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* [TUHS] G R Emlin
@ 2020-07-20 13:42 Doug McIlroy
  2020-07-20 13:49 ` arnold
                   ` (2 more replies)
  0 siblings, 3 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Doug McIlroy @ 2020-07-20 13:42 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs

Coming upon this dedication in  W.B. Yeats's book, "Irish Folk
stories and Fairy Tales", I felt a frisson of connection: "Inscribed
to my mystical friend, G. R." Mystically present in the Unix room
and on the 1127 org chart, G. R. Emlin took a place in our little
community akin to that of fairies in Irish peasant culture. First
encountered by Fred Grampp, G. R. manifested to others in various
guises, ranging from Grace Emlin, whom I remember as a security guru,
to a Labs-badged apparition now housed in the corporate archives
(www.peteradamsphoto.com/unix-folklore/). My most memorable personal
encounter was when I received from G. R. a receipt for paint for the
water-tower project (spinrooot.com/pico/pjw.html) as part of a request
for reimbursement. I passed the voucher up the chain of command to
our executive director, Vic Vyssotsky. Unfortunately for G. R., Vic,
despite his masterful ability to bypass bureaucratic obstacles,
declared he wasn't authorized to approve plant improvements.

Doug

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] G R Emlin
  2020-07-20 13:42 [TUHS] G R Emlin Doug McIlroy
@ 2020-07-20 13:49 ` arnold
  2020-07-20 14:03   ` Brantley Coile
  2020-07-20 14:16   ` Dan Cross
  2020-07-20 19:35 ` Andrew Hume
  2020-07-21 21:59 ` Win Treese
  2 siblings, 2 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: arnold @ 2020-07-20 13:49 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: tuhs, doug

Brian Kernighan acknowledges Grace's contribution as a reviewer
of his memoir on Unix (published last year).

I asked Brian to follow up with Gerard Holzmann to add her to his
alumni page (https://www.spinroot.com/gerard/1127_alumni.html);
he did so.  The curious can look there to see where she went. :-)

Arnold

Doug McIlroy <doug@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:

> Coming upon this dedication in  W.B. Yeats's book, "Irish Folk
> stories and Fairy Tales", I felt a frisson of connection: "Inscribed
> to my mystical friend, G. R." Mystically present in the Unix room
> and on the 1127 org chart, G. R. Emlin took a place in our little
> community akin to that of fairies in Irish peasant culture. First
> encountered by Fred Grampp, G. R. manifested to others in various
> guises, ranging from Grace Emlin, whom I remember as a security guru,
> to a Labs-badged apparition now housed in the corporate archives
> (www.peteradamsphoto.com/unix-folklore/). My most memorable personal
> encounter was when I received from G. R. a receipt for paint for the
> water-tower project (spinrooot.com/pico/pjw.html) as part of a request
> for reimbursement. I passed the voucher up the chain of command to
> our executive director, Vic Vyssotsky. Unfortunately for G. R., Vic,
> despite his masterful ability to bypass bureaucratic obstacles,
> declared he wasn't authorized to approve plant improvements.
>
> Doug

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] G R Emlin
  2020-07-20 13:49 ` arnold
@ 2020-07-20 14:03   ` Brantley Coile
  2020-07-20 14:16   ` Dan Cross
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Brantley Coile @ 2020-07-20 14:03 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: arnold; +Cc: tuhs, doug

I can't keep her from using her email address. She's the contact for coraid.com.

She came south with me after the the last International Workshop on Plan 9 at Bell Labs in 200?. 

cessna% who
bwc
gremlin
charlie
jcf
kaushal
none
tor
cessna% grep eml /adm/users
34:gremlin:gremlin:
cessna% 

