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1928 Time Traveler Caught On Film?

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.

89 of 685 comments (clear)

  1. OK, I'll bite. by ThoughtMonster · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who was she talking to? (considering the lack of cell-phone towers)

    Ugh.

    1. Re:OK, I'll bite. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      Maybe it's a satellite-phone...

    2. Re:OK, I'll bite. by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Imagine the roaming charges on that call...

      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
    3. Re:OK, I'll bite. by Penguinisto · · Score: 2, Funny

      Maybe it's a sat phone, like an Iridium phone?

      Either way, the roaming charges have got to be a royal bitch...

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    4. Re:OK, I'll bite. by pixelpusher220 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      We totally need an 'Ahead of its time' moderation!

      --
      People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D
    5. Re:OK, I'll bite. by ELitwin · · Score: 2, Informative

      If you can pretend that the technology for time travel actually exists in the distant future, then can't you pretend that the the technology for a communication device would be vastly different and not need cell-phone towers?

    6. Re:OK, I'll bite. by BobMcD · · Score: 4, 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.

    7. Re:OK, I'll bite. by mea37 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe it's not a cell phone as we know it. Maybe it allows communication through time. Maybe it isn't about time travel at all, but was an alien communicating with the mother ship.

      Or maybe the story is bs, and either the video was manipulated, you're not seeing what you think you see, or the guy was immitating "talking on a phone" with a small, boxy object that happened to be in reach (either for reasons you'd have to be in his converation to know, or because he's nuts). For that matter, maybe he was holding something cold to a bruise on the side of his head while takling to the person next to him.

      Even for Idle this is silly.

    8. Re:OK, I'll bite. by FatAlb3rt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Maybe we shouldn't pretend the need to hold a brick to your head either, especially in a society that would tend to notice that anomaly.

    9. Re:OK, I'll bite. by KUHurdler · · Score: 2, Insightful

      No theories? Really?
      Looks like shes shielding her face from the camera or trying to hold her hat on

      there's 2.

      --
      Fix Your Own TV - RiddledTV.com Avoid the Landfill
    10. Re:OK, I'll bite. by Third+Position · · Score: 4, Interesting

      There seem to be a lot of these cropping up lately. The other day I came across this picture.

      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.

      --
      American Third Position
      Finally, a real choice!
    11. Re:OK, I'll bite. by modecx · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yeah, I've always thought that a people capable of time travel would also develop what I see as final evolution of the cell phone: C.A.C.T.U.S. (Colonic Audio Conduction Technology, Ultimately Sadomasochistic), an inter-chronologic audio communication device, in convenient suppository form. It vibrates your colon such a manner that sound waves travel up your spine, resonating the inner ear. It is, unfortunately, quite uncomfortable to wear.

      We all know from the Terminator movies that inorganic materials aren't compatible with the time-matrix anomaly--unless they're wrapped in flesh. So, there you go. Billions of future humans are destined to ram CACTUSs up their asses.

      --
      Constitutional rights may be respected, repealed, or modified; but they must never be ignored.
    12. Re:OK, I'll bite. by alienzed · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Assuming trime travel is the issue here, does someone who can make a time travel machine need cell towers?

      --
      Never say never. Ah!! I did it again!
    13. Re:OK, I'll bite. by harlows_monkeys · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Who was she talking to? (considering the lack of cell-phone towers)

      Ugh.

      Of all the reasons to suspect that this is not a time traveller, that is the dumbest one.

      First of all, cell-phone towers are not required for mobile communications. They are required for one particular kind of mobile communication that is widespread now, but there is no reason to believe that a time traveller would be using that particular kind of mobile communication. She could be using something akin to a walkie-talkie, which is point to point, and is being used to communicate to someone else nearby (or not nearby--she could get away with a very high power walkie-talkie without drawing attention to herself in 1928, it is not like now where it would quickly draw the attention of the FCC). Or she could be using something akin to pre-cell mobile phones, which had one base station serving a large area, with the base station at the time traveller's 1928 base location (surely you are not assuming that there is a single time traveller?).

      All of the above suggestions are realizable with technology we already have (and in fact is readily available). It is also reasonable that if someone has time travel, they have communication technology we don't have--such as mobile phones that communicate through time, so she could be talking to someone in the future or past.

    14. Re:OK, I'll bite. by ChairmanMeow · · Score: 4, Funny

      Can you hear me now?

