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Al Gibes
Al Gibes has been writing the weekly Online Guy column since May 1998. He's seen the world move from a majority of non-computer users to more than 60 percent of U.S. users having high-speed connections in their homes. He began his journalism career as a reporter/photographer in Roswell, NM, then moved to Los Alamos, NM and Grand Junction, CO as chief photographer at each newspaper. He joined the R-J staff in 1994 as a photo editor, moving to the online world at the inception of the reviewjournal.com site in 1997. He'll blog about all things related to the Internet, bandwidth, new technology and anything related to the digital world. He won't be blogging about how to fix a bad C drive, adding graphics cards to a PC or what's the best computer to buy -- unless that discussion pits Apple vs. the rest of the PC world. He's a Mac guy all the way.

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That’s no Apple iPhone, it’s a ... banana?
Posted by Al Gibes
Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010 at 05:37 PM

A video clip that may show a time traveler has been circulating around the Internet this week. I'm not kidding.

George Clarke, a filmmaker from Belfast, Northern Ireland, claims to be the first to discover a woman walking along a sidewalk while talking on some sort of device. To the casual observer, it appears she is talking on a mobile phone.

The part that doesn't fit, though, is the film is from 1928. It's part of the behind-the-scenes footage included on a DVD release of the Charlie Chaplin film “The Circus.” The footage is from the movie's Hollywood premiere at Grauman's (now Mann’s) Chinese Theater. In the video, an elderly woman wearing a long, dark dress and black coat and hat, walks into the frame. She's holding something to her left ear, pauses, turns and continues on. Her mouth is moving.

He points out that the woman's left hand shows bent knuckles around a slender, black object.

Clarke discusses his discovery in a video he posted to YouTube last week:

Clarke concludes that the woman is a time traveler and invites viewers to offer their own take.

One possible solution was presented today on the Eclectic Thoughts blog on Open Salon.

That's not a mobile phone the woman is talking into, it's a (drumrolllllllllllll): banana!

That's right. And it’s not an ordinary yellow banana, it’s a really old black banana. I somehow missed the story from my grandma about how people back in the 1920s talked into rotting fruit.

Read the entire blog post here:
1928 time traveler mystery solved
http://bit.ly/bqZSiN

If you're with me, and think the banana solution is not too appealing (or a-peeling, sorry), It almost makes the time traveler option seem plausible.

I invite you to watch the video and share your thoughts about what she's doing.
You can leave a comment below, and can contact Clarke through his websites:
www.georgeclarke.webs.com
www.yfpondvd.webs.com
 

This entry was posted on Thursday, Oct. 28, 2010 at 05:37 PM and is filed under The Online Guy - Tidbits. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response.

Comments (8)

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8 Responses to "That’s no Apple iPhone, it’s a ... banana?"
It's 100% a transister radio. People used to hold up this device to their ear, because the speaker quality wasn't that great. She is probably listening to the World Series. If you look back at the old news reels, you will even see people in the crowd listening to these devices to get a live running commentary, and they're still doing it today.
Written by: sirspencer on Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 at 10:33 AM -- Report abuse
Transistor radios were not developed until 1954, so that is not a possible solution. I also don't buy the hearing aid solution, as why on earth would she be using a hearing aid while walking and talking alone? Makes no sense to me.

Any other ideas?
Written by: algibes on Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 at 11:07 AM -- Report abuse
Wasn't this the same as a ST:NG episode with Guinan going to San Francisco?

Written by: Winston.Smith on Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 at 12:41 PM -- Report abuse
It is not a transisotr radio. It is not ANYTHING. I love these people who say "She is CLEARLY holding something black" No she isn't It is the SHADOW of her cupped hand that she has on her face some some reason. Perhaps a toothache. Who knows. But that is a far plausible solution thant the morons who insist it is time travel evidence.
Written by: Lakawak on Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 at 1:48 PM -- Report abuse
I see nothing in her hand. Nothing. As per the previous commenter. I see the shadow of her hand, that's it. Note the lighting in the rest of the scene and you'll see the shadow is appropriate. As for the way she's holding her hand, that seems like a natural way to curve ones fingers if you're scratching your ear or something like that. If she's holding something, why does one of her fingers move upwards? Explain that as a "grip." As for turning to the camera and speaking, well, she could very well be taking direction from someone off camera and responding verbally, since this appears to be a silent film...
Written by: Kim.Youmans on Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 at 2:12 PM -- Report abuse
I think this is a security person using a walkie-talkie. The clothing may be some sort of 20's-ish trench-coaty type get-up. They're just providing security for the premiere.
Written by: Linda.Thornton on Friday, Oct. 29, 2010 at 2:48 PM -- Report abuse
It's gorilla marketing for the new WP7 based cell phones or some other phone.

In all honesty you cannot really tell what this man/woman is holding, however it is clear she/he is holding onto something and is moving their lips as if talking. Walkie talkie? IF they were available back then they were much larger. A radio? It wouldn't be anywhere that compact. What we need is a lip reading specialist to figure out what this person is saying.
Written by: Oburi on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010 at 9:18 PM -- Report abuse
Not sure what video the folks who claim the woman isn't holding anything are watching, but it's quite obvious there is something in her hand. The object even casts a shadow on her face, and you can also see the back end of the object sticking out above her thumb.

As for the walkie-talkie theory — no way. They weren't around when this movie was shot.

I sort of like the guerrilla marketing for the Windows 7 phone, although I am testing one of the new devices right now, and I don't think any time traveler would choose to carry this device as long as there are alternatives. More on that in my next column.
Written by: algibes on Tuesday, Nov. 02, 2010 at 10:03 AM -- Report abuse
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