> On Jul 20, 2020, at 9:49 AM, arnold@skeeve.com wrote:
> 
> Brian Kernighan acknowledges Grace's contribution as a reviewer
> of his memoir on Unix (published last year).
> 
> I asked Brian to follow up with Gerard Holzmann to add her to his
> alumni page (https://www.spinroot.com/gerard/1127_alumni.html);
> he did so.  The curious can look there to see where she went. :-)
> 
> Arnold
> 
> Doug McIlroy <doug@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> 
>> Coming upon this dedication in  W.B. Yeats's book, "Irish Folk
>> stories and Fairy Tales", I felt a frisson of connection: "Inscribed
>> to my mystical friend, G. R." Mystically present in the Unix room
>> and on the 1127 org chart, G. R. Emlin took a place in our little
>> community akin to that of fairies in Irish peasant culture. First
>> encountered by Fred Grampp, G. R. manifested to others in various
>> guises, ranging from Grace Emlin, whom I remember as a security guru,
>> to a Labs-badged apparition now housed in the corporate archives
>> (www.peteradamsphoto.com/unix-folklore/). My most memorable personal
>> encounter was when I received from G. R. a receipt for paint for the
>> water-tower project (spinrooot.com/pico/pjw.html) as part of a request
>> for reimbursement. I passed the voucher up the chain of command to
>> our executive director, Vic Vyssotsky. Unfortunately for G. R., Vic,
>> despite his masterful ability to bypass bureaucratic obstacles,
>> declared he wasn't authorized to approve plant improvements.
>> 
>> Doug


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] G R Emlin
  2020-07-20 13:49 ` arnold
  2020-07-20 14:03   ` Brantley Coile
@ 2020-07-20 14:16   ` Dan Cross
  1 sibling, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Dan Cross @ 2020-07-20 14:16 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Aharon Robbins; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society, Doug McIlroy

[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain, Size: 601 bytes --]

On Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 9:50 AM <arnold@skeeve.com> wrote:

> I asked Brian to follow up with Gerard Holzmann to add her to his
> alumni page (https://www.spinroot.com/gerard/1127_alumni.html);
> he did so.  The curious can look there to see where she went. :-)
>

Witness protection, indeed! I had heard, rather, that she eloped with a
soldier, a young Lieutenant named Kije, but the relocation schedule
involved in being married to the Army made collaboration difficult so she
left active research. He seems to have died; I wonder if she'll make a
reappearance?

        - Dan C.


        - Dan C.

[-- Attachment #2: Type: text/html, Size: 1071 bytes --]

^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] G R Emlin
  2020-07-20 13:42 [TUHS] G R Emlin Doug McIlroy
  2020-07-20 13:49 ` arnold
@ 2020-07-20 19:35 ` Andrew Hume
  2020-07-20 20:02   ` Brantley Coile
  2020-07-21 21:59 ` Win Treese
  2 siblings, 1 reply; 7+ messages in thread
From: Andrew Hume @ 2020-07-20 19:35 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Doug McIlroy; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society

at one point, Bell Labs instituted a new policy to segregate contractors by
making them wear a greenish badge. they marked the occasion by sending round
a memo showing what the badge would look like.

as soon as i got my copy of the memo, i immediately went to Brian Kernighan’s
office so we could ridicule this administrative missive. except, i found him cutting
the fake badge out and was faking a G. R. Emlin name plate. Brian remarked that
Vyssotsky had already been round earlier suggesting the same idea. the fake
badge was good; Jon Bentley used it a couple of times to enter the building.

	Andrew

> On Jul 20, 2020, at 6:42 AM, Doug McIlroy <doug@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> 
> Coming upon this dedication in  W.B. Yeats's book, "Irish Folk
> stories and Fairy Tales", I felt a frisson of connection: "Inscribed
> to my mystical friend, G. R." Mystically present in the Unix room
> and on the 1127 org chart, G. R. Emlin took a place in our little
> community akin to that of fairies in Irish peasant culture. First
> encountered by Fred Grampp, G. R. manifested to others in various
> guises, ranging from Grace Emlin, whom I remember as a security guru,
> to a Labs-badged apparition now housed in the corporate archives
> (www.peteradamsphoto.com/unix-folklore/). My most memorable personal
> encounter was when I received from G. R. a receipt for paint for the
> water-tower project (spinrooot.com/pico/pjw.html) as part of a request
> for reimbursement. I passed the voucher up the chain of command to
> our executive director, Vic Vyssotsky. Unfortunately for G. R., Vic,
> despite his masterful ability to bypass bureaucratic obstacles,
> declared he wasn't authorized to approve plant improvements.
> 
> Doug


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] G R Emlin
  2020-07-20 19:35 ` Andrew Hume
@ 2020-07-20 20:02   ` Brantley Coile
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Brantley Coile @ 2020-07-20 20:02 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Andrew Hume; +Cc: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society, Doug McIlroy

I used it when I was there, waiting for my own badge. When Dennis heard I didn't have my badge yet, he jumped up, ran off, returning a few minutes later with G R's badge for me to use. 

