Someone asked why root is named "Charlie" in FreeBSD. Hope this helps.
From: "Kevin Oberman" Subject: Re: Why is root named "Charlie"? Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 14:06:50 -0700 To: Greg Lehey Cc: Dennis Jun , freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG From owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Jul 20 23:08:14 2001 > Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2001 11:35:09 +0930 > From: Greg Lehey > Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > > On Thursday, 19 July 2001 at 11:51:07 -0700, Dennis Jun wrote: > > Just outta curiosity, anyone know why root is > > named "Charlie"? I hope it's not in reference > > to the BSD Daemon which some people incorrectly > > refer to as "Chuckie." ;) > > The most plausible thing I've heard is that it's a reference to a > baseball player called Charlie Root. I don't know if he really > existed, but if he did, it would seem to fit. Getting way too far off topic... Not bad for someone not from the US! (Though I have no idea if Greg may have lived in the US at some time.) Charlie Root was a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs from about 1925 through about 1940. Career ERA of 3.59 and a lifetime record of 201 wins and 160 losses. He was a steady, very durable performer for many years. Sadly, his greatest claim to fame was giving up the "called shot" home run to Babe Ruth in the 1932 World Series. He was also named the Cubs all time right-handed pitcher in 1969 (and I'm not sure that any Cub since 69 has been better). I assume that whoever came up with the name on the root account had probably heard of the name from somewhere and used it as the name of the root user. How many famous "Root"s are there, after all.
For those with any interest in baseball, here is more information about Babe's "called shot"...
The 1932 World Series is best remembered for Babe Ruth's "called shot".
In Game 3 of the Series, Ruth pointed his bat at Cub's pitcher Charlie Root and then belted a home run to center field. Debate has raged ever since about whether he actually "called" the homer, but the Ruthian legend has endured.
When asked about the called shot Ruth said. "Aw, everybody knows that game, the day I hit the homer off ol' Charlie Root there in Wrigley Field, but right now I want to settle all agruments. I didn't exactly point to any spot, like the flagpole. Anyway, I didn't mean to, I just sorta waved at the whole fence, but that was foolish enough. All I wanted to do was give that thing a ride out the park anywhere."
"... are you going to continue to love purchasing online after you have to pay BOTH sales tax and shipping?"
"I've never been able to figure out just why congress and the president decided to hurt the local & state coffers by allowing goods to be purchased sans local sales taxes over the Internet."
This, in my opinion is one of the big myths of the Internet, and thanks to unclueful media and unscrupulous politicians, it continues to grow.
Sales tax on Internet purchases is and has always been governed as MOTO sales (Mail Order/Telephone Order). The Internet never has been a tax free zone no matter what your local politician wants you to believe.
The rule was quite simple, if the business you are purchasing from does not have a business nexus where the product is shipped, sales tax does not need to be collected. Back in the 1980's, I purchased products from out of state companies and did not pay sales tax. The same holds true for products purchased over the Internet. This was allowed because trying to collect the correct amount of tax based on where the order is shipped would be a nightmare and would put many of these MOTO businesses out of business.
Prior to the Internet, MOTO sales didn't have much of an effect on sales tax revenue received. As the Internet has grown in popularity, states claim they have noticed a decrease in sales tax revenue due to consumers making tax free purchases online. I have not attempted to confirm if that is true or not.
States have attempted to collect sales tax on out of state purchases in various ways. Some states include a line on the state income tax form where the consumer should account for all out of state purchases made during the past year and include the appropriate tax when they submit their income tax. Some states have attempted to collect sales tax from out of state businesses (even before the Internet became a factor) and the courts have always ruled that one state does not have jurisdiction over a business located in another state.
The moratorium of taxes on the Internet is not about "sales tax" but instead about any new taxes applied specifically to the Internet. The states and federal government are trying to come up with a solution that will make collecting sales tax easier for businesses. Personally I suggest a flat rate national sales tax on all purchases which would do away with all local sales taxes and their arcane rules and do away with what is known today as "income tax".
"International Star Registry" (ISR) is at it again, swamping our local radio stations with their "Name a star after someone" advertisements. They carefully tell you that your star name with be printed in a copyrighted book. But they fail to mention that their star "names" are not in any way official.
Wired News published an excellent article about ISR in December 2001 appropriately titled "Buy a Star, But It's Not Yours".
An example of what you will actually receive if you send money to ISR.
More (older) articles about ISR and other "star naming services":
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/12/26824631.shtml
http://www.ras.ucalgary.ca/~gibson/starnames/globe.html
http://www.earthsky.com/Features/News/star.html
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_385.html
http://astrwww.astr.cwru.edu/Personal/martin/nameastar.html