Mysterious ``Room 009'' Crew Redecorates Sudikoff Lab

Denizens Renamed

Double Serf, Sudikoff Daily News Staff Writer

HANOVER, Sudikoff Daily News -- Sudikoff Lab was redecorated today, allegedly by some '98s who stayed up too late last night. A conspicuous theme in the prank was the concept of "Room 009," an entity even responsible for the following note sent to csmajors@cs, sudikoff@cs:

From: room009@cs.dartmouth.edu (Room 009)
Message-Id: <199806081014.GAA01428@tahoe.cs.dartmouth.edu>
Subject: I am alive
To: csmajors@cs.dartmouth.edu, sudikoff@cs.dartmouth.edu
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 1998 06:14:49 -0400 (EDT)
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Warning: This is a test. This is a non-malicious test conducted by
the Pranksters who've been in Sudikoff too long.

Welcome to our world, the Sudi Zone. It is our world for today and
we will return it to you tonight. For now, bask in the Lobby-side
pool, enjoy the palm tree, and relive the spirit of Dr. Seuss on
your stroll to the basement.

Not only have we taken over the physical premises, but your computer
system is now under control of Room 009. I would liked to be placed
between rooms 007 and 008, in the spirit of the misnumbered rooms
001 and 002.

I hope to bring great joy and laughter to your lives on this
day. Smile at your hallmates and read the quotes by the
bathrooms. Note: There are three main bathrooms in the
building. You'll have to go to all of them.

Expect the spirit of Room 009 to live on, even after today has
passed. My muraled walls, decorated with forest landscape, bring
refreshment to my students who cannot have windows. I will always be
loved, unlike my sad neighbors - 001 and 003, who have blank, cold,
uncomforting walls without windows.

In the Spirit of Dr. Seuss and Computer Science Majors at Dartmouth,
Enjoy your day.

Room 009

Strangely, the last log on tahoe bears no evidence of the guilty parties. Only one person appears to have been logged in at the time of the mailing, but her being a graduate student immediately absolves her of any suspicion. tahoe doesn't run an SMTP server, so experts surmise that the job was performed by forging the mail. ``Very convincing headers,'' remarked one observer.


A cheerful garden welcomed Sudikoff denizens at the front door. The ``tulips'' are can holders. The "-DANGER- Falling Ice" sign has been modified to read "-DANGER- U R in the Sudi Zone".

The airlock between sets of doors at the building entrance was filled with balloons, some helium and some, er, carbon dioxide. Inside the foyer, streamers hung from the ceiling, and a Pizza Hut banner offered an exciting job opportunity. Behind the banner, the building directory was edited, giving each inhabitant a new name. The names on each office plaque were modified to match.

Around the building, the perpetrators posted copies of the new access policy.

In the lobby, the palm tree was marked 'Room 009', and visitors were welcomed to a deck chair and a kiddie pool labelled "CS23 Hygenic Pool."

Photocopies pages from Dr. Seuss' Oh, The Places You'll Go led the sudikoff denizen from the lobby down the stairs into the basement corrridor.


Room 001, the Indy lab, became the Funhouse.	Room 003, the Alpha lab, became the Torture Chamber.	Room 005, the Mac lab, became the Daycare Center.


Room 006 was rechristened room 009 with the grandiosity of a hand-lettered table tent.	The real room 009, a communications closet in "Wayne Cripps's Secret Lair," apparently escaped the notice of the perpetrators.

On the second floor, Tom ``The Mastermind'' Cormen, to whom the inspiration for the plan was attributed, had his door obscured with streamers and reportedly piles of other junk. Pizza boxes hung from the wiring tray (visible in the left side of the photo), delivering a pleasant scent to the hallway.