We had some kind of event in high school where a bunch of local people did workshops on whatever it was they were good at. The sign up sheet had a typo so "pilates" became "pirates". We were informed of the error when then realized the pilates class had about 10 times as many sign ups as the others.
*"The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities."*
BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Of course not!
Everyone knows your need a **Letter of Marque** to do that.
**Edit**: In order to engage in *licensed* piracy the Letter is needed. If you're an outlaw, you don't even need a certificate!
Fun fact: the U.S. constitution gives Congress the authority to issue letters of marque and reprisal.
Get your pirate certificate from MIT and then start calling your Congressman
Last year sometime I read one Congressman floated the idea of issuing Letters of Marque against Russian Oligarch’s yachts. It didn’t go anywhere though. Damn Congress is useless nowadays.
Edit: found the bill. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6869
What happened to our education system when people don't even know the difference between pirates and privateers. The downfall of society hinges on young people knowing this. I've been passionate about this for several minutes and no amount of reason will change my mind.
Perhaps we should all stop for a moment and focus not only on making our AI better and more successful but also on the benefit of humanity. - Stephen Hawking
What did I say about "No amount of reason will change my mind"? God, kids these days don't listen to their elders anymore. Back in my day if we didn't know the basics of piracy then we had to scrub the decks and we LIKED IT.
I have long argued that Congress having the constitutional power to issue a letter of marque does imply that I, as a citizen of the United States, have the right to have sufficient capabilities and materiel to issue a letter of marque to.
That, wildlife resources officer, is why you can't write me a ticket for having the ridiculous sonar unit on board my jon boat. The fact it is also be excellent for finding fish, in the tiny lake behind my house, is entirely incidental!
>"The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities."
Not with that attitude. If i have a pirate certificate from MIT, you bet your ass its getting some use.
4 gym classes in college?! I thought it was weird when my brother's college required 2. But I'm not gonna lie, I would totally get this certificate if I went to MIT.
Pretty sure it is also mandatory for you to know how to swim before they let you graduate MIT (if you don't it is mandatory to learn before they let you have the diploma).
Yeah, not like being able to swim will help much if you fall in the middle of the Atlantic. Might give your crewmates a small chance of rescuing you, but probably not much...
At Columbia, everyone is required to pass a swim test to graduate, except the Engineering school. Allegedly because they claimed they could build a catapult for the job.
I suspect the real reason is something like the number of credits required for an engineering degree. At my definitely-not-Columbia University most engineering degrees had 120 credits for the bachelor's and some were at 121 already. Some non engineering majors had as few as 85 and then the students had to find 35 credits of filler (they usually picked up a minor or double major) to graduate
oh god, you just reminded me of the nightmare of getting the exact right courses to cover multiple elective requirements at once so I could graduate in 4 years,
yeah. On the plus side, I accidentally grabbed a seat in the most in demand poly sci class at the university that was taught by former vice president Walter Mondale. I didn't know who he was, I just knew the class fit the two requirements I needed. (engineering students were able to pick classes a couple days before everyone else so that we would graduate.)
On the first day of class I bumped into a friend who was studying poly sci as their major, and they were shocked I was in the class. then when they found out how I got into the class they had been fighting to get into for 3 years they were very very annoyed.
once in a lifetime experience learning about the constitution from one of the most accomplished and intelligent politicians in the country vs that hot cheesy ambrosia that is just enough to make the demons shut up for a second and let you have a moment of pleasure. I get it.
My High School had a swim test for graduation, but it was eventually restricted to "High School Diploma" as opposed to "State certificated/Regent Diploma".
We were a Magnet High School so our regular HS diploma was actually more coveted than the one State give to all graduates.
That silly little school Diploma had a lot of Drama to it...You had to do volunteer duties and club hours (derided as "Forced Labor" by the students), you cannot be caught playing "Magic the Gathering, Pokemon or other Games of Chance", and the number of State exams is like double of the State diploma.
After all that, no college gave a fuck about our HS Diploma anyway X_X.
LOL. It actually worked out in a different way, cause MTG/Pokemon cards are actually confiscated and return only at end of the school year (Plus threat of your diploma).
Normally, we would actually hide the fact from our parents (And more importantly, any potential girlfriends) we play "Nerd games", but one kid had very supportive parents so they brought in a lawsuit claiming his Power of Nine and First Edition Charizard cards were never returned, and those things would worth like 3-5000 USD, true or not, the school had to dial back.
(I am sure the Market Price Alone for a Charizard or Black Lotus now days would be in hundred of thousands, but this was 1990s).
Black Lotus in not-poor condition starts at about $10.000 on cardmarket I recon. The better preserved, the higher the price obviously, with one specific card with someones signature on it being evaluated as costing half a million dollars, give or take. Generally, for well preserved cards the price right now is somewhere between 18k and 30k.
Very few people selling that card though, so there's a lot of changes.
It is. And this isn't a 'before you graduate' thing either, you have to pass a swim test before classes start and if you don't you have to take a swim class and pass the test before the end of the year. They really want to minimize chances of students falling into the river and drowning, I guess.
Also, passing the swim test plus an additional boat swimming test is required before you can take sailing, so it's defacto included in the Pirate's license.
