Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:45:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tamar Lindsay <dicconf at yahoo.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Give Me That Old Time Technology!
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

=0A=0A--- On Mon, 8/23/10, Keith F. Lynch <kfl at KeithLynch.net> wrote:=0A=0A=
> I wonder how durable flash drives are.=A0 If they will=0A> last, I think =
they're nearly ideal backup media,=0A> being inexpensive, compact, fast,=0A=
> and tolerant of being dropped on concrete.=0A=0AI think the major problem=
 is not the durability of =0Athe object but the readability.  Anything kept=
=0Ain a technological form will have to be translated=0Ainto whatever new t=
echnology comes along or be lost.=0AThat includes sound recordings; somewhe=
re I have=0Aa cassette tape of music that was taped onto a=0Areel-to-reel r=
ecorder from some old Edison cylinders.=0AIf I had the tech knowledge I'd d=
ig it out, try to=0Afind a working cassette deck, and copy it onto a=0ACD, =
just for the heck of it.  (The songs aren't=0Athat great.)=0A=0A> ObSF:=A0 =
In Greg Egan's _Disaspora_, there is discussion=0A> of getting information =
to survive an upcoming nearby =0A> gamma ray burster by carving all of it i=
nto stone =0A> tablets.=A0 When it's realized that this would=0A> require t=
hat several large planets be disassembled =0A> and converted into stone tab=
lets, they make alternate,=0A> much more radical, plans.=0A=0ASurely clay t=
ablets would survive just as well and =0Abe faster to engrave.=0A=0A=Tama=
r=0A=0A=0A