      --
    15. Re:OK, I'll bite. by d3ac0n · · Score: 5, Insightful

      There is something in her hand. And the object in her hand is...

      An early model Siemens hearing aid. While they gave a great boost in hearing quality, they tended to have feedback whine issues. You may notice that the person's mouth doesn't move until right at the end. Likely she is reacting to a feedback, possibly caused by someone yelling at her to "GET OUT OF THE SHOT YOU OLD BAG!"

      So despite all the hullaballo, it's just an ugly old lady with a hearing aid. Yeah, they had them then too.

      --
      Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
    16. Re:OK, I'll bite. by kungfugleek · · Score: 5, Funny

      Given that it's a time traveler, I'd say, "Can you hear me then?

    17. Re:OK, I'll bite. by Trails · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, it's obvious, it's been fixed with a sonic screwdriver. Universal roaming, you know.

      But I must say the Doctor has really let his standards for Companions slide...

    18. Re:OK, I'll bite. by kellyb9 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Imagine the roaming charges on that call...

      GREAT SCOTT!

    19. Re:OK, I'll bite. by nomorecwrd · · Score: 2, Funny

      Many people (specially singers and actors) cover their ears to "hear themselves"

      Why is she doing that for a silent movie escapes me.

    20. Re:OK, I'll bite. by VanGarrett · · Score: 3, Funny

      This person has a goddamned time machine, and you automatically assume that her cellphone also requires a tower to get a signal?

    21. Re:OK, I'll bite. by AndGodSed · · Score: 4, 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...

    22. Re:OK, I'll bite. by Beardo+the+Bearded · · Score: 2, Funny

      THEY HAVE A TIME MACHINE.

      They could get jobs at Siemens in the past and "develop" just such a hearing aid. Then it's a simple matter of vetting the ads until they get one that's juuust right.

      --

      ---
      ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
    23. Re:OK, I'll bite. by green1 · · Score: 2, 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.

    24. Re:OK, I'll bite. by FriendlyPrimate · · Score: 2, Funny

      How the heck did you figure that out? Only someone from that time period could have known that it was a hearing aid. Hrm...

    25. Re:OK, I'll bite. by JWSmythe · · Score: 3, 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, 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?

      --
      Serious? Seriousness is well above my pay grade.
    26. Re:OK, I'll bite. by shugah · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why not, she's got 3000 "anytime" minutes.

      --
      If you aren't part of the solution, then there is good money to be made prolonging the problem
    27. Re:OK, I'll bite. by Grishnakh · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, it wasn't. She's a time traveler, and she's talking into a communicator (to her fellow time-travelers, possibly in orbit) that is disguised as an early model Siemens hearing aid. The time traveler is dressed as an ugly old lady to avoid arousing suspicion.

    28. Re:OK, I'll bite. by samcan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      While cell phones over the past twenty years have gotten smaller, obviously they're going to have to get larger to accomodate the temporal circuitry.

    29. Re:OK, I'll bite. by Teancum · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There is the possibility that whatever changes you might try to make to change history would only backfire and cause many more problems.

      Back in the 1920's there was a very strong pacifists movement including some attempts at very high levels of government to "outlaw war" through treaty and other means. This included naval armament limitations on the major world powers (Germany and Japan got the short end of the stick on these efforts... a lot of good that did) and doing things like the Geneva Convention.

      If you really think you could have done better than some of the best minds and diplomats in the world to stop World War II, I would love to see you try. Assassinating Adolph Hitler right after the Beer Putsch might have helped a little bit, but even that wouldn't necessarily have fixed the problems of the era.

      You might make a small difference on some key thing, and perhaps get some "green" technologies funded and developed a bit earlier if you went back in time, but I think it would be much harder to make a difference even if you tried.

      I'm not saying that an individual can't make a difference, but it often is much harder than it seems and there certainly are social forces at play over history that often need to be resolved... and those methods of getting resolved often aren't pretty either. In going back in time the only advantage you would be able to have is some 20/20 hindsight on some key issues and some foreknowledge of what would be coming. If you read history, many of the crazy ideas you are suggesting were even tried... often by people who were quite wealthy. An easy way to lose money is to invest in something prematurely that is "ahead of its time".