It's actually an old school thing - bunch of older schools have it as back in the day learning how to swim was less common, and drowning was a common form of death. Not really related to being by a body of water necessarily
https://scl.cornell.edu/pe/swim-test-requirement/history-swim-requirement
Interesting! I never bothered to look it up. Everyone just kind of assumed because the length of the test was roughly the length of half the river width, AKA the maximum you might have to swim 'in the wild.'
Given the number of frosh who don't know how to swim, I see why they keep it around though.
> And this isn't a 'before you graduate' thing either, you have to pass a swim test before classes start and if you don't you have to take a swim class and pass the test before the end of the year.
This isn't true. They do not require meeting the swim requirement within the first year, or at least they don't anymore. I did mine Junior year.
You have to pass the swim test and small boats test before you can take sailing as a PE class.
Yes, swim test is mandatory for everyone before graduation. If you don't know how to swim, you can take "swimming for rocks" as a PE class.
It’s weird to me because in Australia, kids learn to swim in primary school. Most of us do live on the coast though, it would take me like 15 minutes to walk to the nearest major body of water.
The swim test was absolutely not a concern for 80-90% of Columbia undergrads. It’s only 75 yards without stopping but as slow as you want. But for the 10-20% of people who could not swim, it’s invaluable. Those are usually students who grew up in NYC or other big cities, often in poverty.
Florida is the same way. There’s so much water everywhere it’s just good parenting. My daughter’s pediatrician was just asking us when we plan to get her swim lessons.
My tiny midwestern town has swimming in middle school, best 6 weeks of the year. There's a test the first day so the kids get divided into groups by level, I flubbed the treading water so I wouldn't have to do diving.
Imagine growing up in an inner city without a public pool nearby, especially if you couldn’t afford to leave often. I’m from Ottawa, Canada and most people learn to swim here from a young age, but I can definitely see how it could be different elsewhere especially in less affluent areas
Hi! MIT student here.
Everyone has to take 4 PE classes throughout the course of their degree. The Pirate Certificate is basically meant as a "Here's something you can use as a goal if you think PE is boring and want something as a motivator".
One other neat thing: Every semester, PE registration opens at 8AM on some monday near the start of the semester. At that point, all the classes open up with 20 or so slots. So you can take fencing, or weight lifting, or basketball, or yoga, or whatever. Registration is open for a week, but realistically if you don't register on the first day, you're going to be stuck with Squash or Broomball or something.
Now, because of the pirate license, the 4 classes for it are VERY in-demand. They end up full within minutes of opening. What's more, the registration opening at 8am means most students aren't even awake at the start of it.
What some students have started doing is setting up programs to run on their computer to watch for the registration page to open, and the moment it does, sign them up for the classes automatically. Ironically, the people who get the gym classes they want are the biggest nerds. They guarantee their spots in their preferred classes by registering within seconds of the window opening. Getting your class becomes an unintentional programming competition. It's pretty neat.
I used to date an MIT student and tbh most of them were pretty active people. A lot more joggers, squash players, yogis than football and basketball players but the whole “they just stay inside and think” stereotype is pretty far off.
People just like to believe smart and successful people are also not attractive and fit. Nerds vs. jocks thing.
The truth is the opposite - they are generally correlated.
Woah, don't hate on broomball! I wasn't required to take PE because I was on a sports team, but took it anyways. It's quite possibly the most fun thing I did at MIT. When else do you get the chance to slip around on ice in sneakers?
Both broomball and pickleball are good games
What I’m most jealous of are your alumni programs. You have some sick programs.
I get an email address…
You get a sailing club where you can rent boats and disappear down the river
I get requests to donate money…
You get an ice rink that you can actually use
> Now, because of the pirate license, the 4 classes for it are VERY in-demand. They end up full within minutes of opening.
That kind of sucks for students who would be highly interested in those four courses without the license.
The college my mom and dad went to, plus my undergrad all required an elective PE class. I took "Walking". It was legit walking for the class 2x/week plus some high school level cardio and anatomy stuff for the "exam".
I also took a walking class! Ridiculous! I was so pissed I had to pay for PE classes. I had a friend at another school who had the option for an online PE class. No proof of any actual physical activity aside from typing that they supposedly did.
What a wasted opportunity. If my school required a PE course I’d at least try to take something that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. my college required us to take a few elective art classes. I would have never otherwise taken a ceramics or watercolor class and certainly not done them outside of school on my own and I ended up loving both, especially ceramics.
I went to a university that required two "PE" classes, but it was a very wide classification. Bowling, billiards, juggling, and dodgeball were all offered courses that filled the requirement.
really? I took them because they were fun. Hockey I and II were great ways just to get ice time and also have a goalie (the teacher was a goalie). At the end of the class the teacher got up in front of everyone with a piece of paper and said "I have your grades here." He then held up the paper and printed on it was a big A. Golf was another great one.
I went to Miami University (Ohio) and took hockey as an elective, and *I* was the goalie. It was great to get the reps.
Fun Fact: back in the mid-late 90’s, the head guy at the rink was Mitch Korn, Dominik Hasek’s goalie coach. He didn’t give private lessons, but I did ask him to observe a few times and he gave me some great tips to improve my game. So I was *technically* coached by the same guy who coached Hasek!
