I cut grass all summer long to get one of these from a J.C. Penny store. That same year for Christmas I got Extended Basic and a TI Tape Recorder to got with it. It's one of the fondest memories of Christmas because it was actually something I wanted for 6-8 months before I got it. I also still have it and break it out of the closes for some retro-computing from time-to-time. I used to have the big P.E.B. Peripheral Expansion Box with the memory upgrades, disk drives, RS-232 and and accoustic modem. Nothing like spending $12.95 per hour on (The Source) a.k.a. Compuserve or the old local BBSs.
-JM
The 360 is the first system I can think of since my Atari 2600 that I didn't lust after from the day it went on sale. The last new games I bought on release date were Katamari and Alien Hominid. Since then nothing has interested me enough to spend the time or cash. I'll wait until they drop in price or do without.
This has given me time to fill out my older collections and I've started collecting the old arcade cabinets. They're old, expensive and hard to relocate from the seller to my home. Usually a trip across several states. To me the old console and arcade games are worth the time and money invested. Not because of the graphics but because they are fun to play. Over and over and over again.
So, they can give me a game worth dropping the cash on or I'll go spend it elsewhere. If it's good, I'll keep it and it won't go to the resale store.
-JM
I'm almost finished with a degree in Anthropology/Archaeology and have owned a business in the past that recovered and converted data. Here are a few things I have ran into while doing archival or retrieval work.
I started archiving slides of archaeological digs for one of the local universities about twelve years ago. At the time Kodak gave an estimated shelf life of 100+ years for the recorded cds. We actually started having data corruption within a few years. Even with multiple copies stored in different, climate controlled locations.
Now, the slides are more degraded than twelve years ago and we have are back to looking at other methods of archiving the data since we can't predict what will happen to the digital storage down the road 10-15 years, much less hundreds of years from now.
Also, I used to have a business that would recover and convert data from one format to another. You wouldn't believe the number of businesses that archive data in one format and put it in storage, have a catastrophic failure and, upon trying to recover data, find that they no longer have the equipment to retrieve the data.
Converting the data was easy - if you still had the equipment that was used to archive the tape, cartridge, diskette, etc.
If I experience these problems in a small city within 15 or so years, I can't imagine what problems a project of that scope (archiving the whole of the gov't's data) would have while trying to preserve it for future research or historic context.
Thanks you!
I live on the Gulf Coast and every time there is a storm that get close, the news agencies send hundreds of reporters to the area. Not only do they get in the way but they wish bad things on us in order to get a good report. If the storm happens to go in a different direction or degrade, you can watch as the reporters get dissappointed because there's not going to be as much destruction.
Not only that but their exaggerated stories cause runs on fuel, food and building materials before the storm. I've noticed that the past several storms have not appeared to be as bad as they were reported on the news.
Thanks again for bringing up this point.
-JM
I don't play it but from what I heard, it sucked much anus. There are a lot of games recently that are a flash in the pan. People play them long enough for the next anime oriented game to come out and then drop it. But, back to the Megaman. No one bought it at the local gaming store. They sent it back unopened, same for G.I. Joe .
MtG stiles rules the local scene and A Game of Thrones is not bad (need to read at least the first book to get into it though).
Starship Troopes miniature game is rocking for me right now.
This is the first Christmas since '79-80 that I haven't wanted at least one game or a new console for a gift. Last year I only bought two new games. However, I have started filling in my collection of old games and systems that I couldn't afford or didn't have the time for in the past.
Same goes for music. I swore off buying CDs about eight or nine years ago. That was the first time I bought a CD ($18) that had only one good song on it. The remainder of tracks were worthless crap, and, of course, the store wouldn't take it back. That all changed when iTunes came out. I've bought hundreds of individual songs and several albums from them because they allow me to buy what I want when I want it.
Same goes for the games as the music. Make something I like for a fair price and I'll buy and keep it. Otherwise I'll keep the cash in my pocked or use it for something else.
