Electronic Pies Thrown at Val

The students in CIS 121 Spring 2009 were given the opportunity to answer the question "WHY WOULD YOU LIKE TO THROW A PIE IN VAL TANNEN'S FACE?" anonymously. The fifteen funniest answers are published on this page, in no particular order. The origin of this contest is shrouded in the fog of immemorial times. (2004?) It seems that it started as a non-violent alternative to the practice of raising money for good causes by throwing custard pies into the faces of deserving faculty. So our CIS121-S09 students have contributed these electronic pies savaging another deserving faculty in the hopes that you will be moved to make a donation to the American Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.org), the charity that has been selected by the SEAS students for the pie-throwing event this year. If you choose to do so, please select one of the epies below and email its number as well as the amount you have donated to Val Tannen (val [at] upenn [dot] edu). He will email the class with the how much each pie raised and the total amount raised over the summer.

Here's the result of smashing pies in Val's face...

PIE NUMBER 1

I think Mr. Val Tannen is a little disturbed. If I was Freud, I would probably say that he had a very disturbing childhood, at was constantly thrown pies at. Therefore, I will satisfy his desire and throw a pie at his face.

PIE NUMBER 2

PIE NUMBER 3

Because Val Tannen is a part of the CIS department. He cannot live without a computer and I am very sure that his computer is being over-used, and hence the computer must retaliate by throwing an Epie at his face.

PIE NUMBER 4

I want to throw a pie at Val Tannen because this is how I will always think of him:

Count Tannen: This function is big-Oh of 1, n, log(n), n^2, 2^n!! 2^n, ah ha ha ha ha hahhhh...

PIE NUMBER 5

I'm scared by Val's beastliness. I throw a pie to him, not at him.

PIE NUMBER 6

If I would throw an e-pie at val, I would surely throw it right at the vest he wears. It is the one constant of Val's personality--whether he is angry, or sad, or happy, he is always wearing the same brown vest. It makes him look like a mixture between a cowboy-gone-to-seed and an 19th-century politician. I think a little pie would add some color to Val's interesting-as-an-envelope-on-a-manilla-background wardrobe and remind him that his clothes are so uncool that one of his computer science students noticed.

PIE NUMBER 7

Maybe it will correct his speech impediment.

PIE NUMBER 8

Because I predict my score on Homework 5 will be on the top of the binary min heap.

PIE NUMBER 9

Tannen: Throw a pie at me. Throw a pie at me. Throw a pie at me. Throw a...
Splunk. Pie lands squarely on Tannen's glasses and begins to descend slowly down his face, onto his sweater vest.
Tannen (licking tongue): Mmm... Throw another pie at me. Throw another pie at me. Throw another pie at me.

PIE NUMBER 10

PIE NUMBER 11

Val: You missed class. Minus 1%.
Me: But I was buying this pie for you.
Val: Oooh! (Takes pie, then hands it back). No, no, I can't. Sorry that is the rule.

PIE NUMBER 12

PIE NUMBER 13

PIE NUMBER 14

PIE NUMBER 15