Re: [9fans] plan 9 wiki experiment

[td@pixar.com (Tom Duff)]

> You know, I was going to say:
>
> 	Yeah, just look at Bell Labs: They're in New Jersey, but they
> 	still make some pretty beautiful software.
>
> But then I realized that that wouldn't be funny except outside of
> New Jersey.
>
> (okay, okay, I'm avoiding the rotten fruit now and getting ready to
> get on an airplane.  Apologies all around for the off-topic pot shot
> at Jersey, but, hey---it was too hard to resist....  :-)


You know, I was at Murray Hill for twelve years, but every time someone
brings up the suburban horrors of New Jersey, I'm forced to remember
the first time I visited Bell Labs (July 1975.)  The directions we were given
were `From New York, get onto Route 22, go to the first MacDonalds, turn
right just past the arches, go right at the tee, up the hill to Mountain
Ave, etc.'  Now, the first MacDonalds was about a 20 mile drive through
the worst of strip-mall New Jersey, but after those two quick rights (past
the unmentioned cement quarry), we were in the beautiful woods of the
Watchung Reservation.  It was like something out of The Divine Comedy,
as we passed from the inferno to paradise...

The area has been built up a bit since then, but still, especially
when the leaves are falling in October, you can still get a little feeling
of entering a magic place as you climb the Watchung mountains to Murray
Hill.  (Of course, the gebrauchsarchitektur of the liquid nitrogen plant
and the lab buildings at MH pretty much destroy the illusion, but you miss
those if you go through the front door.)