
UChicago receives package for Indiana Jones - CesareBorgia
http://uchicagoadmissions.tumblr.com/post/37809971913/indiana-jones-mystery-package-we-dont-really
======
jmharvey
I sometimes wonder how effective stunts like this are.

About 10 years ago, I had a job opening the mail in an MBA admissions office.
Most of the application was required to be filed online; the only exceptions
were a transcript and two letters of reference. My job was to open the mail,
file the allowable papers, and throw out everything else.

Easily 80% of the mail that came through the door went into the trash. People
submitted all kinds of things, from hard copies of their entire application to
photographs to fancy art portfolios. The first day was heartbreaking as I felt
like I was throwing away people's life's work, but when I asked my boss for
advice, she said it was a conscious decision on the part of the admissions
committee: they didn't want to unfairly disadvantage people who followed their
instructions.

After a while, this system made sense. More people tried stunts to bypass the
regular admissions process than there were slots in the admitted class.
Submitting banned supplemental material was less an indicator that someone was
a creative thinker than that they'd read a book that said admissions stunts
work.

~~~
enraged_camel
Well, this explains why MBA types are so bad at creative thinking: they are
not selected for it!

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Jun8
Two small details that makes this truly fantastic: That it was addressed to
the actual building (Rosenwald Hall) that Indiana would have worked (a lesser
fanboy would have addressed it to the Oriental Museum) and that it has no ZIP
code, since those would not be in use at that time (adopted starting from
1963).

Amazing.

~~~
moioci
Wouldn't the pre-ZIP code address look something like Chicago 37, Ill?

~~~
andrewem
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZIP_code> claims without citation that zones
were introduced in 1943.
[http://web.archive.org/web/20041030125608/https://www.usps.c...](http://web.archive.org/web/20041030125608/https://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/pubs/pub100/pub100.htm)
confirms May 1943. It's not clear when the envelope was supposed to be from,
so it may be right that it doesn't have a zone like "37" after Chicago.

Awesomely, using a ZIP code on a supposedly pre-ZIP letter was one of the
clues that exposed a document forger:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Kennedy_document_hoax>

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gecko
Sadly, the author of this package was unaware that Dr. Jones was denied
tenure, and is no longer on faculty.

[http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/back-from-yet-another-
glo...](http://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/back-from-yet-another-
globetrotting-adventure-indiana-jones-checks-his-mail-and-discovers-that-his-
bid-for-tenure-has-been-denied)

~~~
up_and_up
Here's a jewel from that document (I partly can't believe that this is
authentic):

"There are a plethora of international criminal charges against Dr. Jones,
which include but are not limited to: bringing unregistered weapons into and
out of the country; property damage; desecration of national and historical
landmarks; impersonating officials; arson; grand theft (automobiles,
motorcycles, aircraft, and watercraft in just a one week span last year);
excavating without a permit; countless antiquities violations; public
endangerment; voluntary and involuntary manslaughter; and, allegedly, murder."

~~~
endtime
FYI, it is not authentic, and Indiana Jones is a fictional character.

~~~
polymatter
to clear up any remaining confusion, it is "authentic" in the sense that it
was a real package, that was actually sent in the mail. it is "not authentic"
in the sense that Indiana Jones is a fictional character.

Its kinda cool seeing that sort of ambiguity in English. Reminds me why I want
to learn Lojban - so I can spot ambiguity easier. And this is a useful
practical skill too. Nothing can sabotage a relationship quite as effectively
as a simple misunderstanding.

~~~
inoop
You have to be pretty geeky to think you can fix relationships by talking to
your girlfriend in a machine-parsable language.

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ChuckMcM
This is fun, I wish the notebook had a hand drawn picture of a Stargate in it
:-) (I know I know, don't cross your franchises, always thought it would be an
interesting in an Aliens Vs Predators sort of way to squeeze out another
movie).

That this has happened now though, at a time when my college age daughter is
being deluged with colleges trying to get her attention, suggests to me an
attempt at a viral campaign by the admissions department to raise UChicago on
the radar of prospective students.

~~~
benbataille
I kind of doubt the econ department of UChicago needs this kind of
advertisement. It's probably the most famous in the world. They have the
record for econ Nobel prizes as a university. If I had to take a guess, they
are probably overwhelmed by applications rather than lacking some.

Anyway, if it is, it's a cool one. :-)

~~~
ChuckMcM
Agreed, but think about what you just said, "record for econ Nobel prizes." So
how many 18 yr olds look up which institution has produced the most Nobel
winners? I'm not saying that is zero, I'm just saying that its a great _follow
up_ fact but not a good _discovery_ fact. I think we've seen about 300 post
cards and letters over the last 12 months starting with the PSAT results
getting recorded.

I wonder if there isn't a startup idea like developer auction called "Student
Auction"[1] where kids can list their qualifications, interests, and grades
and have these universities bid on them with scholarships, etc.

Anyway, I don't doubt we'll get down to the bottom of the mystery, I like the
idea. But I also liked the first 'hire me <foo>' web site idea too, would hate
to see it get over meme'd.

[1] I'd probably call it 'Scholar Discovery' the business model would be that
its free for college seeking students to sign up, has a monthly college based
fee, privacy between student and university is assured, but current offers
(sanitized) could be shared to show the recruiters what they are up against.

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lazerwalker
I'd like to think this is the start of a particularly awesome admissions
application.

~~~
waterlesscloud
The application will have top men working on it. Top. Men.

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secabeen
Unfortunately, the consensus at this point is that it's actually the product
from this ebay auction: [http://www.ebay.com/itm/Indiana-Jones-and-the-
Raiders-of-the...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Indiana-Jones-and-the-Raiders-of-
the-Lost-Ark-Notebook-Journal-Prop-Replica-/261106904104)?