    30. Re:OK, I'll bite. by beav007 · · Score: 4, Informative

      It is most likely a Western Electric Model 34A "Audiphone" Carbon Hearing Aid, which was commercially available from 1925. The lady in question was probably talking into it to adjust the volume, or see if it was still working.

      Hooray for the publicity grab!

  2. Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 by eldavojohn · · Score: 4, Interesting

    And uh, what network was this cell phone connecting to? Because you know there's a series of cell towers and satellites that need to be in place for cell phones to work and I don't recall anyone having the foresight to erect such towers in 1928.

    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.

    --
    My work here is dung.
    1. Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 by MyLongNickName · · Score: 5, Funny

      Wow. They really should create a separate section of Slashdot for these ridiculous stories.

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    2. Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 by Zeek40 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Well, if they can send one person back in time, why couldn't they send all the towers, lines, servers, power plants running them and support staff necessary to operate those phones back?
      Once we master time travel, moving several million tons of copper, steel, electronics, generators, etc. through the time portal should be easy.

      The real question is why is my cell phone bill so high when that film demonstrates that it's obviously 80+ year old technology.

    3. Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 by Abstrackt · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wow. They really should create a separate section of Slashdot for these ridiculous stories.

      Great idea! Maybe we could even give it a descriptive name like "Idle" so people know to avoid it.

      --
      They say a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, but it's not one half so bad as a lot of ignorance. - Terry Pratchett
    4. Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 by ColdCuts · · Score: 3, Funny

      Worse would be the cell phone company's charges. The minutes would certianly be billed under a time 'roaming' plan. But worse, they would be instantly overdue, and with interest and late fees accumulating, a 300 year trip to the past with a quick call to brag about your journey would bankrupt the poor traveler.

    5. Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 by MyLongNickName · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If they did that, only idiots would read it!

      --
      See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    6. Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 by gad_zuki! · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The problem with this and most claims of the paranormal is that people just don't understand how common coincidences are. The woman in that film is just holding her hand coincidentally like the modern cellphone.

      What's funny is that this was never noticed before because cell phones never looked like that until fairly recently. If it was 1983 then that wouldn't look like a phone at all, it would look like a woman holding her scarf funny because cell phones were twice to three times the size with big honking antennas. Or if it was 2030 it wouldn't look like a phone at all, we'd probably just have them implanted into our bodies.

      This is an old sci-fi trope which I like to call the "unsophisticated sophisticate." A time traveler would of course know not to use a piece of technology like that in public or even possess it, but audiences like the idea of "Aha! I caught the time traveler because I'm smart and the traveler is dumb or careless!" We see this also when aliens step out of their spaceships and die from the common cold or future archeologists can't fathom what a 'car' is or when aliens land and don't know what love is, etc. In other words, conspiracy theories not only exploit of ignorance but more so our vanity. It makes us feel good to "know whats really going on" or feel superior to threatening things. Unfortunately, humans seem drawn to feel good bullshit and sometimes go to war about said bullshit.

  3. Huh by Markvs · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I wonder what network the were using in 1928? Marconi Wireless? (snicker)
    Seriously, this has been in the media for days now. It's almost certainly someone using an old-style hearing aid.

    --
    46. The Hobo smiles, his eyes glaze over, and he burps. "Beware the man who has lived longer than the Wasteland."
  4. Looks like a hearing aid. by Shadmere · · Score: 3, Informative

    Obviously it's not clear what kind of aid it is, specifically, but it looks like an old ear trumpet.

    Like this thing.

  5. /. at its best by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    On their best day, Slashdot readers would think of cell phone towers. I don't think there are any days this rabble would be intelligent enough to realize that any species or members of humanity from a time traveling society wouldn't need towers for their communication devices. Or would have very rapid means of deploying them from relatively small devices.

    Slashdot reminds me of ignorant atheists who attack creationism on the same logical level that creationists attack atheism on.

  6. Not a cell phone. by davev2.0 · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is an early carbonic (electric) hearing aid.

  7. Not likely by Anonymous Coward · · 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.

  8. Western Electric Hearing Aid ca. 1925 by Freshly+Exhumed · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Grandma Titor was likely using one of these:

    http://www.hearingaidmuseum.com/gallery/Carbon/WesternElectric/info/westelect34a.htm

    It still doesn't explain why the person she's conversing with is INVISIBLE!!!

    --
    I deny that I have not avoided attaining the opposite of that which I do not want.
    1. Re:Western Electric Hearing Aid ca. 1925 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      We just slashdotted the hearing aid museum...

