20 Jul
2020
20 Jul
'20
1:42 p.m.
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
20 Jul
20 Jul
1:49 p.m.
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(a)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
2:03 p.m.
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(a)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(a)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
2:16 p.m.
On Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 9:50 AM <arnold(a)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.
7:35 p.m.
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(a)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
8:02 p.m.
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(a)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(a)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
21 Jul
21 Jul
9:59 p.m.
On Jul 20, 2020, at 9:42 AM, Doug McIlroy
<doug(a)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
1368
days inactive
1369
days old
6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
Andrew Hume -
arnold＠skeeve.com -
Brantley Coile -
Dan Cross -
Doug McIlroy -
Win Treese