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On 2/4/2012 7:55 AM, Shannon Lee wrote:
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cite="mid:CAGjxhtkndNJfeV873fH375pw6ZD+dMv-9ideRWD7cQA8SS2Phw@mail.gmail.com"
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In the early part of the 20th century, there was a tradition at
MIT of unofficial exploration: the steam tunnels, the rooftops,
everywhere people were not supposed to go, undergrads went. It's
likely that this tradition was inherited from Oxford, where a
similar tradition pre-dates the MIT one.
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<div>At both Oxford and MIT, clubs were formed and manuals
clandestinely printed on popular routes and places. At MIT, the
various clubs called themselves "hacking" clubs, from the image
of the explorer hacking his way through untamed jungle with his
machete, and the tradition of unauthorized exploration was
called "hacking."</div>
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<div>When MIT got its first computers, they were big and expensive
and access to them was tightly controlled. Several hacking
clubs continued their tradition of unauthorized exploration...
of the computers.</div>
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<div>At least, that's how I heard it.</div>
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<div>--S</div>
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<br>
Is that from the hallowed Jargon File? We've read it, of course -
countless times, yes of course - but we are old now, and our memory
not so keen. Reciting lengthy spells is a bitch and a half. Pardon
the unwizardly language.<br>
<br>
The responses to this thread have been highly illuminating, though I
doubt not some of the elder hackers are rolling their eyes at such
junior-level trivia.....<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72"><b><font color="#000000">--
************************
The Whimsical Wizard of ZiP
</font></b><font color="#000000">ZiP: Zine in Progress
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://zine.noisebridge.net">http://zine.noisebridge.net</a></font></pre>
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