5.0154 More on the Bug; Kilroy (2/61)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 18 Jun 91 10:57:38 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0154. Tuesday, 18 Jun 1991.


(1) Date: Fri, 14 Jun 91 09:47 EDT (19 lines)
From: "Mary Dee Harris, Language Technology" <MDHARRIS@GUVAX>
Subject: RE: 5.0143 Bug

(2) Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 1:53 GMT (42 lines)
From: David E Newton <DEN1@vaxb.york.ac.uk>
Subject: Kilroy - *was* he really there?!

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 14 Jun 91 09:47 EDT
From: "Mary Dee Harris, Language Technology" <MDHARRIS@GUVAX>
Subject: RE: 5.0143 Bug


I too heard the great Grace Murray Hopper speak -- at Loyola University
in New Orleans when she addressed the student ACM chapter. The wires she
passed out were her way of explaining the notion of a nanosecond -- the
wire is the distance that electricity can travel in one nanosecond
(about 11 inches). I have two "nanoseconds" which I tied in a bow and
keep in my office. The significance of the 2 nanoseconds for me at that
time was that most of our computer science students worked on the Apple
II computer (a 2 nanosecond machine).

Another thing I remember vividly about Ms. Hopper was that she chain-
smoked Lucky Strikes during the entire reception we had for her. I
wonder if she can still get them?

Mary Dee Harris
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------51----
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 91 1:53 GMT
From: David E Newton <DEN1@vaxb.york.ac.uk>
Subject: Kilroy - *was* he really there?!


Dennis Baron writes: "We don't know who Kilroy was, if
anyone...".

Well, provided my sources are correct, then this is not true,
and while it is true to say that Kilroy was certainly an
elusive character, it seems that he did, in fact, exist.

James Kilroy was a senior shipyard inspector at the US forces
shipping depot at Quincy, Massachusetts, and was required to
check all equipment and work completed. This included
checking the welds made on the hulls of the ships, and it was
his custom to actually sign his name on the weld. Where this
was in areas of high traffic, these soon disappeared, but
others in less accessible places stayed there for some time.
It was then the case that GIs saw his name appear on nearly
everything they used, so that, even though they had not met
him, he was a very familiar character to all crews who used
ships inspected by him. This led to their copying this, and
so the chalk-marked phrase "Kilroy was here" spread around
the world.

This information is edited and taken from
_Notes_And_Queries_, a book published by The Guardian in
Britain, and compiled by Brian Whitaker, so don't get back to
me if any of this is incorrect!!!

Thanks for listening

Dave
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