12 Jan
2022
12 Jan
'22
6:15 a.m.
Yes, but most, if not all of things were after I arrived, among the first
of a brace of fresh hot blood imported to grow 127. Things definitely felt
looser by the mid-80s.
Look, I'm not complaining. I absolutely loved working in the CS research
group. But culturally, at least upon my arrival, I felt like a fish out of
water.
-rob
On Wed, Jan 12, 2022 at 9:42 AM Andrew Hume <andrew(a)humeweb.com> wrote:
i would add the general atmosphere of the Unix room,
especially the very
heavy mobile hung from
the ceiling for a while (until someone noticed the cable supporting it was
visibly stretching).
also the bowling alley (the corridor that rob, ken, denis, doug and my
offices were on) — the pins
were under the printer table at the end. i also recall the time the
bowling ball got away from the
Unix room rolling down the main corridor towards a group of visitors led
by peter weinberger.
luckily, dave presotto grabbed the ball before anyone got hurt (but it was
close).
i would also mention labscam; its not often we see a prank involving rob
pike, Penn and a Noble Prize winner.
On Jan 11, 2022, at 2:17 PM, John P. Linderman <jpl.jpl(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:45 PM Rob Pike <robpike(a)gmail.com> wrote:
Similar. Everyone at Bell Labs was so *proper*. (Except Ken, of course.
Ken is *sui generis*, and a Californian).
Perhaps (probably maybe) I misunderstand. There was nothing "proper" about
the Peter face on the water tower, or lock-picking a boot to move it to a
patrol car, of Scott Knaur wandering the halls in a Darth Vader costume, or
Jellicat wearing a Cats costume, or a thousand other examples. There was a
lot of playfulness in the Labs (at least in the early days), and I think it
was wonderful.