When I was a kid, I had a daddy with this moustache.

One day, he shaved it off. I looked at the pale, exposed strip of lip, and demanded he grow it back. There are no images of this event, besides those burned into my brain. It was in simpler times.

Dad did grow it back, and a beard too, and and now he's (great)-Grandpa Hess.

Who, come to think, looks similar to my tie-died friend Bdale.

Bdale is one of the Debian grandfathers, those old guys who the young ones in the project look up to. And today, he scarred all their minds.

The collective shout of "grow it back!" is gonna be huge.

Did I mention that it all involves Tasmanian devils, charity, and the mean razor of Linus Torvalds?

These are not simple times.