State of the Royal Archives as of 1 January 2021

[GV]

I became Royal Archivist upon King John's appointment in May 2012.  And for the first five years or so, I did very little with it.

The year 2018 saw the daughter of a good friend of mine being murdered along with seven other students and two teachers in a school-shooting at Santa Fe High School.  To me, it was the same hurt, if not worse, than that I felt when we lost our nephew at birth in 2014.

I refer to that only because it gave my brain a reset.  I began to re-evaluate things in my life and made a number of changes in Talossa and outside of Talossa.  One of which was to get serious about the Royal Archives, and the direct result was and has been the 'https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UzbMyC8EOgg8J85rIZEY5C44z3Pqbj70dB2UMmZ9OW4/edit?usp=sharing', a three-year plan of action with specific goals and deadlines for the Royal Archives to be completed by Talossa's 42nd anniversary at the end of what is now this year...

The 42 Project was borne out of a sense of duty to Talossa, but also had and has an ulterior motive.  It is my intent to write my Talossan biography, and for that, I need primary-source documents safe to put online so that future researchers can put my opinions and facts to the test.

However, the 42 Project was also put together out of a realisation if I did not finally get everything organized on my end, my brain would not have let me rest.  With every project I get done, my soul feels better.

Finally, the 42 Project and everything that has come from it has been out of the desire to make at least one good thing out of the tragedy of Santa Fe.  For the shooter to have never gone to school that day or any thereafter with such malice, I would gladly give up my life.

The 42 Project began in September 2018, and along with that beginning was the doing of something I should have always done with anything executive in Talossa: get buy-in from those around me.

As I went through my Talossan archives, I knew I would need guidance and input from one or more people.  Those people needed to be in some sort of official group.  In 2017 or 2018, I put together the latest incarnation of the Royal Archives Think-Tank, the sole duty of which would be as consultants who never would have to lift a finger save to give me guidance and advice when I asked for it. 

Without the Royal Archives Think-Tank's support, encouragement, and advice, I would have never been able to do what I've been able to accomplish the past two-and-a-half years.  This is especially crucial in that I am only now coming to a point where I can actually call upon people to do certain archival projects, which may be found at talossa.net in the jobs-listing. 

Of course, this begs the question as to why I've not delegated work before now.  The answer is that which I've given countless times: only now have my Talossan physical and digital archives come to a state where someone other than I can make sense of them.  In August 2018, my digital archives were in a right mess.  Now, they are mostly organized.  Mostly.

September 2018 and the rest of that year saw me put out self-set fires with getting the Scribery caught up.  Other things were done as well, but there is no need to go into too much detail about any of this.

2019 was the year in which the 42 Project began to be accomplished in earnest, and its greatest day was 20 June.  20 June 2019 was the day Danihel Txechescu got me the first results of his work with a script to name-translate into Talossan everything of the Lytheria Codex (Witt X archive to 1 June 2004).  I believe he was able to get all or part of that work done that day, and when he was able to accomplish that, something in brain was finally unjammed: I was able to get the Archives organized for real.  We were off to the races.

Unfortunately, even Danihel's work could not get past the ancient formatting of the Big History and Talossan National News.  I had to use Apple Preview on both with name-substiuttions for the Big History (completed in January 2020) and TNN (completed November or December 2020).

TNN and the Big History were only two of 2020's achievements.  The first and second editions of my PM archives were put together as were online-suitable editions for Onward, Upward, Forward and Invasion of the Androids.  Work was also done on other projects, and I estimate the pandemic allowed me to get to where we are now at least a year faster than if the virus had never hit.  A small silver lining gladly given back for the virus to have never become significant or to have never existed.

Late 2020 and early 2021 saw me make another significant change.  I officially removed all my Talossan archives from the Royal Archives.  I can now announce the establishment of the collection TalossanaGV and its permanent loan to the Talossan Royal Archives in trust to the nation.  Not included in that collection is the JJarkiv, which is its own collection called 'JJarkiv' and on permanent loan to the Talossan Royal Archives.  A fully catalog of everything is forthcoming.

