] THE DRUGS culture of the late 60s inspired the modern
] computer industry, according to a book with a very long
] name. New York Times technology writer, John Markoff's
] latest penning, What the Dormouse Said: How the 60s
] Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry,
] reckons that most of Silicon Valley in the 1960s were on
] something, and those that weren't, were not there. He
] says in the tome that it was the uniquely Californian
] scene of back-to-nature independence, personal freedom
] and psychedelic drugs that gave birth to the PC. Markoff
] traces the modern PC to the clubs built around the Altair
] 8800 and particularly to one at Menlo Park's Homebrew
] Computer Club. This was founded in 1975 by peace activist
] Fred Moore. Homebrewers swapped software and components
] and advised each other on how to build computers from the
] ground up. It is not quite clear where the beer came in.
] Emerging from the foam of Homebrew, was a shop called
] People's Computer which flogged hands-on computing time
] and training to anyone who walked in off the street.

HAHAH! Funny.