On Tue, Jan 11, 2022 at 3:45 PM Rob Pike <robpike@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.