1928 Time Traveler Caught On Film? 685
Many of you have submitted a story about Irish filmmaker George Clarke, who claims to have found a person using a cellphone in the "unused footage" section of the DVD The Circus, a Charlie Chaplin movie filmed in 1928. To me the bigger mystery is how someone who appears to be the offspring of Ram-Man and The Penguin got into a movie in the first place, especially if they were talking to a little metal box on set. Watch the video and decide for yourself.
Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 (Score:5, Interesting)
This is such utter drivel. The person in the picture could be scratching his/her head or shielding their ear from a breeze with something (my grandmother does similar things when the wind is strong and she wears a shawl). I don't see a black object, I see two of the fingers around what would be the 'top' of the phone which is uncharacteristically how people hold cell phones. I don't see any shock or expression on the face as they turn it just seems like Clarke is projecting what he wants on the viewer. It could just be a schizophrenic wandering around who is used to shielding their face and mouth when they can't control what they are saying.
It's ridiculous that time traveling is even suggested, let alone continually reinforced by George Clarke.
Not likely (Score:2, Interesting)
If arbitrary time travel is possible (which I personally highly doubt), by the time our technology advances to that level cell phones will be considered as ancient as the telegraph is today.
Western Electric Hearing Aid ca. 1925 (Score:3, Interesting)
Grandma Titor was likely using one of these:
http://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Carbon/WesternElectric/info/westelect34a.htm [hearingaidmuseum.com]
It still doesn't explain why the person she's conversing with is INVISIBLE!!!
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Interesting)
Who was she talking to? (considering the lack of cell-phone towers)
Ugh.
It is entirely possible that the time travelling 'ship' could serve as a tower for this purpose. It could be relaying communications to her home time or to a fellow traveler.
you see what you are accustomed to see (Score:4, Interesting)
Seriously, that would mean that time travel is so close that cell phones won't change considerably. The chance of that is even smaller than that for time travel per se.
We are pattern-matching machines. We see and interpret in practically the same thought. We are used to people using cell phones like that, so that is what we think we see.
Why Not? (Score:4, Interesting)
It reminds me of an occurrence one night while I was working as a hospital security officer on nights. A man came in breathless to our office, and asked to speak to Sergeant D* (I don't recall the full last name). We told him he didn't work with us. The man said that the Sergeant was supposed to be there, he was running from the CIA, and had to speak to him. We responded that Sergeant didn't exist. The man then bolted and ran away from us. It kind of shook my world, and I can't stop thinking... did I just ensure the destruction of mankind, by running this guy off?
Re:like cave men trying to explain a TV (Score:4, Interesting)
See this picture [forgetomori.com] of a fellow time traveler for another example. Modern people see a guy with a printed T-Shirt, modern sunglasses, and an SLR camera. However, the printed T could just as easily be a sweater with a college logo on it, the 'modern' sunglasses were in fact available in 1940, and the SLR camera is almost definitely a Kodak model that would have been old even at the time the picture was taken.
Think of the paradox (Score:1, Interesting)
Let's assume that it is a time traveler with some sort of communication device... for communicating through time or with a fellow time traveler. Wouldn't the same time traveler have seen this story, and then not make the same mistake so that the story wouldn't exist?
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Interesting)
There seem to be a lot of these cropping up lately. The other day I came across this picture. [forgetomori.com]
Something tells me this is going to be a new fad, like listening to records backwards to hear hidden messages. "Can You Find the Time Traveler in This Picture?".
Hell, maybe it'll even become a game show.
Undercover security with portable tube radio (Score:1, Interesting)
That is an undercover policeman or security guard talking into the handpiece of a portable tube radio. The main radio is concealed in either the handbag or under the bulky costume. No time traveller needed.
Admittedly, the first record I can find of portable tube radios is from 1936 in England, but at this time multiple people in multiple countries were independently inventing the same things at nearly the same time. As you know, often technology used by police and defence forces is not well publicised because "secret weapons against crime" get a lot of power from being secret.
Why not a piece of ice wrapped in a handkerchief? (Score:3, Interesting)
Time travel isn't the only unrealistic explain... (Score:1, Interesting)
Theoretical physics would suggest it is an inter-dimensional traveler rather than a time traveler. Not that there is any evidence either is possible. In theory it takes an enormous amount of negative energy to time travel. It would be conceivable to punch through to an alternative dimension with less work. Basically I'm not aware of any theories about inter-dimensional travel that don't involve becoming evil, cheesy beards and reversing your clothes. The other dimension may have developed cell phones, or equivalent, and inter-dimensional travel before 1920's. Then the cell phone would obviously be connected through the rift to the other dimensions towers. This also limits roaming charges as there is no requirement that the tower be physically a far.
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Interesting)
My wifes grandma, who is in her late eighties, has a hearing aid. She will sometimes talk to herself to "hear" if she has it adjusted properly.
So there is the reason that the auntie was talking to herself - probably fiddling with her hearing aid to set it properly.
I am with you on that.
Now if anyone could explain how she managed to fade into thin air like that as soon as she noticed the camera...
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:3, Interesting)
while this is actually irrelevant to this particular issue, as it's obviously not a cell phone, a quick explanation of some of those "walkie-talkie" phones.
specifically some of the iDen phones, some of the models can in fact talk direct from one to the other in the absence of a cell tower, and yet still route the conversation through a cell tower when available.
I've seen some of these phones in use by TELUS's "safety net" group (speciallizing in disaster communications), for example during a hurricane in the US a few years ago, while all communication was out, they shipped a couple of crates of these phones along with the first responding emergency workers coming from Canada to help, they then sent one of their SatCOLTs (Satellite Cellular On Light Truck) down to provide a cell tower. The phones worked properly between each other over short range, and once the truck got there the phones immediately picked up on it and were able to connect to the rest of the world. Rather a cool technology really.
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:4, Interesting)
What I'd be curious about is to do the math and figure out if it would be cost effective, accounting for inflation.
According to the National Mining Association [nma.org], in 1928, 1 troy ounce was $20.66. In 2008, it was $871.96. Today it was trading at $1343.32. Would it be financially wise to buy gold at $1343? Adjusting for inflation, what can be purchased now for $1343 would cost approximately $108.22 in 1928. Since the loss would be a net gain over time (82 years, as we're presuming), it wouldn't matter much.
But there is the power aspect of it. What if you had a controlling interest in major industry (manufacturing of all sorts, including automotive), technology, and had a controlling or strong interest in every company, which in turn would give you a strong negotiation position with political figures world wide. Political leaders simply won't say no to someone who can honestly say "I have controlling interest in 90% of the business and industry in your [city/state/region/country]. Do what I say, or I will depopulate your entire country and bankrupt you. You will be the king of your kitchen staff, because there won't be anyone left." Greed and corruption falls out of the picture, when corporations aren't fighting against each other, and everyone has open access to everything they need or want. Sorry for the socialist ring to that, it's totally unintentional.
Imagine every war starting at WWII never happened. No nukes. No cold war. No traumatized (physically and mentally) war veterans. No starving people. No overworked, underpaid slaves in sweat shops.
That's something the world needs. Rather than letting politicians fight over things, and start wars, things could be settled in a good business manner. Keep the people happy. Happy workers are productive workers. And we could avoid so many things that are obviously not right. The massive pollution that we've spewed from the beginning of the industrial age is senseless, but could be fixed. The same recursive loop that would set the position of power could also bring back technologies from 2010 to 1928, in turn having better technologies to bring back on the next trip.
Dammit, and I can't find the keys to my time machine. Anyone know how to hot wire a DeLorean?