Day #1 of Wash Conference

[scherrer at mtxinu.UUCP]

Concerning those who didn't seem to feel day #1 of the Washington
Conference ("What it is to be UNIX") had much value, this reminds
me of a story I once heard, attributed to Columbus (you know, the
1492 one):

	Seems that after Columbus returned from his first trip,
	he was treated to a big celebration dinner by the Queen.  
	Several of those attending, perhaps jealous of Columbus's
	success, were trying to downplay his achievements by noting that
	it wasn't all that big of a deal, since everyone already
	knew that the world was round anyway and so all one had
	to do was get on a boat and do it.   Well, says old Columbus,
	as he reached for an egg on the table, "See this egg.
	Can any of you make it stand up on end?"  Of course they
	all tried and all failed.  Columbus smashed the (hard-boiled)
	egg down on its nose and it stood up perfectly.  Still
	unenlightened, the downplayers claimed yet again "yeah, well,
	that's obvious too, so what's the big deal"?

So, my friends, beware of underrating the value of insight. ;-)