Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 02:42:26 -0700 From: Gary Kline <kline@thought.org> To: Ted Mittelstaedt <tedm@toybox.placo.com> Cc: stevefranks@ieee.org, FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia? Message-ID: <20080704094226.GA1817@thought.org> In-Reply-To: <BMEDLGAENEKCJFGODFOCCEMJCFAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> References: <539c60b90806301348l4b09cd90n3972b41339276d6f@mail.gmail.com> <BMEDLGAENEKCJFGODFOCCEMJCFAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com>
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On Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 01:50:20AM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org > > [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Steve Franks > > Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 1:49 PM > > To: FreeBSD Mailing List > > Subject: OT: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia? > > > > > > So call me a sociopath, but times are a bit scary. I'd like to do the > > 2000's equivalent of the 1960's bomb shelter, and have my very own > > snapshot in case of major local/regional internet disruption, etc. > > > > This is not a silly idea. For many many years people would spend > hundreds of dollars on a complete set of Encyclopedia Britannica > or World Book encyclopedia to have it sit on their shelf gathering > dust (until their kids used it for school, etc.) > > The fact that your even asking the question and wanting to do > it is to your credit. > > I really feel the big value of doing something like this is to > be able to go back to it, years later, and compare the old > entries on a topic with the current entries on a topic to > see how they have changed. > > I also think that solving the technical problems and learning > how to create a wikipedia mirror would be a great learning > experience for anyone. > > But, as for the practical value, I would encourage you to read > Asimov's Foundation series to really understand that any attempt > to catagorize and store the world's accumulated knowledge in a > storage medium in a single location is ultimately an exercise in > futility. Asimov > made the valid point that book knowledge of facts must work hand > in hand with experience to be useful, and experience isn't documentable. > Terminus itself, the entire planet and everyone on it, was the > encyclopedia - the actual encyclopedia that the encyclopediests > were working on, was nothing more than a sham. > Thanks for thi, Ted. While this is going even further off-topi, I would like to see a ' (non-scholarly) wiki for just about every topic you can think of. By wiki, i mean, in wiki format. over time it could have citations and beome a research tool. On the BSD kernel prio scheduler, for one example. This mighht grow into a wiki-web for unix nerds; or art history buffs, etv. I've got one questioon that I have been meaning to ask for years, but haven't due to the yelps.... II've asked some off-the-wall here on -questions simply because this is the most intelligent group|list of people I've found. Is there a more appropriate place to ask miscelllaneous questions? [I know about some and will hold my tongue!] Be nice to ask, e.g, why homes are not required to have R-50 in the wall; R-90 attics. --I'd ask here, but not only would someone toss a fit, but I doubt that even gven our level of xpertness, no one would know. ---Anyway, apologies for this quasi-ramble and completely OT post. have a good 4th/july, gary > Ted > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org" -- Gary Kline kline@thought.org www.thought.org Public Service Unix http://jottings.thought.org http://transfinite.thought.org
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