.
y Friends Dad was student there at the time. His report is the only evidence I have that this happened. Any one else know about it?
Re:My Favorite MIT Hack (Score:1)
The Green Line(s) runs as a trolley, going past Fenway, BU, my apartment, and out to BC.
Re:My Favorite MIT Hack (Score:2, Informative)
Re:My Favorite MIT Hack (Score:1)
Re:My Favorite MIT Hack (Score:1)
The Green Line used to have an A branch, traces of which are still around. It went to Watertown, IIRC, via Brighton Center. And of course, the Red Line was extended in both directions, and there's been plenty of work on the southern end of the Orange Line.
At any rate, the rail network used to be somewhat larger. I'm upset that there have been proposals bandied about to shut down the E line.
Since when is a college prank considered a hack? (Score:1)
There must be alot of 1337 hackers out there who dont even know it.
Anybody got any good college prank stories?
Re:Since when is a college prank considered a hack (Score:2)
There was the usual buckets of water, soda cans stacked in front of a closed door so opening causes an inrush, placing the beds outside (fully made).
The two funniest were:
Removed the door next door and put up a sign saying "Damn Termites". Friend walked in, tearing down the sign saying "okay...what did you do?"
Made a small hole from our room to theirs, and ran a wire to his speakers, so when he had his girlfriend over later and had nice soft Enya playing, we replaced it with Slayer.
Like I said...nothing major, but fun for us.
Entertaining Pranks (Score:1)
Another good one: Some U of T students had access to some Ministry of Transport kit... they went to RentAll and picked up some pneumatic jackhammers, a generator, a tamper, etc. Then they went to downtown TO, setup a dig, even had the cops come by, talk to their foreman-type guy who had all the right paperwork, and had the cop direct traffic for them. After digging a big ass hole, they packed up, put up sawhorses and flashing lights and signs, and buggered off, never to be seen again.....
Another exploit: A student's dad is an electrician. Gets a new white panel van, no logos yet. Summer time. So one of the major Toronto libraries has summer staff (read: without a clue). So they go down in coveralls with a fake work order for "annual dry cleaning" of the carpeting. They bamboozle the staff, pack up a really nice carpet into the van, off they go. It subsequently adorned their cottage floor.
Then there was the year that graduating engineers at Queen's U covered all of the street lights along University Avenue with
Those are not pranks (Score:3, Insightful)
More "the ring" at MIT (Score:5, Funny)
Made me crack up.
Yet no one... (Score:1)
CalTech is better... (Score:1, Flamebait)
Yeah, it's a troll. So what.
Like the guy in the theater next to me said.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Like the guy in the theater next to me said.... (Score:2, Funny)
Or if you'd known Denise, apparently :)
Re:Like the guy in the theater next to me said.... (Score:1)
Who rules the MIT dome? (Score:1)
Speaking of MIT folklore (Score:3, Funny)
The undergraduates used to award a nice-looking trophy with a large aluminum left-handed screw to that professor that best exhibited the kind of callous attitude that makes getting through MIT more difficult than it needs to be.
You know, like scheduling a 4 hour final exam at an inconvenient time, etc; the kinds of things that drove the sale of the IHTFP T-shirts.
There wouldn't be such a list on the web, would there?
Re:Speaking of MIT folklore (Score:1, Informative)
http://web.mit.edu/apo/www/charity.html
(at lael (dot mit edu))
Hacking? (Score:2)
LS
The Meaning of Hack (Score:2, Informative)
Re:The Meaning of Hack (Score:2)
nlh
Re:Hacking? (Score:3, Informative)
"The word hack at MIT usually refers to a clever, benign, and 'ethical' prank or practical joke, which is both challenging for the perpetrators and amusing to the MIT community (and sometimes even the rest of the world!)....hardly a term goes by without strange objects appearing in odd places."
In other words, "hacking" in the MIT-sense of it has developed as an internal term that's gotten mixed-in with with mainstream usage. In the same way that traditional hackers tinker with computers and mechanical things, MIT hackers tinker with the campus itself -- they put 'strange objects in odd places'.
Also, look up the phrase: "Institute for Hacks, Tomfoolery, and Pranks." for more info...;)
nlh
Re:Hacking? (Score:1)
Re:Hacking? (Score:2)
Inscribed in <i>Elvish</i>? (Score:3, Funny)
What kind of fool risks life and limb to inscribe a high dome in a fictitious language? For crying out loud, haven't these people heard of sex?
There goes my karma, but a man's gotta take a stand!
