Let's Be Each Other's Archive

I just thought of this so I'm not sure it's a good idea, but:

My brother's losing his house (though I haven't heard exactly what the damage is yet) and therefore potentially pictures and compter backups has inspired me to another geek idea. Most files are text, and small by today's standards. Even pictures don't take up that much space if you pack them in a DVD properly. Sound files/video etc is trickier, but still. You only really need a few things, if you had to start all over.

I suggest that we (in the larger sense, not just LJ) become each other's archives. It would be easy to burn a DVD (or set of CDs) with all the Shockwave Radio Theater files I've ever generated, plus my web sites plus quite a bit of Shockwave Radio audio plus pictures... and make multiple copies and give/send them to someone in exchange for a DVD of their files. I'd be happy to store a bunch of DVDs in a closet someplace Just In Case. Ideally, the farther apart the exchange is made the better.

This isn't a time capsule, so I'm not worried about the technology changing so fast that future generations can't read it (though if you're going to password protect some files, leave the pw somewhere for your grandkids...). This is Extended Offsite Backup, for an emergency situation.

Thoughts?

Update from Brother in MS

Edited from an e-mail from my mother. Brother Dan is a physician at the VA hospital in Biloxi, where they took shelter. Jake is my nephew, Joyce is my sister-in-law. They live in Pass Christian, a community closer to NO (and more directly in the path of Katrina) than Biloxi. All ital comments mine

Dan just called again from Biloxi VA Hospital. They've found one cell phone that works. No one else's phone does. (Wonder which brand it is.) He will try to call daily.

 Send nothing now. Later, he may want books for Jake, etc. No school. He'd like all the Harry Potter books. Anyone got any? He's read all six, but likes rereading them; he's 15 and really into it. They took cash with them and don't need money yet. They have insurance, State Farm, who will call me.

They were very, very lucky. At the VA hospital, they have toilets, hot water, even ice, food, all the stuff the people in the Sports Arena don't have. Dan is "essential" and can't leave, but Jake and Joyce must. They are first in line for an apt only 5 miles away, but Dan is not counting on it. Several friends have offered to take them in.

The coast is flattened. In other places, Dan said it was like Oz, with houses pulled up whole and landing many yards away. Their garden lifted up, flowers, veggies, in a top soil mat, and is now across the street on a neighbor's lawn.

Their house is a few miles in and the frame and roof are standing. Some windows gone, all stuff smashed against walls. No staircase, so they don't know about the second floor. Or whether it must be rebuilt. Dan had not boarded it up. Recently, it had anchors put in at the corners, like earthquake construction. The neighbors' houses seem to be in similar shape. Many of their neighbors houses were on stilts. His was on a slight rise, higher than any previous high water mark (he checked).

They have their 2 cars--Danny had moved them to the highest ground he could find at the hospital. They are both full of gas, but no other gas is available. I'm glad about the cars; first report was that they lost both, but I wondered how they got to the hospital.