notes from caltech: steam tunnels

Another thing I wanted to tell you about is the steam tunnels at Caltech. Some undergrads took Korbi and me on a tour. The tunnels here are nothing like the Berkeley tunnels, which are cramped and dank and the steam pipes blast dangerous hot steam from leaks. The Caltech tunnels are pristine and luxurious, and, unlike the Berkeley tunnels, they seem to go everywhere. The undergraduates leading our tour went barefoot, which would be unthinkable in the Berkeley tunnels. The tunnels are haunted by relics of Ditch Day stacks, one of which involved a green laser, epoxied to the ceiling, its beam zig-zagging down a concrete tunnel, bouncing off mirror fragments epoxied to the walls, just like a laser breakbeam security system in some movie. We emerged in some hallway where the tech students bought ice cream from a vending machine that involved a robotic arm with a pneumatic suction grip. Outside, two girls in dresses frolicked in the "gene pool" fountain (so named for its tile mosaic of the double helix).

The movie Real Genius is essentially all true.