What's your Favorite MIT Hack?

Colleges & Universities Massachusetts Institute of Technology
1

<p>Name your favorite one of the famed MIT hacks. Feel free to give a description as to why it’s a favorite, as well as pictures or links to more info. </p>

<p>You can find an ‘official’ list of known MIT hacks [here[/url</a>].</p>

<p>I have two personal favorites: the Triforce hack and the traffic light hack.</p>

<p>[url=<a href=“http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2006/zelda_triforce/][img]http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2006/zelda_triforce/dome-from-killian.jpg[/img”>IHTFP Hack Gallery: Legend of Zelda "Triforce" on Great Dome][img]http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2006/zelda_triforce/dome-from-killian.jpg[/img&lt;/a&gt;]](<a href=“http://hacks.mit.edu/]here[/url”>http://hacks.mit.edu/)
This one was put up to celebrate the release of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess</p>

<p>[[img]http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2007/e25_trafficlight/e25trafficlight.jpg[/img&lt;/a&gt;]](<a href=“http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2007/e25_trafficlight/][img]http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2007/e25_trafficlight/e25trafficlight.jpg[/img”>IHTFP Hack Gallery: Traffic light in windows of building E25)
This traffic light, made using the round windows on building E25, was fully functional, either randomly cycling or changing between red and green by pressing the walk button (foreground, right side).</p>

2

<p>in case you missed it: “In celebration of the upcoming 40th anniversary of humans setting foot on the moon, hackers placed a 1/2 scale replica of the Apollo Lunar Module on the Great Dome.”</p>

<p>[IHTFP</a> Hack Gallery: Apollo Lunar Module on the Great Dome](<a href=“http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2009/apollo_lander/]IHTFP”>IHTFP Hack Gallery: Apollo Lunar Module on the Great Dome)</p>

3

<p>[IHTFP</a> Hack Gallery: Solar Powered Subway Car on the Great Dome](<a href=“http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/by_year/2009/solar_powered_subway/]IHTFP”>IHTFP Hack Gallery: Solar Powered Subway Car on the Great Dome)</p>

<p>'Nuff said.</p>

4

<p>Mine are a mix of recent and slightly older ones (no particular order) …</p>

<p>1) Caltech Cannon
2) Giantastic Athena sculpture
3) Firetruck on the dome
4) Solar powered subway car on the dome</p>

5

<p>I actually didn’t like the subway car much, It was kinda poorly executed.</p>

6

<p>It’s one thing to say that based on a picture or a YouTube video… it’s quite another to see the thing moving in person.</p>

<p>I mean, designing and building something like that is hard enough. Imagine designing it and building it and putting it up at night, as quickly as you possibly can, while under a lot of pressure, without getting caught. It’s a lot more fragile than a police car. It involves electronics and solar panels, both of which are very breakable. </p>

<p>It’s harder than it looks. Give them some credit. =]</p>

<p>I guess what attracts me to that particular hack most is that it wasn’t just something that people built… it involved a lot more design. It was more interdisciplinary. It was also the first thing-on-the-dome hack since November '06.</p>

7

<p>The Caltech Cannon hack was one of the things which motivated me to apply to MIT in the first place!</p>

8

<p>It’s not the Caltech cannon, it’s the Fleming cannon. Most of the rest of Caltech didn’t even care that it was stolen, because it solely belongs to Fleming House.</p>

<p>But the 2 day rescue mission has gone down as one of the greatest moments in our house’s history; we flew out to get it immediately, had Fleming alumni at Harvard and MIT keep watch and lend us their homes for a night, and pulled a few pranks of our own. I guess that would be my favorite “hack” as well, though I was not actually there to see it happen.</p>

<p>We’ll be back some day.</p>

9

<p>We call it the Caltech cannon for clarification - most people aren’t going to know the names of Caltech dorms.</p>

10

<p>I’m fond of the Wright Flyer. The firetruck was fun. To go really oldschool, I like the working phone booth on the dome a lot. I also really like the modified inscription around the top of Lobby 7. Even if it didn’t turn out awesome, I will always remember the DNC '04 Pin the Tail on the Donkey game fondly. The Stata Center opening day hack was cute.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>This is true for pretty much all major hacks. :)</p>

11

<p>Hmmm… the disappearing president’s office, the subway on the dome, and the nasa logo. :)</p>

12

<p>i like the toilet on the roof that worked lol</p>