What likely happened is that this item was shipped but somehow came loose of
its modern packaging, and the USPS delivered the themed mailer to UChicago per
the address label.

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kqr2
Slightly off topic...however, the University of Chicago is also known for its
quirky Scav Hunt (or Scavenger Hunt). So an Indiana Jones package is not
altogether out of place.

<http://www.uchicago.edu/features/20110501_scav/>

    
    
      On what other campus could students be summoned to 
      assemble (in various iterations) a live elephant, a 
      nuclear breeder reactor, a life-sized battleship, a bust 
      of Abraham Lincoln made out of pennies, a book printed in 
      the American colonies before 1776, and the official 
      exorcist of the Archdiocese of Chicago?
    

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago_Scavenger...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Chicago_Scavenger_Hunt)

There was even a documentary on it:

<http://www.periphrastic.com/about.html>

~~~
jimduehr
For your information, one of the Former Head Judges of this Scavenger Hunt
posted this to the Admissions tumblr!

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moskie
My first instinct was that this is the start of a viral game for a new Indiana
Jones movie.

~~~
asfdfdasfafdsss
This is a good guess. Disney just bought LucasArts, and they pulled a similar
stunt for Tron Legacy: they setup a website flynnlives.com and provided hints
to a location in San Diego where they had recreated a Flynn's arcade that
people had to find.

However, considering the last Indiana Jones film was a miserable flop (spoiler
ahead: was it the hiding in the refrigerator or the UFO that nailed that
coffin), they would have to fully recreate the old Harrison Ford in CGI
PERFECTLY with a great plot to get me interested, and btw Disney I expect the
same for the new star wars final trilogy or the remake of the first three
after removing all of the Jar Jar sequences and replacing the obi wan with a
younger CGI version of Alec Guiness and getting rid of the lame Jabba, etc.
bad CGI crap they added to New Hope, etc. People should learn a lesson from
LucasArts; when you have customers for life, continue to cater to them as they
age. Also what about some Biggs Darklighter in a new series? For the kids, how
about an Ewok that learns to kick ass in a tie fighter?

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timdiggerm
It belongs in a museum!

I'm not kidding. Or at least, mostly. They should put it on display.

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swohns
When people ask why I chose UofC, I tell them it's because Indiana Jones went
there.

~~~
rayiner
I had assumed people just went to U Chicago for the naked parties.

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draq
Wow, nice calligraphy, I think its written using a soft nib pen. Also: Who is
the "Guardian of the Ark"?

~~~
polyfractal
It is very nice penmanship. Nice to see skills like this still around.

Tangentially related, everyone should switch to fountain pens. I made the
switch about two years ago and my handwriting has improved immensely. More
aesthetically pleasing and sooo much easier to write. Your hand won't cramp
anymore because you don't have to press nearly as hard. You'll find yourself
naturally adding embellishments to characters, smoothly transitioning between
letters and words.

In short, handwriting becomes enjoyable again.

~~~
jcarreiro
_It is very nice penmanship. Nice to see skills like this still around._

From the article:

 _It’s clear that it is mostly, but not completely handmade, as although the
included paper is weathered all of the “handwriting” and calligraphy lacks the
telltale pressure marks of actual handwriting._

So it is likely not handwritten.

How does one 'print' handwriting like this?

~~~
capnrefsmmat
Writing in fountain pen doesn't leave pressure marks, because fountain pens do
not require pressure on the paper.

When I'm not doing physics homework in Mathematica, I do it with fountain pen.
It's rather enjoyable.

~~~
gknoy
Fountain pens don't leave indentations on the paper, but there are often
differences in ink density in parts of the letters or punctuation. This is
much less noticeable w/ a fountain pen than it is with a calligraphic or dip
pen, but still can be noticeable. [1]

Since these differences in ink density are caused by variations in nib speed
and pressure while writing, I think that's what they were referring to by
"pressure marks". For me, it seems to depend both on the pen and the paper I'm
using. It's possible that what you use doesn't show much of this effect at
all. (I also use too much pressure with a fountain pen, which likely deposits
more ink and hides effects like this.)

[1] [http://inkophile.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/fountain-pen-
nibs-...](http://inkophile.wordpress.com/2012/04/03/fountain-pen-nibs-its-all-
relative/) includes an image which shows this effect:
[http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/7041371387_aff1e418d3_b.j...](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7189/7041371387_aff1e418d3_b.jpg)

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a1k0n
They went to all that trouble, and spelled Illinois wrong on the address
label?

~~~
simonholroyd
This stuck out to me too, but some googling of "Illonois" brings up a lot of
census records from 1930 using that spelling. I can't find any concrete
confirmation but maybe it's intentional and accurate?

~~~
qznc
Wikipedia says "'Illinois' is the modern spelling for the early French
missionaries and explorers' name for the Illinois people, a name that was
spelled in many different ways in the early records." and references
<http://www.illinoisprairie.info/Eriniouaj.htm>

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arscan
There are some websites out there that detail exactly how to make replica
grail diaries. I think that answers the "How" question. Why they would do this
though? I have no idea ;-)

~~~
ChuckMcM
Wow, there really are. This guy <http://www.indyprops.com/pp-gdiary1.htm> has
way too much time on his hands :-)

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mathattack
I can't wait to find out if this was part of an application, or some other
prank.

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kaonashi
They should have mailed it to the Marx brothers.

…I'll see myself out.

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mintplant
So, the beginnings of an Alternate Reality Game, perhaps?

~~~
codeonfire
Or viral marketing for a movie.

~~~
bitwize
Oh God no.

I've managed to put _Indiana Jones and the King of the Thing_ in the back of
my mind. Do NOT go there.

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kitkerner
Paul T. Wall. Check it out!

