Thursday, August 2, 2007

Nightwork

As inspired by this post.

When I got to MIT for CPW, one of the first things my dad and I did was visit the Coop - MIT's official apparel store and bookstore, basically. For the record, Coop is pronounced just like the bird's nest - one syllable, not two. Anyway, the Coop is an amazing store - almost as good as Notre Dame's Bookstore, which is saying something in my book. :) As I recall, there's two locations on campus - one in the Student Center and one near Kendall Square.

But I'm dumping too much information on you. Point is, my Dad and I bought quite a few shirts and other souvenirs for myself and my family. However, what I really wanted was either one of two books on the MIT Blackjack Team - unfortunately, I found neither. I did, however, see Nightwork.

Stupidly, I didn't decide I wanted it until a few days later - after the Tangerine Tour, I believe. And, naturally, fate being what it is, when I got to the Student Center again, the Coop was closed.

Ergo, no Nightwork for me. At least not for three more weeks, when I'm finally at MIT again building a robot! (It's a good thing I'm so excited, because otherwise I'd be scared out of my mind. Multi-variable calculus is going to own me.)

Anyway, getting to the point of the article - Nightwork is supposedly written by Institute Historian T. F. Peterson. Institute has the finest professors, after all.

There's only one problem.

There is no Institute Historian at MIT.

Or is there? This is something I kind of picked up from the Jacks at CPW, but I think part of the message of Nightwork - of the entire hacking tradition, really - is that all students are Institute Historians, in a way. Part of the thrill of going to MIT is the stories you make doing it. I've already heard some crazy, wonderful stories - and I'm looking forward to creating a few of my own.

...And with that said, I have to get back to work. Fick's Second Law of Diffusion beckons.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Look at the initials- IHTFP. That's the joke. Institute Historian doesn't exist either, but...

Paul said...

Right, I know! I didn't want to mention it explicitly, so that you all could figure it out for yourself. :)

P.S. For more IHTFP fun, re-read this paragraph: "Anyway, getting to the point of the article - Nightwork is supposedly written by Institute Historian T. F. Peterson. Institute has the finest professors, after all."

Notice anything? :D

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I saw that one, too. Sorry for ruining your surprise for everyone... oops. I kind of figured you must have seen it.