[ajprice]

This is all over the interwebz, its a bit of film from a DVD extra of Charlie Chaplin's film 'The Circus', and there's a woman walking by with her hand to her face so OMGWTFBBQ she's a time traveller and she's talking on a mobile phone in 1928. Or she's scratching her face and talking to herself.

Time traveller spotted at Chaplin premiere? | Movies Blog - Yahoo! Movies

and this is the George Clarke guy talking on a video for 8 whole minutes that its a time traveller on a phone - YouTube - Charlie Chaplin Time Traveler Caught on Film

[Maflynn]

Yeah, I can see that the first thing a time traveler would want to do, is go back to the 1920s so they can be an extra in a silent movie.

[SpaceMonkey]

Notwithstanding the fact that you couldn't be making any mobile calls in 1928.

It doesn't even really look like the person is holding anything.

[The Final Dakar]

All I can think of is a bunch of paradoxes or non-sensical consequences.

[SpaceMonkey]

She was calling her grandfather to prevent him from meeting up with his mistress and thereby conceiving her diabolical evil half-sister.

[SSharon]

Who would she even be talking to? I imagine the person at the other end would be very confused if they heard extra background noise or she walked in the door a minute later.

It does kind of look like she is holding something, but it could be anything. In 1928 it is more likely that she was trying to shield her head from radiation from the camera. (joking)

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey 

Notwithstanding the fact that you couldn't be making any mobile calls in 1928.

Unless you'd got some kind of advanced technology which allowed for time-travel, of course.

So, this is what fun in the future looks like, eh? Travel back in time to see if you can get yourself in old films and get it past the editors - then sit back with your friends and laugh at your accomplishment. I am so going to screw around with Ben Hur.

[SpaceMonkey]

If your answer to everything is a technological deus ex machina then you've lost.

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by SpaceMonkey 

If your answer to everything is a technological deus ex machina then you've lost.

Look, there's loads of possible explanations.

1) It might be a walkie-talkie and she's talking with the Doc, who's in a garage elsewhere in Hollywood trying to figure out how to get a DeLorean to out-accelerate a tortoise.

2) If you've mastered time to the point where you can travel through it then it makes sense that you can also make radio waves travel through it.

OK. So not loads. Two.

Either way, you're going to be very boring in the future SM. I'll not be inviting you to any of my "got myself in blah blah film" parties!

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Either way, you're going to be very boring in the future SM. I'll not be inviting you to any of my "got myself in blah blah film" parties!

I don't think so, because by then scientists will have invented a way to make me funny.

[starman]

It's a hearing aid.

I mean, is the entire internet so gullible that they actually believe this crap?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by starman 

I mean, is the entire internet so gullible that they actually believe this crap?

Somebody's grumpy.

[SpaceMonkey]

Originally Posted by starman 

It's a hearing aid.

Correction: an atomic hearing aid. So she's obviously still a time-traveler.

[Laminar]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

2) If you've mastered time to the point where you can travel through it then it makes sense that you can also make radio waves travel through it.

How do you fit all the radio waves inside of the DeLorean?

[starman]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Somebody's grumpy.

Not grumpy, I've just seen it posted 100 times a day for the last week or so. Everyone seems to think that there's some silly time traveler with a cell phone. Um, ok. Where's the tower?

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

How do you fit all the radio waves inside of the DeLorean?

With a shovel.
Don't they teach you anything at school these days?

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by starman 

Not grumpy, I've just seen it posted 100 times a day for the last week or so. Everyone seems to think that there's some silly time traveler with a cell phone. Um, ok. Where's the tower?

Maybe people just like the idea?

[besson3c]

I wonder what Verizon charges to make calls across time? Those roaming charges must be pretty out-of-this-world!

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by starman 

Not grumpy, I've just seen it posted 100 times a day for the last week or so.

Maybe you need to cut back on the amount of sites you visit on the Interwebs? I've seen it twice (including here).

[starman]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

Maybe you need to cut back on the amount of sites you visit on the Interwebs? I've seen it twice (including here).

On Twitter.

[SpaceMonkey]

Twitter: you can't escape the idiocy of the masses

[andi*pandi]

Either hiding from the camera, or an ice pack to an impacted tooth. Real time travellers would wave about and try to get in the shot, possibly hugging chaplin, all while wearing non-period garb and too much hair gel.

[The Final Dakar]

Apparently andi thinks time-travel will be mastered at Jersey Shore.

[ort888]

I was at the supermarket the other day and looking down the isle there were three people and they were all using their phones. Two were talking and another was messaging or surfing or something.

It just kind of struck me all of a sudden that even 20 years ago this sight would not have existed.... and the idea that portable communication devices that every single person would carry with them was practically a sci-fi fantasy... and now it just blends into the background.

My wife was saying how she didn't think that any kid should have a cell phone in grade school and blah blah blah, but my feeling is that this is a very different world today then it was when we were in grade school, and it won't be long before the accepted social norm will be for everyone to have a smartphone from a very early age.

[subego]

I found the hipster time traveler way more compelling.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by subego 

I found the hipster time traveler way more compelling.

That looks like Doofy there in the lower right!

[olePigeon]

They must have great cell coverage in 1928 with all those cell phone towers and communications satellites.

