[ih] astonishing patron saint of the Internet

[Bill Ricker]

MAP would appreciate the literary allusions on this thread, and would have
i'm sure something witty to offer *en riposte*. I shalln't attempt to
channel the master.

The 2008 script for the Judi Dench narration on Walt Disney World's
Spaceship Earth ride (EPCOT) described the web of Roman roads spanning much
of the known world, converging on Rome, with courier chariots establishing
their speed of information, as

  "the first 'World Wide Web'."
>

Yeah, there are a number of Dad-joke level "puns".

And when depicting the sacks of Rome and the Library at Alexandria, Dame
Judi's script continues ,

But then we hit a roadblock—Rome falls, and the great Library of Alexandria
> in Egypt is burned. Much of our learning is destroyed—lost forever… or so
> we think.
>
> SCENE CHANGE - THREE MEN *(Speaking Arabic)*
>
> It turns out there are copies of some of these books in the libraries of
> the Middle East, being watched over by Arab and Jewish scholars. Call it *the
> first backup system*. The books are saved, and with them our dreams of
> the future.
>

I'd not be alone in claiming Hypatia of Alexandria (335/370-405/415 AD,
varies!) as an additional Saint of encyclopedic knowledge in a pantheon
with Isodore and Diderot. (And maybe *Funk and Wagnalls*. :-D) Unlike the
Roman church hierarchy, her being a Pagan isn't disqualifying for me! (The
Eastern Church appears to have appropriated her with a name change
<https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypatia#/media/File%3AIcon_of_Saint_Catherine.jpg>
?!)

(Landline telegraphers and ham radio ops are among those who've claimed to
be the first *social media*, if not the first WWW. :-D
Ironically, hams are perhaps the last refuge of ISORM's (A)X.25 development
? )