After 244 Years, the End For the Dead Tree Encyclopedia Britannica

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After 244 Years, the End For the Dead Tree Encyclopedia Britannica

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday March 13, 2012 @11:59AM from the your-encyclopedia-needn't-outweigh-you dept.

Rick Zeman writes "According to the New York Times, it's the end of the road for the printed Encyclopedia Brittanica, saying, '...in recent years, print reference books have been almost completely wiped out by the Internet and its vast spread of resources, particularly Wikipedia, which in 11 years has helped replace the authority of experts with the wisdom of the crowds.' The last print edition will be the 32-volume 2010 edition."

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Bad Joke by Kaenneth · 2012-03-13 12:14 · Score: 5, Funny

How did the hipster burn his mouth?
He ate pizza before it was cool.
1. Re:Bad Joke by interkin3tic · 2012-03-13 12:56 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  How many hipsters does it take to screw in a lightbulb.
  
  (waits for you to answer)
  
  No, it's some obscure number you probably haven't heard of yet.
12,000 years from now... by ZorinLynx · 2012-03-13 12:45 · Score: 5, Funny

"Scientists have been wondering why historical records mysteriously ended sometime around the year 2012. It's as if humanity decided to just stop writing things down, and left everything to oral tradition. It's sad that we will never know what happened between then and the eventua downfall of one of the greatest ancient civilizations that ever lived."
1. Re:12,000 years from now... by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-13 13:54 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  Scientists have been wondering why historical records mysteriously ended sometime around the year 2012. It's as if humanity decided to just stop writing things down, and left everything to oral tradition.
  Too bad they'll never know the truth...all our knowledge disappeared because we put it in the cloud.
Re:Citable by 93+Escort+Wagon · 2012-03-13 12:52 · Score: 5, Funny

The bottom line is that Wikipedia isn't written by experts, or for the large part by people who have expertise in *any* field, and for topics outside CS and parts of the sciences, it's pretty poor because non-expert "crowds" don't have much judgment. In short-- there's no wisdom in crowds, only amplified ignorance.
That's simply not true. Wikipedia's articles on manga and anime characters are second to none.

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slashdot setting help needed by Anonymous Coward · 2012-03-13 12:53 · Score: 4, Funny

I can't find the setting to show the thread scores. And YES MUTHAFUCKERS, I've looked everywhere.
George Orwell would approve by 517714 · 2012-03-13 12:54 · Score: 5, Funny

Lacking written records certainly facilitates revisionist history. I just read online that Encyclopedia Britannica stopped putting out printed editions over 25 years ago. So how is this news? ;-)

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Re:Yeah... by ToiletBomber · 2012-03-13 12:57 · Score: 4, Funny

OVER 9000!
Re:The ultimate hipster edition by Scoldog · 2012-03-13 15:03 · Score: 4, Funny

Really? I would have thought a couple of copies of Dean's Electronics and the Big Book of Science would be handy to have stored somewhere safe. Everyone should buy as many copies as they can lay their hands on, and leave them scattered around your home towns to maximise the amount of books that will survive.

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