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Given that change blindness, I wonder if an interesting component of teaching history could be to emphasize 'things you would find jaw-droppingly different if y

Given that change blindness, I wonder if an interesting component of teaching history could be to emphasize 'things you would find jaw-droppingly different if you were dropped back in time'? Precise arrangements for where/when to meet ("at 10:10, on the corner of mumble and mumble") - because no cell phones. Boston Python, having an unusually large turnout... so someone needed to pull up an extra chair to the conference room table (instead of 150+waitlist) - because so fewer programmers. "Computer" is a job title. Chatting with the elevator operator. Going into downtown office buildings (no staff in the lobby), up and into an office, and wandering around looking for someone to ask where to find the person you're looking for (instead of presenting government-issued papers to be photographed by a security guard in the lobby in order to attend a meetup). As maybe a view of the future: Boston SIGCHI meetups (hosted at Amazon) have lately required signing an NDA to attend. No food or money for dinner in NYC? Head to the clam banks to get both. Manhattan is so noisy you have to yell to be heard by the person next to you... because of the immense flocks of extinct and unGoogleable Christmas Tree Birds (they looked like candle flames decorating trees). Real open-flame candles on Christmas trees. Theft by servants and employees as a commonplace aspect of the relationship. A British officer writing in shocked disbelief, 'the American officer... he, he _talked_ with his men... he asked them what they thought! he really did!'. Egyptian farming villages going on strike, to bring down Ottoman official wrath on intemperate local elites. And on and on. Anyone have favorites?

jaggederest 8y ago
My current point of concern is that I can go out and sit all evening without a mosquito bite. That was unheard of even 30 years ago when I was a kid. You'd be lucky if you didn't have one for every minute you spent outside. I think the insects are dying, and it's frightening. Second item would be watching the bison migrate on the plains. Literally horizon to horizon, a hundred thousand individuals or more in a group. More than ten bison for every person alive on the continent. Same with the passenger pigeons - the sky would go dark from dawn to dusk with the movement of 6 billion birds.
- swsieber 8y ago
  To be fair, mosquitoes are the target of a fairly narrow, focused attack. That said, bees seem to be dwindling, so you have a point.
- jonhendry18 8y ago
  The mosquito situation might be due to the availability of CO2 based mosquito traps. You don't mention where you're located but perhaps you're in an area that isn't as hospitable for mosquito breeding as the location where you were a kid.
  - jaggederest 8y ago
    Family has lived on the same land in a very rural area for 38 years, so that is not really applicable. I would doubt there are enough mosquito traps in the county to make a difference.
    - TeMPOraL 8y ago
      Droughts, less open water available, more activity in said waters? That could account for some mosquito reduction. But in other comment you mention other insects, so this indeed seems like a broader problem.
      - jaggederest 8y ago
        I don't know what it is, but it's absolutely disturbing. Insects are, by comparison with us mammals, incredibly resilient. Anything that is reducing insect populations on a massive scale is bad news for the entire world.
        jonhendry18 8y ago
        Try leaving out some old tires to collect water.
- JumpCrisscross 8y ago
ken 8y ago
> Going into downtown office buildings (no staff in the lobby), up and into an office, and wandering around looking for someone to ask where to find the person you're looking for (instead of presenting government-issued papers to be photographed by a security guard in the lobby in order to attend a meetup). I truly cannot tell which is supposed to describe the past, and which the present. Both seem common today in Seattle, depending on the building.
hurpaDurpa 8y ago
extinct and unGoogleable Christmas Tree Birds Wait a second, what are "Christmas Tree Birds"?
- lsh 8y ago
  exactly!
- mncharity 8y ago
  Christmas trees used to have candles. So a flock of flame-colored birds sitting in trees resembled Christmas trees with candle flames. Thus a (nick?)name, "Christmas-tree birds". My very fuzzy recollection is 1600's Manhattan. So perhaps I saw it in the Mannahatta exhibit/project/book? But I don't quickly see it on [1]. And Google/Bing are giving me nothing related. Upon reflection, I'm now unsure the "yell to be heard in Manhattan" story was the same bird - I may well be folding together two stories there. [1] https://welikia.org/ https://welikia.org/
FiatLuxDave 8y ago
Is this what you are looking for regarding Christmas Tree Birds? https://www.boothbayregister.com/article/christmas-tree-birds/95892 https://www.boothbayregister.com/article/christmas-tree-bird...
brewrwe 8y ago
Hey, screw Amazon and their asinine NDAs, they've tried that same BS over here in Seattle on much less relevant meetups. All its ended up doing is killing participation and fracturing the group.

jaggederest 8y ago

My current point of concern is that I can go out and sit all evening without a mosquito bite. That was unheard of even 30 years ago when I was a kid. You'd be lucky if you didn't have one for every minute you spent outside. I think the insects are dying, and it's frightening. Second item would be watching the bison migrate on the plains. Literally horizon to horizon, a hundred thousand individuals or more in a group. More than ten bison for every person alive on the continent. Same with the passenger pigeons - the sky would go dark from dawn to dusk with the movement of 6 billion birds.

swsieber 8y ago
To be fair, mosquitoes are the target of a fairly narrow, focused attack. That said, bees seem to be dwindling, so you have a point.
jonhendry18 8y ago
The mosquito situation might be due to the availability of CO2 based mosquito traps. You don't mention where you're located but perhaps you're in an area that isn't as hospitable for mosquito breeding as the location where you were a kid.
- jaggederest 8y ago
  Family has lived on the same land in a very rural area for 38 years, so that is not really applicable. I would doubt there are enough mosquito traps in the county to make a difference.
  - TeMPOraL 8y ago
    Droughts, less open water available, more activity in said waters? That could account for some mosquito reduction. But in other comment you mention other insects, so this indeed seems like a broader problem.
    - jaggederest 8y ago
      I don't know what it is, but it's absolutely disturbing. Insects are, by comparison with us mammals, incredibly resilient. Anything that is reducing insect populations on a massive scale is bad news for the entire world.
      - jonhendry18 8y ago
        Try leaving out some old tires to collect water.
JumpCrisscross 8y ago

ken 8y ago

> Going into downtown office buildings (no staff in the lobby), up and into an office, and wandering around looking for someone to ask where to find the person you're looking for (instead of presenting government-issued papers to be photographed by a security guard in the lobby in order to attend a meetup). I truly cannot tell which is supposed to describe the past, and which the present. Both seem common today in Seattle, depending on the building.

hurpaDurpa 8y ago

extinct and unGoogleable Christmas Tree Birds Wait a second, what are "Christmas Tree Birds"?

lsh 8y ago
exactly!
mncharity 8y ago
Christmas trees used to have candles. So a flock of flame-colored birds sitting in trees resembled Christmas trees with candle flames. Thus a (nick?)name, "Christmas-tree birds". My very fuzzy recollection is 1600's Manhattan. So perhaps I saw it in the Mannahatta exhibit/project/book? But I don't quickly see it on [1]. And Google/Bing are giving me nothing related. Upon reflection, I'm now unsure the "yell to be heard in Manhattan" story was the same bird - I may well be folding together two stories there. [1] https://welikia.org/ https://welikia.org/

FiatLuxDave 8y ago

Is this what you are looking for regarding Christmas Tree Birds? https://www.boothbayregister.com/article/christmas-tree-birds/95892 https://www.boothbayregister.com/article/christmas-tree-bird...

brewrwe 8y ago

Hey, screw Amazon and their asinine NDAs, they've tried that same BS over here in Seattle on much less relevant meetups. All its ended up doing is killing participation and fracturing the group.