* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson @ 2021-01-17 22:33 Norman Wilson 2021-01-18 3:39 ` Adam Thornton ` (2 more replies) 0 siblings, 3 replies; 8+ messages in thread From: Norman Wilson @ 2021-01-17 22:33 UTC (permalink / raw) To: tuhs Dave Horsfall: At one place I worked, every Unix bod sported facial fungus; it must be a Unix thing... ==== Not really. I've seen bare faces and beards and operating systems over the decades that would scare the bugs out of any of the above beards and operating systems. There really isn't a lot of consistency. I've known plenty of bare-faced UNIX hacks, and plenty of RSX and VMS and Windows and IBM programmers who hide their embarrassment behind beards. The ultimate reference is, of course, the inhabitants of the UNIX Room. During my time there in mid-to-late 1980s, some people wore beards, some didn't. I have never seen Ken or Dennis or Brian clean-shaven, but I have never seen Doug or Rob or Tom Duff or Lorinda with a beard. And despite a certain remark attributed to the late Vic Vyssotsky (who I've never seen with a beard either), I am quite sure that my appearance had nothing to do with my being recruited by the group. Norman `too lazy to shave' Wilson Toronto ON ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson 2021-01-17 22:33 [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson Norman Wilson @ 2021-01-18 3:39 ` Adam Thornton 2021-01-18 5:29 ` Andrew Hume 2021-01-18 19:58 ` John Cowan 2 siblings, 0 replies; 8+ messages in thread From: Adam Thornton @ 2021-01-18 3:39 UTC (permalink / raw) To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 245 bytes --] For what it's worth, at a certain point in my life I had a SERIOUS beard, and I appeared in a friend of mine's text-with-static-graphics adventure game ("Cryptozookeeper") with a comment like "The UNIX beard swallows all other facial features." [-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 299 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson 2021-01-17 22:33 [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson Norman Wilson 2021-01-18 3:39 ` Adam Thornton @ 2021-01-18 5:29 ` Andrew Hume 2021-01-18 19:58 ` John Cowan 2 siblings, 0 replies; 8+ messages in thread From: Andrew Hume @ 2021-01-18 5:29 UTC (permalink / raw) To: Norman Wilson; +Cc: tuhs not so fast, there, young pup. i distinctly remember vic saying something to the effect of “we have to hire that guy; he will increase our variance” as you wandered out of an interview with fred grampp. > On Jan 17, 2021, at 2:33 PM, Norman Wilson <norman@oclsc.org> wrote: > > And despite a certain remark attributed to the late Vic Vyssotsky > (who I've never seen with a beard either), I am quite sure that > my appearance had nothing to do with my being recruited by the group. > > Norman `too lazy to shave' Wilson > Toronto ON ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson 2021-01-17 22:33 [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson Norman Wilson 2021-01-18 3:39 ` Adam Thornton 2021-01-18 5:29 ` Andrew Hume @ 2021-01-18 19:58 ` John Cowan 2021-01-18 20:47 ` Steve Nickolas 2 siblings, 1 reply; 8+ messages in thread From: John Cowan @ 2021-01-18 19:58 UTC (permalink / raw) To: Norman Wilson; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society [-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 2266 bytes --] On Sun, Jan 17, 2021 at 5:35 PM Norman Wilson <norman@oclsc.org> wrote: > Not really. I've seen bare faces and beards and operating systems > over the decades that would scare the bugs out of any of the above > beards and operating systems. There really isn't a lot of consistency. > I've known plenty of bare-faced UNIX hacks, and plenty of RSX and > VMS and Windows and IBM programmers who hide their embarrassment > behind beards. > I don't think it's so much a matter of wearing a beard, but being allowed to wear one. For seven grim decades no American man could get away with a beard, after the end of the post-Civil War era, in which a beard was the sign of a veteran (try shaving in the field!) Mustaches (often handlebars or toothbrushes until WWII) were the limit of tolerable facial hair among respectable company employees. That began to change in the 1960s, when many things did. Still, hippies and musicians and poets wore beards but few others did; facial hair didn't really take off among the gen. pop. until the 70s. But somehow, programmer beards were tolerated, first at universities, then at research labs, and then throughout the industry, then throughout every industry, though I myself was one of only two beards at the Wall Street brokerage I worked for in the early 80s, the other being my boss. Even today, $EMPLOYER, which is an ex-startup, has a mixture of beards and no-beards among the male engineers, but all the sales and marketing males are clean-shaven. (When I met my future wife I was 21, and she wanted me to grow a beard, so I did. Since then I have occasionally asked cow orkers who have complained about shaving why *they* don't grow beards: the most common answer is "My wife doesn't want me to." *My* wife doesn't believe