[Milsurplus] The Importance of Unmodified Artifacts

[David Stinson]

I recommend the following story from nasa.gov.
It will give you perspective on how important it can be to
preserve unmodified historic artifacts, such as the equipment
we preserve.
One would have thought that all the engineering records for
something as monumental as mankind's trips to the Moon
would not be discarded out of hand, but some of them were.
In preparing for our return to the Moon, engineers needed
to know how their predecessors had designed an important system.
They found that few records remained.  Had someone not preserved
the very last intact example of this system, they would have had
to start from scratch.  Makes interesting reading:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/constellation/orion/umbilical_inspection.html



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"Blog:" A toxic waste dump where humans gather
         to drain the septic sludge
         that accumulates between their ears.