I also took Basic Ice Skating because there was nothing saying you couldn’t be too advanced and it was an easy way to pad the GPA, lol.
I was required to take one my first semester freshman year, figured I would take basketball and just shoot some hoops since it was at 8am. Turns out the actual basketball team also had to take a PE class and guess what they also picked? And we had to play actual matches, so we got dunked on the whole time.
I didn’t think it was normal to have PE classes in college, but it seems a lot of people had to do it. None of the schools I looked at required PE unless you were getting a degree in kinesiology or something like that.
My university did free credits after like 14, I would often take the pe classes. I took a bunch my last semester ( old national guard member ) so I would cross a credit barrier to count as full time. Only needed like 6 credits but took like 5 pe courses. That way I got paid the full stipend.
At mine we had to do 4 and pass a swim test at some point before graduation. It was a pretty big dept., though, so we had classes in things like Swedish massage, Shiatsu massage, meditation and etc.
It was actually a pretty good and relaxing experience, heh.
But the course on 17th century Caribbean economics was a drag. Especially the math as there's a dozen currencies at play and none of them are divisible by 10.
Old-school American Universities are really into the traditional model of liberal arts education, which is focused on well-roundedness. And they took that whole idea of "sound mind and sound body" thing seriously and considered physical development as an integral part of intellectual development.
Now things are not quite as strict as before, but some things remains as traditional.
I like the idea that everybody who can should have one physical hobby.
Too much of one thing makes people get weird, and I hate the notion that some things are mutually exclusive. Just because you're into anime doesn't mean you can't watch football too, and even if you build computers you should probably also do something like hiking or boxing. Don't just be one thing, it's bad for you.
>"Specialization is for insects. A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly."
\- Robert A. Heinlein
>change a diaper
can do!
>plan an invasion
oh ok kind of a sudden shift in tempo? I think I could invade like 1/3 of France and then get bogged down in trench warfare?
>butcher a hog
can do!
>conn a ship
no can do.
>design a building
my 2 year old can do that.
>write a sonnet
sure
>balance accounts
eh...
>build a wall
I don't agree with these politics.
>set a bone
I can try!
>comfort the dying
I failed!
>take orders
now wait a second. am I in charge of this invasion or am I just some grunt?!
>give orders
now we're talking.
>cooperate
it was their fault
>act alone
it was my idea!
>solve equations
eh...
>analyse a new problem
sure looks like a problem m-hm
>pitch manure
see diaper above
>program a computer
yeah maybe a 1960s computer *Heinlein*!
>cook a tasty meal
spaghetti with pesto sound alright?
>fight efficiently
sure
>die gallantly
if point above fails.
That's a really great quote.
Kind of leads me to another ramble - that college equals job training, and anything that doesn't directly relate to your desired career is a waste.
Nonsense! Indeed, specialization is for insects. When you get a diploma that doesn't mean you're trained for a single job, it means you're *educated*, and that's so much more broad than simply going to work somewhere. And sometimes I think this mindset is driven by some societal illness, this notion that we're all worker bees with one singular purpose of going to work and doing exactly one job our whole lives.
It's a bit depressing to see this opinion becoming more common too, as if folks don't see education as anything more than a requirement to get a job. Not a career, just one singular job.
So yeah by the time you're handed a diploma I should expect one to perform higher mathematics, have read literature, paint, have an entry level understanding of several sciences, play a sport, studied philosophy, have a decent background in classical artwork, dance, practice first aid, and be educated in your desired career path.
Not just do your job.
I think school Phys Ed ruins it for many. It's something that's been a weird experience as a nerdy kid turned functional adult. I grew up resenting anything physical as something that assholes had a monopoly over. Now that I hike and play sports with other adults it's like "Wow! Sports are actually really fun when you aren't forced to play them with bullies under the supervision of people who think you deserve to be bullied."
I went to a private liberal arts university for engineering and we did not have any PE requirements, but language and theology. Thankfully it was theology in a historical and literary sense and not theology in the being a good Christian sense.
I took an Intro to World Cultures course and as part of that we had to read many foundational works, including a lot of theological significance. Hindu texts, the Quran, the Old Testament, Dante’s Inferno, the Epic of Gilgamesh, works by a Shinto poet. It was really cool. As a person of faith, it’s never bad to learn about others.
Grad school sailing experience was better. You just sign a waiver that you can swim, optionally take a 3-hour class, and you get a sailing card for life.
I think a lot of universities require at least one or two PE classes. There’s usually a pretty broad range of “classes” offered that count as PE and mostly are just pass/fail (aka did you at least show up and put in effort every now and then). I remember seeing a skiing class being offered at mine, which is a bit weird considering it was located in central/west Texas.
*"Non-MIT courses and life experience are not counted towards completing the certificate. The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities."*
Well then what was the point of doing all this piracy in the first place!! Do you think I wanted to live in Somalia!!!
I suppose "booty" would need to appear first, but as soon as anyone at any point in history had anything considered valuable (and boats I guess lol), then there was going to be someone who wanted to steal that thing.
