Cocoa
Every school night (Sunday-Thursday), promptly at 11 pm, one can hear the cacophonic calls of "Cocoa! Cocoa!" echo through East Campus. Or at least we hope you all can hear us. The idea is for everyone to take a break from Tooling, to come out and join their fellow slugs for a hot mug of cocoa (bring your own mug and spoons, we provide the rest) for a few minutes. Come on, join us and our chocolatey goodness. You know you want to.
The process of heating water for cocoa will be automated with the Cocoa Pot project.
Cocoa Pot
We plan to automate the heating of the Cocoa water every night. The cocoa pot will be controlled by a PIC that will also monitor temperature and water level and send data over the 4E Network. The server will calculate the heating time based on the water level and ensure that there is hot water for cocoa every school night.
Currently, the two Cocoa Chairs do it manually. Every school night.
Happy Cocoa
Whenever it is (approximately) a slug's birthday, the hall Baking Chairs bake a cake (or other extravagant dessert) to be served during nightly cocoa. On the night of a Happy Cocoa, the Cocoa Chairs scream "HAPPY COCOA!!!" while calling cocoa. It is hall tradition to scream the "Happy Birthday Song" as cacophonously as posssible rather than singing it. Those slugs whose birthdays are during times of no school may select an "unbirthday" to celebrate instead.
Formal Cocoa
Traditionally held at the end of the semester, Formal Cocoa is a celebration of fine chocolates and the end of term. All attendees are required to dress up or dress down. Back in the day, it was tradition to attend formal movie night following Formal Cocoa. The celebrants would go watch a movie in a lecture hall while still dressed in their Formal Cocoa garb. Secret Anthony, a nondenominational Secret Santa, is usually held during the winter Formal Cocoa.
Special Cocoa
We are planning to start a new hall tradition of inviting faculty and staff members, as well as other notables, to cocoa. We hope Special Cocoa promotes closer interaction between students and faculty members. Below is a table of whom we have contacted, their responses, and planned Special Cocoas, if any.
| Notable Invitee | Status | Response | Scheduled Cocoa |
| President Susan Hockfield | contacted by e-mail and in person | "Fuck you, I'm too busy, Go away, or I'll hit you in the hizzy." | never |
| Professor Chuck Vest | e-mailed | no response yet | unknown |
| Professor Joe Haldeman | e-mailed; confirmed for cocoa | "I'd love to come, but will have to put it off till fall." (currently in Florida) | September? |
| Strong Bad | e-mailed | Edwin had a dream involving Pikachu | unknown |
| Professor Max Tegmark | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
| Senator John Kerry | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
| Senator Ted Kennedy | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
| President Larry Summers | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
| Dean Larry Benedict | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
| Professor Jeremy Wolfe | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
| Markos Hankin | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
| Dr. Geoffrey Landis | not contacted yet | no response yet | unknown |
Please add anybody else to this list if you would like to invite them to Special Cocoa.
