My very first professional writing gig was with Computers in Libraries.  A patient and wonderful editor named Kathy Dempsey took a chance on an opinionated upstart who had just barely worked in libraries, having recently come from the dark side (that is from a vendor, not as some might think, from California or D.C., the two domiciles that preceded North Carolina). I told her I had an idea for a new column and that I was calling it “First Principles,” the notion being that there is nothing new under the sun, and that approaching technology from the starting point of …