From akriman@darwin.helios.nd.edu Sun Apr 22 05:14:22 2001
Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8])
	by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.03) with ESMTP id f3MCEL905800
	for <classics@lists.u.washington.edu>; Sun, 22 Apr 2001 05:14:21 -0700
Received: from mailspool.helios.nd.edu (mailspool.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.7])
	by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.11.2+UW01.01/8.11.2+UW01.03) with ESMTP id f3MCEL703067
	for <classics@u.washington.edu>; Sun, 22 Apr 2001 05:14:21 -0700
Received: from darwin.helios.nd.edu (darwin.helios.nd.edu [129.74.250.114])
	by mailspool.helios.nd.edu (8.9.2/8.9.2) with ESMTP id HAA29779
	for <classics@u.washington.edu>; Sun, 22 Apr 2001 07:14:19 -0500 (EST)
Received: (from akriman@localhost)
	by darwin.helios.nd.edu (8.10.1/8.10.1/ND-cluster) id f3MCEKd28134
	for classics@u.washington.edu; Sun, 22 Apr 2001 07:14:20 -0500 (EST)
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 07:14:20 -0500 (EST)
From: Alfred M Kriman <akriman@darwin.helios.nd.edu>
Message-Id: <200104221214.f3MCEKd28134@darwin.helios.nd.edu>
To: classics@u.washington.edu
Subject: Re: Classical Computer Names

> >Actually I've always found it interesting that there seems to be a 
> >predeliction for giving servers 'classical' names ... idirect.com, e.g., 
> >has an ares, phobos, and deimos ... the hellenic resource thingie (which 
> >has all the wirefeeds of various greek newspapers) has an apollo, there 
> >are plenty of zeus and hera pairs that I've run into ... I've seen bacchus 
> >... calliope (and assorted other Muses) ...

David Meadows:
> ... I wonder why the choice?

Often, one chooses names in a way to indicate that they form part of a
cluster or have something in common (like being in the same room).  It's
a convenient way to indicate hierarchical structure without introducing
a new subdomain level.  Also, any relationship one associates with the
names might correspond to some corresponding relationship of the
machines.)

At one point, a computer room here called the solarium had sun work
stations named after the planets.  The computer labs on the ground floor
are in four rooms: the philosophers' (Aquinas, Aristotle,...), composers'
(Bach, Bartok, Beethoven,...), painters' (Angelico, Bernini,...) and
authors' rooms.  It's mnemonic.  I guess it's the Chemistry Department
that has machines named aluminum to zirconium.

Sometimes you choose for the number (12 Olympians, 9 muses, etc.)  I
imagine if you have a cluster of nine Apollo workstations, it's natural
to name them after a choir of muses.

AMK
.