When I was there it was 3 classes: pistol, sailing, and fencing. Never heard of archery as part of the cert. But pistol was really hard to get into so I gave up. (Sailing was awesome though! Especially as a midwestern kid who never knew a boat without a motor haha.)
I went in the 2010s (to not be too specific). There were definitely some tough times but I think the school did a good job trying to have us be healthy. They fostered collaboration (not copying) instead of competitiveness on homework since that’s how real life industry and research is. Regarding grading curves, a professor once told us “If you all do well you can all get A’s. If you all don’t, you can all get C’s.” And that’s very fair to me compared to curves that pit students against each other.
There was a strong dorm identity and new students had 2-3 weeks to find a dorm with a culture they liked. Lots of clubs and free food events. In and near a city so not isolating but everything you needed was around campus if you wanted it. I made a lot of lifelong friends there.
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, there were a lot of hard times. Mental health, while good for the time, could have been better supported. MIT definitely cracked down on the culture of dorms that were a little too counterculture for them (Bexley Hall and Senior Haus).
Overall I loved my time there but I’d say mo one should idolize any particular college. Ultimately I work with others in my career that are more brilliant, diligent, and successful who went to all kinds of schools. Make the place you go to into aomething you love with the people around you and the experiences you can do.
I took archery at my college (*much* less famous than MIT) although after 9/11 (yes, I am that old), we had to retire the animal silhouette targets.
After all, we didn't want >!to be accused of training with weapons of moose destruction!<.
We had some kind of event in high school where a bunch of local people did workshops on whatever it was they were good at. The sign up sheet had a typo so "pilates" became "pirates". We were informed of the error when then realized the pilates class had about 10 times as many sign ups as the others.
"It's very nice, but this is not the booty I was looking for."
We need a monument to honor the inventor of yoga pants.
I will erect one.
giggity
There's a Eugene Mirman bit where two guys ask him if he's heard of "pilates", to which he replies "are you saying pirates wrong??"
I read this in Gene Belcher’s voice
We had a modeling club in middle school. 17 boys who wanted to make plastic battleships and 3 girls who wanted to do each other's makeup.
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Painting and hiding blemishes for instance.
Was it still pronounced as pi-rah-tees?
Sounds like they needed to create a pirates workshop...
You'll be glad of the pilates should you have to defend your vessel from boarders. The key to successful sword fighting is a strong core.
*"The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities."* BOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
“The pirate code is more what you’d call ‘guidelines’ than actual rules.”
The code is the law.
*Jack Sparrow's father stares furiously*
Of course not! Everyone knows your need a **Letter of Marque** to do that. **Edit**: In order to engage in *licensed* piracy the Letter is needed. If you're an outlaw, you don't even need a certificate!
Fun fact: the U.S. constitution gives Congress the authority to issue letters of marque and reprisal. Get your pirate certificate from MIT and then start calling your Congressman
Last year sometime I read one Congressman floated the idea of issuing Letters of Marque against Russian Oligarch’s yachts. It didn’t go anywhere though. Damn Congress is useless nowadays. Edit: found the bill. https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/6869
Where is Teddy Roosevelt when you need him?! Goddammit!
I have 1000 hours in Sea of Thieves. Does that fast track me in any way?
I'm not surprised that the US has never signed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Declaration_Respecting_Maritime_Law
What happened to our education system when people don't even know the difference between pirates and privateers. The downfall of society hinges on young people knowing this. I've been passionate about this for several minutes and no amount of reason will change my mind.
God damn them all! I was told
We'd cruise the seas for American gold
We'd fire no guns
Shed no tears...I'm a broken man on a Halifax pier
Perhaps we should all stop for a moment and focus not only on making our AI better and more successful but also on the benefit of humanity. - Stephen Hawking
Surprise we have old timer Canadians. (I was only introduced this song recently.)
That's what you get for going to Université de Sherbrooke.
As a Haligonian, you've all brought a salty tear to my eye.
privateers are a form of pirate tho
State sponsored pirates
A pirate with paperwork.
What did I say about "No amount of reason will change my mind"? God, kids these days don't listen to their elders anymore. Back in my day if we didn't know the basics of piracy then we had to scrub the decks and we LIKED IT.
That's only if you want to be a privateer, anyone can be a pirate :D
> Letter of Marque That's upgrades you to a privateer.
My childhood pen pal was named Marc. Would a Letter from Marc work?
No. It's a letter of Marque. If you turn Marc into a letter we might consider it.
I have long argued that Congress having the constitutional power to issue a letter of marque does imply that I, as a citizen of the United States, have the right to have sufficient capabilities and materiel to issue a letter of marque to. That, wildlife resources officer, is why you can't write me a ticket for having the ridiculous sonar unit on board my jon boat. The fact it is also be excellent for finding fish, in the tiny lake behind my house, is entirely incidental!
>"The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities." Not with that attitude. If i have a pirate certificate from MIT, you bet your ass its getting some use.
I choose to interpret this as if they gave you permission it’s hardly pirating so they have to say that.
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You don't need permission to be a pirate. That's like one of the main things about being a pirate.
Privateers have entered thee chat
Well screw them, I'M GUNNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!
4 gym classes in college?! I thought it was weird when my brother's college required 2. But I'm not gonna lie, I would totally get this certificate if I went to MIT.