2019 and 2020 saw the organization of libraryoftalossa.com - This domain directs to the publicaly-available Talossan digital archive not including Witt, wiki, or talossa.ca  libraryoftalossa.com is where you can see the fruits of the Royal Archives' labors. 

Lastly, and most significantly, is the present government's work toward the establishment of some sort of Talossan legal person.  I believe something on the lines of finding a legal agent in Wisconsin by whom we can do deals with domain registrars and the like is being worked on, but I leave it to the government to fully detail everything on order.

The work of the Royal Archives will never be completed, but the catching up on projects I frankly should have done ten years ago has been significantly accomplished, but there is still plenty to go.  If I have my way, this work will be accomplished by year's end and the 42 Project will be declared completed, done, and dusted.

Happy new year, everyone!

http://www.libraryoftalossa.com

GV, Royal Archivist
1 January 2021

[Açafat del Val]

GV: I did not know about the personal background, and I am very sorry for your losses. I hope that Talossa helps continue to bring you peace.

Happy new year, and thank you for continuing this effort. It is noticed, appreciated, and even revered :)

[GV]

GV: I did not know about the personal background, and I am very sorry for your losses. I hope that Talossa helps continue to bring you peace.

Happy new year, and thank you for continuing this effort. It is noticed, appreciated, and even revered :)

Thank you!  It hit me harder than I thought it might.  Continue prayers, love, and light to that family and all such families in Santa Fe and elsewhere.

Thanks for your interest in the Archives.  I'm working on a Støtanneu archive of about thirty issues from 1996-1999.  Ben put a lot of those online, but the Wayback Machine has only two.  What I have comes from a printout-collection given to me by Ben in 2002.

[Adam Grigoriu]

I remain amazed at the raw volume of work there is to be done, and what you've gotten done so far. I still have a lot of reading to do.

When you get those Støtanneu archives online, I'd be very interested to take a look. I was looking for a specific article from 1996, and basically gave up because I assumed the only person with a copy was Ben.

[GV]

I remain amazed at the raw volume of work there is to be done, and what you've gotten done so far. I still have a lot of reading to do.

When you get those Støtanneu archives online, I'd be very interested to take a look. I was looking for a specific article from 1996, and basically gave up because I assumed the only person with a copy was Ben.

You will have to wait a while on that.  I've found a few other more-pressing Talossan projects, but I will get back to Støt eventually.

The job of archiving Witt I was able to finish (first pass-through to .html single-file only) last year, but the files are all local to me, and I've not found the time to upload the 20-30 gigs of data yet.

What we need, once-and-for-all is a one-month period in which we all go to OldWitt and archive every thread to single-file .html, .pdf (if possible), .png, and .jpg in such a way the color scheme is 'black-on-white' and not 'white-on-black'.  It will make for easier future printing of images of OldWitt.

I have made such an appeal before, but I would love to have someone take that project over.

[xpb]

I remain amazed at the raw volume of work there is to be done, and what you've gotten done so far. I still have a lot of reading to do.

When you get those Støtanneu archives online, I'd be very interested to take a look. I was looking for a specific article from 1996, and basically gave up because I assumed the only person with a copy was Ben.

You will have to wait a while on that.  I've found a few other more-pressing Talossan projects, but I will get back to Støt eventually.

The job of archiving Witt I was able to finish (first pass-through to .html single-file only) last year, but the files are all local to me, and I've not found the time to upload the 20-30 gigs of data yet.

What we need, once-and-for-all is a one-month period in which we all go to OldWitt and archive every thread to single-file .html, .pdf (if possible), .png, and .jpg in such a way the color scheme is 'black-on-white' and not 'white-on-black'.  It will make for easier future printing of images of OldWitt.

I have made such an appeal before, but I would love to have someone take that project over.

