A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!

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Daniel

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A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« on: February 20, 2012, 04:37:44 PM »
As of Friday, I'm in possession of the massive archive of Samuel Shenton's Flat Earth materials from the Science Fiction Foundation at the University of Liverpool library!  This has been in the works for a while now but just became a reality last week when I visited Liverpool to pick up the collection.  It's HUGE.  There are numerous books (many extremely rare), letters (to and from Shenton), handwritten notes and diagrams, presentation posters.. and much, much more.  It's basically filling up an entire bookshelf in my house now.  Digitising it will be a long process but I have a few things (about 60 pieces of correspondence from Samuel Shenton) online already and more to come very soon. Check the Library on the main site to see what's there.  I'll be posting a comprehensive catalogue of the materials in the next week or so in case anyone has specific things they'd like to see digitised early on.

I'll be sending out a press release about this in the next few days as well.  Big, big news for the Society!

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Thork

Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #1 on: February 20, 2012, 05:00:58 PM »

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Space Cowgirl

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #2 on: February 20, 2012, 05:02:01 PM »
Congratulations, Daniel.

ANOTHER WIN FOR FE!
I'm sorry. Am I to understand that when you have a boner you like to imagine punching the shit out of Tom Bishop? That's disgusting.

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Jack

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #3 on: February 20, 2012, 05:11:27 PM »
Cheers! Glad to see that the Flat Earth Library is making significant progress.

Congratulations, Daniel.

ANOTHER WIN FOR FE!
+1

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Lord Wilmore

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #4 on: February 20, 2012, 05:18:59 PM »
This is a real coup for the society. There are numerous books and pamphlets here that have been unavailable to most people for over a century, and which will now be digitised and accessible to people all over our flat Earth. Shenton's notes will no doubt also be very interesting, and they appear to be in remarkably good condition. Congratulations Daniel!
"I want truth for truth's sake, not for the applaud or approval of men. I would not reject truth because it is unpopular, nor accept error because it is popular. I should rather be right and stand alone than run with the multitude and be wrong." - C.S. DeFord

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Lorddave

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #5 on: February 20, 2012, 05:45:25 PM »
Link?
You have been ignored for common interest of mankind.

I am a terrible person and I am a typical Blowhard Liberal for being wrong about Bom.

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theonlydann

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #6 on: February 20, 2012, 06:47:12 PM »
Grand day! Excellent job Daniel!

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Vongeo

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #7 on: February 20, 2012, 06:52:51 PM »
HOORAY FOR FET READING
Vongeo is a wanker, he wears a wanker hat; he always smells like urine and he thinks the Earth is flat.

No longer is this sentence is cut in half. Jekra!

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markjo

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #8 on: February 20, 2012, 07:01:28 PM »
I'll be posting a comprehensive catalogue of the materials in the next week or so in case anyone has specific things they'd like to see digitised early on.

Is there any chance that you have a copy of the famous Lady Blount Bedford Levels picture that Tom keeps going on about but doesn't ever want to produce?
Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.
Quote from: Robosteve
Besides, perhaps FET is a conspiracy too.
Quote from: bullhorn
It is just the way it is, you understanding it doesn't concern me.

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EnigmaZV

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #9 on: February 21, 2012, 12:04:57 AM »
I saw this announcement on the twitter feed. Congrats!
I don't know what you're implying, but you're probably wrong.

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Benjamin Franklin

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #10 on: February 21, 2012, 09:29:51 AM »
Great job, glorious leader.

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Sean

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #11 on: February 21, 2012, 09:31:30 AM »
Yay, Daniel might pretend to care for a bit!
Quote from: sokarul
Better bring a better augment, something not so stupid.

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Daniel

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #12 on: February 21, 2012, 10:40:58 AM »
I'll be posting a comprehensive catalogue of the materials in the next week or so in case anyone has specific things they'd like to see digitised early on.

Is there any chance that you have a copy of the famous Lady Blount Bedford Levels picture that Tom keeps going on about but doesn't ever want to produce?