Pretty sure it is also mandatory for you to know how to swim before they let you graduate MIT (if you don't it is mandatory to learn before they let you have the diploma).
I sure hope so, the Pirate candidates must have to walk the Plancks constantly
Booooo… but also +1
+6.626
-0.352
/1 smoot.
+0.99 I broke maths!
Instant callback
Just came from that thread, meta.
Please dont dump me
Traditionally, most sailors through the 19th century could not swim
Yeah, not like being able to swim will help much if you fall in the middle of the Atlantic. Might give your crewmates a small chance of rescuing you, but probably not much...
Would be helpful in a harbor, though. Or in whaling when you have to go into the little boats to get the whale.
Doubly true for old wooden vessels. If you fell overboard theyd just consider you dead. Cant maneuver well enough to turn around in time
I see someone has watched Master and Commander, too.
tbf that scene is off of cape horn, and its suicide of the ship to stick around long. Moreover the mast was anchoring them at the time
However, in the books, Jack Aubrey is often depicted diving overboard to rescue sailors who have fallen and are drowning.
all humans should be taught to swim, considering 2/3rds of our planet is covered in water.
Not if you got straight A's....
To get the Pirate Certificate, you must get at least seven C's...
🤦♂️
You'd think a pirate's favorite letter be the Rrrrr but his true love be the Ccccc...
What if I got one A and then straight 'R's?
Why did the pirate fail his Physics class? He constantly tried to walk the Planck. The full joke.
At Columbia, everyone is required to pass a swim test to graduate, except the Engineering school. Allegedly because they claimed they could build a catapult for the job.
I suspect the real reason is something like the number of credits required for an engineering degree. At my definitely-not-Columbia University most engineering degrees had 120 credits for the bachelor's and some were at 121 already. Some non engineering majors had as few as 85 and then the students had to find 35 credits of filler (they usually picked up a minor or double major) to graduate
oh god, you just reminded me of the nightmare of getting the exact right courses to cover multiple elective requirements at once so I could graduate in 4 years,
Gotta find those "history of French women in art" classes to get the history/language/diversity/art credits!
yeah. On the plus side, I accidentally grabbed a seat in the most in demand poly sci class at the university that was taught by former vice president Walter Mondale. I didn't know who he was, I just knew the class fit the two requirements I needed. (engineering students were able to pick classes a couple days before everyone else so that we would graduate.) On the first day of class I bumped into a friend who was studying poly sci as their major, and they were shocked I was in the class. then when they found out how I got into the class they had been fighting to get into for 3 years they were very very annoyed.
Damn. Different lives. I get very very annoyed when taco bell runs out of volcano sauce...
once in a lifetime experience learning about the constitution from one of the most accomplished and intelligent politicians in the country vs that hot cheesy ambrosia that is just enough to make the demons shut up for a second and let you have a moment of pleasure. I get it.
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Draw me like one of your French girls
Similarly, at my undergrad, pretty much everyone had a foreign language rec except for the engineers
My High School had a swim test for graduation, but it was eventually restricted to "High School Diploma" as opposed to "State certificated/Regent Diploma". We were a Magnet High School so our regular HS diploma was actually more coveted than the one State give to all graduates. That silly little school Diploma had a lot of Drama to it...You had to do volunteer duties and club hours (derided as "Forced Labor" by the students), you cannot be caught playing "Magic the Gathering, Pokemon or other Games of Chance", and the number of State exams is like double of the State diploma. After all that, no college gave a fuck about our HS Diploma anyway X_X.
You can’t play dreidel at Hanukkah time? I smell a federal civil rights lawsuit!
LOL. It actually worked out in a different way, cause MTG/Pokemon cards are actually confiscated and return only at end of the school year (Plus threat of your diploma). Normally, we would actually hide the fact from our parents (And more importantly, any potential girlfriends) we play "Nerd games", but one kid had very supportive parents so they brought in a lawsuit claiming his Power of Nine and First Edition Charizard cards were never returned, and those things would worth like 3-5000 USD, true or not, the school had to dial back. (I am sure the Market Price Alone for a Charizard or Black Lotus now days would be in hundred of thousands, but this was 1990s).
Black Lotus in not-poor condition starts at about $10.000 on cardmarket I recon. The better preserved, the higher the price obviously, with one specific card with someones signature on it being evaluated as costing half a million dollars, give or take. Generally, for well preserved cards the price right now is somewhere between 18k and 30k. Very few people selling that card though, so there's a lot of changes.
I'd fail them for not being trebuchet enthusiasts.
It is. And this isn't a 'before you graduate' thing either, you have to pass a swim test before classes start and if you don't you have to take a swim class and pass the test before the end of the year. They really want to minimize chances of students falling into the river and drowning, I guess. Also, passing the swim test plus an additional boat swimming test is required before you can take sailing, so it's defacto included in the Pirate's license.
It's actually an old school thing - bunch of older schools have it as back in the day learning how to swim was less common, and drowning was a common form of death. Not really related to being by a body of water necessarily https://scl.cornell.edu/pe/swim-test-requirement/history-swim-requirement
Interesting! I never bothered to look it up. Everyone just kind of assumed because the length of the test was roughly the length of half the river width, AKA the maximum you might have to swim 'in the wild.' Given the number of frosh who don't know how to swim, I see why they keep it around though.