Should it be of value to the realm, I conduct a backup of my network attached storage at least quarterly and rotate external hard drives back and forth off site to secure storage in a Wells Fargo safe deposit box.  I would be happy to include an archive of Talossan data whether it be in raw or compiled forms within that process.  There are certainly other options including alternative online storage, but consider this an offer of specific physical storage to augment other archives.

[Açafat del Val]

Should it be of value to the realm, I conduct a backup of my network attached storage at least quarterly and rotate external hard drives back and forth off site to secure storage in a Wells Fargo safe deposit box.  I would be happy to include an archive of Talossan data whether it be in raw or compiled forms within that process.  There are certainly other options including alternative online storage, but consider this an offer of specific physical storage to augment other archives.

Sounds like another good reason to have a legally registered agent of a Talossan corporation.

Paging the @Seneschal, @Regent, and @Burgermeister to see if they would be interested.

[GV]

I remain amazed at the raw volume of work there is to be done, and what you've gotten done so far. I still have a lot of reading to do.

When you get those Støtanneu archives online, I'd be very interested to take a look. I was looking for a specific article from 1996, and basically gave up because I assumed the only person with a copy was Ben.

You will have to wait a while on that.  I've found a few other more-pressing Talossan projects, but I will get back to Støt eventually.

The job of archiving Witt I was able to finish (first pass-through to .html single-file only) last year, but the files are all local to me, and I've not found the time to upload the 20-30 gigs of data yet.

What we need, once-and-for-all is a one-month period in which we all go to OldWitt and archive every thread to single-file .html, .pdf (if possible), .png, and .jpg in such a way the color scheme is 'black-on-white' and not 'white-on-black'.  It will make for easier future printing of images of OldWitt.

I have made such an appeal before, but I would love to have someone take that project over.

Should it be of value to the realm, I conduct a backup of my network attached storage at least quarterly and rotate external hard drives back and forth off site to secure storage in a Wells Fargo safe deposit box.  I would be happy to include an archive of Talossan data whether it be in raw or compiled forms within that process.  There are certainly other options including alternative online storage, but consider this an offer of specific physical storage to augment other archives.

YES!!  You can start by downloading everything from libraryoftalossa.com - I'll get you access to the Secret Archives and add you as a Royal Archives staff member.  Thank you!

[xpb]

I remain amazed at the raw volume of work there is to be done, and what you've gotten done so far. I still have a lot of reading to do.

When you get those Støtanneu archives online, I'd be very interested to take a look. I was looking for a specific article from 1996, and basically gave up because I assumed the only person with a copy was Ben.

You will have to wait a while on that.  I've found a few other more-pressing Talossan projects, but I will get back to Støt eventually.

The job of archiving Witt I was able to finish (first pass-through to .html single-file only) last year, but the files are all local to me, and I've not found the time to upload the 20-30 gigs of data yet.

What we need, once-and-for-all is a one-month period in which we all go to OldWitt and archive every thread to single-file .html, .pdf (if possible), .png, and .jpg in such a way the color scheme is 'black-on-white' and not 'white-on-black'.  It will make for easier future printing of images of OldWitt.

I have made such an appeal before, but I would love to have someone take that project over.

Should it be of value to the realm, I conduct a backup of my network attached storage at least quarterly and rotate external hard drives back and forth off site to secure storage in a Wells Fargo safe deposit box.  I would be happy to include an archive of Talossan data whether it be in raw or compiled forms within that process.  There are certainly other options including alternative online storage, but consider this an offer of specific physical storage to augment other archives.

YES!!  You can start by downloading everything from libraryoftalossa.com - I'll get you access to the Secret Archives and add you as a Royal Archives staff member.  Thank you!

I have now started the public facing part, by first acquiring National Atlas of the Regipats Talossa for comparision and integration with the Cézembre Homestead Act

I look forward to being invested with the secret handshake, identification whistle pattern, and other appurtenances of the archives.