Hacking at MIT will be spotlighted on WCVB-TV (channel 5) tomorrow at 7:30pm when Chronicle devotes its program to humor on college campuses. President Charles Vest, Professor Samuel Jay Keyser of linguistics and the MIT Museum will be featured.
President Vest told the story of his introduction to the hack world on his first day at MIT (Oct. 15, 1990), when the entrance to his office was obscured by a bulletin board covered with news clippings, one of which was headlined "Vest takes over Monday."
Professor Keyser took the TV crew on a tour of the sites of his favorite hacks, including the police car on the dome in 1994 and the inflating weather balloon at the Harvard-Yale football game in 1982. After discussing the meaning of IHTFP in general terms, reporter Ted Reinstein asked whether the hack tradition is alive. Professor Keyser replied, "I have this funny premonition."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on March 11, 1998.