    2. Re:Western Electric Hearing Aid ca. 1925 by nschubach · · Score: 2, Funny

      They may need some kind of device to filter out the excess noise so people can clearly read the site.

      --
      Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.
    3. Re:Western Electric Hearing Aid ca. 1925 by amliebsch · · Score: 5, Funny

      4) She's talking to a hologram of a man from her own time that only she can see and hear, as she puts right what once went wrong.

      --
      If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  9. Conspiracy theories are for gullible idiots. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    There is no clear device in the hand. It looks like they're talking to someone in front of them or themselves while holding their hat.

  10. OCCAM'S RAZOR, MAN by gaspar+ilom · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nuh-uh: "Time traveler w/ cell phone" is the simplest explanation.

  11. It was a hearing aid by Valiss · · Score: 5, Informative

    This was released in 1924:

    http://hearing.siemens.com/sg/10-about-us/01-our-history/milestones.jsp?year=1924

    Seems like it could easily be that.

    --

    -Valiss
  12. tachyon communication device by danlip · · Score: 4, Funny

    Clear not an actual cell phone, but a tachyon communication device that allowed her to communicate with her native time frame. Duh.

  13. Schizophrenia? by Nidi62 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They had to have Schizophrenics back in the 20s, didn't they? Maybe she was just talking to herself and cupping her hands over her ears in an attempt to block out the voices?

    --
    The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
  14. I saw that episode by praedictus · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't worry!!! She will get hit by a car and Kirk cant save her or else the Nazis will take over.

    --
    Watashi wa chikyubutsurigakusha desu.
    1. Re:I saw that episode by oldmac31310 · · Score: 2

      Well said. Or she (he) was covering up her (his) pointy ears.

      --
      http://www.acetonestudio.com
    2. Re:I saw that episode by dimm0k · · Score: 2

      That was an amusing episode!

  15. like cave men trying to explain a TV by tverbeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The "cell phone" theory is a golden example of people projecting their own limited conception of the world onto something they don't recognize. Someone 40 years ago probably would've imagined that they saw someone singing along to a transistor radio. Someone from 120 years ago would've thought they saw someone listening to a seashell and chewing gum. If she's really holding something (IMO the video isn't clear enough to be sure), it's almost certainly a contemporary hearing aid.

    --
    http://alternatives.rzero.com/
    1. Re:like cave men trying to explain a TV by MozeeToby · · Score: 3, Interesting

      See this picture 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.

  16. Re:Prime Directive! by mea37 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How do you know? Maybe without his involvement the Depression would've played out differently. Maybe he set events in motion that changed the outcome of WWII so that the Allies would win. Could've changed anything or everything; it's not like any of us would "remember" how it was "supposed to be".

    Actually, if he was so open about using anachronistic technology that he got caught on film on a movie set, I'd say he did a pretty piss poor job with the whole 'leaving no trace' thing.

  17. Not practical by Palestrina · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do have any idea what the per-minute fees are for time travel voice plans? And let's not talk about the data rates. The person on the film is clearly connecting via a local Wifi hotspot.

  18. Not impressed at all. by Darth_brooks · · Score: 4, Funny

    Completely unimpressive. can't tell if it's a phone or not.

    Although, the blue police call box that the person walked in to was interesting. Seemed bigger on the inside than on the outside....

    --
    There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
  19. Ancient Hearing Aid by HighOrbit · · Score: 2, Informative

    It looks to be an old lady, so its entirely possible that what he is seeing is something like this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ardent_hearing_aid.JPG which is part of this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkney_Wireless_Museum also seen here http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/objects/display.aspx?id=6713

  20. you see what you are accustomed to see by Tom · · Score: 3, 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.

    --
    Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
  21. Genius Marketing... by gauauu · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is genius. I've never heard of this guy, George Clarke, but now by mentioning his work at the beginning of the video, he's got a great viral marketing campaign!

    Of course he doesn't believe a word of it, but he managed to get word to spread of his silly little video, and thus free advertising for his work. Pure genius!

  22. Why Not? by jesseck · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Why can't this be a cell phone? Of course, now that this has been discovered, someone from the future will travel back in time to stop this from happening...

    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?

  23. Simple explanation by LateArthurDent · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Who was she talking to? (considering the lack of cell-phone towers)

    Ugh.

