Date: Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:04:10 -0400 From: DAve <dave.list@pixelhammer.com> To: FreeBSD Mailing List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: OT: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia? Message-ID: <487195BA.1090906@pixelhammer.com> In-Reply-To: <BMEDLGAENEKCJFGODFOCKEMJCFAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com> References: <BMEDLGAENEKCJFGODFOCKEMJCFAA.tedm@toybox.placo.com>
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Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org >> [mailto:owner-freebsd-questions@freebsd.org]On Behalf Of Chad Perrin >> Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 10:05 PM >> To: FreeBSD Mailing List >> Subject: Re: OT: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia? >> >> >> On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 05:15:39PM -0400, DAve wrote: >>> Steve Franks wrote: >>>> 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. >>>> >>>> What would be the best way to go about this. I see with <1T words, it >>>> appears doable on current technology. Maybe they should offer a >>>> snapshot on DVDs or disk as a fundraiser? I'd drop $300 for some sort >>>> of officially licenced copy, I suspect there are other freaks that >>>> would too... >>> When the world gets that bad, Wikipedia is the least of my concerns, >>> slightly ahead of who is winning American Idol. If it comes to >> the point >>> the internet goes down for a long period of time, that $300 is better >>> spent on a garden. >>> >>> Just my thoughts. >> Actually . . . if things get that bad, you're going to need some >> firepower to protect your garden (and everything else you don't want >> taken from you by force). To properly protect a garden, you'd need to >> make it a community farm, with community members who have and will use >> firearms to protect it (and your Wikipedia mirror). >> >> Of course, I greatly admire the impulse to protect the collected >> knowledge of Wikipedia from disaster. It's also practical -- because it >> contains a lot of information that might be of use (including good >> subsistence gardening information, for those of us who don't have >> naturally green thumbs). >> > > If the crash comes and you don't have 4 - 5 years of experience > running a garden on your land, plus your own well, your gonna starve. > > Veggies are very particular as to the kind of soil they like, and the > light and water they get. And it takes several years of trying different > ones to figure out the ones that do best in your soil. And most modern > veggies are hybrids and the seed is genetically engineered, and patented. > Many varieties are, in fact, sterile. Many others require irrigation to > produce sizable yields. > > To put in a "heritage" garden that will produce given the normally > occurring rainfall in your area takes someone with many years of > experience in your area growing gardens. By the time you would > be able to get one going from info in wikipedia, you would have > died of starvation. > > Ted Some of us will have veggies/skills/water for trade. But what he says is true. It ain't as easy as read a page, plant a row. If I have a question on FreeBSD, Wikipedia is my last resort, after phone calls. While it is useful I suppose to some, I would never base a decision on anything I read there. It is useful for key words and topics to expand a search through better sources, but not much else. If Wikipedia is killing Encyclopedia sales, it is because people are willing to accept mediocrity over accuracy if accuracy comes at a price and mediocrity is free. It has been my experience, maybe things have changed, that a hardbound reference book is the equivalent of asking Bunny Watson for an answer, and Wikipedia is like asking Cliffy on Cheers. DAve -- Don't tell me I'm driving the cart!
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