Modern Geekhood
The Wikipedia defines a geek as someone "fascinated, perhaps obsessively, by obscure or very specific areas of knowledge and imagination, usually electronic or virtual in nature." While the exact definition is debatable, many at MIT reflect a certain geekiness, whether they write computer code for fun, regularly role-play, know everything about Star Trek, or follow Japanese anime. But today's MIT geeks are even more. Alumni compete in beauty pageants and the Olympics, beat the house in Vegas, and impress the nation on reality TV shows. Read on for a celebration of all that's geeky and wonderful at MIT.
At the end of each section, you'll find alumni-supplied trivia questions to test your level of geekiness. Answers are below.
Pop Culture
Photo: ©iStockphoto.com/Ian Witham
What's the best sci-fi/fantasy book?
Alumni submitted their favorites and the MIT Science Fiction Society determined the best in tournament match-ups. See how The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Dune fared when going head-to-head with Lord of the Rings and Ender's Game. View tournament results (pdf). Do you agree with the results? Share your pick for best book.
Alumni choose their geeky delights
Alumni submitted their picks for best games, TV shows, and movies. Here, the most popular responses.
Games
Settlers of Catan
Sudoku
Dungeons and Dragons
Halo
World of Warcraft
Trivial Pursuit
Monopoly
TV shows and movies
Star Wars
Star Trek
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Battlestar Galactica
Students perform Mythbusters experiment
Students from 2.009, Product Engineering Processes, set out to determine if mirrors could set a boat on fire, as ancient Greek and Roman historians claim Archimedes did in 212 BCE, for the Discovery Channel's Mythbusters.
Hired! Randal Pinkett LFM '98 scores job with Trump on The Apprentice
Alumni outwit the casinos
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy made over poker expert Ed Miller '00 while high roller Semyon Dukach EE '93 and his blackjack prowess became the subject of Ben Mezrich's book, Busting Vegas. Mezrich also wrote Bringing Down the House, about MIT's infamous blackjack team.
Miss Massachusetts Erika Ebbel '04 hit primetime in the 2004 Miss America Pageant.
Geek activity: Web Libs
Build a content filter that rewrites the Web, Mad Lib style.
Patrick Antaki '84 proves smart guys reach the Olympics too
Doonesbury attends the 'Tute
Read about the comic strip character Alex Doonesbury's freshman year at MIT.
Trivia 3: What is the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything?
MIT-Style Academics
Classes
Comparative Media Studies: Videogame Theory and Analysis
Writing and Humanistic Studies: Writing Science Fiction
IAP: Bang Your Head! Heavy Metal 101
Discuss who's cool in heavy metal, who isn't, why louder does mean better, and more.IAP: Make Zombie Madness!
Learn scripting, makeup, and how to make special f/x gore then shoot a zombie movie.
Wearable Computing group
Seeks to create computers worn much as eyeglasses or clothing and interact with the user based on the context of the situation.
OpenCourseWare brainteasers
OCW's newsletters now include brainteasers like this one: How many saddle points can you find on a squirrel? And how many if the squirrel is eating a bagel? Give up? Read the answer on the Calculus with Theory II page.
Data Portrait Study Series: Social Maps of Time and Space
Combines data from sensors, mobile phone logs, and other social media to show how people spend their time in their lived environments and understand how identities are shaped in time.
Cheiro enhances the expressiveness of text
The chat space allows users to animate text to reflect emotions.
Trivia 5: How many billions of base pairs are in the human genome?
What's Quick Take?
A bimonthly feature created by the MIT Alumni Association relating contemporary topics to personal life, work, and MIT culture. View the archive.
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A Little Friendly Competition
Annual robotic competition
See videos and photos of past contests from Course 2.007, Design and Manufacturing.
International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition
Teams use standard interchangeable biological parts to build biological systems. Learn about MIT's team and see this year's winners.
The BattleCode programming competition
Students in this IAP class write player programs for the real-time strategy game BattleCode and face off in a public tournament for cash prizes.
Humanoid robotics competition
An IAP robotics course where teams of two students build and program their own humanoid robot for an exciting competition.
MIT Solar Electric Vehicle Team
Members participate in races worldwide, such as the 2,500-mile North American Solar Challenge, where the team took third.
Trivia 1: What is Captain Kirk's
middle name?
All trivia answers below.
Send comments and questions to:
quicktake@mit.edu
MIT hackers at work. Photo courtesy MIT Museum.
Campus Culture
COOP t-shirt slogans
T-shirts available either on campus or online
Talk Nerdy to me
Cutie π
E⁄c² √-1 PV⁄nR*
e to the u du dx, e to the x dx!
Cosine! Secant! Tangent! Sine!
3 point 14159!
Integral, radical, mu, dv,
Slipstick, slide rule, MIT!
*Another way to say MIT
The Flea at MIT Swapfest
Buy, sell, and swap amateur radio, electronic, and computer equipment. Held the third Sunday of each month, April through October.
Students innovate their living spaces
Learn how students have enhanced their dorms and dorm rooms with innovations such as the emergency pizza button and party mode.
Anime Club
One of the largest and most active clubs in New England dedicated to increasing the awareness of Japanese animation.Assassins' Guild
A live-action role-playing societyLaboratory for Chocolate Science
The lab hosts an annual chocolate brunch, a battle of the brownies during IAP, and more.Roadkill Buffet improv comedy troupe
RKB performs onces a month for the MIT community.The MIT Strategic Games Society
Members play games of all types, including historical wargames, role-playing and railroad games, Magic (collectible card game), and others.Voo Doo humor magazine
The publication also sponsors contests and events such as the Voo Doo Olympics and Comedy Cracktacular.
Seamless Computational Couture
This fashion show features innovative and experimental works in interactive clothing and technology-based fashion.
Charm School offers practical guidance during Independent Activities Period (IAP)
Trivia 2: What does THAC0 stand for?
Geek Art
Student origami contest and exhibit
View photos of current and past winners.
MIT Glass Lab: a hot spot for cool designs
Fractals in Science, Engineering, and Finance video on MIT World
Holograms at the MIT Museum
The largest and most comprehensive collection in the world.
Slide rules rule!
The MIT Museum recently received more than 600 slide rules and other artifacts. An exhibition is planned for the near future.
MIT Science Fiction Society library
Houses the world's largest open-shelf collection of science fiction. Search the database, which includes more than 90 percent of all science fiction published in English, or read book reviews from SFS members.
Machinima group explores evolving world of computer animation
Building a better violin bow
An electronic sensing system measures minute changes in the position, acceleration, and strain of a violin bow.
Trivia 4: What was the first computer to perform a trillion operations per second?
Trivia Answers
1: Tiberius
2: To-Hit-Armor-Class-0 (used in Dungeons and Dragons)
3: 42 (from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams)
4: The GRAPE IV, or Gravity Pipeline, constructed by an astrophysicist and his students at the University of Tokyo to study the phenomenon of globular clusters of stars
5: Three
