A beloved solution to the internet memory hole
A reader responded to a recent email on the topic of analogue dictionaries and asks an important question: “How do you avoid the internet memory hole?”
Here he goes:
Another excellent, so relevant article, Allan. Your writing style and intriguing, thought-provoking content are compelling, fascinating, and riveting. Bravo !
You may be interested to know that I also had(regrettably, the past tense) that vintage of that dictionary kicking around for many years - ever since I bought it back in the late 70s It was as you described in thickness and weight ... a real iconic ball-buster of a tome. My wife, whom I love dearly but who doesn't like clutter or messing with what she regards as cumbersome entanglements (including me it seems at times!) convinced me to donate it around the late 90s. I, and tens of millions of others, use the online Miriam-Webster version for simple and sometimes arcane definitions. But, I never would imagine the company would go woke on us, kowtow to the arrogant commissars of lexicography, and actually, surreptitiously alter such a critical definition. I'm really dismayed and, in fact, quite angry. That really approaches Orwell's 1984, doesn't it?
Keep the faith, friend.
-A Reader
P.S. How do you know the change in the vaccine definition occurred on/about Jan. 18, 2021? Miriam-Webster clearly did not notify you, right?
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Thank you for your note. I read all of the emails I get, but please forgive me for not being able to reply to them all.
The Internet Archive, housed at Archive[dot]org keeps a permanent archive of pages on the internet.
You tell it the web address and the date, and it will give you a clickable snapshot of that page. If you have never played with it before, it is easy to get the hang of and a good resource to know about.
The Internet Archive is the contra to the memory hole that George Orwell wrote about in 1984.
Though, as I understand it, a website can opt to be omitted from the archive, and not all websites are archived. They currently claim to archive 694 billion webpages.
Regarding your specific question: On or around January 18, 2021, the definition of vaccine was one way. By the time the next snapshot occurred, a few days later, it was another way. I added some drama saying that the definition of vaccine was changed “in the middle of the night,” though I did not know that for sure. That educated guess, though, may be right, both literally and figuratively.
Many updates of data on big websites are handled in the middle of the night in the location they get their highest traffic from. That is why it is fair to say that it was proverbially done in the middle of the night (under the cloak of darkness) and likely actually done in the middle of the night.
The Internet Archive does good work, deserves your attention, and deserves your support. Put it to work. Tell your friends about it. Do not let the censors quietly put important information down the memory hole when we have this tool at our disposal. Of course, it is only a matter of time before that organization becomes totally corrupted. No need to mourn that fact. That sense of constant change is part of life, especially in our era, and one that we must come to accept.
Other archives like it exist.
And if one did not, now would be a good time for a reader of these pages to build one. While we do not need to mourn the fact that change happens, we can prepare for that fact.
Regardless of how many competitors are out there, now could also be a good opportunity for a reader of these pages to build another, better competitor.
And while the censors can disappear all manner of things on the internet, they will not be able to surreptitiously change the print copies of the books you own. That is one reason I prefer the print edition of useful reference books, such as Face Masks Hurt Kids. Another reason I like the print edition of Face Masks Hurt Kids, is because it is appropriately hefty, making it particularly useful for thumping on a podium while you address a government board meeting ,or thumping on a bureaucrat's desk while you explain to him that your child will not be masked another day. It has a satisfactory size and heft for that, which simply can not be equalled by an electronic version.
Get Face Masks Hurt Kids here.
Allan Stevo