Library of legacy knowledge

[Onkel Neal]

There was a guy on the radio talking about a project like a library of sorts, of all kinds of old tech How Tos, like making preserves, making a forge, how to sow fields, all kinds of things we would need to know if the Russians hit us with an EMP. For the life of me I cannot remember what they called this, and I have searched, but cannot find it. I figure there are a few guys here who have stronger Google Fu than me....

[Oberon]

A fantastic idea! Not just for EMPs but for any disaster that will set us back a few centuries. :yep:

There was an old book called 'Enquire Within Upon Everything':
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enquire_Within_Upon_Everything

It was this book that Tim Berners-Lee kind of based the internet on, it was in a way what he hoped the internet would become, a sort of modern version of the book.

It's worth a look. :yep:

[ikalugin]

STC?

[Catfish]

yes, i faintly remember .. there was something ... gawd if i ....


AHH!


Books !
:O:

In Germany we had a book called "Wissensspeicher" (Knowledge store?), where the most crucial things were explained, just in case ..

I also have some books covering living off the grid, and doing a lot of things yourself, but ...
Remember when the Russians, Chinese, AlQuaeda or Zombies or whatever come, there will be no Internet to use. Apart from EMP, simple power dropout will take care.
Books and knowledge are the only way to go then.

And even if i do not really believe in anything of the mentioned above, and even if we have built our house to be prepared .. even if the generator works for a few months (until fuel runs out) there will be some "minor" problems: Food and diseases.

Even with the best of conserves, you cannot have enough to survive (unless you are 80, or so). Then you would need some acres to produce enough food, and there will be others who want it ..

The lights will first go out in the cities. Without energy and fuel (you need electric pumps, to fill your gas tank), there will be not enough support food-wise into the big cities, and even if you 'conquer' and hold a supermarket, how long do you think you will be able to eat the things stored there, without cooling ? And even with electricity, only two-three months ahead. What then ?

Nah i guess a civilised life in peace, with french and italian foods and vine available everywhere, are a much better choice :) :yep:

[ikalugin]

We need the STC technology.

[Catfish]

What's STC ? :hmmm:

[ikalugin]

Standard Template Construct - a Warhammer 40k technology.

[Skybird]

An according projects stores grains of all sorts in a bunker in either Greenland or the Swiss Alps, I do not recall anymore where it was. So that agriculture could be restarted in case of Idonotimaginewhat.

Regarding knowledge storage, just do not trust in contemporary technology as a data medium. We already lose access to data media and storage codes due to the technological decoders being lost. What is much better is paper and ink of good quality. And that must not necessarily be the latest generation of paper and ink, but possibly could be something of age. Important is the climate of the storage location, light conditions, geological stability, and so on. If done well, paper can survive not for centuries but millenia. Trust in your USB stick for as long? That super-HD? A DVD?

The digital technology for me is more a tool for short-termed pragmatism, to sort and access information in a superior way while accessing it. But the digital technology so far imo misses promising outlooks for survivable longterm storage of data. It should not be trusted. The carrier media are too sensible and vulnerable, the technology to access them gets too easily lost, and the decoding keys (programming languages for example) constantly change and increase in number and variety as well. Some scientist examining prospects of the the future therefore claim that a purely digital culture would literally delete itself.

For the ever increasing diversity of digital access methods, and for the ever increasing supernational bureaucracy regulating our lives as well, I have only one metaphor on my mind: the building of the tower ofBabel.

The "unbreakable barrels" with toxic radioactive waste stored in German salt mines are already leaking, btw. And who said that in one thousand years people will still be able to read the warnings in those letters and words that were printed on them? Languages change. And will the paint still be on the corroding barrels? - This only to illustrate the problem from a different angle.

[Skybird]

P.S. The best passing on of knowledge is - from mouth to ear, from generation to generation. Some religious cults are especially good at this, and as a result are hard to be penetreated or to be wiped out. But mastering arts of craftsmanship, and hand the knowledge from father to son: is the way to go. Plus it adds the bonus of passing on not just theoretic knowledge, but practial experience as well. Which often makes all the difference.

[mapuc]

@ Skybird

"An according projects stores grains of all sorts in a bunker in either Greenland or the Swiss Alps, I do not recall anymore where it was. So that agriculture could be restarted in case of Idonotimaginewhat"

It's stored in Svalbard, Norway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault

Markus

[Skybird]

:up: It seems they had a focus on making it hard to reach for regional global conflicts, on the other hand it is so isolated that Norway will find it diffiouclt to defend it against one of the big military powers, if the latter decide to secure control of the place.

I wonder how safe the place is against geological and tectonic disasters, raise of sea levels, tsunamis, super-cell thunderstorms and the like.

There should be several such places around the globe, not just one or two.

[Oberon]

I must admit when I heard of that seed project I did nod in approval.

Of course, only the Swiss will be around to replant. :03: :haha:

[Skybird]

That are no Swiss, that are Hobbits. :03:

[ikalugin]

You could use solid crystals as your data medium (and use a laser to engrave data into them), those (in cold and geologically stable environment) could last for hundreds of years without maintenance.

However the only true way to protect your data is to have a self repairing/maintaining data storage facility, but this would require a working AI to run.

[Catfish]

Hmm, i would also like to look at a website like Neal mentioned in his initial post.. so there is no one who knwos about that ?


