<p>“A fake fire truck appeared this morning on top of the 150-foot high Great Dome at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.”</p>
<p>In the past, the school has not seriously punished hackers. When the Wright brothers’ biplane appeared, six students were spotted leaving the building at about 6 a.m. Not only were they not arrested, but an officer helped one retrieve a forgotten laptop."</p>
<p>^^ I just read this to my H. He laughed outloud (H is a big Robin Williams fan), and said that it should have been pained on the wall in the girls’ bathroom as part of their sex ed curriculum.</p>
<p>Continuing with the literary publication theme.</p>
<p>"A long-running rivalry between Harvards school papers, the Crimson and the Lampoon, came to a head with this 1953 prank. Crimson staffers play one of their favorite pranks by stealing the Lampoons Ibis, the large bird statue perched on top of their office. But this time, they send a letter to the Soviet consul in New York to report that the editors of the Lampoon wish to offer the Ibis as a symbol of friendship, billing the bird as sort of an American peace dove. The Soviets accept, and the Ibis is handed off to a confused U.N. delegate in a formal ceremony. Not wanting to be outdone, the Lampoon retaliates with a letter of their own. With help from then-editor John Updike, they write to Joseph McCarthy, insisting the prank clearly proves the Crimsons communist leanings and calling for a full investigation.'</p>
<p>Not only does your son have a good sense of humor to match his nimble intellect, but he is a gallant and loyal friend. And it sounds as if the v-p is being a mensch, keeping it all in proportion. He had to do something about it in his role, but deep down he’s smiling.</p>
<p>Oddly enough, I posted a thread last week about warning your kids about senior pranks. As pranks go, I’d hardly call this one destructive. In fact, most colleges have this type of graffiti and don’t paint over it. The students actually value it and consider those bathroom walls a shrine of sorts and a piece of history. Maybe this is where your son came up with the idea?</p>
<p>Enjoy graduation, unfortunately these days the schools and society as a whole is not “kinder gentler”. When I graduated high school a million years ago a bunch of burley guys picked up the principal’s little pride and joy convertible - I think it was an MG or something small like that - and carried it about almost a mile away from the schools and hid it in the bushes. Hilarious. These days that would probably be a theft and a felony offense. You will be chuckling someday that he actually had the guts to pull a prank. Being a risk taker once in a while in life isn’t all that bad.</p>
My d’s college, in a cold climate, has tunnels underground connecting the buildings. There are certain parts of those tunnels reserved for the college groups to paint - announcements, murals, whatever they want. It’s considered sacrilege not to paint the tunnels when it’s your group’s turn!</p>
<p>DonnaL, when you said “appropriate for men”, the first thing I thought of was “There once was a man from Nantucket” . . . At least there weren’t any of those!</p>
<p>Thank you all; I’m very touched by your support and understanding, both for my son, and for my initial reaction! </p>
<p>I have a quick temper sometimes, but I’ve never, ever been able to stay mad at my son for long or hold a grudge (not that he’s ever really done anything to warrant that), and he’s the same way.</p>
<p>So, today, everything is fine. He’s a little concerned that the school is going to charge him some exorbitant sum for the repainting (he did offer to do it himself, but they said no) – “what if they say, that’ll be $2,000, please?” – but I told him I didn’t think that was very likely. They’re really not out to punish him severely. </p>
<p>I also wanted to say that I haven’t been on CC very long (not counting last year, when I would look over my son’s shoulder while he read all those “chance me” threads in the University of Chicago forum, and I felt thoroughly intimidated by everyone’s amazing credentials!). But I’ve been extremely impressed with everyone’s kindness here on the Parents’ and Parents’ Cafe forums. There are a lot of wonderful people, and wonderful parents, here, </p>
<p>There’s only one other message board/forum I visit or participate in, a forum for people who are, or are family/friends/allies of, LGBT people, where I’ve been an active member for several years, know the owners and many of the members in person (since many live in the New York area), and am actually a moderator. So that’s kind of my Internet “home,” But this place is fast becoming a home away from home for me, at least for things having to do with being a parent of a teenager – which, needless to say, is a very large part of my life! (Not that I don’t talk about my son or give my thoughts and advice about parenting at the other place; I’m in charge of the “Kids” forum there.)</p>
<p>You should only be angry if the quote is from the first line of Camus’s “The Stranger”. Otherwise, hopefully, the school has enough sense to just charge you to repaint the wall. Better yet is to make a print of the quotes and hang it on the wall after the new paint job.</p>
<p>Edit: Perhaps you and your son can have a good laugh if you do question him whether the Camus line is up there.</p>
<p>Dang it, I have things to do today, and now I am hunting for the first line of ‘the Stranger’! Just finished looking up a new vocab word that epistrophy used on LatetoSchool’s thread. I can’t bear not knowing what everyone else is talking about. </p>
<p>Donna- I thought it was a good prank, and am happy to hear that the school isn’t nailing him to the wall for it.</p>
<p>“Aujourd’hui, maman est more. Ou peut-etre hier. Je ne sais pas.”
Maman died today. Or perhaps yesterday. I don’t know.
Meursault is an affectless man who is incapable of feeling emotion when learning that his mother has died.</p>
<p>Cool! My d rolled her eyes whenever I mentioned I just met some famous scientist. Perhaps she would react differently if I could say I met Camus.</p>
<p>Well, there would have to be an afterlife for her to beat Camus. That was the point of The Myth of Sisyphus: there is no God, and we must carry on regardless. Without God, can there be an afterlife? an Inferno? Purgatory? En Attendant Godot.</p>