The Time Capsule That Went Through A Wall ... 18
Samrobb asks: "My wife and I are just finishing remodeling a 150-year-old farm house, and as it turns out, we have some dead space behind one of the walls in the wiring closet. We'd like to seal up something in there for the next owner to discover -- kind of a personal time capsule. I was thinking of pictures, a newspaper, that sort of thing, until my wife suggested burning the deCSS source on a CD and tossing it in :-) That got me wondering -- what else could we put in there to make someone a hundred years down the road go 'What the ...???' Any suggestions?" Man! I wish I could find a house with a lot of little crannies like these!
CD readable after 100 years? (Score:1)
You almost need to place a small laptop computer with a power supply in the capsule to be sure. (Of course that begs the question, can a laptop doing nothing survive 100 years?)
Don't get me wrong, I think the capsule is a great idea, I just wonder if they will be able to read it.
How about licences ? (Score:1)
If you have a cool desktop, why not taking a screenshot of it and print (extra points for printing on something that gives it the look/feel of a regular photo)
just my 0.02 euros...
foo (Score:1)
You may want to write two separate letters to the future: one, a personal one, with whatever you want to say. The second one should have some factual stuff - number one would be the date, and some nice information about each of the items you put in the box. Try to imagine something neat about each item that people of the future just might not know. For example, with the dollar bills, tell them to look for the little bird above the "1" in the upper right corner. Who's going to know that in the year 2100? That sort of information is what will make your capsule valuable. Without it, it's just a box of old junk.
Make sure everything is well protected. Plastic is a good way to protect things, but you need to think about rodents too.
I'd use some kind of aluminum box on the outside (steel will rust away) and a plastic box on the inside to keep water out (rats would eat that if they can get to it). Tupperware would probably be OK I guess.
Throw in a few of those silica gel things for good measure before you seal the thing up tight. Gotta think like an archivist here. I bet the National Archives has some sort of gubment publication they would send you with some tips on how to make a time capsule.
That's a great idea by the way. It sure would be sweet to be there to see the next owners of the house discover it.
Oh, another thing: Photographs won't do well unless they are black and white. Color dyes are unstable. And if you're worried about paper, you can photocopy whatever you have onto acid free paper. Remember that if you have all acid free paper, but you stick one newspaper article in there on newrag, the acid in that newsrag will eventually wreck everything else in the box. Don't put a single thing in there unless you're sure it's acid free. If in doubt, photocopy it first!
Re:CD readable after 100 years? (Score:1)
Make sure you put some commercial CDs in there, as the pressed CDs will last a long time. There are Linux distros with a source CD for $3. Suppose a boxed "Red Hat" would have collector value? How about one "Red Hat" stock certificate? ["Registered Owner: 123 Main Street"]
Maybe a parallel port CD drive, with two parallel port cables (for parts and interfacing) and specifications on acid-free paper (including parallel port timing diagram).
Putting it all in a sealed metal container in a nitrogen atmosphere would provide protection from corrosion, pests, and the drill of the unfortunate electrician who discovers the cache.
Anything not geek? (And geek suggestions also) (Score:1)
What if your future homeowner is a non-geek? Why not some other sorts of "signs of the times"?
A few examples:
Now how you fit all that stuff into a box, yet alone into your house, is another story.
Oops, forgot a few: (Score:1)
More juicy tidbits for the Slashdot squirrel population:
How could I possibly miss this one? (Score:1)
Don't burn the CD (Score:1)
I like this... (Score:2)
You have a cool wife!
-Doug
Stuff (Score:2)
Some stuff...
And other things I can't think of right now.
Re:CD readable after 100 years? (Score:2)
some ideas... (Score:2)
Here is what I came up with...
darren
Cthulhu for President! [cthulhu.org]
Hmmm.. (Score:2)
Another good one is 'dated' print. Technical manuals and newspapers. Imagine some tech-head in 2075 finding a book on Unix, or some gear-head flipping through the Detroit Free Press and seeing the 'new 2000' models his father was too young to drive.
If you wanted to put music in there, I'd opt for LP. Speaking as someone with a RCA Victorola in his living room, I don't think the ability to play them will die off anytime soon. It can be reduced to just a pencil, a straightpin, and a rolled up bit of paper, after all. You might consider a set of directions for playing it that way. Or include the items to do it with.
A cross-section of "Geek Life" (Score:3)
1: A twinkie (they'll last forever)
2: A can of JOLT cola
3: Printouts (on acid-free paper) of the day's User Friendly and/or Penny Arcade strips
4: A printout of the
5: MP3s of some current music
6: The Bill Of Rights, the DMCA and the DeCSS lawsuits (the contradictions will have legal scholars puzzled for years!)
7: Any
8: A gun (they'll probably be illegal by the time the capsule is opened)
9: A hard drive (or ZIP drive if you're short on $$) containing Linux, GCC and the source code to PGP, GPG, and any other good "stong" crypto.
10: Documentation of the EIDE or SCSI interface for the drive.