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MIT Pirate Certificate

physicaleducationandwellness.mit.edu

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Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#51

Post by krapp »

philsnow wrote: post #9
askiiart wrote: post #3

> The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities. Jeez, what buzzkills.

A certificate says “we are Some Group that Knows about This Stuff and we think that so-and-so is capable of doing pirate-y things” You’d want a letter of marque for an endorsement of being “allowed” to do pirate-y things. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque

Privateer. When you want to be a pirate but also want to stay a law-abiding normie.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#52

Post by everyone »

Not actually related to article, but the title made me think this...

I feel like the piracy / p2p / scenegroup communities have been aging and being whittled down by brutal relentless lawsuits and lobbying from corps. I get the impression not many younger people are interested and are generally more content to accept the corporate slop they are given.

This is a bad thing. However u feel about piracy, keeping the skills alive to circumvent unfair systems imposed on you is really important for society and egality imo.

MIT should teach a computer piracy course.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#53

Post by krapp »

JohnFen wrote: post #44
madars wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From what I've heard, yes. The choice is not between speaking at MIT+no honorary degree and not speaking at all; speak at MIT+no honorary degree/speak at Harvard+honorary degree -> well, could be swayed to speak at Harvard then!

Do these people think that others are impressed by honorary degrees? Are there people who are impressed by honorary degrees??

RMS stans who insist that he be referred to as "Dr. Stallman."

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#54

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

number6 wrote: post #15
philsnow wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A certificate says “we are Some Group that Knows about This Stuff and we think that so-and-so is capable of doing pirate-y things” You’d want a letter of marque for an endorsement of being “allowed” to do pirate-y things. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque

> Article I of the United States Constitution lists issuing letters of marque and reprisal in Section 8 as one of the enumerated powers of Congress, alongside the power to tax and to declare war. It's still a thing

That just means that the constitution permits it to be a thing; if congress doesn't actually issue such letters anymore it's not practically a thing.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#55

Post by dragonwriter »

pclmulqdq wrote: post #42
dragonwriter wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Reportedly the Russian government has issued letters of marque to hacking and cybercrime groups. Those would only be metaphorical (and even then not a particular apt metaphor) letters of marque and reprisal; a literal letter of marque and reprisal is to a private vessel to attack and seize property from enemy vessels, converting acts which would otherwise be piracy under international law into lawful armed combat.…

> Not under US law (even if it still wouldn’t make any sense under international law for the reasons described above), since Constitutionally that would require an active of Congress authorizing such letters, which has not occurred. You can imagine what you want, but its simply not a reality. As we all know, the US defense apparatus, particularly its clandestine branch, has never done anything illegal.

> As we all know, the US defense apparatus, particularly its clandestine branch, has never done anything illegal.

A letter of marque is a specific legal instrument.

If the US (or Russian) government is recruiting and employing private sector hacking groups as cyberwarfare agents (as both probably are), whehter or not they are doing so legally under domestic and/or international law, they aren’t issuing letters of marque.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#56

Post by Tade0 »

mminer237 wrote: post #35
abdullahkhalids wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know why universities think the best way to decide enrollment is smashing the register button. My undergrad university had the sense to let everyone pick their first preferences within 24 hours of enrollment starting. Then for over-selected courses, people were enrolled randomly [1]. This was repeated once more, iirc, and then in the third round enrollment was instantaneous. This, thankfully, prevented virtua…

That also has the advantage of allowing the school to potentially open a new another timeslot for the course if they know there's enough serious interest in it.

You can have that without this sort of race.

My college just sorted people by GPA and if there were enough of them for an additional group and staff to lead it, an additional timeslot would appear.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#57

Post by jachee »

082349872349872 wrote: post #34

Q. How do you know if the pirate you just met was MIT-trained? A. Ask them for a probability density from the wavefunction Ψ, and see if they respond by hitting it with psi-st AARRRRRR . (also useful: reduced Planck's constant or form evaluating to the head of a list)

Ask them their favorite programming language.

You might expect the answer to be R…

…but a true pirate’s first love will always be the C.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#58

Post by labster »

evanb wrote: post #7

"If they ever come up with a swashbuckling school I think one of the courses should be laughing, then jumping off something." -- Jack Handey I tried to register for pistol every single term and never got in; I think this may be the most difficult obstacle in obtaining MIT's pirate cert.

You never had a shot.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#59

Post by pclmulqdq »

dragonwriter wrote: post #55
pclmulqdq wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not under US law (even if it still wouldn’t make any sense under international law for the reasons described above), since Constitutionally that would require an active of Congress authorizing such letters, which has not occurred. You can imagine what you want, but its simply not a reality. As we all know, the US defense apparatus, particularly its clandestine branch, has never done anything illegal.

> As we all know, the US defense apparatus, particularly its clandestine branch, has never done anything illegal. A letter of marque is a specific legal instrument. If the US (or Russian) government is recruiting and employing private sector hacking groups as cyberwarfare agents (as both probably are), whehter or not they are doing so legally under domestic and/or international law, they aren’t issuing letters of mar…

If they're issuing "non-prosecution agreements" or "immunity agreements" (which is likely what they're actually doing) isn't that fundamentally the same thing? The difference is essentially just semantics.

It's like how the US hasn't officially been to war since World War II.

Re: MIT Pirate Certificate

#60

Post by eschneider »

082349872349872 wrote: post #37
eschneider wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eh, you don't need a certificate to engage in piracy. Also, do they have a Highwayman Certificate if you also make the equestrian team? Asking for a friend...

Combine the two and capture prize ships from horseback: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_the_Dutch_fleet_at_... ?

Tempting, but I've already been dinged by the local police for asking motorists to "Stand and deliver" at stoplights.
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