Awestruck by what I just got

[Grant Lamontagne]

This is probably going to fly in the fact of the idiot I usually make myself out to be, but I simply had to share it.  While at Costco the other day I saw a National Geographic DVD set, which supposedly contained every issue of National Geographic since it was started in 1888.  As impressive as a collection like that must be, it wasn't until later that it sunk in just how much knowledge must be contained in this set.  In 1888 there was no space program, since powered flight wasn't even achieved.  No super sonic vehicles, no household electricity, and no indoor plumbing.  In fact, the internal combustion engine was still being developed, and steam and horses were responsible for pretty well anything that needed to be moved that people couldn't move themselves.

And, it wasn't just technology- about 80% of the dog breeds we know today didn't exist a hundred years ago, not to mention how many animals have become extinct since 1888?  How many animals on land and at sea have been discovered in that time?  At that point in history mankind had not yet managed to make it to the North or South Poles, and while cameras existed (barely) and had the capability of producing rudimentary video, there was still no method for capturing sound. 

What's even more though provoking than how far we've come in the last 120 years is that we were in a virtual standstill for the previous thousand, give or take a Renaissance.  And, all of it is contained in the language of the period on a few DVD's available for $50.

And kids say the world they are growing up in is harder than the one we all grew up in.  I wish I could have gotten the sum total of knowledge from all mankind in one convenient, easily searchable package.

At any rate, if I'm absent for lengthy periods, you'll know where to find me!



Def

[Chako]

I have their complete map collection on too many CDs. Wished they did an update and published it on one DVD...now that is something I would buy.

I remember in High School, the Librarian all excited because the managed to score the Encyclopedia Britannica on CD. The Board paid 900 dollars for that new technology...and that was in the late 80s.

[WhichDawg]

wow! that is pretty cool boss but...

wasn't that information already available and you had it, called....

the "Internet"?  

[Benner]

Wouldn't mind that myself.

[Mr. Whippy]

If it's searchable,  about 10 years ago, NatGeo had a story on State and County fairs.  In the article is a picture of my cousin racing at the Tillamook county fair in Oregon.  (Pig and Ford races  )

Quick google search: I believe it was October 1997 issue.

[Mike, Lord of the Spammers!]

I'd love a copy of that myself

[Chako]

This sort of software begs to be installed on the HD...all of it. 

[NutSAK]

   Very cool.  Care to share the price?

[Benner]

Say's above- $50.  Sounds good.

[Chako]

I was going to buy it at the local WallMart a while back, but didn't like the 80 dollar price tag.

[ducktapehero]

wasn't that information already available and you had it, called....

the "Internet"?  

Hey, I've heard of that....I thought it was just for porn though. You can learn stuff too?  

[yud]

The internet only has issues going back maybe 10 years.

I decicded last weekend that is something I need.  it would too much time and effort to make a detabase of my collection.



I do want to know something def, do they have the classic ads?

[Grant Lamontagne]

wow! that is pretty cool boss but...

wasn't that information already available and you had it, called....

the "Internet"?  

Yes, it is- sort of.  The fascinating thing about reading 120 year old magazine is reading it from someone who saw it first hand, not someone who regurgitated it later on from third, fourth and fifth hand accounts.

The set was $50 at Costco.

My parents had a collection of hundreds of copies of National Geographics when I was a kid, and most of our school projects were written from them.  When my parents got their first computer (original TRS-80 Color Computer) in or around the early 80's one of the first things they did was index all the articles in all the issues of National Geographic to make it easier to find things when we had something to do for school.  It wasn't until years later that my parents got a set of Encyclopedia Brittanica for the house, and even then it was an old set that someone else was replacing.  Those National Geographics were the foundation of much of my learning.

I also remember the first time I saw a hologram was a skull on the front of National Geographic.  I must have stared at that thing for hours, slowly turning it one way, then the other, so amazed that it was a 2d image, and not a box I could reach into and pull that skull out of.

I'm pretty certain that subscription my father had died out years ago and wasn't replaced, but since he got an iPad last spring, he's since renewed it, only this time through his iPad.  So, I bought two sets of DVD's- one for me and one for him.  

The internet only has issues going back maybe 10 years.

I decicded last weekend that is something I need.  it would too much time and effort to make a detabase of my collection.



I do want to know something def, do they have the classic ads?

To be honest, I haven't even loaded them into my computer yet- between SOSAKOnline (late, I know) and work this morning, I haven't had a chance to look at them.  But, I believe they do.

Def

[Pacu]

we carry that at Best Buy.  I've been tempted to pick it up several times. NG has the worlds best photographers on tap.

[NutSAK]

Say's above- $50.  Sounds good.

Thanks.  I missed that.

It's available on Amazon for $50 US.  The review comments are interesting.  It appears that the software isn't the greatest.

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-National-Geographic-Every-Issue/dp/1426296355/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

I'd still like to have it though, even with the problems.

[Blackbeard]

This was $40 a few weeks ago on amazon, so if u wait it might go on sale again

[Mike 56]

In 1972 my English teacher had a VCR it was the first one i had ever seen It had no cover and it covered most of my teachers desk top.

Mike   

[MultiMat]

I have been a fan of NG for awhile & my good wife gave me a 12 month magazine subscription for my last birthday , the photography is stunningly good. Having the complete series would be very cool  

[Chako]

That sounds about right NutSAK. I was greatly disappointed at the complete Map set I bought that came on 6 or 8 CDs. I felt the interface got in the way of an awesome product. My main issue, and it is one that may prove to be the same for this new compendium, was my inability to install the whole thing on my HD instead of having to hunt and search for CDs all the time. I felt I was back in the 80s playing a game that came on 8 floppies. A great shame as National Geographic maps are the best in my opinion.

[yud]

Def, if they have the ads could you look in april and june of 1981 to see if there is an "wildlife as canon sees it" ad



I use one of those ads in a paper and with my collection of NGs I could only narrow down the start date to either june or july of 1981 but I also read that they started in april (But I know they were not in may).