2 Million Page Views...and Counting

Since Slice of MIT was launched in January 2009, the Alumni Association has published more than 1,600 stories plus hundreds of photos of the week from Owen Franken ’68 and other MIT alumni. And, earlier this month, we celebrated our two millionth page view.

Over the span of more than five years, Slice has covered the quirkier side of MIT, including piano drops, April Fools’ Day jokes in 2013 and 2014, an alumni authors podcast series, and MIT’s favorite tradition: hacks.

Our 10 most popular posts and favorite stories from Slice staff are listed below. Plus, relive Slice’s Hack Madness contest, a two-week tournament that declared the 1982 Harvard-Yale football game as the Institute community’s favorite hack. (See the final voting results.)

1. “Hmmmm Chocolate….Science” (April 9, 2009), 72,759 views
2. “Renewable Energy: Paper Tiger or Green Giant?” (March 3, 2010), 57,128 views
3. “Arrrrr! MIT Pirates Certified” (March 8, 2012), 56,081 views
4. “1948 Mayor to MIT: Use Flamethrowers to Melt Snow?” (February 2, 2011), 34,737 views
5. “Slice of MIT…anyone have a slice of cheese?” (April 6, 2009), 34,285 views
6. “Gen. Petraeus Commissions His Son and 11 Other ’09 Graduates” (June 6, 2009), 27,929 views
7. “Staying Healthy Thanks to MIT Medical” (December 10, 2009), 13,960 views
8. “MIT Named #1 University in the World” (September 17, 2012), 13,382 views
9. “Secrets to the Caltech Cannon Heist Revealed” (February 28, 2013), 11,984 views
10. “MIT Scores Big in World Rankings” (July 13, 2012), 11,129 views

Editor’s Choice Selections (Slice of MIT staff)

Nancy DuVergne Smith “MIT Living Wage Calculator: Why Higher Wages Help Everybody” (February 6, 2014) Three-part series: “MIT and the Atomic Bomb: Tracing the Manhattan Project” (May 20, 2010)

Kate Hoagland “MIT Brewers Take Flight with Aeronaut Brewery” (June 16, 2014) “Heavy Metal 101: End with a Bang!” (January 22, 2014)

Jay London “Recalling the Link between Pro Wrestling and MIT” (July 18, 2014) “When Linsanity Reigned Over MIT” (February 24, 2012)

Joe McGonegal “Cold This Winter? Maybe It’s Time for a Nest.” (December 20, 2013) “At 94, Alumnus Engineers Orchards” (April 18, 2014)

Nicole Morell “Armrest Wars: Designing an End to Elbow Battles” (May 28, 2014) “Undersea Living: Alumna Joins Cousteau Mission” (July 21, 2014)

For more Slice milestones, read our April 2012 story celebrating the blog's one millionth page view. Do you have a favorite Slice story? Let us know in the comments below or on Facebook and Twitter.