Bitcoin Forum

http://i.qkme.me/3pgegr.jpg

Thoughts?

Ok, I'll print block 0. Who's next?

I'm fairly new to BitCoin, so please help me understand! Why do we need paper backups? The block chain must be some of the most widely replicated data on the planet. (What would beat it? Probably the Olsen timezone data. Probably not the Linux source.) I have a copy right here.  :)

I can't easily imagine any scenario that took out every online instance of the block chain (without also taking out every human that might care about it!)

What am I missing?

Toby.

My thoughts? Paper is far too fragile. Please encode it in a set of these: http://delkin.com/c-155602-archive-archival-gold-cd-r.html

Then let us know where you're keeping it in case we need it.

If that business isn't here in 300 years can we sue?

and what about laminating the paper and locking it in a (large) safe? wouldn't that last longer then digital data that is susceptible to EMI?

You better get a good durable laminator. My back-of-the-envelope calculation for a 1.5 GB blockchain and 2kb per typewritten page means you're going to need to laminate 750,000 pages.

I'm on it!

http://i01.i.aliimg.com/photo/v0/110561153/A4_Copy_Paper_Ream.jpg

Maybe we could compress the data with QR codes and we'll make the qr codes take up a smaller space then it would then typed out letters.
Apparently you can store 300 alpha numeric characters in a QRcode
(Sources:http://www.denso-wave.com/qrcode/qrfeature-e.html)

the joke.

what about sending it out to space as radio-waves and once we can travel faster than light, go ahead of it and record.

lol

If we can print at 600 dpi and use 4 dots per bit, we can get it down to 1760 pages. Don't give up, protectors of the chain!

Edit: Omfg! If we can just print 256 colors faithfully this could fit in 8 pages. Lamination of the blockchain is imminent.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LQfP71syArU/TwHb2zBsJVI/AAAAAAAAATE/oJHiWaeHQu0/s320/RIMG0026.jpg

or even better: encode it into a virus and spread!

CDRs should not be affected by EM attacks.  Heat would though.   I am buying some of the above mentioned CD-R discs.   People seem to forget that with the mass production of writable digital mediums, the shelf life has really come down.   Thank you for the link.

Optical disk usage is already dying now. They will probably end like floppy disk: no one has a floppy reader today

So good luck reading those disk in like 10-20 years, let alone 300 years

good point.  i only have 1 computer left amongst many that can read a 3.5 " floppy.

This team at Stanford have encoded a single bit into DNA that is inherited by the bacteria's descendants:

http://phys.org/news/2012-05-totally-rad-scientists-rewritable-digital.html (http://phys.org/news/2012-05-totally-rad-scientists-rewritable-digital.html)

Ok, one bit does not a blockchain make but they hope to be able to store a whole byte in another decade.

There we go!! Lets just hope that back up encoded virus doesn't get a virus......

Or just wait here and re-record it in 47 years when it bounces off that... *whatever* sending our signals back....

http://www.rimmell.com/bbc/news.htm (http://www.rimmell.com/bbc/news.htm)

Or just wait here and re-record it in 47 years when it bounces off that... *whatever* sending our signals back....

http://www.rimmell.com/bbc/news.htm (http://www.rimmell.com/bbc/news.htm)

haha, awesome. so all we need to do is broadcast the blockchain (and new blocks) via radio, prefferrably using that vhf band?

Yep. Earthlings now have a near-foolproof way to send messages to their planet 47 years into the future. Great for "boomerang backups", leaving behind informational time capsules, or just confusing the heck out of your descendents with fake news broadcasts.

 ;D

hehe I'm glad I made this thread..... Interesting backup ideas....

I hope everyone noticed the date on that link.  :)

Toby.

glad you did too.. that radio wave reflector has bounced back lost episodes of dr who. nice :)

so. now we need to make a commercial with the block chain embedded into it and broadcast it. promotes and preserves bitcoin at the same time.

 FFS, dude, that was an april fools hoax... ::)

Just to clarify this is a seriously joking thread.... I'm very curious as to What happens if there is mass solar flare that wipes out the data of every computer? Who cares about the banks(hehe) right? What about Meh Bitcoinz!? So we should find some ways to back it up (that are practical) in the event this happens. Keep on throwing out crazy idears!

But if you think about it, anything that bad would be the end of civilization. Bitcoins, dollars, gold,... anything but food will be useless.

Let's make a GMO llama with the blockchain in his DNA! And, can we name him Satoshi? Please!

Sounds like somebody's got an IPO in their future.

Why would you think that? AFAIK there would only be an affect on electronic/magnetic sensitive devices.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_flare#Hazards

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage

Faraday cages only work if they are self powered in some way if anything breaks the seal of the cage its considered suspetible to EMI

I meant why would civilization end if only eletronic/magnetic affected devices were destroyed?

But your statement doesn't seem accurate either. A faraday cage appears to work based on conductive material.

From your wikipedia link:

wouldn't it have to be an aplaca?

http://www.kilblaanfarm.com/alpaca.jpg

I was assuming that atomic EMPs wipe out most of the worlds electronics. That would likely destroy the Internet for at least years, maybe forever. I guess in the example of a solar flare it would just be an interruption though.

And @molecular..
Damn! I did mean alpaca! Or most correctly an Alblocka.

I could be wrong but i was under the impression a farday cage only works when completly sealed so the guy working on electrical wire sounds pluaseable however you must power the computer backups which must break out of the cage to run an electrical power to computer wallet backups. As intense emi can follow the power lines.

I misunderstood your original quote :P

You said Faraday cages only work if they are self powered, and I took that literally, as in the Faraday cage had to be self powered. But you were talking about computers running bitcoin :)

Lol i did kind of write it wierd now that i look back at it. I was kind of suggesting solar power but i dont know enough about how farday cages work well enough to see how that would work.

A Faraday cage or screen works by becoming the conductor of least resistance and spreading the charge around the cage/screen. The reason someone working with high tension wires needs one is because the voltage is so high that the air absorbs some of the charge, and a person contacting it would find themselves turned into a large current sink.

It would be unhealthy because the parts of the body that aren't on contact with the high tension wire would instead be in contact with the air, and the current flowing through the body from the wire to the air would be uncomfortable, at best. The Faraday cage/screen (in this example, a wire mesh suit) acts as a large antenna, conducting the residual and capacitive charges safely into the air bypassing the body because the suit is a better conductor of electricity.

A standard cage works in much the same way; it must be connected to a ground plane so that it can draw off any charges that are emitted by external influences. This is all in the context of high voltage charges, but radio and electromagnetic charges can be taken care of by a similar arrangement - however, the ground plane requirement is eliminated because the screen acts as a reflector, not a conductor.

So have several of these things in separate cages, and only power one at a time.  Then you only lose at most one of them to the power surge.

Now there's a thought....hmmmmm time to ponder about dis.

WHAT?? but.. but.. its was on Teh Internetz! it MUST be true!

just great. now I have to wait for faster than light ships so they can get ahead of the radio signals from the 60's.

I hope they hurry. Zoey was HAWT.

Or, how about a world wide Backup-Your-Bitcoins-To-An-Offline-Wallet day?

that's a cool idea. 'd love to see the tx volume shoot up.

I bet undergound backups wouldn't hurt either....