Someone out there asked:

On Sun, 18 Sep 1994, Robert Hettinga wrote:

...

Hey. I get it. Solon. Lawyer. Nym.

I think it is too late in the day for me. When you have a minute, please let me in on it so I too can "get it".

Sorry. Operating with sparse data in "terse" mode again... Here's the verbose, shaky memory version. I think Solon (called after he died "the lawgiver") was a, well, tyrant, of Athens. Tyrants in ancient Greece tended to be dictatorial in the modern sense. They weren't born to the job. They stole it fair and square, so the job was theirs. (BTW, the job "Dictator" comes from Rome, where it was an ad hoc, special purpose office granted by the senate with unlimited power for a finite term, usually 2 years. The finite term was supposed to be a check against abuse. Ceasar liked the job so much he wanted to keep it for life, so they snuffed him. Didn't do them any good.) Anyway. According to legend, Solon wrote, by himself for the most part, the laws Athens operated under during the Periclean, "golden" age of its history. Can't remember whether he stepped down after he did it, but the laws he wrote, including most of the ones we call "democratic", stayed in place after he died. So. SOLONg has several puns in "his" name. One, Solon "the lawgiver", like "I speak law". Two, So Long, Solon, like, "so long laws". Since "his" first post was a legal one, he (I'll take the quotes off because the original Solon was male) must be a lawyer or a law student, or someone who is neither who wants to sound like they are. Basing the nym on Solon the lawgiver is a little pretentious, but, hey, what you expect for what turn out to be free legal counsel on cypherpunk issues, a focus-group-tested nym? In the meantime, we have someone at least claiming legal credentials willing to put an oar in here every once in a while. With our friend Vinny "The Pro" Bono, (rumored relation to an ex-mayor), that makes two anonymous lawyers on the list that I know of. That is good thing, I think. Time will tell of course, whether that really is the case... Cheers, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923