Slashdot Mirror
I cut grass all summer long to get one of these from a J.C. Penny store. That same year for Christmas I got Extended Basic and a TI Tape Recorder to got with it. It's one of the fondest memories of Christmas because it was actually something I wanted for 6-8 months before I got it. I also still have it and break it out of the closes for some retro-computing from time-to-time. I used to have the big P.E.B. Peripheral Expansion Box with the memory upgrades, disk drives, RS-232 and and accoustic modem. Nothing like spending $12.95 per hour on (The Source) a.k.a. Compuserve or the old local BBSs. -JM
The 360 is the first system I can think of since my Atari 2600 that I didn't lust after from the day it went on sale. The last new games I bought on release date were Katamari and Alien Hominid. Since then nothing has interested me enough to spend the time or cash. I'll wait until they drop in price or do without. This has given me time to fill out my older collections and I've started collecting the old arcade cabinets. They're old, expensive and hard to relocate from the seller to my home. Usually a trip across several states. To me the old console and arcade games are worth the time and money invested. Not because of the graphics but because they are fun to play. Over and over and over again. So, they can give me a game worth dropping the cash on or I'll go spend it elsewhere. If it's good, I'll keep it and it won't go to the resale store. -JM
Live storage is one of the options being looked at right now.
Thanks,
-JM
I started archiving slides of archaeological digs for one of the local universities about twelve years ago. At the time Kodak gave an estimated shelf life of 100+ years for the recorded cds. We actually started having data corruption within a few years. Even with multiple copies stored in different, climate controlled locations.
Now, the slides are more degraded than twelve years ago and we have are back to looking at other methods of archiving the data since we can't predict what will happen to the digital storage down the road 10-15 years, much less hundreds of years from now.
Also, I used to have a business that would recover and convert data from one format to another. You wouldn't believe the number of businesses that archive data in one format and put it in storage, have a catastrophic failure and, upon trying to recover data, find that they no longer have the equipment to retrieve the data.
Converting the data was easy - if you still had the equipment that was used to archive the tape, cartridge, diskette, etc.
If I experience these problems in a small city within 15 or so years, I can't imagine what problems a project of that scope (archiving the whole of the gov't's data) would have while trying to preserve it for future research or historic context.
-JM
Thanks you! I live on the Gulf Coast and every time there is a storm that get close, the news agencies send hundreds of reporters to the area. Not only do they get in the way but they wish bad things on us in order to get a good report. If the storm happens to go in a different direction or degrade, you can watch as the reporters get dissappointed because there's not going to be as much destruction. Not only that but their exaggerated stories cause runs on fuel, food and building materials before the storm. I've noticed that the past several storms have not appeared to be as bad as they were reported on the news. Thanks again for bringing up this point. -JM
I don't play it but from what I heard, it sucked much anus. There are a lot of games recently that are a flash in the pan. People play them long enough for the next anime oriented game to come out and then drop it. But, back to the Megaman. No one bought it at the local gaming store. They sent it back unopened, same for G.I. Joe .
MtG stiles rules the local scene and A Game of Thrones is not bad (need to read at least the first book to get into it though).
Starship Troopes miniature game is rocking for me right now.
-JM
This is the first Christmas since '79-80 that I haven't wanted at least one game or a new console for a gift. Last year I only bought two new games. However, I have started filling in my collection of old games and systems that I couldn't afford or didn't have the time for in the past.
Same goes for music. I swore off buying CDs about eight or nine years ago. That was the first time I bought a CD ($18) that had only one good song on it. The remainder of tracks were worthless crap, and, of course, the store wouldn't take it back. That all changed when iTunes came out. I've bought hundreds of individual songs and several albums from them because they allow me to buy what I want when I want it.
Same goes for the games as the music. Make something I like for a fair price and I'll buy and keep it. Otherwise I'll keep the cash in my pocked or use it for something else.