[andi*pandi]

Originally Posted by The Final Dakar 

Apparently andi thinks time-travel will be mastered at Jersey Shore.

That's not what I had in mind, but

[Doofy]

Originally Posted by besson3c 

That looks like Doofy there in the lower right!

I like that hat. Where do you think I'll end up buying it from?

[osiris]

You probably stole it from Harrods.

[andi*pandi]

Starman is correct, it's a hearing aid:

Charlie Chaplin time traveler debunked: It's just a hearing aid - CSMonitor.com

[hyteckit]

Originally Posted by starman 

It's a hearing aid.

I mean, is the entire internet so gullible that they actually believe this crap?

Says the starman whose probably a time traveler too. You can't fool us.

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by andi*pandi 

Starman is correct, it's a hearing aid:

Charlie Chaplin time traveler debunked: It's just a hearing aid - CSMonitor.com

BS.

Even those hearing trumpets are way bigger than a hand.
This "thing" was basically completely covered by the hand.

There is no way this thing could have been hidden away:



Let alone, why (s)he need to hear while walking down the street by him(her)self ?

-t

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

BS.

Even those hearing trumpets are way bigger than a hand.
This "thing" was basically completely covered by the hand.

There is no way this thing could have been hidden away:



Let alone, why (s)he need to hear while walking down the street by him(her)self ?

-t

Note that the earpiece in the pictured ear trumpet is very close to the open end-the tube goes backward, behind the hand holding it and presumably into the woman's hair. The pictured trumpet could definitely have disappeared into her hair and clothing.

People who don't have hearing deficits seldom consider how they themselves depend on subtle hearing cues for traffic, other pedestrians and similar daily issues. Walking along the sidewalk safely requires being aware of what's going on around you, and just as hearing impaired people today depend on amplification to help them stay safe, this woman was most probably simply using an ear trumpet to be aware of what was going on around her but was outside her visual range.

[turtle777]

Did you watch the Youtube video ?
Pay attention to the knuckles. That doesn't fit to the form of that hearing trumpet.

No way it was one of these devices.

-t

[Laminar]

Yeah, it was more likely a time traveler on a cell phone.

[turtle777]

I'm not saying that I believe the time traveller argument. But let's refrain from silly explanations.

-t

[olePigeon]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I'm not saying that I believe the time traveller argument. But let's refrain from silly explanations.

It isn't silly, and it was most likely a hearing aid; possibly a Siemens or Western Electric. They both had carbon microphones commercially available in the 1920s, and they were small.

[The Final Dakar]

Originally Posted by Laminar 

Yeah, it was more likely a time traveler on a cell phone.

Way more likely than an earphone of alternative shape and size that would allow for the current viewed circumstance.

[reader50]

If one assumes a hearing aid of unspecified design, you still have the problem of who she was talking to. There was no one accompanying her. At least no one visible. So it could be:

Time traveller with mobile communicator.
Alien visitor in disguise, with satellite phone to talk to their ship.
Local woman holding something to her ear, while talking to Harvey.
Local woman who is bonkers, talking to no one, but who could afford the latest newfangled hearing aid.

By my count, there is a 75% chance of it being an interesting explanation.

[besson3c]

I bet it's a time traveling person using a cellphone...

[Doofy]

So, has anyone checked the whale population in California lately?

[Mr_E]

So who exactly is she calling. I can't get 3 bars anywhere on Long Island, let alone across the time vortex...

[Brien]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

So, has anyone checked the whale population in California lately?

We should also look into solar flares and NASA funding.

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by Doofy 

I like that hat. Where do you think I'll end up buying it from?

The Communist Emporium?

[ghporter]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

Did you watch the Youtube video ?
Pay attention to the knuckles. That doesn't fit to the form of that hearing trumpet.

No way it was one of these devices.

-t

Originally Posted by turtle777 

I'm not saying that I believe the time traveller argument. But let's refrain from silly explanations.

-t

Probably not THAT SPECIFIC ear trumpet, but there were many designs around. It could have easily been an ear trumpet.

Originally Posted by olePigeon 

It isn't silly, and it was most likely a hearing aid; possibly a Siemens or Western Electric. They both had carbon microphones commercially available in the 1920s, and they were small.

Interesting how similar both the Siemens and WE boxes are in size and shape to a generic cell phone of today... If it was not an ear trumpet, an electronic hearing aid would be the next most likely candidate.

I'd be very interested in finding out if there were any contemporary films that featured a character that was hard of hearing. Seeing how such people were presented in the time's context would help us all to get a handle on how ubiquitous (or not) any of these devices were at the time. And please keep in mind that at the time, society considered any disability as something to be ashamed of, so it's not like there were people blinging out their ear trumpets or sporting the latest designs in hearing aids just to show off.

[andi*pandi]

GE also invented ipods way before Apple!

[ghporter]

Yeah, but look-it's only mono. No real market....

[Eriamjh]

All this speculation of the ridiculous and not a simple photo-analyzed report? Where are all the computer enhancements?

I looked at this video and I didn't see anything in her hand. I didn't see a cell phone or anything that looked like it.

Enhance! Enhance!

[rickey939]

So wait, are you guys saying that this story isn't true? It's far more believable than a breached whale landing on a boat without the captain flinching.............