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Hacks@LUMS-101

31 March 11:00PM:

The stars were dim, moon covered with light clouds, birds sleeping and people resting. At the same time, the geeks in Newt were up to something. The first ever hack in the history of LUMS CS was about to take place. 

29 March 2:00PM:

The idea was under development for quite some time. We knew we had to do something on 1st April but what and how? Suggestions came from every corner of newt. Great minds invested countless hours on evaluating ideas such as,

> Cover the room's entrance with wallpaper

> Fill the room with empty drink bottles

> Paint the room ceiling with multiple colors

> Move everything (including tables & computers) in Newt lab to some where else

and many others.

But the idea that took the prize came from Yaser. The mission was finalized as,

Mission

Subject: Dr. Umar Saif

Objective: Fill the room with balloons

This may not sound a great challenge but we had to do it with the door locked.

30 March 11:00PM

We analyzed Dr. Umar's room and devised an ingenious plan. The plan was simple but elegant,

1> buy 200 balloons

2> get a couple of hand pumps

3> slide the balloons one by one below the door, fill them with gas

4> tie them with thread and push them in the room

After taking the oath of secrecy, the plan was finalized.

31 March 11:30 PM 

We started the execution. But everything seemed to go wrong. I had already bought 100 balloons from a gift shop. But the balloons did not turn out to be strong enough. Next, the pumps Mansoor brought from his home were leaking. All seemed lost; but then Mansoor came up with a device to replace pumps (the patent for which has already been filed). It was yet a simple solution. Mount a balloon on a pepsi bottle, make a hole in the bottom and fill the balloon.

1 April 12:00 AM

The mission started. We mounted the balloons on the bottle, inserted the balloon in the room from under the door, filled it, tied it and released it. 

The progress was slow. The danger of being caught was there :(. Balloons were popping and we hardly put 10 balloons in the room in first hour. On emergency notice, Mansoor and others went to buy more balloons from the nearby store. 

1 April 1:00 AM

But with the inclusion of Murtaza we picked up the pace to an average of 1 balloon/minute. As the number of balloons increased in the room so did the adrenaline. Soon there were close to 100 balloons in the room. But we went on to put another 30-40 in there. When we stopped, it was 3:30 in the morning. Though tired, the sight of the room from the window was enough to keep us motivated.

Next day, the whole lab was waiting for Dr. Umar to come (which is usually not the case :)) but he did not. The balloons survived the whole day. We were unable to see Dr. Umar's first reaction when he entered the room but the thought of opening a room full of balloons still puts a smile on our faces.

For more details refer:http://www.sharjeel.2scomplement.com