Chuck Buell here ... and I say “If you have the Inclination,
I have the Time.”
Notably, we’re definitely in the “Time of the Season.”
First, we had to reset all our clocks back to Standard Time. Then, last week, Time Officially changed from Fall Time to Winter Time. In a few days, Time runs out on this Old Year and Time for a New Year begins.
Coincidentally, Jim Croce’s Forgotten Hit, “Time in a Bottle” reached #1 for the week ending December 29 in 1973.
No wonder there are those who try to save “Time in a Capsule!”
The oldest known Time Capsule in America is in a cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House. It is widely believed to have been buried in 1795 by then-Governor Samuel Adams and Paul Revere. Original items included are coins, newspapers and a copper medal of George Washington, among other artifacts. When it was discovered, around 60 years later, more items were added and the capsule was entombed once again.
Several decades later, George E. Pendray, a PR consultant for Westinghouse Electric Company, coordinated the Westinghouse Time Capsule at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. Because of this, Pendray is often given credit for creating the term “Time Capsule." The seven and a half-foot-long, tube-shaped container was designed to withstand burial for 5,000 years. When he solicited suggestions for representing the life and Times in the 1930s, he ended up with thousands of items ranging from a simple can opener, a plastic Mickey Mouse cup, textiles, microfilm, seeds and an alarm clock. ( Well, that’s appropriate! )
The capsule was buried on the World’s Fairgrounds, where it remains today. 5,000 years from now is its Time to be dug up and opened, around 6938-6939.
A few years prior to that in 1936 in Atlanta, Georgia, Oglethorpe University president Thornwell Jacobs imagined a collection of items that would show future archaeologists’ our life and Times of the 20th century. His “crypt of civilization” amassed items as diverse as hundreds of newsreels and recordings, dental floss, beer, a set of Lincoln logs, a Donald Duck doll and an original movie script of “Gone With the Wind.” In May, 1940, the crypt was sealed behind a steel door and is designated to be opened in the year 8113.
Another Time Capsule later on containing a chunk of the Berlin Wall, Ray Charles’ sunglasses, photos of Earth from space, CorningWare, a computer chip, a copy of the Bill of Rights, a cell phone, a Twinkie and an Official Copy of the Birth Certificate of Kent Kotal is due for unearthing in 2100. ( OK, I might have made up that part about Kent’s Birth Certificate, but those other items are in there! Oh, wait. The Twinkie was reconsidered because it was thought it would attract mice! ( What kind of material for sealing a Time Capsule was going to be used that a mouse could simply gnaw its way into?! )
Meanwhile, Chuck Berry’s Forgotten Hit, Johnny B. Good, continues its outer space Time Capsule journey in Voyagers One and Two for no one knows how long. I think it would have been interesting if the Chamber Brothers Hit, “Time Has Come Today” was also included for when the Time does come that one or both of the twin spacecraft launched by NASA in 1977 are discovered and opened by those of another Universe!
Today, Time Capsules appear to be more popular than ever from those buried by families to those by local community organizations and Contemporary Social Scientists. And, not surprisingly, one can buy Time Capsules on Amazon from $28 to $6,500!
$28 ...
(Buy the one that best fits your budget, I guess ...
Hey, wasn't there a movie like that ...
Where the characters were buying "chips" that extended their lives???) - kk
So, now as we return to reading the “World Wide Internet Forgotten Hits Digital Music Time Capsule,” here’s my timely “Chuck Buell Time Songs Minute Melody!”
CB ( which stands for Time-Space “Continuum Boy!”
)
