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.
OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Insightful)
Who was she talking to? (considering the lack of cell-phone towers)
Ugh.
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:4, Funny)
Maybe it's a satellite-phone...
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:4, 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...
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Informative)
Hooray for the publicity grab!
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Perhaps it was one of those Nextel phones with the walky-talky feature? Clearly, we have either discovered an irresponsible time traveler, or that George is a raving crackpot and desperate for attention during these uncertain times.
iphone 4G!!! (Score:4, Funny)
Nope. It's clearly an iphone 4G. See how s/he is holding it!!
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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 th
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Maybe it's a sat phone, like an Iridium phone?
Either way, the roaming charges have got to be a royal bitch...
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Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:OK, I'll bite. (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.
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.
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:4, 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.
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Wasn't the speaker separate from the receiver back then? Miming a phone conversation would have required both hands, if so.
This is fun.
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.
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a spaceship in orbit? like when kirk took the enterprise back in time and talked to spock while on earth of the 1960's
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Probably Verizon, since by 2042 they'll have the best temporal coverage of any of the major providers. Their 3022G network isn't the fastest though.
Simple explanation (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.
Re:Simple explanation (Score:5, 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.
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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.
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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 n
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:4, Funny)
This person has a goddamned time machine, and you automatically assume that her cellphone also requires a tower to get a signal?
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Funny)
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Nah. The caller just bought a couple penny stocks and used the proceeds to buy Verizon today.
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Funny)
Can you hear me now?
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Funny)
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?
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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
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Imagine the roaming charges on that call...
GREAT SCOTT!
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:4, Funny)
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Looks like shes shielding her face from the camera or trying to hold her hat on
there's 2.
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Why is she doing that for a silent movie escapes me.
Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, Insightful)
There is something in her hand. And the object in her hand is...
An early model Siemens hearing aid. [siemens.com] 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.
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...
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Re:OK, I'll bite. (Score:5, 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.
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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.
Universal Roaming (Score:3, 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...
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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.
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.
Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 (Score:5, Funny)
Wow. They really should create a separate section of Slashdot for these ridiculous stories.
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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.
Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 (Score:5, Insightful)
If they did that, only idiots would read it!
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While silly, we can still speculate...
Nikola Tesla came to mind when you said "tower" - even though his towers were trying to transmit free electricity, Heaven only knows what else he was playing with (a fire in his home/lab had destroyed a shitload of notes and ideas of things he was working on).
Maybe the era which the time-traveling chick came from doesn't need no stinkin' cell towers. :)
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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.
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It could be a peer-to-peer phone (i.e. a two way radio), and the person in the video is talking with another time traveller who was also present in that time. Or perhaps the time travel machine acts as its own cell station, relaying the data forward in time. The lack of infrastructure does not really discredit the theory.
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The lack of infrastructure does not really discredit the theory.
The theory of it being a cell phone?
Yes, yes it does.
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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.
Re:Verizon's Network Was So Terrible in 1928 (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.
Prime Directive! (Score:2)
If so he did an awesome job of protecting the continuity of the timeline by not leaving many traces!
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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.
Re:Prime Directive! (Score:4, Funny)
Not only that, but his disguise was a woman!
Huh (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, this has been in the media for days now. It's almost certainly someone using an old-style hearing aid.
OCCAM'S RAZOR, MAN (Score:5, Funny)
Nuh-uh: "Time traveler w/ cell phone" is the simplest explanation.
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I wonder what network the were using in 1928? Marconi Wireless? (snicker)
At least texting would only require one key to pound out the morse code. ;)
Looks like a hearing aid. (Score:3, Informative)
Like this thing. [hearingaidmuseum.com]
/. at its best (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.
Not a cell phone. (Score:5, Informative)
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:Western Electric Hearing Aid ca. 1925 (Score:5, Funny)
We just slashdotted the hearing aid museum...
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They may need some kind of device to filter out the excess noise so people can clearly read the site.
Re:Western Electric Hearing Aid ca. 1925 (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.
Conspiracy theories are for gullible idiots. (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.
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It was a hearing aid (Score:5, Informative)
This was released in 1924:
http://hearing.siemens.com/sg/10-about-us/01-our-history/milestones.jsp?year=1924 [siemens.com]
Seems like it could easily be that.
tachyon communication device (Score:5, Funny)
Clear not an actual cell phone, but a tachyon communication device that allowed her to communicate with her native time frame. Duh.
What device? (Score:2)
I do not see a black device. I see an empty hand and a shadow.
Schizophrenia? (Score:4, Insightful)
I saw that episode (Score:5, Funny)
like cave men trying to explain a TV (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.
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.
I love Joss Whedon! (Score:3, Insightful)
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 tra
Or when it comes to denying them (Score:3, 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 explo
Not practical (Score:3, 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.
Not impressed at all. (Score:5, 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....
Ancient Hearing Aid (Score:3, Informative)
And we all know what she was saying... (Score:2)
Beam me up, Scotty. There's no intelligent life down here.
Non-public technology? (Score:2)
From some quick Googling:
Telephone invented: 1876 (Alexander Graham Bell)
Cellphone concept: 1915 (American Telephone and Telegraph)
Cellphone invented: 1973 (Motorola)
Looking at those dates, it doesn't seem out-of-the-question that some kind of wireless telephone could have been around by 1928, albeit not used by the public. I'm sure there are technologies currently in use by our security services, law enforcement agencies, etc, that won't reach the public market for many years. And I'm sure the same was hap
French Electric 'Camera' ? (Score:2)
Not a time traveller (Score:2)
Somebody holding their hand up near their hat and their fingers crooked and moving, no biggie either. I didn't see any shot clear enough to make out something in the hand, just a shadow under the hat.
Now if you want to analyze that, why would a time traveler blatantly use advanced tech while knowingly being re
Something is really wrong ... (Score:2)
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.
Genius Marketing... (Score:5, 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!
It's not a cell phone (Score:2)
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?
Silly Theories (Score:2)
Simple solutions... shes either a crazy old lady talking to herself with her hand up for whatever reason, shes chewing gum, or this is "B" roll that the DVD authors used for the extra feature, and this particular footage just happened to have some women on her phone.
It would make a good aspect of a Sci-Fi story, cell phones function on their time of origin, regardless of what time the physical handset is in.
iPhone 4 (Score:4, Funny)
My Plan to confuse future people... (Score:4, 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.
Two Words ... (Score:3)
http://www.oldsouthbooks.com/images/DSC00481.JPG [oldsouthbooks.com]
You are welcome.
Where's the ORIGINAL footage? (Score:4, 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.
Nonsense! (Score:3, 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.
Uh, Oh. The temporal commission... (Score:3, 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...
Why not a piece of ice wrapped in a handkerchief? (Score:3, Interesting)
Buy my movies (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."
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I imagine this alleged time traveler's reception must have been terrible
The reception is fine. The lag is a bitch though.
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