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Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#11

Post by WalterBright »

damnfine wrote: post #2

Can we crowdfund a militia to protect and secure archives for digitizing in conflict zones? We are losing too much priceless history to fools over ego.

A while ago I had brief (because I was traveling) access to a stack of old family documents. Scanning them would have taken too long, so I just snapped a photo of each page with my phone. It took a few seconds for each page, and I got through the whole stack.

The results were very good, the pages were clear and sharp, even though I hadn't been able to flatten them out.

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#12

Post by LoSboccacc »

WillPostForFood wrote: post #9
HillaryBriss wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in the first Gulf War, the UN Coalition forces (mostly the US) carpet bombed parts of Iraq that contained a lot of yet-to-be-excavated ancient villages (they looked like mounds in the sand by the 1990s). we lost of a bunch of priceless history then, too. i'm not trying to make statements about the equivalences or non-equivalences of various war participants over there, but, there's so much ancient history being destr…

Nowadays? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_the_Library_of_...

"During his reign of the eastern part of the Empire (40–30 BC), Mark Antony plundered the second largest library in the world (at Pergamon) and presented the collection as a gift to Cleopatra as a replacement for the books lost to Caesar's fire."

Oh, Romans

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#13

Post by pamqzl »

damnfine wrote: post #2

Can we crowdfund a militia to protect and secure archives for digitizing in conflict zones? We are losing too much priceless history to fools over ego.

You'd think it would be cheaper and more productive to just buy the books and put them in the British Library or something.

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#14

Post by pamqzl »

ianai wrote: post #6
ajmurmann wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is very interesting. I've thought several times fantasized about setting up a Kickstarter to fund hiring blackwater for things like this. I wonder though if this isn't what we originally created government for. Does the fact that people are thinking about this "hack" say more about where technology has gotten or about the state of politics?

Probably the state of politics. I suspect crowdfunding would never raise enough for the likes of Blackwater.

I'm not sure I'd be donating to the campaign of the guy who says "please send me money to hire a private army, and I will definitely use them for upright and noble purposes, I promise!"

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#15

Post by TomMarius »

andrepd wrote: post #4
damnfine wrote: post #2

Can we crowdfund a militia to protect and secure archives for digitizing in conflict zones? We are losing too much priceless history to fools over ego.

Crowdfund to pay mercenaries to guard books? That's... something.

To protect unique irreplaceable artifacts of human history.

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#16

Post by greenbush »

WalterBright wrote: post #11
damnfine wrote: post #2

Can we crowdfund a militia to protect and secure archives for digitizing in conflict zones? We are losing too much priceless history to fools over ego.

A while ago I had brief (because I was traveling) access to a stack of old family documents. Scanning them would have taken too long, so I just snapped a photo of each page with my phone. It took a few seconds for each page, and I got through the whole stack. The results were very good, the pages were clear and sharp, even though I hadn't been able to flatten them out.

The Google Drive app on Android (not sure about other platforms) has a "Scan" functionality that digitally flattens out the picture of a document and saves as a pdf. It's very handy and quality is very good.

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#17

Post by ianai »

pamqzl wrote: post #14
ianai wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the state of politics. I suspect crowdfunding would never raise enough for the likes of Blackwater.

I'm not sure I'd be donating to the campaign of the guy who says "please send me money to hire a private army, and I will definitely use them for upright and noble purposes, I promise!"

That kind of sounds a lot like the IRS!

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#18

Post by WalterBright »

greenbush wrote: post #16
WalterBright wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A while ago I had brief (because I was traveling) access to a stack of old family documents. Scanning them would have taken too long, so I just snapped a photo of each page with my phone. It took a few seconds for each page, and I got through the whole stack. The results were very good, the pages were clear and sharp, even though I hadn't been able to flatten them out.

The Google Drive app on Android (not sure about other platforms) has a "Scan" functionality that digitally flattens out the picture of a document and saves as a pdf. It's very handy and quality is very good.

Thanks for the tip!

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#19

Post by saiya-jin »

greenbush wrote: post #16
WalterBright wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A while ago I had brief (because I was traveling) access to a stack of old family documents. Scanning them would have taken too long, so I just snapped a photo of each page with my phone. It took a few seconds for each page, and I got through the whole stack. The results were very good, the pages were clear and sharp, even though I hadn't been able to flatten them out.

The Google Drive app on Android (not sure about other platforms) has a "Scan" functionality that digitally flattens out the picture of a document and saves as a pdf. It's very handy and quality is very good.

various other apps, ie TinyScanner are doing the same (for those who don't use these google services for whatever reasons, like me)

Re: Lost Languages Discovered in One of the Oldest Continuously Run Libraries

#20

Post by sametmax »

damnfine wrote: post #2

Can we crowdfund a militia to protect and secure archives for digitizing in conflict zones? We are losing too much priceless history to fools over ego.

Priceless to whom ? How many hindsights are we really going to gain from that ? How many people are even going to benefit from it. No, how many will even hear about it or will effectively access this ?

We have tendency to consider that all knowledge is precious. That all information, especially from the past, should be treasured. It's sounds more anchored in a collector mindset that in any real assessment of the value of the discovery.

We can't save everything. We don't have to save everything.

As usual, we need to evaluate the cost vs the reward.

Now the hard part is to put a value on knowledge and potential, which I agree is very hard and controversial. But stating we must save things as soon as we discover it doesn't help.

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