I haven't looked at everything yet, but I haven't seen any photos like that.  I'll let people know if/when that surfaces..

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Daniel

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #13 on: February 21, 2012, 10:45:17 AM »
Oh, also, a quick technical question:

Does anyone have experience with compressing scanned/photographed documents?  I'll have a pretty huge amount of material available and I'd like to compress it to small a size as possible while keeping it readable.  As it is, PDFs containing 20 pages of photographed black-and-white documents are coming in at around 2.5megs.  Not terrible but I imagine it could be better..

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markjo

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #14 on: February 21, 2012, 12:32:27 PM »
File size depends greatly on the resolution color depth you use.  In my experience, PDFs for things like text and line art, 200 dpi b/w is usually quite legible and pretty reasonable file size wise.  If you need gray scale or color, then obviously the file size will grow accordingly.  My guess is that 200 dpi b/w will be good for much of your older material. 

You may also want to look into OCR so that the material can be searchable, but it would require an awful lot of proof reading to catch the inevitable errors.
Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.
Quote from: Robosteve
Besides, perhaps FET is a conspiracy too.
Quote from: bullhorn
It is just the way it is, you understanding it doesn't concern me.

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Ski

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #15 on: February 21, 2012, 12:49:17 PM »
This is fantastic news, and as Wilmore said, quite a coup.  I cannot wait to dig into these.
"Never think you can turn over any old falsehood without a terrible squirming of the horrid little population that dwells under it." -O.W. Holmes "Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne.."

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Mizuki

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #16 on: February 21, 2012, 02:03:10 PM »
When i click on any of these new links, i get:-

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /library/Experimental_Proofs.pdf on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.

 :(

What am i doing wrong?

Mizuki x
"Earth is a maximal sphere in a cyclical space and its surface therefore a total plane, the equator plane of the Cosmos. The (total) plane, as well as the straight line and space as a whole, is flat, without curvature yet closed, running back on itself."

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Daniel

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #17 on: February 21, 2012, 02:24:22 PM »
When i click on any of these new links, i get:-

Forbidden

You don't have permission to access /library/Experimental_Proofs.pdf on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


I just tried several different files including the one you mentioned specifically.  Everything worked fine.  There's hotlinking protection in place, though, so that might be the issue if you're trying to directly access the files.  I just tested that and it gives the same error you quoted.

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Mizuki

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #18 on: February 21, 2012, 02:34:53 PM »
Thank you for the reply Daniel. I have no idea what 'hotlinking protection' is, though!

I'll try again later.

Mizuki x
"Earth is a maximal sphere in a cyclical space and its surface therefore a total plane, the equator plane of the Cosmos. The (total) plane, as well as the straight line and space as a whole, is flat, without curvature yet closed, running back on itself."

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Daniel

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #19 on: February 21, 2012, 02:37:04 PM »
Thank you for the reply Daniel. I have no idea what 'hotlinking protection' is, though!

It prevents people from easily downloading the same file over and over again.  You have to access the files by clicking on links on the website.  So if you just copy/paste the URL of that particular PDF, it won't work.  Not sure if that's what you did but it seems like it may be the case.  In any event, if you go to the library page and click on the links there, they should work.

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Mizuki

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #20 on: February 21, 2012, 02:58:53 PM »
Thanks Daniel.

I can access them from my phone, but not my lap-top. So there's something wrong at my end  :(

I'll go and post in the technical section, see if anyone can help.

Thanks again, Mizuki x
"Earth is a maximal sphere in a cyclical space and its surface therefore a total plane, the equator plane of the Cosmos. The (total) plane, as well as the straight line and space as a whole, is flat, without curvature yet closed, running back on itself."

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Tausami

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #21 on: February 21, 2012, 03:26:59 PM »
Thank you for the reply Daniel. I have no idea what 'hotlinking protection' is, though!

