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General forums => Media and Technology => Media => Topic started by: fragger on November 15, 2010, 04:57:24 PM

Title: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: fragger on November 15, 2010, 04:57:24 PM
Shot from the front of a streetcar in San Francisco 1906, this clip appears to demonstrate one of the earliest known uses of 35mm film. It's a fascinating street scene from the past, marked by an apparent complete lack of road rules. And you thought traffic today was chaotic! Mind you, nobody in the scene is going anywhere very quickly :-()

Air - La Femme D'Argent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NINOxRxze9k#)
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: PZ on November 15, 2010, 06:38:48 PM
lol, reminds me of driving in Paris.  ^+-+

I actually loved driving in France - the people on the road were so much more courteous than here in the States.  The people in my area are the rudest I have ever encountered anywhere in the world.  The people will pull out in front of you hoping that you'll hit them so they have an excuse to sue you.  :D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: mandru on November 15, 2010, 08:07:44 PM
An interesting clip fragger.  You can spot the yahoos that are intentionally stepping out in front of the streetcar to see what the camera man hanging off the front of it is doing.  Surprisingly the concept seems to be "walk out into the middle of the road to board a passing streetcar going either direction" and someone thought that was a good idea as that is how it's designed to function.   ???

PZ, the comment on your local driving conditions cracked me up.  I've long quite vocally expressed an opinion that Idaho has the worst surface roads ( highway and lower ) I've ever driven but Utah has the worst drivers and if you get a Utahan driver (spell checker insists on this though I'd spell it Utahn) on Idahoan roads...    ???

Well, it's been a while since I've driven up North and things may have changed but I'd still give them plenty of lead time and hug what there is of the shoulder.  :-D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: PZ on November 15, 2010, 08:50:25 PM
Quote from: mandru on November 15, 2010, 08:07:44 PM
... but Utah has the worst drivers and if you get a Utahan driver (spell checker insists on this though I'd spell it Utahn) on Idahoan roads...    ???

Well, it's been a while since I've driven up North and things may have changed but I'd still give them plenty of lead time and hug what there is of the shoulder.  :-D
^+-+
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on November 15, 2010, 10:35:11 PM
Excellent find, fragger :)  :-X

It actually shows 1905 "before an earthquake/fire of 1906 destroyed the area" ;)

Man, I could watch it 100 times and still enjoy it  ^+-+
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: PZ on November 15, 2010, 11:35:11 PM
It is fascinating to realize that everyone in that video is dead by now, and we're viewing a glimpse into the past.  Imagine how marvelous it would be to have a video like this of how the pyramids were being built, or how the Aztecs lived - how about viewing the actual battle of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae  - the list is endless.
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 03:04:27 AM
Hehe, funny idea :) I imagine a series of "The greatest and bloodiest fights live from Circus Maximus, Rome"  :-D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: JRD on November 16, 2010, 03:49:18 AM
Imagine a gladiator about to chop another gladiator`s head off:

- It`ll be on youtube this afternoon, mate! SLASH

:-D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 04:13:21 AM
 ;D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: fragger on November 16, 2010, 06:03:41 AM
Glad you guys liked it! I thought it was a genuine blast from the past. It wouldn't have occurred to any of those people in the film that folks 104 years later would be watching them going about their daily business.

PZ's idea reminded me of a sci-fi short story I read many years ago. I can't remember the title or who wrote it, but it was about a scientist with a passion for history who invents a device which can "see" into the remote past, allowing ancient historical events to be viewed. Unfortunately he fails to foresee that the device can be recalibrated to look not just centuries into the past, but mere milliseconds - effectively allowing anyone with one of these devices to be able to spy on anybody, anywhere, practically in real time, with implied future detrimental effects on society. The story stopped short of detailing what those effects would be, leaving it up to the reader to imagine them (it was a short story, after all).

A more recent and scientifically informed treatment of this idea is contained in the novel "The Light Of Other Days" by Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter, published in 2000, which does detail those effects quite chillingly.