Re:Inscribed in Elvish? (Score:1)
Hey, just be thankful it wasn't "Klingon" or "Esperanto" or something :-)
Re:Inscribed in Elvish? (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Inscribed in Elvish? (Score:1)
They're at MIT, of all places. Of course these people have not heard of sex, at least in a non-fictitious sense.
Re:Inscribed in Elvish? (Score:1)
...
I happened once upon a girl whose eyes were full of fire.
Her physical endowments would have made your hands perspire.
To my surprise she told me that she never had been kissed.
Her boyfriend was a tired Engineering scientist.
...
Oh they've heard of sex all right... (Score:2)
Not so great (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Not so great (Score:1)
I'll agree that it's not the most impressive hack ever, but it still took some ingenuity.
Re:Not so great (Score:1)
Anybody else notice... (Score:2, Redundant)
I wonder if any non-LOTR fans got freaked out over this.
Re:Anybody else notice... (Score:2)
Arabic, like Herbew and other older semitic languages, uses consonant-only word roots, and places vowels in various way that alter the meaning ('book' and 'library' are similar because they share a root)
Arabic (and Hebrew) also read right to left
I can see how at a glance, Arabic and Elvish would looks KIND of similar, but if you look at them side-by-side, you would see each has a unique look =]
How to tell the difference (Score:2, Interesting)
Middle Earth mural MIT Bldg 24 (Score:4, Interesting)
Middle Earth on the sixth floor of Building 24
painted by yours truely some time ago.
MIT used to have lots of wall murals, but they
come and go.
The new coffee house one in the Infinite Corridor
is neat.
arabs. (Score:1)
Speaking of alphabets... (Score:2)
Elvis? (Score:1)
I'm a big Elvis fan, and he never had a song
with those lyrics.
hmm (Score:3, Funny)
Fool! That works only on mortals. Bombadil did not vanish when he put on the ring, and I'm assuming that Sauron didn't either, since he used his powers to take human form, and his power was in the ring.
The real question is, in which category does MIT fall?
Watch out for Ashcroft (Score:3, Funny)
Starting my own chapter. (Score:2, Interesting)
Would this bea good idea, or just looked down apon?
Would the University (or any school for that matter) be willing to accept the hack team as one of there own?
How do you recruit people to do it?
And most importantly: How would you fund such a project? Those hacks have to cost some money!
Well just an idea as I search though the hacks done at MIT. I'll look forward to your replies.
~Brandon
the inscription (Score:1)
Not to presume anything, but the preparation for this might have been a copy-paste job.
Even if it was, it's still more work than I'd do, and the execution deserves some serious props. It was fucking freezing out there on monday. And the wind up there must have been brutal. Hope they still have all their fingers.
A total waste of too many smoots of material (Score:2)
My mom beat them hands down... (Score:1)
My mother earns my eternal love for my middle name.
Guy and his turkey?? (Score:1)
The whole point of a hack.... (Score:2)
This feat does neither. Its a banner. They wrapped it around a building. I'm sure a lot of work went into its creation, but in the end, I remain unimpressed.
And its not that I'm faulting them for their motives. Its just that they need to reach further. The dome has featured many glorious hacks. They need to strive to top those, not suffice to simply let past events overshadow the present ones.
-Restil
Re:The whole point of a hack.... (Score:1, Informative)
It took about 20 MIT students over 12 hours and two nights to get it up, and that doesn't include the month of design, planning and construction.
-N
Real geeks (Score:2)
All your bridges are belong to us!
Karma hell, here I come!
Re:Real geeks (Score:1)
MIT, Caltech, and College Prank books (Score:2, Informative)
For those interested in the whole MIT/Caltech hack/prank scene, this is an excerpt of a review I did some years ago of books from The MIT Press, the Caltech Alumni Association and St. Martin's Press.
First up, Legends of Caltech and More Legends of Caltech. These two 80 page volumes chronicle technopranking at Caltech from the 1920s to the late 1980s. Learn about the classic Rose Bowl card section prank that was broadcast live on NBC, See the HOLLYWOOD sign become the CALTECH sign before your very eyes. Vicariously enjoy the revenge of Caltech students upon a greedy police department.
These books MUST be ordered from the Caltech bookstore, as they are privately published by the Caltech Alumni Association. Ordering info is at the bottom of this page.
Ah, but what of MIT? For their history we must turn to a pair of books.
The Journal of the Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks at MIT. Published by the MIT Museum, this is a 158 page book with lots of photos and text concerning the hacks pulled by MIT men and women over the decades. See The Great Breast of Knowledge, The Great Pumpkin, the legendary Smoot Marks on the Harvard Bridge. Read about the chronic humiliation suffered by the inmates at Harvard as MIT has its way with the statue of John Harvard and the Harvard Stadium.
