Re: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
On Sun, Jul 06, 2008 at 05:05:27PM -0700, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: In my house, we had an encyclopedia because I was in school ... it was useful for research papers. I suspect the usefulness would depend on what one's teachers meant by research, which tends to change with grade level. In elementary and middle school, certainly. In high school, maybe. In college, probably not. Postgraduate, almost certainly not; at that level one should be using primary sources (and likely know enough to be writing articles *for* an encyclopedia :) It was useful in grade school because teachers didn't actually believe anyone at that age would ever go beyond the encyclopedia except in the case of token satisfaction of assignment requirements. It was useful in middle school and beyond the same way Wikipedia is now: it gave me ideas of the sorts of directions to take my research when I sought out more rigorously researched sources of information. I certainly never cited an encyclopedia in any research paper after sixth grade -- because I wasn't an idiot. -- Chad Perrin [ content licensed PDL: http://pdl.apotheon.org ] Larry Wall: You can never entirely stop being what you once were. That's why it's important to be the right person today, and not put it off till tomorrow. pgpfUC7dCcP7O.pgp Description: PGP signature
RE: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Gary Kline Sent: Friday, July 04, 2008 2:42 AM To: Ted Mittelstaedt Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; FreeBSD Mailing List Subject: Re: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia? On Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 01:50:20AM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 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!] Check out Usenet. Be nice to ask, e.g, why homes are not required to have R-50 in the wall; R-90 attics. Very simple. Building codes are regulated by the local jurisdictions, cities, counties, and such, with input from the state government. The only thing the Federal government can do is ban things - for example the Feds can ban use of asbestos - but they cannot set building codes. Because the local jurisdictions are -frequently- not staffed by competent people, lots of them just punt and follow the national electric code, or whatever industry standard that the construction industry has come up with. Insulation isn't required because the construction industry doesen't want the building codes to require anything over and above that which is needed to keep the building from falling down, so they don't put it in their national industry standards, thus the local jurisdictions don't require it either. (although they certainly could if they wanted) If you have ever had a new house built to spec (ie: you bought a lot in a subdivision with a designated builder, for example) you will have a meeting with the builder and discover that for an extra fee he can deviate from the spec plan and add a great many amenities - like extra insulation, additional electrical outlets, heavier duty wiring, extra gas lines, etc. etc. - that if added after the fact would be enormously expensive and disruptive, requiring tearing into the walls and suchlike. Some people do, some don't. Ted ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
On Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 12:00:50PM +0200, Wojciech Puchar wrote: 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 they bought it to HAVE it, not because they need it. In my house, we had an encyclopedia because I was in school and it was useful for research papers. -- Chad Perrin [ content licensed PDL: http://pdl.apotheon.org ] MacUser, Nov. 1990: There comes a time in the history of any project when it becomes necessary to shoot the engineers and begin production. pgpqqSfJUKDDn.pgp Description: PGP signature
Re: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
In my house, we had an encyclopedia because I was in school ... it was useful for research papers. I suspect the usefulness would depend on what one's teachers meant by research, which tends to change with grade level. In elementary and middle school, certainly. In high school, maybe. In college, probably not. Postgraduate, almost certainly not; at that level one should be using primary sources (and likely know enough to be writing articles *for* an encyclopedia :) ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
-Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 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. Ted ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
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. nothing to solve - compressed database are available for download. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
On Fri, Jul 04, 2008 at 01:50:20AM -0700, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote: -Original Message- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] 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 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -- Gary Kline [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.thought.org Public Service Unix http://jottings.thought.org http://transfinite.thought.org ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
RE: anyone been crazy enough to mirror wikipedia?
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 they bought it to HAVE it, not because they need it. ___ freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