It prevents people from easily downloading the same file over and over again.  You have to access the files by clicking on links on the website.  So if you just copy/paste the URL of that particular PDF, it won't work.  Not sure if that's what you did but it seems like it may be the case.  In any event, if you go to the library page and click on the links there, they should work.

Happy 1000th post!

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Lorddave

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #22 on: February 21, 2012, 03:41:12 PM »
File size depends greatly on the resolution color depth you use.  In my experience, PDFs for things like text and line art, 200 dpi b/w is usually quite legible and pretty reasonable file size wise.  If you need gray scale or color, then obviously the file size will grow accordingly.  My guess is that 200 dpi b/w will be good for much of your older material. 

You may also want to look into OCR so that the material can be searchable, but it would require an awful lot of proof reading to catch the inevitable errors.
This.
OCR is great and cuts file sizes down.
Your PDFs are also a larger resolution than they need to be.  You can definitely cut them down when you upload them.  Just have the high quality archived somewhere, like your home computer.
You have been ignored for common interest of mankind.

I am a terrible person and I am a typical Blowhard Liberal for being wrong about Bom.

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Daniel

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #23 on: February 21, 2012, 03:52:38 PM »
File size depends greatly on the resolution color depth you use.  In my experience, PDFs for things like text and line art, 200 dpi b/w is usually quite legible and pretty reasonable file size wise.  If you need gray scale or color, then obviously the file size will grow accordingly.  My guess is that 200 dpi b/w will be good for much of your older material. 

You may also want to look into OCR so that the material can be searchable, but it would require an awful lot of proof reading to catch the inevitable errors.
This.
OCR is great and cuts file sizes down.
Your PDFs are also a larger resolution than they need to be.  You can definitely cut them down when you upload them.  Just have the high quality archived somewhere, like your home computer.

Yeah, I'm making a lot of progress now.  I've played around with different settings and sheets that used to be 200-300k JPGs are now 35-45k GIFs with relatively little loss of quality.  It kind of depends on the type/quality of the original images.  Most of the Shenton letters are from digital photos rather than scans.  And they're on thin paper with typing on both sides which makes it trickier.  Once I start actually scanning things (especially commercially-printed books/pamphlets), everything should be a lot easier to work with.

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Ichimaru Gin :]

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #24 on: February 21, 2012, 04:59:48 PM »
Happy 1000+ posts Daniel
I saw a slight haze in the hotel bathroom this morning after I took a shower, have I discovered a new planet?

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markjo

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #25 on: February 21, 2012, 08:47:23 PM »
Yeah, I'm making a lot of progress now.  I've played around with different settings and sheets that used to be 200-300k JPGs are now 35-45k GIFs with relatively little loss of quality.  It kind of depends on the type/quality of the original images.  Most of the Shenton letters are from digital photos rather than scans.  And they're on thin paper with typing on both sides which makes it trickier.  Once I start actually scanning things (especially commercially-printed books/pamphlets), everything should be a lot easier to work with.

JPEG is usually better when you have lots of colors and color variations (16-24 bit color).  GIF is usually better when you have a more limited palette (8 bit color or less).
Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.
Quote from: Robosteve
Besides, perhaps FET is a conspiracy too.
Quote from: bullhorn
It is just the way it is, you understanding it doesn't concern me.

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Tom Bishop

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #26 on: February 21, 2012, 09:46:31 PM »
Please only digitize worthwhile documents pertaining to the fundamental workings of the Flat Earth model. Most of the correspondence will be crap.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2012, 09:49:33 PM by Tom Bishop »

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markjo

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #27 on: February 21, 2012, 09:59:33 PM »
Tsk, tsk, Tom.  One man's crap is another man's historical record.
Science is what happens when preconception meets verification.
Quote from: Robosteve
Besides, perhaps FET is a conspiracy too.
Quote from: bullhorn
It is just the way it is, you understanding it doesn't concern me.

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Tom Bishop

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #28 on: February 21, 2012, 10:16:51 PM »
Tsk, tsk, Tom.  One man's crap is another man's historical record.