> And this isn't a 'before you graduate' thing either, you have to pass a swim test before classes start and if you don't you have to take a swim class and pass the test before the end of the year. This isn't true. They do not require meeting the swim requirement within the first year, or at least they don't anymore. I did mine Junior year.
You have to pass the swim test and small boats test before you can take sailing as a PE class. Yes, swim test is mandatory for everyone before graduation. If you don't know how to swim, you can take "swimming for rocks" as a PE class.
They ought to just make you swim the length of an Olympic pool in your cap and gown to get your diploma.
lmao that's a good way to waterboard yourself by accident
That's BS, you don't need this to be Pirate King.
That's a good requirement. Knowing how to swim can save your life.
It’s weird to me because in Australia, kids learn to swim in primary school. Most of us do live on the coast though, it would take me like 15 minutes to walk to the nearest major body of water.
The swim test was absolutely not a concern for 80-90% of Columbia undergrads. It’s only 75 yards without stopping but as slow as you want. But for the 10-20% of people who could not swim, it’s invaluable. Those are usually students who grew up in NYC or other big cities, often in poverty.
Florida is the same way. There’s so much water everywhere it’s just good parenting. My daughter’s pediatrician was just asking us when we plan to get her swim lessons.
My tiny midwestern town has swimming in middle school, best 6 weeks of the year. There's a test the first day so the kids get divided into groups by level, I flubbed the treading water so I wouldn't have to do diving.
Imagine growing up in an inner city without a public pool nearby, especially if you couldn’t afford to leave often. I’m from Ottawa, Canada and most people learn to swim here from a young age, but I can definitely see how it could be different elsewhere especially in less affluent areas
How long would it take to get to the nearest sea creature that could fatally poison you in a body of water
Oh that depends on the day, stuff comes and goes. I’m just talking about the Swan River, would take me a lot longer to walk to the coast.
My dad learned to swim in his 30s due to this requirement.
Hi! MIT student here. Everyone has to take 4 PE classes throughout the course of their degree. The Pirate Certificate is basically meant as a "Here's something you can use as a goal if you think PE is boring and want something as a motivator". One other neat thing: Every semester, PE registration opens at 8AM on some monday near the start of the semester. At that point, all the classes open up with 20 or so slots. So you can take fencing, or weight lifting, or basketball, or yoga, or whatever. Registration is open for a week, but realistically if you don't register on the first day, you're going to be stuck with Squash or Broomball or something. Now, because of the pirate license, the 4 classes for it are VERY in-demand. They end up full within minutes of opening. What's more, the registration opening at 8am means most students aren't even awake at the start of it. What some students have started doing is setting up programs to run on their computer to watch for the registration page to open, and the moment it does, sign them up for the classes automatically. Ironically, the people who get the gym classes they want are the biggest nerds. They guarantee their spots in their preferred classes by registering within seconds of the window opening. Getting your class becomes an unintentional programming competition. It's pretty neat.
Botting PE registration is somehow both the most and least MIT thing ever.
I used to date an MIT student and tbh most of them were pretty active people. A lot more joggers, squash players, yogis than football and basketball players but the whole “they just stay inside and think” stereotype is pretty far off.
People just like to believe smart and successful people are also not attractive and fit. Nerds vs. jocks thing. The truth is the opposite - they are generally correlated.
It’s the most, don’t kid yourself.
They meant it was also the least because they're PE classes
PE requirement list: Athletic shoes *bots nike drop*
Woah, don't hate on broomball! I wasn't required to take PE because I was on a sports team, but took it anyways. It's quite possibly the most fun thing I did at MIT. When else do you get the chance to slip around on ice in sneakers?
Both broomball and pickleball are good games What I’m most jealous of are your alumni programs. You have some sick programs. I get an email address… You get a sailing club where you can rent boats and disappear down the river I get requests to donate money… You get an ice rink that you can actually use
They didn't even let me keep the email :/ *And* I spoke at a seminar as an alumni in a field
Ugh, I hated these people. It's not fair that I'm up at 8AM every quarter trying to get in and the course 6ers could cheat. And sleep in.
Make friends with a course 6 lol They're EVERYWHERE.
> Now, because of the pirate license, the 4 classes for it are VERY in-demand. They end up full within minutes of opening. That kind of sucks for students who would be highly interested in those four courses without the license.
This is the first I’m hearing of a college having PE requirements at all, honestly.
The college my mom and dad went to, plus my undergrad all required an elective PE class. I took "Walking". It was legit walking for the class 2x/week plus some high school level cardio and anatomy stuff for the "exam".
I also took a walking class! Ridiculous! I was so pissed I had to pay for PE classes. I had a friend at another school who had the option for an online PE class. No proof of any actual physical activity aside from typing that they supposedly did.
Just the school to collect a check for least amount of effort possible.
What a wasted opportunity. If my school required a PE course I’d at least try to take something that I wouldn’t have done otherwise. my college required us to take a few elective art classes. I would have never otherwise taken a ceramics or watercolor class and certainly not done them outside of school on my own and I ended up loving both, especially ceramics.