    Not that I believe in this, but if you were time-traveling to the past to be an extra in a Charlie Chaplin movie (which is a plausible thing for any film buff), it's perfectly reasonable that such a person would whip out their cell phones just to be filmed pretending to talk on it. They could then point it out to their friends once they return to their time.

    1. Re:Simple explanation by Derek+Pomery · · Score: 4, Informative

      FWIW, according to the video, this isn't actually the movie.
      This is a historical piece of the time showing people going into the Hollywood premiere of the film.

      --
      -- perl -e'print pack"H*","6e656d6f406d38792e6f7267"' /. ate my old sig. Bastards.
    2. Re:Simple explanation by harl · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What do you mean? They're in the movie because they went back and got caught on film. If they already went back then why would they have to not go back? That's nonsensical.

      --
      I find being offended by me offensive.
    3. Re:Simple explanation by davidbofinger · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Perhaps they are from the distant future and think mobile phones are more or less the right level of technology, so they brought one to blend in.

  24. Re:Prime Directive! by psyclone · · Score: 3, Funny

    Not only that, but his disguise was a woman!

  25. iphone 4G!!! by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nope. It's clearly an iphone 4G. See how s/he is holding it!!

  26. iPhone 4 by Kaldesh · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, we can clearly see that it's not an iPhone 4, else holding it with her left hand would kill the signal.

    1. Re:iPhone 4 by Kaldesh · · Score: 2, Funny

      *facepalm* That would explain the black hole that just formed in my office and consumed my co-worker. Poor fool, that's what he gets for taking my seat!

  27. iPhone by andrewa · · Score: 2, Funny

    it can't be an iPhone, she's holding it wrong....

    --
    :(){ :|:& };:
  28. My Plan to confuse future people... by jameskojiro · · Score: 3, Funny

    1. Go to Vancouver or LA.
    2. Find a scene that is being shot in some random TV show.
    3. Walk by the scene pretending to use some futuristic device.
    4. Repeat this several times with different looking "devices", ie polished pieces of dark coloured plexiglass.
    5. Wait 80 years...
    6. Laugh my head in a jar off when I get the Slashdot brain download that proof of time travelers exist in old footage of CSI: New York.

    --
    Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
  29. Two Words ... by ninjagin · · Score: 2

    EAR TRUMPET.
    http://www.oldsouthbooks.com/images/DSC00481.JPG
    You are welcome.

    --
    .. pa-ra-bo-la, pa-ra-bo-la, 2 pi R, 2 pi R, where's your latus rectum, where's your latus rectum, 2 pi R
  30. Ok, the time continuum... by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 2

    So let's say for the sake of just going through this exercise without debunking the movie or photos, or whatever, and we all accept that this is real.
    We now know in the nearby future (as in the far future we will all be using devices smaller then cell phones to communicate),
    we will have been able to time travel.

    1) we need to start setting up programs and international laws built to supervise and control who can time travel and to what purpose...
          going back to get better grades grades so that you could get into harvard instead of a dumb college.....or to avoid that collision which took your legs, or
          (fill in your case here) seems to me would cause unimaginable harm to the present time line, creating deviations upon deviations.

    2) once a governing body is in place to secure time traveling as a whole....we need to start trying to set up a plan to figure out which disaster we can go
          back and help avoid or improve upon....like the gulf BP oil spill, which can be avoided if we ....do not let the fire happen on the platform, and set up
          better security polices back then before the spill happened and nip it in the bud.

    3) we also need to decide do we allow to go into our future, and thereby again creating special time paradoxes,
            where someone brings back the formula for a new type of steel (1000 times cheaper and stronger then regular steel)
            or do we block all future time travel all together.

    I think we have seen a big lack of time traveling movies lately, because there is a sort of taboo now associated with it, maybe because
    the government wants us to not think about that possibility too much....and avoid pondering those cases altogether.
    They will push everything for getting space travel, let you build your own rocket in your backyard if you want...(billy bob)
    but so far, the last movie I saw where the time travel repercussions were visible was an old movie with edward burns
    where they touch something in the past, and contaminate the environment with a future microbe, which changes everything as they know it...

    Anyways....funny if this were a joke, but everyone accepted it was real!