Now I'm straying into "Book Discussion" territory :-\


@PZ and mandru: Lousy drivers are certainly not restricted to parts of the US. The level of driver proficiency in Australia is generally pretty abominable. Mainly it's the prevailing attitude to driving that stinks - many drivers here are impatient, careless, and in such a blazing rush to get everywhere that they'll willingly put their lives, and those of other people, at risk just to gain a car's length or shave a few seconds off their travel time. Utter morons >:((
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 08:32:07 AM
When it starts to rain, people in my city always cause traffic jams. As if "rain" equals "don't go any faster than you could walk"  :D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: JRD on November 16, 2010, 09:22:19 AM
Tell me about it... in Rio they have the "Mad Max`s school for taxi drivers", the "Gladiators academy of bus drivers", the year round "Blind old lady at night symposium for blind old lady drivers" and their moto is

- Traffic regulations are just a suggestion  :'(
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: deadman1 on November 16, 2010, 10:04:46 AM
I once saw a video on youtube about chinese drivers, compared to them your drivers are perfect rolemodels for how to behave in traffic.  ;D I have tried to find that video again but I haven´t be able to do so.
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: mandru on November 16, 2010, 10:18:57 AM
I caused some pretty hard feelings about a week back on another forum I'm involved in after one of the female members commented she like SUVs because they kept her family safe and several other women agreed.  One of them flat out stated "I really enjoy the intimidation factor it gives me."

I posted my thought that there was another side to that coin.  Many SUV drivers voicing similar opinions to those they'd expressed displayed an active willingness to kill my family in a small car if it insured that their families would remain safe.

If I have a dangerous intruder that is regularly breaking into my home and I purchase and install a device that kills them after many repeated forced entries I would be arrested for mantrap which carries the onus and charge of premeditated murder.   SUV drivers that depend on vehicle size and intimidation factor to clear small cars out of their way are doing the same thing and all they  get are traffic violations and higher insurance rates.

I also voiced that I preferred a system where mutual safety on the road for all families was attained by all drivers properly exercising defensive driving skills and avoiding trouble to start with rather than a system where we are involved in a rolling arms race where the winners are determined by wheel size.

The way they came back after me you would have thought that I'd called their children stupid and ugly.

I just like to stir things up sometimes.   ;D



*heh heh @ deadman's sig "I´m not as think as you drunk I am *hick*"   It reminds me of the line "But ossifer, none of us were driving!  We were all in the back sing'in."
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 10:33:45 AM
Excellent  ;D But rest assured.. they deserved you.  ^+-+

as to deadman's sig: reminds me of "I'm not too drunk to drive. My car finds its own way home." Or "I wouldn't know how to drive when sober."  ;D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: mmosu on November 16, 2010, 11:36:40 AM
Oh, where to begin!
First off, nice find fragger, I love old films like this.

Quote from: PZ on November 15, 2010, 11:35:11 PM
It is fascinating to realize that everyone in that video is dead by now, and we're viewing a glimpse into the past... 

PZ, this is exactly what I was thinking when I watched it - none of these people are alive anymore!  Even beyond that, none of them could have begun to imagine the world we live in today - a world in which this small group of guys physically located on three seperate continents would be having a discussion about them!!

Quote from: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 08:32:07 AM
When it starts to rain, people in my city always cause traffic jams. As if "rain" equals "don't go any faster than you could walk"  :D

Art, you just perfectly described the biggest complaint about drivers in Ohio  :-()  PS - it's raining here right now >:((
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: PZ on November 16, 2010, 11:46:09 AM
Quote from: mmosu on November 16, 2010, 11:36:40 AM
...Even beyond that, none of them could have begun to imagine the world we live in today - a world in which this small group of guys physically located on three seperate continents would be having a discussion about them!!
They'd find it difficult to believe that we could all communicate so fast - in the blink of an eye - they'd probably think that we're aliens visiting planet Earth.
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 02:21:24 PM
Quote from: mmosu on November 16, 2010, 11:36:40 AMPS - it's raining here right now >:((

^+-+
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: fragger on November 16, 2010, 04:37:37 PM
Quote from: deadman on November 16, 2010, 10:04:46 AM
I once saw a video on youtube about chinese drivers, compared to them your drivers are perfect rolemodels for how to behave in traffic.  ;D I have tried to find that video again but I haven´t be able to do so.

