A quote, attributed to Former
MIT President Jerome Weisner. Most
students and
faculty agree the analogy is quite appropriate.
This quote was the inspiration for a
hack in 1991, when a group of
hackers decided to put a *real* firehose (and the associated hydrant) in front of
26-100 during
finals week.
The hackers bought the
fire hydrant from a nearby town that was replacing a lot of their equipment, and brought it back to campus. They then connected the hose to an existing
drinking fountain, such that when the poor,
hosed freshman passed it, on their way to their
8.01 final, they could actually drink from the MIT firehose.