Bob CollinsOn another morning full of stories of hate, we are somewhat — somewhat — comforted in the knowledge that there are still people grabbing a share of our attention armed only with whimsy and good spirit.
Leave it to the science kids.
The iconic dome at MIT — the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — has always been a target for the smart kids. It’s just sitting there, dominating the Cambridge skyline and begging to be abused.
So, over the weekend, it was abused fittingly.
Dozens of engineering students worked on the “hack,” as they call it.
Greatest ever? Hard to say; there’s so much history.
Like the time they put a lunar lander on it to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing.
The kids do this stuff with flare. Like the time they built a “hackapult” to put a cow, fire truck, and Tardis up.
The fire truck was only cardboard, but it memorialized the time in 2006 the kids put an actual truck on the dome in honor of the 9/11 anniversary.
The students also honored the anniversary of flight in 2003 with a replica of the Wright Flyer, complete with a dummy pilot.
Also making appearances on the dome over the years: a piano, Harry Potter’s scar, the Batman symbol, a police car, and Pacman and Blinky.
The “hacks” are not sanctioned by MIT, which mostly puts up with the expressions before turning the graduating students loose on the world as the new generation of humorless engineers.