I think I've seen that video deadman, or if not that one, something much like it. Scary stuff :o

Quote from: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 08:32:07 AM
When it starts to rain, people in my city always cause traffic jams. As if "rain" equals "don't go any faster than you could walk"  :D

:-D

If only drivers were like that here! Instead, rain seems to make them want to go even faster, often with predictable results. The accident rate in this country nearly always jumps in wet conditions, and it's not because of the conditions themselves. Drivers just won't adapt their driving to suit those conditions. I think I'd prefer to deal with a traffic jam than dopey ratbags hurtling past me in blurring geysers of spray :D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on November 16, 2010, 11:44:46 PM
hehe, reminds me of our bumper sticker collection..

Quote from: mmosu on December 02, 2009, 07:03:36 PM"Keep honking, I'm reloading"

;D
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: fragger on November 18, 2010, 03:34:06 AM
 :-() :-()
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: fragger on December 14, 2011, 01:21:28 PM
I know that like me some of you enjoy looking at "old" stuff, so I thought you might get a kick out of this:

http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/ (http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/)
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: JRD on December 14, 2011, 01:48:10 PM
Great find, fragger!  :-X
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on December 14, 2011, 03:36:52 PM
Hehehe  :-()

From there:
http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/jewelry-and-watches-ads-1970s/8 (http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/jewelry-and-watches-ads-1970s/8)
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Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: fragger on December 15, 2011, 01:48:13 AM
Hehe, cool :-D

I found this on a similar site (and now I can't find it again :D) which also dealt with vintage advertisements, under their "computers" category. Apparently there is something of an online debate going on about whether the DHARMA Initiative featured in the TV show LOST was based on a real research establishment, and it was claimed by some that this vintage ad from the 70s confirmed it ("©1978 Dharma Initiative" in the upper right corner). It's a nice try by someone and looks quite authentic until you study the backdrop - it's the inside of the dome in The Swan (below the first hatch) in LOST.

The block of text in the ad didn't come out too well here, so I reproduced it below the picture.

[smg id=3879 align=center width=450]

Keeping the Dharma Initiative connected.
No matter what Station you've been assigned to, the Dharma computer network will
always keep you connected. And accessing that network has never been easier than
through a Dharma Initiative Computer - log on today and find out everything you need
about our research or speak to someone you haven't heard from in a while*.


*Please read the rules regarding communication before logging on.


It's a good attempt by someone, looks like an authentic vintage ad that's been scanned from an old magazine. I'd been reading about the "DHARMA is real/not real" debate elsewhere and followed a link to this "ad". Apparently whoever administers the ad site was never a LOST viewer and was blissfully unaware that it's a clever fake as it was included along with other real vintage computer ads :-D

Incidentally, I don't for a second believe that DHARMA is real. It's a very craftily and deliberately concocted online urban myth, perpetrated by the producers of LOST. DHARMA pops up in some other J. J. Abrams stuff, such as in the movie Cloverfield - there's a DHARMA logo in the corner of the screen right at the beginning, during the opening sequence.

I love stuff like that :-X
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: mandru on December 15, 2011, 10:35:24 AM
An interesting site fragger.   :-X  I spent a couple hours digging through it this morning.

Oddly enough the Timex watch ad Art posted above coincidentally happens to show the product line of watches my grandfather chose from for my high school graduation present.  Mine had a red jewel tone face and unfortunately lost it's crystal and hands many years ago.  Its corpse is still floating around in a box somewhere because I never had the heart to toss it.   ::)

The silk tie he gave me two years before that has proven to be much more durable.   :-()
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Dweller_Benthos on December 15, 2011, 10:37:55 AM
I like the two at the bottom of this page (warning! double nip slip!) talk about opposites, eh? lol

http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/books-and-magazines-ads-1970s (http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/books-and-magazines-ads-1970s)
Title: Re: Nearest thing to a time machine
Post by: Art Blade on December 15, 2011, 12:23:02 PM
Quote from: Dweller_Benthos on December 15, 2011, 10:37:55 AMwarning! double nip slip!

??? :) ??? ^-^ ??? :-() ??? >:D ??? :laugh: :-X