"Is This The Way To Baker House?" - A Compendium of Hacking Lore. 165 pages of legends, essays, photographs and stories of and about hacking at MIT. This book, published in 1996, continues where the Journal leaves off. The MIT Campus Police car on the Great Dome, arguably one the greatest hacks in MIT history, graces the cover and several inside pages. Regrettably, only black and white photographs are used in the body of the book, as there are several hacks, most notably, the Cathedral of Our Lady of The All Night Tool (The "stained glass" panels in Lobby 7) that really should be seen in full color. That minor gripe aside, this is a fine companion volume to The Journal and shares the same binding dimensions as The Journal, making them a handsome pair of books to grace the shelves of any creative malcontent. (The title refers to the canonical reply to an MIT Campus cop when one is discovered in a spectacularly inappropriate location, such as the apex of the Great Dome at 4:00AM.)
Our final book is published by St. Martin's Press and should still be available via any bookstore that will special order books for its customers.
If At All Possible, Involve A Cow - The Book Of College Pranks, is a 240 page history of collegiate pranking in America, beginning with the earliest colleges in America, and even taking note of some hijinx taking place in Canada.
This is an excellent companion volume to the preceeding four books, as it covers collegiate pranking in general, as well as detailing some events that are NOT covered in either the Caltech or MIT books.
If I were sending a son or daughter off to college, I would certainly include all five of these books in their "books to bring to school" box. Start 'em off right!
I have all five books and have enjoyed reading and re-reading them. I trust that these will be inspirational to all who enjoy a good hack and tweaking the nose of Authority, be it the State or the School.
Ordering information
Legends of Caltech is $9.00
More Legends of Caltech is $15.00
The mailing address of the Caltech Bookstore is:
Caltech Bookstore Mail Code 1-51 San Pasqual Street Pasadena CA 91125
The website [caltech.edu] for the Caltech Bookstore looks like you might be able to order these online.
The toll-free number for the Caltech bookstore is 800/514-2665. For those of you outside the US, their non-free number is 818/395-6161.
In my case, shipping was $6.00. Call to find out what your charges might be or to use a credit card.
(Neither book has an ISBN, so ordering via your local bookstore is not recommended and may very well be nigh-impossible.)
The Journal of The Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks at MIT is $20.00 The ISBN is: 0-917027-03-5
"Is This The Way To Baker House?" - A Compendium of Hacking Lore is $20.00. The ISBN is: 0-917027-04-3
The address of the MIT Museum is:
The MIT Museum 265 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge MA 02139
The Museum Shop online ordering is now being handled by Tha Harvard/MIT COOP.
The URL for ordering The Journal of The Institute for Hacks, TomFoolery & Pranks at MIT is here [thecoop.com] and the URL for "Is This The Way To Baker House?" is here [thecoop.com]
If At All Possible, Involve A Cow - The Book Of College Pranks
by Neil Steinberg
$9.95 St. Martin's Press ISBN 0-312-07810-2
I'm told by Editor Keith [stonewallinn.com] at SMP that as of September 1994, there were about 4000 copies still in the warehouse and SMP will fulfill orders for the book. St. Martin's Press officially urges you to order this book from your local bookstore or Amazon.com [amazon.com].
I've just found out that this book has now made it's way to the remainder tables at some bookstores. If you want a copy, order it NOW from Amazon or inspect those remainder tables very carefully.
Louie Louie? (Score:1)
But they are making "Frosh" cart around a giant tombstone despairing the "The End of Rush as We Know it." Are they claiming to have some frat thing going on? Like Animal House? Have you ever been on that campus? C'mon, Pinto and Flounder might be there, but Otter and Boon are nowhere to be found!
Dean Wormer may work there, though.
"She'll pay attention to this."
LOTR=Crappiest Xmas Movie Ever? (Score:2)
A movie review parody contends that LOTR is the crappiest Christmas movie ever. Again, it is a parody. Unbunch panties, please.
Another Short Barefoot Boy Saved by Fabulous Shirt
http://www.ridiculopathy.com/index.php?display=
Re:Wow... (Score:1)
Re:Wow... (Score:2, Funny)
I know I would like it if they would except anything else about the movie for the next two days - then I wouldn't have to read even more media coverage about it.
:-)
Re:I guess no one cares about the new Outlook viru (Score:1)
2001-12-19 08:15:21 Woke up, took a dump (article, news) (rejected)
Re:I guess no one cares about the new Outlook viru (Score:1)
We don't post those stories, we have a guy called "The Turd Report" who posts them as diary entries. I was going to say "log entries", but I got to laughing too hard.