[TUHS] Happy New Year and an amusing story from the past

[scj at yaccman.com]

Oh that brings back memories!  It seems that every Baptist read Usenix as
Unisex (Freud would have something to say about that...).  Families with
children would pass up an elevator rather than get on it with Usenix
folks...


> Love it.  IIRC that was the conference a number of us with BSD daemon
> t-shirts were accosted for the wearing them.
>
> A story I like to tell was in the early 1980s at the Toronto USENIX.  This
> was just as when the US was going through AIDS reaction similar to the
> current ebola over-worries.  I was wearing a "Sex, Drugs & UNIX" button
> when I got on the hotel elevator with Mike Krueger when your basic midwest
> family of 4 or 5 got on at the same time.   The mother sees my button and
> asks, what's "UNIX." Krueger looks at her and replies:  "It's like AIDS --
> only worse."
>
> She immediately takes her kids and cowers in the corner while I'm
> alternating being wanting to kick Krueger and laughing.
>
> On Thu, Jan 1, 2015 at 6:44 AM, Ronald Natalie <ron at ronnatalie.com> wrote:
>
>> A prosperous New Years to all us old UNIX farts.
>>
>> Years ago the USENIX conference was in Atlanta.    It was a stark
>> contrast
>> between us and the Southern Baptists who were in town for their
>> conference
>> as well (punctuated at some goofball Baptist standing up in the middle
>> of
>> one of the restaurants to sing God Bless America or some such).
>>
>> Anyhow, right before the conference someone (I think it was Dennis) made
>> some comment about nobody ever having asked him for a cast of his
>> genitals.   A couple of friends decided we needed to issue genital
>> casting
>> kits to certain of the UNIX notables.    I went out to an art supply
>> store
>> and bought plaster, paper cups, popsicle sticks to mix with, etc…
>> Gould
>> computers let me use one of their booth machines and a printer to print
>> out
>> the instructions.   I purloined some bags from the hotel.   It was
>> pointed
>> out that you need vaseline in order for the plaster to not stick to the
>> skin.    Great, I head into the hotel gift shop and grab ten tiny jars
>> of
>> vaseline.   As I plop these on the counter at the cashier, she looks at
>> me
>> for a minute and then announces…
>>
>> I guess y’all aren’t with the baptists.
>>
>> People took it pretty tongue in cheek when they were presented.    All
>> except Redman who flew off the handle.
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