Apart from that, during my illustrious career (ahem) i have also worked in a museum, and we of course had a lot of material, object-wise and written texts on old, partially decaying, paper.

Nowadays it is all digitally stored, but CDs are known to remain usable for appx. 20 years, DVDs even less. No idea about BluRay yet.

The only current solution is to copy all the contents from one medium to another (perferably hard disks), following the advance in memory storage. This also means, that already now you cannot easily access databases anymore, that have been created e.g. in dbase, or more exotic old storage systems, hardware and software-wise.

Either the hardware does not work anymore, or the software cannot be read anymore, by new and more developed systems.

Which is why a lot of museum people claim this and the following century will be called the black spot (or "dark age of information") in history, due to abundant, but then unreadable, data material.

[Dowly]

What's STC ? :hmmm:
http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Standard_Template_Construct_%28STC%29

[August]

A library of such information already exists although it concentrates on the culture of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

http://www.foxfire.org/thefoxfirebookseries.aspx

[Rockstar]

Found someting called Survivor Library. Lots old tyme information dating back to the mid 1800's. http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1014

Things like boiling water bath time charts for canning your own foods can be found at the above site in pdf format along with a whole host of other good how-to information.

These books have been collected over the years primarily for their Historical value in teaching us about the way prior generations lived.

ALWAYS keep in mind that the knowledge, techniques and skills in these books come from a century ago, sometimes earlier. They date from a time before we understood such things as disease vectors and the toxicity of substances such as mercury. While we’ve included the medical and food related books because there are many valuable, tried and true techniques that have been forgotten over time, they do contain formulas, recipes and knowledge that we now know to be dangerous and harmful. Before considering using any of these techniques or applying the skills and knowledge in them, apply common sense and modern knowledge. If you’re in any doubt about the safety of something in these books either consult an expert or don’t use them.

COPYRIGHTS:
All of the books listed are Public Domain or have expired Copyrights so you are free to download and print them. All of them are in PDF format and are primarily from page scans of original printed book sources. In many cases there is also an EPUB version available.

[August]

Found someting called Survivor Library. Lots old tyme information dating back to the mid 1800's. http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1014

Things like boiling water bath time charts for canning your own foods can be found at the above site in pdf format along with a whole host of other good how-to information.

Not gonna be much help to you if there is no electricity to fire up a computer to read it.

[Rockstar]

Well, no time like present to print them out.

[August]

Well, no time like present to print them out.

True dat. Have you? :)

[em2nought]

A library of such information already exists although it concentrates on the culture of the southern Appalachian Mountains.

http://www.foxfire.org/thefoxfirebookseries.aspx

There is also https://www.motherearthnews.com/order/order.aspx?promocode=MMEGOEZ1&gclid=CL_QjsWTgMICFSgQ7AodrzgAMA

For mechanical stuff it would really help to be more of a youtube video type media. Like how to reseat a tire by spraying in some starter fluid and then lighting it. Poof! Made sure to look at that a bit before I tried it. LOL

[Onkel Neal]

Found someting called Survivor Library. Lots old tyme information dating back to the mid 1800's. http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1014

Things like boiling water bath time charts for canning your own foods can be found at the above site in pdf format along with a whole host of other good how-to information.

I think that's it, thanks!:rock::rock::rock::rock::rock:

[Rockstar]

True dat. Have you? :)

Meh, my neighbors are pretty handy they can cook, clean, butcher meats, can food. But they are unarmed whereas I am, so if it hits the fan they have two choices they'll be working for me or first against the wall when I come into power. LOL <j/k>

[August]

There is also https://www.motherearthnews.com/order/order.aspx?promocode=MMEGOEZ1&gclid=CL_QjsWTgMICFSgQ7AodrzgAMA

For mechanical stuff it would really help to be more of a youtube video type media. Like how to reseat a tire by spraying in some starter fluid and then lighting it. Poof! Made sure to look at that a bit before I tried it. LOL

I agree. If a picture says a thousand words then a video especially for things like instructions and procedures says a million.

Unfortunately like the point I was making with Rockstar in any long term survival situation electricity is likely to be non existent or at least be heavily restricted. In that case hard copies rule.

Of course hard copies come with their own storage and maintenance requirements. Dead IPads are no more useless than stacks of rotted out mouse eaten books.

Be nice to have a laminated set of survival books packed away in a waterproof ballistic container as part of a cache.

[em2nought]

Found someting called Survivor Library. Lots old tyme information dating back to the mid 1800's. http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1014

I think we've already reached the point where we have to go back and read the section about how to make a decent shoe. :D

[Wolferz]

There is also https://www.motherearthnews.com/order/order.aspx?promocode=MMEGOEZ1&gclid=CL_QjsWTgMICFSgQ7AodrzgAMA

For mechanical stuff it would really help to be more of a youtube video type media. Like how to reseat a tire by spraying in some starter fluid and then lighting it. Poof! Made sure to look at that a bit before I tried it. LOL

That actually works.:up: But, use extreme care when performing this operation and a long stick with the ignition source attached to the end.:huh:
You may find yourself in the realm of the ether bunny.

[Catfish]

Really excellent find ! :up:

And not only that, tons of information on american locomotives and railroads !!! ???

Boiler making (no not the alcohol variety :03: )
http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1758

Steam engines
http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1391

Railroads OMG !!
http://www.survivorlibrary.com/?page_id=1377

Pre civil war and until 1880 US railroads are a hobby of mine. Wahh what a find !