31 comments

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> I thought about it but decided it looks pretty tacky. It looks like what kids would think of as a gaming PC and what boomers would think of as a seizure.

Missed chance to be a school legend and initiation of a career launching arc.

If you go to a bigger school, they have multiple graduation ceremonies. Split the rental amongst anyone who does not share a time slot with you.

That’s what I did and people acted like this was a genius move. No, I am just broke.

Living in the PE side of software, with its EBITDA and other metrics, poorly researched product initiatives, senseless firefighting, and toxic bro cultures, it's nice to be reminded some of the reasons I got into this. Thank you.
> It probably would’ve been easier if I didn’t use Rust and just used the Arduino libraries, or if I used a different board. But I was really married to this blog post title idea

Worth it, nicely done

If Rust could create the girlfriend I still do not have, I think I would have learned Rust by now.
I am pretty sure I purchased my cap and gown instead of renting. But my college was a bit smaller.
1. No it doesn't, it runs machine code.

2. Yet again we have the need to announce Rust to the world, when the usage of it is inconsequential in this context

I mean #2 is literally done tongue in cheek
> So you do need to shell out to rent them. And they don’t give you the option to buy the cap and gown outright.

You can't buy them from a 3rd party? Maybe a cheap Spirit Halloween costume? Maybe even make your own from cardboard and a black napkin or two?

If there’s anything I really want written in Rust, it’s a Chrome extension to filter out all the HN posts about Rust.
Oh to be young and have oodles of free time again
Cool project. And it goes to show how this education system is scammed out to the max, even cap and gown.
> Fun fact #1: you rent your cap and gown in the US. You have to return them. And they’re expensive, too! I paid $94 just for the privilege of renting mine, which is insane because they probably cost way less than that to manufacture.

Ah, yes, of course this is how it works in the US.

That must be new; I walked in 2009 and we got to keep ours
It depends entirely on school.

Mine wasn't like that (and still isn't). Multiple friends of mine are graduating from NYU this month, and their situation isn't like like that either.

Every school I've ever encountered gives an option to purchase (with some being way more affordable than others). E.g., NYU JD (law school) cap and gown is roughly $98 to purchase (not to rent) this year.

I don’t doubt that some offer and charge for rentals. (I think mine only charged $130 ish for purchase though.)

However, I am shocked to hear that there is not even an option to purchase them at OP’s university. Many people like to keep them, especially the cap at least, as a souvenir, or their parents will keep it. Besides, couldn’t they make more money selling them?

Yeah this is not universal. I bought mine
High school lets you (makes you?) buy them. My HS and college had almost the exact same color, so I probably could have gotten away with reusing mine!
It's insane, why doesn't the school just store a bunch of them.
Those ATtiny85 boards that plug directly into a USB port are great if you need 1 to 5 GPIOs and/or a HID interface. At 2 dollars apiece or so it's worth having a few around.
> Are you actually going to wear this to your graduation? > Heck no.

What? That would have been so much fun!

A lot of graduation ceremonies have restrictions on how you can decorate your cap. I would be surprised if this was allowed.
Technically it runs AVR-RISC :-)

Fun project though!

You are having so much fun in the video clips. I love this!
> Fun fact #1: you rent your cap and gown in the US. You have to return them. And they’re expensive, too! I paid $94 just for the privilege of renting mine

Ah, the final way that US universities transfer wealth from students to corporations... just before they start sending out begging letters for alumni donations to the poor, destitute university*

*: my university shuttered the CS graduate program the year I graduated, on the basis that "there are more jobs in communications", so I never donated a red cent

Side note:

> What if, say, you say you’re fine without a cap and gown? Well, then you can’t walk in the ceremony. So you do need to shell out to rent them.

No, you don’t need to shell out. You get you diploma regardless of whether you participate in the ceremony or not.

I chose not to participate because I knew it would be long and boring, and I still got my diploma all the same.

I just graduated this weekend and my school gave us our cap and gown for free. Seems fair with how much we're paying...
> Warning: the following video contains rapid strobing of light. I’ve written this out so people who are reading this with a screen reader know not to watch the video!

Uh...if you need a screen reader are the strobing lights really going to be a problem?