At least one of my articles (the running article that I published earlier, that took me four hours to write) was destroyed tonight by the ScienceBlogs server when the IT people replaced a burned out memory module. Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of the finished piece since I had published it earlier in the day and I stupidly thought it was going to be fine. But NO! It isn't fine, it was destroyed. To say that I am outraged is a complete understatement. Instead of wasting my time sitting in the library and writing all afternoon, I could have gone out drinking and I would have accomplished just as much by the end of the day if I had done so.
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Back up your documents often. Even if you are at a library or at a college comp lab, you should be able to back up your work. Be it on a 3.5 disc or a usb memory stick (which have some down in price its ridiculous), or if neither is available, send it to yourself via web based email. It sucks when you lose data, but it is always a danger that has to be confronted.
Oh, and...
Hmmm, drinking a beverage that will increase the death of brain cells, or an activity, be it observed by the public or not, is an application of your talents and mental processes.
I wonder which is more worth your time....
-- jolt
Depending on when it was posted and when various bots may have visited it may have been cached elsewhere (your blog doesn't contain the no-cache meta request). I'd look for you, but you didn't include the name of the article or any relevant key words.
Google for example caches content, if you see it, just select the "cached" link, than copy & paste:
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=&hl=en&num=10&btnG=Google+Search&as_e…
thanks for the suggestion, clayton. i actually tried that right after this happened and the entry was too new to have been cached by google.
the title; "running your blues away"
I can relate. Alas, 15 years in the IT industry has taught me there are no truly reliable systems. I second the suggestions others have made to save to a .txt file as you write, then copy the finished post into the blog system.
Avoid USB drives with the U3 logo - that technology has caused problems for some of our users. And keep in mind USB drives can fail but yes, save-as-you-write, then copy finished work. All it takes is a network hiccup to tank unsaved work in online systems.
Is it this one?
http://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2007/09/running_your_blues_away.p…
It seems to be working for me, though it looks like it might have gotten cut off before the end.
Yeah, that's the problem, Colin -- that's about 1/4 of the article.
(to the tune of the Lone Ranger Theme aka a theme from the Wm. Tell Overture):
backitup backitup backitup up up...
I can relate, and it has taken several sessions of Learning It the Hard Way (once a multiple-choice exam of 100 original questions) for me to follow my own advice.
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! I'm so sorry, Hedwig!
Have you not got google desktop because it might have saved there at least. Check there because i have had that problem and still managed to find with Desktop
If this has put you in a bad mood, may I suggest you go out for a run? :-)
Bob
I am glad to see that your old post was apparently rescued from oblivion. However, I would agree with your initial evaluation regarding what can be accomplished by consuming alcoholic beverages.
I have a personal theory that killing off some old brain cells makes one more creative by making space for new cells to come on line. A good drinking binge is sort of like a mass extinction event for one's intellectual diversity, I think. Compared to vigorous exercise or sex, however, drinking often pushes me down the opposite limb of the bipolar continuum.