[NTLK] OT kinda "out there"

From: Dale Raby <daleraby_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun Jan 21 2007 - 07:41:08 EST

Good Morning,
As this subject line says, this one is kinda "out there".

I am working on a speculative fiction novel in which I would like my
protagonist to travel back in time to 1967 from 2017 (or so). The trip
through time is unexpected, so he is not prepared, though some of the
antagonists also exist in '67.

He would like to alter a future event that takes place some time after the
year 2017 or so, but he knows that he only has one year in 1967 before he
returns to his own time. His solution would seem to be to send a delay mail
message to someone shortly before the future event happens that he wants to
alter. The problem is that it is important that nobody be able to read the
message until the appropriate time.

What I thought I might do is have the character make a note to someone who
has not been born yet in 1967 on the Newton 2100 he brought with him on the
trip, encrypt the note using The Fish, store it on a PCMCIA Flash memory
card, leave the card with the curator of a museum and the password on a
piece of 100% rag bond paper with the curator of another museum with
instructions to deliver both items to an individual. The instructions to
that individual are to obtain a Newton 2100, install The Fish, put the card
into the Newton, and use the password to decrypt the message, which will
have instructions on how to avoid the unfortunate future event.

Got that so far? Cool.

Now, my questions:

   1. Will a Flash memory card still be readable after being stored for a
   fifty year time span in a museum's collection?
   2. Are there other devices manufactured prior to the Newton that could
   potentially read a Newton OS formatted PCMCIA Flash memory card?
   3. Could the OMP read such a card in 1991?

OK. Thanks for any "future" contributions to this hypothetical quiz.

Dale the Wild-Eyed Nut-Case

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Received on Sun Jan 21 07:41:10 2007

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