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An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

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Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#61

Post by Retra »

vincentriemer wrote: post #60
Retra wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is this hazing?

I mean technically this would be considered hazing. According to the "student handbook" of my alma mater hazing was defined as "making someone do something they do not want to do as requirement of membership" (paraphrasing here). Personally, as a previous member of a greek organization, I find the definition ridiculous as it would qualify having prospective members study/be tested on the history of the organization a…

Yeah, that definition is overly broad. Hazing requires harassment, embarrassment, or some other kind of abuse. Asking someone's underwear color is only harassment if they've got a history of inappropriate behavior, and embarrassment only if they've got serious socialization problems. Neither of which would reasonably be expected to be accounted for when asking the question in this situation.

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#62

Post by [deleted] »

noname123 wrote: post #38
leblancfg wrote: post #2

Reading this made me downright sad that I didn't, and probably never will, attend MIT. Oh, the interesting people! The interesting projects! How I wish I had worked harder.

FWIW, I never went to MIT (went to a small liberal arts college); but I work at an MIT affiliate, so by virtue of proximity and affiliation, go to talks given on campus, eat at their cafeteria, have audited classes and play basketball at their gym. But basically a third-party observer to campus culture, my subjective $0.02: The undergrad population is much to my dismay similar to any American school trained on the pr…

[deleted]

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#63

Post by rashkov »

DanBC wrote: post #24
DanBC wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is creepy. But US colleges have done far far worse. http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/15/magazine/the-great-ivy-lea... > ONE AFTERNOON IN THE LATE 1970's, deep in the labyrinthine interior of a massive Gothic tower in New Haven, an unsuspecting employee of Yale University opened a long-locked room in the Payne Whitney Gymnasium and stumbled upon something shocking and disturbing. > Shocking, because what he found was…

Not quite sure what's happening with the votes on this post, with some up and some down votes. In case it wasn't clear: several US universities took nude "posture photographs" of most people who attended, and did so for decades. They took the photos in the name of science, but that science was probably junk. That feels worse than an unofficial email list asking people what colour underwear they have on before accepti…

Hey I voted you up. I really enjoyed the article and came back to upvote for that. My initial knee jerk reaction to your post was that it's slightly besides the point -- an interesting aside but somewhat off topic for the post. I suppose that could be why you were getting downvoted. Anyway it's super interesting, thanks for sharing

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#64

Post by peterwwillis »

akhilcacharya wrote: post #58
peterwwillis wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You really don't need to attend MIT to work on projects with people like these. Near me there's a tool library, a makerspace, two hackerspaces, a biotechspace, an art college, several medical schools, many different kinds of collectives, and several big art-focused festivals with grants. As a person who dropped out of high school and never went to college, i've worked on big art builds involving mechanical engineerin…

There is a massive difference in how credible you seem (and ergo, are treated) if you have an MIT, Ivy, or Stanford degree. I'm not 100% sure, but my hunch is that very few YC founders come from state schools like mine (although I know at least one did).

Schools only give credibility as a replacement for experience. If you don't have school credibility, go get some experience. This applies to practically everything in life, the exception being when a degree is legally required to do a job.

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#65

Post by akhilcacharya »

peterwwillis wrote: post #64
akhilcacharya wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is a massive difference in how credible you seem (and ergo, are treated) if you have an MIT, Ivy, or Stanford degree. I'm not 100% sure, but my hunch is that very few YC founders come from state schools like mine (although I know at least one did).

Schools only give credibility as a replacement for experience. If you don't have school credibility, go get some experience. This applies to practically everything in life, the exception being when a degree is legally required to do a job.

I'm sure, but that takes a heck of a lot longer.

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#66

Post by doug1001 »

bannus wrote: post #44
curyous wrote: post #35

How were those pie charts generated?

From article: > so I made pie charts from the parsed data and traced and colored them in BMF kitchen.

i think this is a oblique way of saying the OP isn't going to open source their data visualisation code. :-)

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#67

Post by doug1001 »

this is awesome. Eg, "There is a sad, persistent decrease in multicolored underwear, ending with none by senior year." Does "none" refer to NA (None, null, etc.) or to the lack of color in the respondents' underwear, or to going commando? i suppose like all great research, it raises more questions than it answers.

more seriously, The OP seems to be inspired by a well-established tradition at the institute--MIT's sand mandala, perhaps. I graduated in 1992 and i remember some of my classmates from time to time, engaging in self-assigned projects that (i) seemed to lack any discernible purpose or utility whatever--certainly none for the student and (ii) that required a mind-boggling amount of meticulous effort. Somehow seeing these two attributes juxtaposed in a single endeavor, was hilarious to us (likewise the OP). Sometimes, though not always, these projects were deemed "pranks" but separate in my view.

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#68

Post by maus42 »

Retra wrote: post #49
maus42 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>unkind response Some of responses in this comment thread look very much like blatant schoolyard bullying behaviour manifesting. "Why take things so seriously" "Spoilsport" et cetera ... Partake in the hazing rituals, or else.

How is this hazing?

I was commenting more the reaction the HN crowd seems to present when someone dares to say this sounds like something they would be uncomfortable with, because that's very much the same one I remember from school. Of course in school you can't downvote, but the responses and dismissing attitude ("there's nothing wrong with the practice if you're not having fun with it") are eerily similar.

Re: An MIT Underwear Exposé (and Sorting Hat)

#69

Post by DanBC »

Retra wrote: post #61
vincentriemer wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean technically this would be considered hazing. According to the "student handbook" of my alma mater hazing was defined as "making someone do something they do not want to do as requirement of membership" (paraphrasing here). Personally, as a previous member of a greek organization, I find the definition ridiculous as it would qualify having prospective members study/be tested on the history of the organization a…

Yeah, that definition is overly broad. Hazing requires harassment, embarrassment, or some other kind of abuse. Asking someone's underwear color is only harassment if they've got a history of inappropriate behavior, and embarrassment only if they've got serious socialization problems. Neither of which would reasonably be expected to be accounted for when asking the question in this situation.

> Asking someone's underwear color is only harassment if they've got a history of inappropriate behavior,

Try it work and see how far you get.

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