Date:         Sat, 6 Jan 2007 11:59:09 -0600
Reply-To:     Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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Sender:       Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
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From:         phillip holmes <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:      Re: Interesting WSJ Article on when libraries should discard
              their holdings.
Comments: To: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
In-Reply-To:  <001e01c731ba$4cb1d770$6a01a8c0@TOMOFFICE>
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Yes, and the intellectual types would probably get turned into dinner by 
the bigger stronger moron types (cooked over piles of useless books and 
records).  However, in a nuclear attack, virtually all non-hardened 
electronic devices will be rendered useless by EMP.  EMP can knock out 
computers, and such, hundreds of miles away (far out of range of 
blast/heat).  One of the various first strike scenarios has been to 
detonate nukes in the upper atmosphere, knocking out 
communications/command/control ,on ground and in the atmosphere, of the 
enemy, blinding them.  Looks like we're going that direction--total 
annihilation.  However, until that fateful day, there should be a 
digital version (prevents wear/tear) and a preserved original specimen. 
Phillip

Tom Fine wrote:
> Don, this makes no sense. An occurance that would decimate every copy 
> of every digital data would definitely destroy all other matter, too. 
> Books and records burn faster than computers, last I checked.
>
> -- Tom Fine
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Cox" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, January 05, 2007 6:56 AM
> Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Interesting WSJ Article on when libraries 
> should discard their holdings.
>
>
>> On 05/01/07, Tom Fine wrote:
>>> Sorry but this is an uninformed statement. A company like Google or
>>> any other halfway responsible for-profit entity has servers mirrored
>>> and backed up nine ways to Sunday, including information spread all
>>> over the globe in redundant locations. Likely, the data will live on
>>> beyond the printed originals barring a nuclear holocaust, in which
>>> case it really doesn't matter.
>>
>> On the contrary, that is when it matters most. Think of the importance
>> of the few (in some cases one only) copies of Greek and Roman books for
>> the recovery of European civilisation after the Dark Ages.
>>
>> Hard copy books and 78 rpm records are more likely to survive in a
>> useful state than digital data.
>>
>> Regards
>> -- 
>> Don Cox
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>
>
>