>>>http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2012/08/nasa-had-no-idea-how-to-save-apollo-13-but-an-mit-grad-student-reportedly-did/
>>
>>Confess now. It was you, wasn't it?
>
>errr well no I wasn't a MIT grad student at the age of 4...but I'll add him to my TechnoHippie Hall Of Fame. I do find it ironic that NASA blackballed presenting the grad student to the President and the public because they found out he was a real 'hippy type — long hair and facial hair'...and that if it wasn't for these 'hippy types' we all wouldn't be sitting in front of PC's right now.

Well it's pretty much how it worked everywhere. I know my career would have looked very different had I just shaved and cut my hair - may have been a CEO somewhere or who knows what. Many times I know they tolerated me just because of my knowledge and charming personality (add a few more politically corrected expressions), and hoped/wished I had come to my senses. Now in retrospect, I'm glad I did it this way - the hair and beard kept me away from the people I wouldn't want to sit with :).