archiving as opposed to backing up

[John Foust]

At 01:41 AM 9/26/2004, Vintage Computer Festival wrote:
>I think a more apt comparison is the US allowing the museums of Baghdad to
>be looted while they secured the oil fields.

Over here, they'll fight years-long battles to preserve Civil War
battlefields from development.  Fields where one battle took place!  

Over there, I doubt that 30,000+ years of archaeological history
ever figured into where they decided to drop bombs.  It was not
a layer in the intelligence info.

Iraq is a fine example of random pockets of preservation of
ages-old data.  Used cuneiform tablets were scattered like 
scraps of paper.  I've always wanted to buy one on eBay, but
never quite trusted the provenance you find there.  I'd almost 
want to pull it from the ground myself - but that can be planted, too.

- John