this story.) John Cowan http://vrici.lojban.org/~cowan cowan@ccil.org And through this revolting graveyard of the universe the muffled, maddening beating of drums, and thin, monotonous whine of blasphemous flutes from inconceivable, unlighted chambers beyond Time; the detestable pounding and piping whereunto dance slowly, awkwardly, and absurdly the gigantic tenebrous ultimate gods --the blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is Nyarlathotep. (Lovecraft) [-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 4231 bytes --] ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson 2021-01-18 19:58 ` John Cowan @ 2021-01-18 20:47 ` Steve Nickolas 2021-01-19 8:07 ` arnold 0 siblings, 1 reply; 8+ messages in thread From: Steve Nickolas @ 2021-01-18 20:47 UTC (permalink / raw) To: John Cowan; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society On Mon, 18 Jan 2021, John Cowan wrote: > (When I met my future wife I was 21, and she wanted me to grow a beard, so > I did. Since then I have occasionally asked cow orkers who have complained > about shaving why *they* don't grow beards: the most common answer is "My > wife doesn't want me to." *My* wife doesn't believe this story.) I actually had to shave for a while specifically because of my then-girlfriend, so... ;p I can see that. -uso. ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson 2021-01-18 20:47 ` Steve Nickolas @ 2021-01-19 8:07 ` arnold 2021-01-19 18:45 ` Steffen Nurpmeso 2021-01-19 22:15 ` Warren Toomey 0 siblings, 2 replies; 8+ messages in thread From: arnold @ 2021-01-19 8:07 UTC (permalink / raw) To: usotsuki, cowan; +Cc: tuhs Steve Nickolas <usotsuki@buric.co> wrote: > On Mon, 18 Jan 2021, John Cowan wrote: > > > (When I met my future wife I was 21, and she wanted me to grow a beard, so > > I did. Since then I have occasionally asked cow orkers who have complained > > about shaving why *they* don't grow beards: the most common answer is "My > > wife doesn't want me to." *My* wife doesn't believe this story.) > > I actually had to shave for a while specifically because of my > then-girlfriend, so... ;p I can see that. > > -uso. Since we've wondered off-topic... There are two periods of time in the spring and late summer when many Orthodox Jews don't shave (5 and 3 weeks long, respectively). The deal I reached with my wife is that I have a beard from the start of the first one to the end of the second one. It's worked now for just over 30 years... :-) Arnold ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson 2021-01-19 8:07 ` arnold @ 2021-01-19 18:45 ` Steffen Nurpmeso 2021-01-19 22:15 ` Warren Toomey 1 sibling, 0 replies; 8+ messages in thread From: Steffen Nurpmeso @ 2021-01-19 18:45 UTC (permalink / raw) To: arnold; +Cc: tuhs arnold@skeeve.com wrote in <202101190807.10J87Gh5009801@freefriends.org>: |Steve Nickolas <usotsuki@buric.co> wrote: | |> On Mon, 18 Jan 2021, John Cowan wrote: |> |>> (When I met my future wife I was 21, and she wanted me to grow a \ |>> beard, so |>> I did. Since then I have occasionally asked cow orkers who have \ |>> complained |>> about shaving why *they* don't grow beards: the most common answer \ |>> is "My |>> wife doesn't want me to." *My* wife doesn't believe this story.) |> |> I actually had to shave for a while specifically because of my |> then-girlfriend, so... ;p I can see that. |> |> -uso. | |Since we've wondered off-topic... | |There are two periods of time in the spring and late summer when many |Orthodox Jews don't shave (5 and 3 weeks long, respectively). The deal |I reached with my wife is that I have a beard from the start of the |first one to the end of the second one. It's worked now for just over |30 years... :-) This discussion reminds me of the Jiddish joke (as heard from Jews, and badly translated from German, not to mention Jiddish) Two jewish men meet and greet each other Says the elder "ah, you had sardines for lunch" says the younger "no, sardines we had three days ago" --steffen | |Der Kragenbaer, The moon bear, |der holt sich munter he cheerfully and one by one |einen nach dem anderen runter wa.ks himself off |(By Robert Gernhardt) ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
* Re: [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson 2021-01-19 8:07 ` arnold 2021-01-19 18:45 ` Steffen Nurpmeso @ 2021-01-19 22:15 ` Warren Toomey 1 sibling, 0 replies; 8+ messages in thread From: Warren Toomey @ 2021-01-19 22:15 UTC (permalink / raw) To: tuhs Hi all, $ mv beards /var/mail/COFF Many thanks! Warren P.S Yes, I know, >> ^ permalink raw reply [flat|nested] 8+ messages in thread
end of thread, other threads:[~2021-01-19 22:15 UTC | newest] Thread overview: 8+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed) -- links below jump to the message on this page -- 2021-01-17 22:33 [TUHS] Bearded Fellow, Ken Thompson Norman Wilson 2021-01-18 3:39 ` Adam Thornton 2021-01-18 5:29 ` Andrew Hume 2021-01-18 19:58 ` John Cowan 2021-01-18 20:47 ` Steve Nickolas 2021-01-19 8:07 ` arnold 2021-01-19 18:45 ` Steffen Nurpmeso 2021-01-19 22:15 ` Warren Toomey
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