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Subject: InnovatioN$ relaunch
Newsgroups: ns.novaknowledge
Organization: Chebucto Community Net
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	Last Friday's "relaunch" of the magazine "InnovationN$" at Kings
	College was a rather curious, but not very inspiring affair.

	The politicians spoke one after another and said what good people
	they were and what good people the assembled audience were and
	mentioned the sums of money that were being devoted to InnovationN$
	and made it clear that this was a Federal / Provincial / Industry
	initiative so that everyone will have someone else to blame when
	it screws up.

	Those closest to the action seemed hung up on "new paradigms"
	but were otherwise a bit vague about what was actually likely
	to be accomplished by the project.

	The chief bureaucrat associated with the endeavour made reference
	to the hallowed walls of Kings, which had formerly echoed to 
	speeches in the Latin tongue, but which would now resound to
	"http://" ... or would have done if anyone had actually got around
	to making sure that an Internet connection were operational
	for the relaunch.  He sounded like a bit of a unilingual neophyte in
 	Cyberspace and was probably unaware that the ancients had got there 
	well ahead of him, albeit in the "ftp://" dialect.

	My reaction to the whole business is summed up fairly well by
	the words which one of these ancients, Virgil, put (nearly) into the 
	mouth of the priest Laocoon :

 	" Quicquid id est, timeo Danaos et paradigma ferentis "

	[ see     ftp://nptn.org/pub/e.texts/gutenberg/etext95/anidl10.txt  
	     ...  page 56, line 1 ]
	
	{ transl.  for the classically challenged :

	'whatever this thing is, I'm mighty suspicious of these Danai, 
	 especially when they try to give us their paradigms'         }

	Perhaps this seems a little reactionary on my part, but I have never
	regarded Laocoon's reservations to be in any way contradictory to
	the forward-looking admonition of my Old School motto :
		
		" Tempori parendum "

	[ see    Stirling High School  on  Stanet at :
	         http://ac.dal.ca/~past/school.html   ( link # 22 )   ]
	

	Once more for the classically challenged -  Laocoon was a priest
	in Troy and was strongly advising his flock to have nothing at
	all to do with the horse that the Greeks had left for them.  His
	fate is described at page 65 of the above E_text, but will be 
	well known in any case to most afficianados of classical sculpture.
	(see e.g.  http://xx.acs.appstate.edu/art/laocoon.html
	 or else  www.vatican.va  )
	I hope to avoid a similar end.  Perhaps it would be wise for N.S.
	to try and avoid the end suffered by Troy too.

	Alasdair McKay

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