Most of the correspondence will be 1950's versions of the newbie threads about circumnavigation/eclipses/seasons that we see every day.

I honestly don't expect much from this archive. This is a more knowledgeable Flat Earth Society than anything Shenton or Johnson ran. They weren't too technical.

Only Samuel Birley Rowbotham's original mid-1800's society exceeds us in technical merit. According to Flat Earth: The History of an Infamous Idea by Christine Garwood, Rowbohtam's society was publishing full scale scientific journals, holding regular meetings, conducting public experiments, and spent their spare time steamrolling RE astronomers in public debates.

The Universal Zetetic Society, the first Flat Earth Society, was composed of affluent doctors and professors who had the time and money to build the foundations of a Flat Earth. Rowbotham himself was very wealthy. He ran a medical clinic and a pharmaceutical company. He could afford to do the fundamental research and publish scientific journals - not just one, but several. In my research I've seen that over his lifetime Rowbotham was chief editor of at least 5 scientific journals dedicated to a Flat Earth: one dedicated to general flat earth subjects, one dedicated to astronomy, one to physics, one to earth science, and one dedicated to skepticism.

Earth Not a Globe is only a tiny fraction of his contributions to FET. It's a shame that those journals are lost and the public debates with leading scientists of the day went unrecorded.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2012, 12:04:54 AM by Tom Bishop »

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Parsifal

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Re: A HUGE announcement about the Flat Earth Library!
« Reply #29 on: February 22, 2012, 12:41:43 AM »
Thank you for the reply Daniel. I have no idea what 'hotlinking protection' is, though!

It prevents people from easily downloading the same file over and over again.  You have to access the files by clicking on links on the website.  So if you just copy/paste the URL of that particular PDF, it won't work.  Not sure if that's what you did but it seems like it may be the case.  In any event, if you go to the library page and click on the links there, they should work.

Your hotlinking protection has broken the links for Mizuki, and also doesn't actually protect against hotlinking. Proof:

Code: [Select]
steven@luke:~$ nc -v www.earthnotaglobe.com http
Connection to www.earthnotaglobe.com 80 port [tcp/http] succeeded!
HEAD /library/Samuel_Shenton_Correspondence_(Outgoing)_-_Volume_01.pdf HTTP/1.1
Host: www.earthnotaglobe.com

HTTP/1.1 403 Forbidden
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:37:28 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.11 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.11 OpenSSL/0.9.7a mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1

HEAD /library/Samuel_Shenton_Correspondence_(Outgoing)_-_Volume_01.pdf HTTP/1.1
Host: www.earthnotaglobe.com
Referer: http://www.theflatearthsociety.org/cms/

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Date: Wed, 22 Feb 2012 08:37:36 GMT
Server: Apache/2.2.11 (Unix) mod_ssl/2.2.11 OpenSSL/0.9.7a mod_auth_passthrough/2.1 mod_bwlimited/1.4 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635
Last-Modified: Mon, 20 Feb 2012 23:48:18 GMT
ETag: "46c0fe-244921-4b96dedbcf480"
Accept-Ranges: bytes
Content-Length: 2378017
Content-Type: application/pdf

My first HEAD request above simply tries to retrieve the file (and gets a "403 Forbidden" error), and my second HEAD request adds a Referer header (which is the normal way of detecting whether a request is "hotlinked"). As you can see, I am permitted to download this file (that's what "200 OK" means) if I simply add a Referer header. All you're doing is inconveniencing people whose browsers, for whatever reason, don't add the Referer header automatically. (Edit: I suspect Mizuki is behind a HTTP proxy that doesn't forward the request headers in full, which explains why it broke in her particular case, but the actual problem is with the hotlinking protection.)

Please remove this "protection", given that it doesn't protect against anything and is causing harm to your users.
« Last Edit: February 22, 2012, 02:06:55 AM by Parsifal »
I'm going to side with the white supremacists.