Owsley and BSD

[Ted Borck <tborck@domain.elided>]

> Date: Mon, 21 Sep 98 14:50:42 -0700
> From: John Hofstetter <hofs@domain.elided>
> Subject: Owsley and BSD
> 
> >Neither LSD nor UNIX were invented at Berkeley.
> >
> >Perhaps Deruy meant to say [Owsley] LSD and [BSD] UNIX were the two major 
> >products to come out of Berkeley.
> >
> >Ted Borck	tborck@domain.elided
> 
> Ted, 
> I know nothing about UNIX except jokes about it. Fortunately, knowing 
> something about a computer language isn't a requirement for making jokes 
> about it. Those of us who wouldn't learn DOS, won't learn HTML, and won't 
> use Windows as a matter of principle, are greatly intimidated by those 
> who talk about UNIX and therefore choose to make jokes about it. 
> 
> Anyway, although not motivated by UNIX, my curiosity and thirst for 
> knowing things is still very active, and I'd like to know what your 
> reference to Owsley and BSD means. Was Owsley the guy who came up with 
> LSD, and was BSD a corporation or ? that came up with UNIX ? 

Hmmm - taking a break from putting up the the hurricane shutters - I live
in Miami, FL.

The point of my response to your quoting Deruy was perhaps that Deruy was
making a joke re BSD (Berkeley Standard Distribution [of UNIX] and LSD
(Lysergic Acid Diethyiamide [is that spelled right?]), a well known
hallucinogen.

LSD ( if memory serves me right) was invented by a Swiss, Albert Hoffman 
in 1943.

The basis (and I am reaching here) for Deruy's joke (BSD LSD) *may*be*
that the substance (or program) which makes up either LSD or BSD
*reportedly* has been known to create severe psycological and
physiological changes in persons who have been exposed to either LSD or
BSD [UNIX]. e.g. I see colors or Why doesn't this !#$@!! computer work?
<g>

In any event, Richard (the list admin) explained the origins of UNIX in a
previous post.  And since UNIX was/is able to run on different hardware
from different vendors, developers subsequently modified UNIX to create
their own value added version.  I am told that BSD is one of the more used
variants of UNIX - you could say that BSD is a patios of UNIX.

Maybe Richard, the list admin, will one day give an update re Plan 9, the
proposed next generation of UNIX.  Yes it's named after the movie, "Plan 9
From Outer Space," and not "Deep Space 9."

But, I've been told that the bottom line of UNIX is that once you get it
to work - it does so for years - there are computers running UNIX which
haven't been re-booted for years.  

Just like my Scout II.

Me, I'm just sitting here in Miami, typing on a UNIX computer located in
California.

As for Owsley (I don't know his first name), he was merely a person who
became known world-wide (in the counter culture) for producing LSD in
Berekely, CA, for sale in the 60's (before and after it became illegal).  
Owsley subsequently became a fixture of the "San Francisco Deadhead -
Jefferson Airplane - Flower - If you're going to San Francisco scene."

Allegedly the Beatles became aware of Oswley's product and went on to make
Revolver. . .  Sgt Peppers. . . .

However my drug of choice is good scotch - neat.

But I have a question - on our office MAC, we're using 7.6 OS - should we
upgrade to 8.1?  

 - Propeller head by default - not by choice -

Ted Borck	tborck@domain.elided