Trolley Cam 1909 San Fran

[steve74baywin]

A video camera on the dash of a San Francisco trolley car in 1909.
Pretty neat to see what things where like back them.
The vid was pointed out to me as an example of spontaneous order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CaeV88S0Pg

[ruckman101]

I love that vid. It reminds me of traffic in Mexico when I vacationed there a few years ago.


neal

[turk]

I've seen it before. Here on this site I think. IIRC it's a rare piece of documentary. Interesting that you were told about it being an example of "spontaneous order". What is the implication? Not having reviewed it again yet, my immediate interpretation, of said interpretation, is: automation in a dense urban setting "orders" all the people about in a remarkably orchestrated looking way. Kinda reminds me of a remark I once heard that, for instance, Chicago is a "masterpiece" by my Italian teacher; meaning the system of streets, traffic signals, and infrastructure operating in coherent fashion as a whole, for the collective benefit of a somewhat random conglomerate of people is a work of marvelous engineering.

[steve74baywin]

I like seeing all the people busy with life, and think how most of if not all of them have since past away.

Interesting that you were told about it being an example of "spontaneous order". What is the implication?

It is observed that naturally or in nature there is order.
I first heard that term in an example John Stossel did.
He showed people skating around a frozen pond and each person avoiding harm because it is in there own best interest.
Some people go fast, some slow.
The trolley vid someone noted the same, without tons of laws and rules implemented on that road people naturally avoided harming each other. Spontaneous order.

[turk]

Very interesting. I will watch that again. I don't want to get all negative but it seems to me laws and ethics have a hard time keeping up with cultural phenomena. When culture changes pretty quickly chaos happens on the heels of the "change".

[steve74baywin]

I was thinking or expecting some comments by people who know that street and area today. I have never been to that state.
What is that tall building the camera is facing and the trolley is heading to the whole time? Is it still there?

[JLT]

I was thinking or expecting some comments by people who know that street and area today. I have never been to that state.
What is that tall building the camera is facing and the trolley is heading to the whole time? Is it still there?

It still is. That's the Ferry Building, which used to be the terminus of the San Francisco Bay ferries connecting SF and Oakland.

For a "drive" down that road today, use Google Maps to go to the corner of Market Street and First Street (give or take a few blocks).

http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&rl ... 7116279097

Drag the little yellow man to Market Street, point yourself roughly northeast, and you can tool down Market Street and see how things have changed in a century.

If I had more time, I'd "drive" in parallel screens and see how street addresses match up with the time elapsed on the YouTube video. I'm sure that you'd see at least one building on Market Street that's still there, but finding it will take more time than I'd care to spend.

[ruckman101]

A video camera on the dash of a San Francisco trolley car in 1909.
Pretty neat to see what things where like back them.
The vid was pointed out to me as an example of spontaneous order.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CaeV88S0Pg

I am compelled to point out there were no video cameras in 1909. That would have to be a film camera. Those trolleys sure ran smooth.

A petty point, for sure, but one that has been gnawing at me since I read it. It happens all the time. Folks tell me they are going to go "film" an event with a video camera, and edit together a piece to "broadcast" on our cable channels. That would be cable-cast.


neal

[steve74baywin]

It still is. That's the Ferry Building, which used to be the terminus of the San Francisco Bay ferries connecting SF and Oakland.

I was thinking it was for some form of shipping. I see palm like trees in the google picture.
I am not like most people, I dislike the current way they make things look. I prefer the 1909 look.

I am compelled to point out there were no video cameras in 1909. That would have to be a film camera. Those trolleys sure ran smooth.

A petty point, for sure, but one that has been gnawing at me since I read it. It happens all the time. Folks tell me they are going to go "film" an event with a video camera, and edit together a piece to "broadcast" on our cable channels. That would be cable-cast.

neal

Yep, good example of words. I thought the same, especially the "dash Cam" phrase.
But for ease of typing I did what I did.
I can see where saying filming an event is not correct when you have a camera with no film, but can't something on film still be called video? Especially if it is now being viewed on the computer.

[JLT]

I can see where saying filming an event is not correct when you have a camera with no film, but can't something on film still be called video? Especially if it is now being viewed on the computer.

Precisely. As I learned from the A/V classes I took in college, "video" is a general term for the visual component of any sort of motion picture, to distinguish it from the "audio" portion. This is regardless of the medium ... film, videotape, digital, or whatever else might come along. So the use of the word is appropriate in the original post. Actually, the 1906 film was pure video, with no audio component at all.

And, of course, what we're viewing is a "YouTube video," with the original film transferred to a digital medium, so even if you were defining the term "video" in the YouTube sense, it would still apply to the YouTube presentation if not the original 1906 film.

Can you "film" something with a digital video camera? Can you "dial" a number on a push-button phone? Can a writer "pen" a masterpiece on a computer keyboard? In these and other examples, the English language still has some catching up to do.

[ruckman101]

I admitted it was a petty point. Generally I let those little sticking points slide, but occasionally my past as a proof-reader catches up with me and I get AR.

neal