From the Wayback Machine

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on February 14th, 2009

We wonder if Google is paying Jay Ward Productions any royalties for use of the term “Wayback Machine?” (We’re not trying to start a fight here, just making the connection between the internet search giant’s handy archive searcher and the old cartoon starring the bespectacle boy genius and his bespectacled pooch.)

Editors note: An astute reader points out that the Wayback Machine is not owned by Google. (See comments) Also: Here is a link to the Machine itself.

Not everyone is aware of the existence of the Wayback Machine. We stumbled upon it a few years ago, just after a worm wiped out many of the SHECKYmagazine files back in August of 2003. Was it the Blaster or was it Sobig? It doesn’t matter. We had a lot of those files stored locally, so we were able to upload a good portion of the issue that was current and we were able to piece together some of the archives.

But a lot of the files that made up our first 40 months of production still remain “lost.” The Wayback has its shortcomings. If you know the exact name of the file, you can find it and it’ll tell you the date it was uploaded, but not every instance is recorded or stored. (For instance, you can go on and enter the URL for our mag and it returns only 3 files for 1999. Back then, we were uploading a monthly “issue” on the first of every month, so there seems to be a gap or two in the Wayback’s archives.) But you must know the exact name of the file.

We had the pleasure of hanging out with David Feldman last week at the Comedy & Magic Club last week and we remembered that he had consented to do a Question 21 for us in April of 2000. But where was the file? And what was it called?

We eventually recalled that it was named “feldq.htm” and we quickly found it via the Wayback Machine. We then tidied up the HTML a bit and uploaded it to our server so that our readers can enjoy it once again– HERE. (It’s hysterical, as can be expected!)

If we get a spare moment or two over the next few weeks, we might try and rescue some of those old files and interviews and upload a few in time to celebrate our tenth anniversary on April 1!

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