Preservation of knowledge

[Sgtusmc]

This was first used as a reply in a separate thread. I thought it needed its own thread to expound upon.



Preservation of knowledge for re-establishment of society or having a mobile library is certainly an interesting subject when one looks at the environment we might be operating in if that library becomes needed.


The internet will most likely be gone as well as the priority of electricity to power a PC device while possibly on the move. Things that I have considered for a mobile library are

• weight
• size
• lack of moving parts
• electrical load
• storage medium

and

• what is entailed in retrieving the data off of that storage medium.

Hard drives need to be powered from a working computer with a working monitor. Too many requirements in my opinion to access the data. Good for long term redundancy of storage once computers are plugged back in, but I wouldn't want to be carrying around even 1 hard drive due to the sensitive nature and weight when you'll probably already be overburdened.


CD/DVD format is better than hard drives in this case due to the weight and lack of sensitivity to the data compared to say dropping the hard drive accidentally on concrete. They are still sensitive to scratching though and what's worse is the additional hardware needed to access the data. A drive connected once again to a computer is needed. Great redundant backups, not good for accessing data on the go though in a survival situation.


Printed material is immediately accessible but overly burdensome due to the weight and space just 1 or 2 books occupy. We're going to be collecting information from many books, so 1 or 2 just won't do.


Flash drives/Thumb drives/ and SDcards are light weight with zero moving parts and hold MUCH more information than a CD, a DVD or a box full of books. Several can be stored at once in a protective container of your choosing. Water proof, crush proof, EMP proof, all possible attributes to a container of your choosing to store your veritable library. I'm still researching whether a USB drive is better than an SDcard in regards to longevity or any other unforeseen pros or cons.


Next, we need a tablet device with a USB port or SDcard port to readily read the information. Tablets are portable, no moving parts to break, easier to store in a protective compartment of some kind and run on very little power. Personally, I'm typing this on an IPad right now, but this IPad wouldn't be my chosen library device to be stored away in my bug out bag. There are tablets being sold for as cheap as ~$60, but buyer beware and we need one that has our preferred port. Your research might yield something different than my requirements but as a here and now example, I found the ASUS memo pad to meet my requirements. It's ~$112, 7" touchscreen and has both mini USB and micro SD ports. The mini USB port has a adaptor cable to plug in your flash drives. Micro SD cards are even tinier than SDcards making storage even more beneficial if you go the micro route. It has on board memory to save those top priority PDF's.

The $74 computer the size of a thumb drive

Regarding PDF files, it is the format most used and supported for documents meant for reading and/or online books and documents. Images can be formatted within the text of a .PDF as well. Keep in mind, many devices don't support the file format unless a PDF viewer is prepackaged or downloaded. Adobe reader is the most well known free PDF reader available on a multitude of devices.


When shopping for a library device of this nature, just shop with the knowledge that you don't care about all the extra wing dings such as cameras or gaming potential. It's there simply to display your PDF files on the go. Once rule of law and civilization is restored, the libraries can then be re-printed into books and/or copied and shared from person to person with such storage devices available to them.


In regards to re-charging the tablets battery, there are many methods to do this. Thermo-coupler devices generate electrical current from heat/fire. Putting a winder on the shaft of a stepper moter will send a current out of the motors contacts. You can repurpose a wind up or squeeze flash light. There are wind up weather radios out now with charging ports built in. If you're traveling by bike, you can hook the wires up from your bike light to recharge something as you pedal.

CHARGING SOLUTIONS
https://www.indianagunowners.com/fo...15551-preservation-knowledge.html#post4501177


While collecting .PDF files, it's a good rule of thumb to do a virus scan and be wary of clicking URLs in PDF files.

We could debate all day long subject matters worthy of collecting as .PDF files. First and foremost though is the survival of you and your family through times in which you wish you had an answer or solution.


We we must all learn to be resourceful before the time comes to be resourceful.

LIST OF PDF RESOURCES

Survival related material and free E books:
http://www.survivalistboards.com/downloads.php

http://12160.info/profiles/blogs/37-survival-downloads-and-handbooks-pioneering-shtf-engineering-u

http://www.free-ebooks.net

http://www.truthistreason.net/16-survival-downloads-field-manuals-and-handbooks

Http://www.thepiratebay.sx (NSFW...A TORRENT SITE)

A good library is a balanced library, not just survival subject matter but books on mathematics, anatomy, the sciences, farming, philosophy, etc.