  31. Or when it comes to denying them by justinlee37 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You've got to admit that the circumstances of the 9/11 incident were fairly suspicious. A few days prior to the attack they had an evacuation drill in the towers that was out of the ordinary, the attack occurred during a time of day when most of the people who worked in the towers were not in the building, another building that was not struck by a plane collapsed, and the buildings collapsed in a way that was consistent with the way that buildings collapsed during controlled demolitions when there are explosives planted on each floor at key structural points.

    I would seriously not be surprised if the Bush family helped the terrorists co-ordinate their attack in order to create a pretense for war that would allow them to tighten the federal government's hold on national security and drive oil prices through the roof.

  32. Re:No carrier by flappinbooger · · Score: 2, Funny

    Totally adds a new dimension to the "can you hear me now" bit.

    --
    Flappinbooger isn't my real name
  33. blu8503 by blu8503 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    They were making hearing aids years and years before this footage was shot, considering the age of the person I would place my bet on that.

  34. If you look closely at the window... by agw · · Score: 2, Funny

    If you look closely at the window in the background, you will see the reflection of a DeLorean parked on the other side of the street.

  35. Where's the ORIGINAL footage? by MadCow42 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The DVD conversion certainly is a lossy process... if they could get the original film to look at frame-by-frame, you could certainly see a ton more detail, which might let you clarify if she's holding anything at all.

    Contact the studio. It'd be great promo for them!

    MadCow.

    --
    I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
  36. Nonsense! by MaWeiTao · · Score: 2, Insightful

    You would think people with the technology to travel through time wouldn't even need a phone. Hell, we don't even need to hold a phone to our heads today. A nearly invisible headset will do the job just fine. I suppose it could have been a voice recorder, but again why the need to hold a device to the head?

    What it looks to me is like an older woman shielding her eyes from the sun and some guy with a hyperactive imagination. Or a guy with quite a talent at special effects and a good sense for keeping things just subtle enough that people wont be quick to dismiss it. And in either case the guy is likely looking for his 15 minutes of fame and a springboard for his career.

  37. Uh, Oh. The temporal commission... by gestalt_n_pepper · · Score: 2, Funny

    is going to have a cow over this one. Even records of Twonkies are a *big* no-no. People will be wiped out of existence. Verizon will revert back to GTE. Microsoft will have go out of business in the eighties and... H-e-e-e-e-y...

    --
    Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
  38. Why not a piece of ice wrapped in a handkerchief? by cyfer2000 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    And what the woman was saying was "Oh my teesh, hurt sho mush. "

    --
    There is a spark in every single flame bait point.
  39. Guy doesn't notice? by Elwar123 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    So if it was a cell phone, the guy walking in front of her doesn't notice her talking to somebody? This day and age, someone just talking and nobody is there you readily assume that they're on their phone. Back in the 1920s she would have been considered a mad woman talking to spirits.

  40. Universal Roaming by Tetsujin · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah, that struck me as well. Where are all the cell towers?

    What, you never heard of Universal Roaming? She was calling via the time vortex, obviously...

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.
  41. Re:Sonic Screwdriver by Tetsujin · · Score: 2, Funny

    The answer is obvious. Dr. Who used his Sonic Screwdriver to modify the phone so that this previously unknown companion of his could talk to her family back in his own time. The odd appearance of the phone was the result of the Doctor's failed attempt to disguise it...

    It's not that he failed, really. It's a perception filter. It psychologically tricks the viewer into overlooking the device... But it has no effect on film cameras, of course.

    --
    Bow-ties are cool.
  42. I love Joss Whedon! by AmigaHeretic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    But if this really was a time traveler on a cell phone in 1928, isn't that how it would work out?

    What if the footage was of a lady wearing a "I love Joss Whedon" baby doll t-shirt, or a shirt that said "All your base are belong to us!" or t-shirt that said, "I'm a Slashdot Karma Whore!"?

    30 to 40 years ago we wouldn't have thought anything about a t-shirt like the above if we saw it in old footage. We'd probably just assume it was some saying or something from back in the day.

    If there was a time traveler, there's a span of time where we wouldn't see anything out of place with the footage, but then we pass a point in time where we would recognize that their is something in the footage that is out of place. Then our brains would recognize the t-shirt for what it is and say "How did that get to 1928?"

  43. Buy my movies by Sean_Inconsequential · · Score: 3, Informative

    All I got from that video was "I hope this video goes viral so I can use it to advertise my movies."