I did.

Brantley

> On Jul 20, 2020, at 3:35 PM, Andrew Hume <andrew@humeweb.com> wrote:
> 
> at one point, Bell Labs instituted a new policy to segregate contractors by
> making them wear a greenish badge. they marked the occasion by sending round
> a memo showing what the badge would look like.
> 
> as soon as i got my copy of the memo, i immediately went to Brian Kernighan’s
> office so we could ridicule this administrative missive. except, i found him cutting
> the fake badge out and was faking a G. R. Emlin name plate. Brian remarked that
> Vyssotsky had already been round earlier suggesting the same idea. the fake
> badge was good; Jon Bentley used it a couple of times to enter the building.
> 
> 	Andrew
> 
>> On Jul 20, 2020, at 6:42 AM, Doug McIlroy <doug@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
>> 
>> Coming upon this dedication in  W.B. Yeats's book, "Irish Folk
>> stories and Fairy Tales", I felt a frisson of connection: "Inscribed
>> to my mystical friend, G. R." Mystically present in the Unix room
>> and on the 1127 org chart, G. R. Emlin took a place in our little
>> community akin to that of fairies in Irish peasant culture. First
>> encountered by Fred Grampp, G. R. manifested to others in various
>> guises, ranging from Grace Emlin, whom I remember as a security guru,
>> to a Labs-badged apparition now housed in the corporate archives
>> (www.peteradamsphoto.com/unix-folklore/). My most memorable personal
>> encounter was when I received from G. R. a receipt for paint for the
>> water-tower project (spinrooot.com/pico/pjw.html) as part of a request
>> for reimbursement. I passed the voucher up the chain of command to
>> our executive director, Vic Vyssotsky. Unfortunately for G. R., Vic,
>> despite his masterful ability to bypass bureaucratic obstacles,
>> declared he wasn't authorized to approve plant improvements.
>> 
>> Doug
> 


^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

* Re: [TUHS] G R Emlin
  2020-07-20 13:42 [TUHS] G R Emlin Doug McIlroy
  2020-07-20 13:49 ` arnold
  2020-07-20 19:35 ` Andrew Hume
@ 2020-07-21 21:59 ` Win Treese
  2 siblings, 0 replies; 7+ messages in thread
From: Win Treese @ 2020-07-21 21:59 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: The Eunuchs Hysterical Society


> On Jul 20, 2020, at 9:42 AM, Doug McIlroy <doug@cs.dartmouth.edu> wrote:
> 
>  My most memorable personal
> encounter was when I received from G. R. a receipt for paint for the
> water-tower project (spinrooot.com/pico/pjw.html) as part of a request
> for reimbursement. I passed the voucher up the chain of command to
> our executive director, Vic Vyssotsky. Unfortunately for G. R., Vic,
> despite his masterful ability to bypass bureaucratic obstacles,
> declared he wasn't authorized to approve plant improvements.

I starting working for Vic right as he was starting up Digital’s
Cambridge Research Lab in the late 80s. The lab had a dedicated
smoking room, used almost exclusively by Vic. I discovered that
hanging out with him there was a great way to learn some things,
and he told a lot of stories about the Bell Labs.

In Vic's version, he told me that he returned the form as not being
the right one for reimbursements for physical plant expenses. Which
fits delightfully with bypassing bureaucratic obstacles, and using the
obstacles when it suited him.

He also told me that right after the painting happened, he went out
into a large central area of the offices (I have no idea what the layout
was) and loudly said something along the lines of “I’m sure they're never
going to find out who did this!”

 - Win



^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 7+ messages in thread

end of thread, other threads:[~2020-07-21 22:07 UTC | newest]

Thread overview: 7+ messages (download: mbox.gz / follow: Atom feed)
-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2020-07-20 13:42 [TUHS] G R Emlin Doug McIlroy
2020-07-20 13:49 ` arnold
2020-07-20 14:03   ` Brantley Coile
2020-07-20 14:16   ` Dan Cross
2020-07-20 19:35 ` Andrew Hume
2020-07-20 20:02   ` Brantley Coile
2020-07-21 21:59 ` Win Treese

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