 

[the1kidd03]

E-reader that has a USB capable charger and one of those emergency radios with the solar/battery/hand crank option and a USB port to charge the E-reader

 

[Sgtusmc]

E-reader that has a USB capable charger and one of those emergency radios with the solar/battery/hand crank option and a USB port to charge the E-reader

Problem with most E-Readers is their lack of storage (~2 Meg), lack of ports and the fact some are locked down to their own proprietary doc formats. They can be usable though.

 

[NathanJefferson]

I think there are plenty of tablets/phones/etc out there that fit the bill - and the Micro SD card route is the best. They are very resistant, even water proof! (all that i've seen are at least) You can get USB and regular SD adapters for micro SD cards to adapt to other devices.

My biggest problem is having a 'good library' to reference. There are tons of HUGE libraries and downloads that I've found but they like to throw everything and the kitchen sink in there, hundreds of field manuals, hundreds of other articles, etc, etc. When push comes to shove, finding the gold from the tens of thousands of pages of chaff will be key.

 

[Valvestate]

Check out Milleniata. They make dvd format media with an etched stone type recording layer as opposed to chemical phase change. Chemical based media are affected by light, temperature, and humidity, while these discs are not (unless you throw them in a fire, substrate is still polycarbonate).

 

[Enkrypter]

I've said for years now, that if our society ever got wiped out, there'd be almost no trace of us. Most of our knowledge is in digital form and our books aren't sealed in air tight jars buried tombs like the Egyptians did. There will be remains of our civilization, but I imagine whoever stumbled across it would feel very much like we do with the mayans. Except, they wrote their stuff down on rocks...

Our history is stored in electrons and 1's and 0's. Most of us fail to exist as people if all the servers in the world go out. Precarious times we live in.

I often wonder what some other civilization would think of all the crap we left behind. Imagine them digging up a nuclear waste bunker and what they would think of us.

 

[bwframe]

I like your ideas! I think the best working strategies are based on KISS.
Simple backup strategies, the idea that two is one in separate locations and different mediums drastically improve your chances that your plan will work.
Ongoing hardware/software evolution is a must. Three years ago the Android OS was just a cellular thing, tablets were a high dollar specialty thing and a 4gig thumb drive was big.

 

[sloughfoot]

This is not the first time the human race has faced this problem. We are the third civilization to face this problem. Technology has not been the answer in the past and will not be our answer either. Knowledge that survives will be passed down by word of mouth.

Over the fire in the lodges.

What we have been taught were the "cave men" were the survivors of their civilization and time.

There are always survivors. Humans have been on this earth for millions of years. Nothing is truly new. humans walked with the dinosaurs. There are foot prints to prove it.

More knowledge has been lost over the millennia than we can ever know. Magnetic levitation is just one technology that is waiting to be "rediscovered". When it is, we will know how those megatons of rock were transported and erected by "primitive" peoples.

 

[Kutnupe14]

Microfische, capable of long-term storage, easily transcribed, electricity not required, not cumbersome. (now finding someway to do it, I have no idea)

 

[CountryBoy19]

I think there are plenty of tablets/phones/etc out there that fit the bill - and the Micro SD card route is the best. They are very resistant, even water proof! (all that i've seen are at least) You can get USB and regular SD adapters for micro SD cards to adapt to other devices.

This^^^

Look into some of the tablets out there... I have an Asus transformer which is a tablet with Mini SD slot. The tablet docks onto a keyboard that has built-in: extra battery power, 2 USB ports, standard size SD card slot... The benefit of this is that #1 with screen turned down and wifi off the battery will last 16+hrs of casual use. So in reality you're talking about days of use figuring 2-4 hrs/day using it. Charges from USB like many other tablets. It offers the convenience of leaving the dock connected to the charger to charge that battery, then at a later time connect the tablet to the dock to quick-charge the internal battery in the tablet... It's on honeycomb operating system and come with "Polaris Office" which reads/edits a large variety of word, excel, pdf type documents...

and you can run apps on it that may get you out of a pinch... like map apps, ballistic calculators for making long-range shots... etc

 

[skulhedface]

This thread made me finally join. I was looking for similar and found the Ectaco Jetbook mini. It uses SD cards and AA batteries. I used to repair tablets and my experience was that the batteries are prone to failure. It also allows you to convert many different formats with free software called calibre. Got rechargable batteries and a small solar charger. The jetbook is on amazon for around $100 so its fairly cost effective as well.

 

[Sgtusmc]

There are many devices that fit the bill, but I was thinking about those who have very little disposable income. We need to be able to do something like this on the cheap. For instance, I didn't chose an iPad as my choice, even though I own two of them. They're too expensive, they don't store files on board (unless you jailbreak), a USB port requires an adaptor, etc.