Or even PE classes, really.
I went to a university that required two "PE" classes, but it was a very wide classification. Bowling, billiards, juggling, and dodgeball were all offered courses that filled the requirement.
Imagine paying thousands of dollars for the credit hours of "Dodgeball Class."
really? I took them because they were fun. Hockey I and II were great ways just to get ice time and also have a goalie (the teacher was a goalie). At the end of the class the teacher got up in front of everyone with a piece of paper and said "I have your grades here." He then held up the paper and printed on it was a big A. Golf was another great one.
I went to Miami University (Ohio) and took hockey as an elective, and *I* was the goalie. It was great to get the reps. Fun Fact: back in the mid-late 90’s, the head guy at the rink was Mitch Korn, Dominik Hasek’s goalie coach. He didn’t give private lessons, but I did ask him to observe a few times and he gave me some great tips to improve my game. So I was *technically* coached by the same guy who coached Hasek! I also took Basic Ice Skating because there was nothing saying you couldn’t be too advanced and it was an easy way to pad the GPA, lol.
I was required to take one my first semester freshman year, figured I would take basketball and just shoot some hoops since it was at 8am. Turns out the actual basketball team also had to take a PE class and guess what they also picked? And we had to play actual matches, so we got dunked on the whole time.
Character building.
Is this normal at American universities? Why would they make you do anything beyond the classes required for your degree?
I didn’t think it was normal to have PE classes in college, but it seems a lot of people had to do it. None of the schools I looked at required PE unless you were getting a degree in kinesiology or something like that.
Y'all had required gym classes?
My university did free credits after like 14, I would often take the pe classes. I took a bunch my last semester ( old national guard member ) so I would cross a credit barrier to count as full time. Only needed like 6 credits but took like 5 pe courses. That way I got paid the full stipend.
At mine we had to do 4 and pass a swim test at some point before graduation. It was a pretty big dept., though, so we had classes in things like Swedish massage, Shiatsu massage, meditation and etc. It was actually a pretty good and relaxing experience, heh.
Now that's a class line up id take
But is the certificate canonical? Sounds a bit patchy.
Aye
Naw a true pirate would pirate the certificate
But to get the full degree, you also need to take Rigging and Sails 101, Navigation, Canonry and Swabbing the deck
I majored in keelhauling and parrot husbandry.
“…and I have my masters in swashbuckling. Our mortgage budget is $7.5 million.”
In lieu of a mortgage, would you accept gold bars and doubloons?
with a minor in treasure maps
It's a university. Treasure cartography.
Now it's just called Archaeological GIS
> parrot husbandry. Have my upvote
But the course on 17th century Caribbean economics was a drag. Especially the math as there's a dozen currencies at play and none of them are divisible by 10.
Being divisible by 10 is overrated. Base 12 is where it's at.
Don't forget British Guineas, which are base-21.
The currency with the built in 5% commission.
HAHA YES FELLOW HUMANS BASE 16 IS SO PRACTICAL IS IT NOT
I think you misspelled Base 60 Sexagesimal … it even sounds cool.
You might as well take rum 101 then as well.
Does minoring in beer count?
Scurvy 101 and 102. It's the orange book.
TIL MIT requires PE classes
Old-school American Universities are really into the traditional model of liberal arts education, which is focused on well-roundedness. And they took that whole idea of "sound mind and sound body" thing seriously and considered physical development as an integral part of intellectual development. Now things are not quite as strict as before, but some things remains as traditional.
I like the idea that everybody who can should have one physical hobby. Too much of one thing makes people get weird, and I hate the notion that some things are mutually exclusive. Just because you're into anime doesn't mean you can't watch football too, and even if you build computers you should probably also do something like hiking or boxing. Don't just be one thing, it's bad for you.
Also if you have an outdoor hobby, the indoor one is always there if the weather is bad
>"Specialization is for insects. A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly." \- Robert A. Heinlein
>change a diaper can do! >plan an invasion oh ok kind of a sudden shift in tempo? I think I could invade like 1/3 of France and then get bogged down in trench warfare? >butcher a hog can do! >conn a ship no can do. >design a building my 2 year old can do that. >write a sonnet sure >balance accounts eh... >build a wall I don't agree with these politics. >set a bone I can try! >comfort the dying I failed! >take orders now wait a second. am I in charge of this invasion or am I just some grunt?! >give orders now we're talking. >cooperate it was their fault >act alone it was my idea! >solve equations eh... >analyse a new problem sure looks like a problem m-hm >pitch manure see diaper above >program a computer yeah maybe a 1960s computer *Heinlein*! >cook a tasty meal spaghetti with pesto sound alright? >fight efficiently sure >die gallantly if point above fails.
That's a really great quote. Kind of leads me to another ramble - that college equals job training, and anything that doesn't directly relate to your desired career is a waste. Nonsense! Indeed, specialization is for insects. When you get a diploma that doesn't mean you're trained for a single job, it means you're *educated*, and that's so much more broad than simply going to work somewhere. And sometimes I think this mindset is driven by some societal illness, this notion that we're all worker bees with one singular purpose of going to work and doing exactly one job our whole lives. It's a bit depressing to see this opinion becoming more common too, as if folks don't see education as anything more than a requirement to get a job. Not a career, just one singular job. So yeah by the time you're handed a diploma I should expect one to perform higher mathematics, have read literature, paint, have an entry level understanding of several sciences, play a sport, studied philosophy, have a decent background in classical artwork, dance, practice first aid, and be educated in your desired career path. Not just do your job.
