Re: [ccp4bb]: ab initio

[Gerard DVD Kleywegt <gerard@xray.bmc.uu.se>]

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                                          Dies irae, Anno Domini 2003.


Lectoribus salutem !


Primo, as amicus curiae, I (et alia) must hic et nunc express my ad lib
agreement with the ex cathedra dictum of the other Gerard (the emeritus locus
classicus, sui generis, and in toto not my alter ego, by the way), mutatis
mutandis.  And vice versa too, I presume (but as always: caveat emptor !), et
cetera, ad infinitum (nauseam ?). Clearly, this is de facto a casus belli -
pro bono publico (vide infra) ! Alea iacta est ! Quod erat demonstrandum.

Secundo, the ex officio abuse of the expression 'ab initio' is, prima facie,
reminiscent of that of the word 'novel' (sic!) in the title of scientific
papers, inter alia. Surely, ad fundum, novelty is a conditio sine qua non for
scientific papers ? Or is this not the communis opinio ? Mea culpa - I think I
may, nota bene, have done this myself once, back in the dark 1980s (not
something to put in one's curriculum vitae).  On the other hand, it is not my
modus operandi and, as my grandmother used to say: mei capilli sunt flagrantes
(ipse dixit) ! Ex post facto, things are always easier a posteriori than a
priori. Luctor et emergo (vide supra) ! In vino veritas (cum grano salis; vita
brevis after all).

Sic transit gloria CCP4-bulletin-boardi !


--Deo Volente Disco (persona non grata)


Post scriptum: if your lingua franca is rusty, check out:
- http://depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/englatin.htm
- http://www.les.aston.ac.uk/latin.html
- http://educ2.hku.hk/~jsachs/latin.htm
- http://www.ptloma.edu/ljml/hwood/Class/LATIN/expressions.htm

PPS: I hope Tassos will not respond - timeo Danaos et dona ferentes !


******************************************************************
                        Gerard J.  Kleywegt
    [Research Fellow of the Royal  Swedish Academy of Sciences]
Dept. of Cell & Molecular Biology  University of Uppsala
                Biomedical Centre  Box 596
                SE-751 24 Uppsala  SWEDEN

    http://xray.bmc.uu.se/gerard/  mailto:gerard@xray.bmc.uu.se
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