🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <22...@rex.cs.tulane.edu> keating@rex.UUCP (John W. Keating) writes:

>At lectures, Grace Hopper used to give out "nanoseconds"...  Short pieces of
>wire (~ 13") that showed the distance that light traveled in one nanosecond.
>I've still got one that she handed to my father at an Air Force lecture many
>years ago.  Apparently, she sounds as if she is a good speaker..  Has she
>done anything else interesting at any oof her lectures?

When I saw her lecture in the summer of '85, she still gave out nanoseconds.
She also gave one to Dave Letterman when on his show.

My favorite part was when she brought out a bottle of shampoo.  She then
read the directions out loud:

	1) Wet hair
	2) Massage shampoo into hair
	3) Rinse hair
	4) Repeat

and then said that she tried to follow the instructions once, but after
8 hours decided to get out of the shower!  She was trying to stress the
importance of clear writing in software design.

She also made a big point about not letting pointless rules and regs
get in the way of important work.  She told some story about scavenging
for important equipment in the Navy......  The lecture was for the
NJ Governor's School.  All that month I had been trying to request a
piano for the student's dorm with no luck.

Of course, immediately after that lecture they went to the science hall,
found an unused piano, and wheeled it up to the dorm!!

She is a great lecturer.  Last I heard she was not feeling well.  She
is getting on in years.

Dave "mr question" McIntyre     |      "....say you're thinking about a plate
mcin...@turing.cs.rpi.edu      |       of shrimp.....and someone says to
office : 518-276-8633		|	you 'plate,' or 'shrimp'......"