Great story (via boingboing) of how Google created its 20-year Usenet archive. "In the spring of 1981, with a 300 baud modem, the zoology department at the University of Toronto became a central distribution point for Usenet, when the network was just 2 years old. Traffic was almost unimaginably lighter in those days. Only about 200 people had access to Usenet: 'In the first few years, it was at least plausible to come in in the morning and read all the Usenet traffic that had come in, and 15 minutes later be off doing something useful,' remembers Spencer".