4 ms·

The museum was reportedly in disrepair from lack of funds and appears to have a non-effective fire suppression system. I don’t think it’s a given that it had a

by danso 8y ago

The museum was reportedly in disrepair from lack of funds and appears to have a non-effective fire suppression system. I don’t think it’s a given that it had a robust digital archive. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/fire-engulfs-brazil-national-museum-rio https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/sep/03/fire-engulfs-b...

ericdykstra 8y ago
Millions of priceless artifacts destroyed due to negligence by Brazil and all of the museums that loaned artifacts to a museum that didn't care to protect them.
- samstave 8y ago
  How are we to know that the fire isnt a cover for a massive heist?
  - alister 8y ago
    Talking about museum heists in Rio, I went to see the Museu da Chácara do Céu -- an art museum hidden away on a mountain top -- because they had a Dalí, a Picasso, a Monet, and a Matisse according to a guidebook. I didn't see any of them. The front desk told me that they were all taken in a heist. They had a poster offering a surprisingly low R$5000 reward, about US$1250, for their recovery.
MattBlissett 8y ago
We have records of almost 270,000 preserved animal and plant specimens, for example leaves/flowers dried and pressed or whole insects most likely pinned down into a drawer. This is still useful data, for example knowing that a species used to be present in a particular area, but if a specimen is destroyed then in the absence of a photograph of the specimen (and sometimes that's not enough) the original assertion can no longer be verified. https://www.gbif.org/publisher/4205110f-3f0f-40d8-bd0f-2fa71bc827b5 https://www.gbif.org/publisher/4205110f-3f0f-40d8-bd0f-2fa71... (I work at GBIF, so I know this data exists, but otherwise I know nothing more than the article covers. I do not know what proportion of the total biodiversity collection 270,000 is, whether they were stored in this building, or whether there are images of them. As one example, they estimate 550,000 plant specimens, but share data of 42,000. That might well mean it isn't electronic, or it might mean it exists in a database but isn't yet shared as open data.)

by danso 8y ago

ericdykstra 8y ago

Millions of priceless artifacts destroyed due to negligence by Brazil and all of the museums that loaned artifacts to a museum that didn't care to protect them.

samstave 8y ago
How are we to know that the fire isnt a cover for a massive heist?
- alister 8y ago
  Talking about museum heists in Rio, I went to see the Museu da Chácara do Céu -- an art museum hidden away on a mountain top -- because they had a Dalí, a Picasso, a Monet, and a Matisse according to a guidebook. I didn't see any of them. The front desk told me that they were all taken in a heist. They had a poster offering a surprisingly low R$5000 reward, about US$1250, for their recovery.

MattBlissett 8y ago

We have records of almost 270,000 preserved animal and plant specimens, for example leaves/flowers dried and pressed or whole insects most likely pinned down into a drawer. This is still useful data, for example knowing that a species used to be present in a particular area, but if a specimen is destroyed then in the absence of a photograph of the specimen (and sometimes that's not enough) the original assertion can no longer be verified. https://www.gbif.org/publisher/4205110f-3f0f-40d8-bd0f-2fa71bc827b5 https://www.gbif.org/publisher/4205110f-3f0f-40d8-bd0f-2fa71... (I work at GBIF, so I know this data exists, but otherwise I know nothing more than the article covers. I do not know what proportion of the total biodiversity collection 270,000 is, whether they were stored in this building, or whether there are images of them. As one example, they estimate 550,000 plant specimens, but share data of 42,000. That might well mean it isn't electronic, or it might mean it exists in a database but isn't yet shared as open data.)