[oclug] [OT] Garage Sale Update

[Ross Jordan]

> > FYI: I'm currently in the pink lab on the 3rd floor of MC; they are
> > running NCD xterms /w Samsung 17" displays. The 6th floor UNIX lab
> > was recently upgraded, I think they are now running Neoware xterms
> > with 17" LCDs (upgraded from fairly old HP 19" B&W CRTs).
> > 
> >
> 
> 
> In my day, *nothing* was pink.  All the colours were very stark back
> then. The "Red Room" was fire-engine red and other architectual features
> were mostly primary colours of the darkest and starkest possible hue.
> This was also the First Orange Age when people insisted that orange was
> an acceptable colour to be seen wearing in public, even caught dead..

Pink is now the official colour of UW Math, to go along with the
Pink tie. (During frosh week, a 20 meter high pink tie is pinned
to the wall). Unfortunately, the Red Room was destroyed in 1999,
against the wishes of many in computing. Alas, things happen.
I managed to scrounge a couple of the assets being thrown out
(including some copper cabling about 1" thick -- not sure what
 I'll ever do with it.)

> This particular work of art was made of fibreglass mounted on a
> pedestal of  bronze, if my member serves. It was situated right
> where the three main pathways from the Physics building, the Math
> building and the Library converged, and as you left the main entrance
> of the Math building, you would get a splendid view of the `crack' as
> you made you way up the pathway towards the Library. .(I don't expect
> that those pathways still exist after 30 years, but are they still
> there?) It didn't last very long, for a group of enterprising
> engineering students(at least it was assumed that they were engineering
> students) blew the thing up with explosives.

There are many new buildings on campus, and I can't think of where
the pathways converge.

> I haven't been on the UW campus since 1984. I've got to get back there
> some day just to check out what the place looks like. The campus is
> probably twice the size it had been. Back then, the only thing on
> the other side of Columbia was the Dentistry faculty and a large
> cornfield. I hear it is somewhat more populated than it once was.

My general understanding is that many old timers are unimpressed
with the changes, but that usually is the way.

FYI, there are a couple old time UW pics at the following URL:
http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/%7Evic/gallery.html

Cheers,
Ross