So if you are a techie, you should know how to fulfill your needs. If you aren't, then things need to be simple and cheap.

 

[Sgtusmc]

Solar charging devices.

There are several brands of portable solar chargers. Some work, some don't. The idea is, the little solar panel on the device charges an internal battery. When your tablet/phone is low on charge, you hook it up and get an immediate charge. Some portable charge devices allow more than one charge, some do very little. Read the reviews.

You could also invest in a larger solar panel that folds up and provides more current. These devices are quite simple and could be made if you're electrically inclined if you wanted to DIY.

DIY links:

http://www.solar1.org/diy-solar-powered-usb-charger/

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Solar-Phone-Charger-5-Portable-100-Batter/

http://lifehacker.com/5752731/built-a-4-diy-solar-battery-charger

http://makezine.com/projects/3-solar-powered-cell-phone-charger/

https://diy.org/skills/solarengineer/challenges/402/

http://inhabitat.com/create-your-own-diy-solar-powered-usb-charger-for-all-your-portable-gadgets/

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-iPhone-Chargers/

 

[6mm Shoot]

My first question is what type of information are we trying to keep? Are we talking about how to repair a car? Or are we talking about how to cut on some one that needs something removed or fixed? Are we talking about songs and fiction? I am not saying that we don't need all of it but in an emergency it is important to know how to get clean water and sew some one up more than it is to be able to listen to a song.

Question number two is don't most of us have information in our heads that pertain to our jobs or trades and could put it down on paper for others after the big event? I know that some of us need specks on stuff such as cars and trucks but don't every dealer have a set of books that give that information? I know the dealer that I deal with for my truck has them and I have versions of the same thing for every car I have ever had.

I know a lot of information is on disk and such but most is still also in books. I have all sorts of books on reloading, but I have put down on paper how to make black powder just in case. My wife has all sorts of books on canning, some from the thirties. She also has all sorts of patterns for coats and such for just in case. You still have to have the stuff to make it with.

I see a bigger problem with repairing something more than knowing how to do it and that is getting the parts to do it. In short of having a second car or truck of the same type how will you have all the parts needed to keep it running for years to come? You can stock many things to keep things running but the one thing you don't stock is the thing you will need. Tires can't be kept for years. They will dry rot and be of no use in less than five years. I had a set of cheap tires that I took off a car I bought and put a good set on and stored them in my barn. I went to put them on a car and they were dry rotted in less than two years. Now the car I took them off of was only two years old. So the tires should have been only four or five years old.

As far as keeping records on people and things, I don't see the need.

My answer is to keep books on the things that you do or think you will need to do. If every one will do that we will have all the information we need to build our world back.

 

[skulhedface]

My first question is what type of information are we trying to keep? Are we talking about how to repair a car? Or are we talking about how to cut on some one that needs something removed or fixed? Are we talking about songs and fiction? I am not saying that we don't need all of it but in an emergency it is important to know how to get clean water and sew some one up more than it is to be able to listen to a song.

Completely agree, but like everything else with preparedness it all depends on your specific situation. When the parts run out the Illiad might be more useful than a Hanes manual. Those with small children also need to be able to educate them. I keep the entertainment reading on a separate SD card.

 

[Sgtusmc]

That's the beauty of having multiple USB/SD cards. You can separate them according to the material you need on hand. One 32 or 64 gig card can hold an amazing amount of PDF/docs/photos etc. You're not limited by space and weight of the information. Understandably, there are drawbacks to trusting the integrity and longevity of these little devices. Given the size, weight and simplicity of them though lends greatly to the survivability of the data.

Not to get off topic, but I think the Egyptians created a phenomenal example of how a civilization can pass on information even after the demise of a population. Mathematics and geometry were essential to the building of the pyramids. When one starts asking questions about building such structures, we are lead in our minds to formulate new and more specific questions. This is how we formulate hypotheses and develop constructs within our knowledge to once again recover knowledge that was once known.

The pyramids have stood the test of time, inspiring many to try to understand them and their purpose beyond mainstream belief that they're just tombs. When and if we were to be wiped from the face of this planet, what have we built that could demonstrate such knowledge that we have achieved in such a simple manner to a future planet of young humans having to start over?

Nothing. Nothing but artifacts and weak and disposable structures.


Interesting fact:
speed of light = 299,792,458 m / s
Giza pyramid = 29.9792458, 31.134658 geographical coordinates

interesting, but just a coincidence.