[TUHS] 2018: eighteen months to the Unix 50th anniversary

[kevin.bowling@kev009.com (Kevin Bowling)]

Things like this don't really occur in one day [1]  "Unix was born in
1969 not 1974" - dmr

Is it fair to say 1/1/1970 is the spiritual christening and the day to
celebrate?

[1] http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20100506231949/http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/dmr/hist.html

On Tue, Jan 9, 2018 at 10:23 PM, George Michaelson <ggm at algebras.org> wrote:
> I'm probably a bit of a simpleton about this stuff. I feel like my
> engagement with UNIX has been a succession of mind-blown moments.
>
> 1978: shown a piped command. mind blown. What.The.Holy.Hell. I cannot
> understand this. I entered the room with punched cards. How does this
> even work.
>
> 1979: shown how to write macros. mind blown.
> This.Is.Not.A.Program.This.is.a.meta.program. What reads this? a pre
> processor. whats that. mind officially blown. I cannot understand.
> WHERE IS MY CODE
>
> 1981: made to read about the design of the IBM 360 monotonically
> rising clock. mind blown. How.Can.Every.Computer.Not.Have.Had.This.
> What does time even mean? what is negative time? Whats the granularity
> of time? I DONT UNDERSTAND WHY I DONT UNDERSTAND
>
> 1982: I start work on systems where I have su privilege and can change
> the time. Mind blown I.Can.Tell.Lies.About.Time How come? How come
> there isn't some magic once-only pass through hardware abacus
> rat-in-a-cage machine I can't lie about ITS ALL LIES mind blown.
>
> 1984: I start doing NTP and see emails from Dave Mills. Mind blown.
> He.Is.Not.Typing.English.As.I.Understand.It.This.Is.The.Goon.Show mind
> blown. But.. in a good way. People can make fun of themselves and
> write real code? Time is fuzzy? Time has properties? People are
> thinking about 2039? Mind blown. I don't even believe I will be alive
> in 2039 given "star wars" and "protect and survive"
>
> I really like 1/1/1970. its been like a constant in my life. If it
> turned out to be 1969 I'd be ok but I have to say.. a bit .. somewhere
> inside.. a small squirrel inside Searles  'chinese box' is saying...
>
>    mind... blown...