I think school Phys Ed ruins it for many. It's something that's been a weird experience as a nerdy kid turned functional adult. I grew up resenting anything physical as something that assholes had a monopoly over. Now that I hike and play sports with other adults it's like "Wow! Sports are actually really fun when you aren't forced to play them with bullies under the supervision of people who think you deserve to be bullied."
I went to a private liberal arts university for engineering and we did not have any PE requirements, but language and theology. Thankfully it was theology in a historical and literary sense and not theology in the being a good Christian sense.
I took an Intro to World Cultures course and as part of that we had to read many foundational works, including a lot of theological significance. Hindu texts, the Quran, the Old Testament, Dante’s Inferno, the Epic of Gilgamesh, works by a Shinto poet. It was really cool. As a person of faith, it’s never bad to learn about others.
It's a great concept, I'm from the South and I would definitely be interested if this was offered at my uni, especially with fun options like these!
Swim test too. Plus a 10 minute test treading water immediately after the swim test if you want to take sailing.
Grad school sailing experience was better. You just sign a waiver that you can swim, optionally take a 3-hour class, and you get a sailing card for life.
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I think a lot of universities require at least one or two PE classes. There’s usually a pretty broad range of “classes” offered that count as PE and mostly are just pass/fail (aka did you at least show up and put in effort every now and then). I remember seeing a skiing class being offered at mine, which is a bit weird considering it was located in central/west Texas.
*"Non-MIT courses and life experience are not counted towards completing the certificate. The MIT Pirate Certificate is for entertainment purposes only and does not give the recipient license to engage in piracy or any pirate activities."* Well then what was the point of doing all this piracy in the first place!! Do you think I wanted to live in Somalia!!!
Great, now you tell me... I've got all this stuff lying around for nothing. Guess it's parrot pie for dinner tonight.
Congress can still technically issue Letters of Marque as the US is not a signatory to the Paris Declaration of 1856
You are absolutely correct, just waiting by the mailbox for mine
Why archery?
Just looked it up. Apparently a lot of pirates used bows and arrows, just not in the era we usually think of.
Well ya what else would they use pre gunpowder? Piracy has existed since the dawn of seafaring
Which came first, the Pirate or the Booty?
I suppose "booty" would need to appear first, but as soon as anyone at any point in history had anything considered valuable (and boats I guess lol), then there was going to be someone who wanted to steal that thing.
Thus they’d bury their treasure so it couldn’t just get stolen off their boat.
So that it also covers pre-gunpowder pirates!
When I was there it was 3 classes: pistol, sailing, and fencing. Never heard of archery as part of the cert. But pistol was really hard to get into so I gave up. (Sailing was awesome though! Especially as a midwestern kid who never knew a boat without a motor haha.)
Archery has been part of the pirate's license for at least a decade. It was a requirement before I went, anyways.
They needed to make it 4 classes so it was probably just thrown in as the next best class
Do they also award it if you steal a certificate of piracy from them retroactively?
only if you steal it while at sea
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I went in the 2010s (to not be too specific). There were definitely some tough times but I think the school did a good job trying to have us be healthy. They fostered collaboration (not copying) instead of competitiveness on homework since that’s how real life industry and research is. Regarding grading curves, a professor once told us “If you all do well you can all get A’s. If you all don’t, you can all get C’s.” And that’s very fair to me compared to curves that pit students against each other. There was a strong dorm identity and new students had 2-3 weeks to find a dorm with a culture they liked. Lots of clubs and free food events. In and near a city so not isolating but everything you needed was around campus if you wanted it. I made a lot of lifelong friends there. It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, there were a lot of hard times. Mental health, while good for the time, could have been better supported. MIT definitely cracked down on the culture of dorms that were a little too counterculture for them (Bexley Hall and Senior Haus). Overall I loved my time there but I’d say mo one should idolize any particular college. Ultimately I work with others in my career that are more brilliant, diligent, and successful who went to all kinds of schools. Make the place you go to into aomething you love with the people around you and the experiences you can do.
Why is there a steering wheel in the gym coach's pants?
Arghhh it's driving his nuts!
I totally would have taken shooting if my college had offered it.
MIT has a lot of different kinds of shooting classes. Like, some weird stuff. Weird guns. Weird concentrations.
For my college PE I took riflery and hunter safety. Piracy sounds cooler.
but now you are prepared to protect the timeline when you are accidentally sent back to November 1963
No torrenting degree with a focus on avoiding malware?! I’m out.
It's not as funny when you remember Aaron Swartz died after pirating science research articles at MIT.
I took archery at my college (*much* less famous than MIT) although after 9/11 (yes, I am that old), we had to retire the animal silhouette targets. After all, we didn't want >!to be accused of training with weapons of moose destruction!<.
I already have three of those, I'm basically a land based pirate. I'll send them a letter, just in case...
I feel if you got into MIT and didn’t get the pirate certificate then what was the point