I don’t know if you’re old enough to remember the early days of advertising, and this maybe goes back to the days when man was not yet fully immersed in online media, but in the early days of rock ‘n roll advertisers often used the “mystery promotion” which involved doing advertising related to a particular date or place.
“Stay tuned to the super – 610 because this weekend we’ll…” And there would be somebody interrupting preventing the message from being complete. Those kinds of promotions on radio increased average quarter hours and TSLs; time spent listening.
It’s a classic advertising ploy and one that can often be used in order to develop buzz around an upcoming event, especially if the event is a brand-new one and has no track record to otherwise attract interest.
If I told you “Be at the corner of Main Street and Willard Avenue at 10 o’clock Saturday because I’ll be giving away money…” You might be in being there.
A more complete disclosure about what my intent was, on the other hand, might keep you away. “Be at the corner of Main Street and Willard Avenue at 10 AM Saturday because I’ll be giving away three cents.” You see how some of the excitement, some of the mystery went away? Classic American hype.
So now what we’ll do, to kick off an otherwise boring Thursday summer workday, is we’re going to combine some good old-fashioned advertising hype with the shortwave radio mystery stations that broadcast nothing more than numbers.
What has come to our attention (courtesy of reader Ryan), is a most curious set of YouTube videos which begin with the phrase “how to pronounce…”
The first one I found was “How to pronounce 77.” all it says is that “something is going to happen and 77 days.” I have no doubt that it will, since the sun has a high statistical probability of coming up on that day.
In the exciting “how to pronounce 76” the assertion is made “I’ve been trying to tell you something for 11783 days. Something is going to happen in 76 days.“
“I’m awake now, things are clearing up I’m not saying the words now. something is going to happen and 75 days.“
“I’ve got a minute, let me tell you what I think is going on. Something is going to happen and 74 days.”
“Tensions between the districts has spiked in the last few months. Something is going to happen and 73 days.”
“You can see it in the markets. Everyone is ready for a storm. Something is going to happen and 72 days.“
“They’re singing a new song in the streets of the zone. Something is going to happen and 71 days.”
“I have plenty of information to keep me company. Something is going to happen and 70 days.“
Which got us to yesterday’s: “No one is ready. He watches the market. Something is going to happen in 69 days.”
If you’re trying to figure out what this is all about, welcome to the club. A number of speculations have been entered across the various YouTube pages, including the idea that this has something to do with a game called receiver. Other people think it’s just plain hype shuck and jive.
Me? I believe that a simple bit of spreadsheet magic may give us a clue.
According to my spreadsheet calculations, the date range involved works out to September 24 of this year. And, thanks to the magic of Wikipedia, we can come up with all kinds of important birthdays and historical data which might figure into that date.
Not to dig too deeply into ancient history, but in the year 15 on that date, the Roman Emperor Vitellius was born.… Not sure what to make of that or if it’s relevant.
As long as were looking at birthdates, and since you by now likely heard several of these announcements, it doesn’t seem that the voice is that of John Travolta who was born on February 18, 1954. We can also rule out secular events of other famous Hollywood types expecting babies because gestation periods are usually measured in thousands of days. Logic applies.
Could it be the date of a proposed attack on America in order to usher in martial law and to shut down the stock market, denying profits to those who went short the market in advance realizing that it was terribly overpriced at recent values? No way to be sure, but I did decide out of the blue yesterday to go short the market in spite of what my trading model has been insisting I do. This is usually a shortcut to damnation (or at least decent sized losses) but sometimes you just have to listen to your guts.
Another pretty good speculation is that this is all hype and build-up to the release of a motion picture. When we go over to Movie Insider what we find her a list of candidates that’s pretty interesting. For example the movie Room 237 is being released that day and it’s considered a follow-up to the film The Shining – which has a lot of fans who think they have decoded some kind of secret messages in that film. My, ain’t that special.
it’s not release of documents of the Warren commission because I comes up on timber September 24 of 2014 but it’s one of those delightful little brain teasers that kind of makes Thursday morning worth getting up for.
I haven’t been it able to get excited enough to go looking for the whole history of this thing but if it’s like all classic hypes countdowns it’ll follow the pattern of giving either misleading information or insufficient information so as to be useful. Given the time of the year it could be a new car introduction, perhaps the arrival of hurricane and someone just guessing at it.
In all, the list is a pretty long one when you get right down to it. So we will watch this in background as it is entertaining as hell and maybe that’s what America needs right now: a little entertainment since leadership of our political party (of which there is only one pretending to be two) hasn’t been providing much of lately.
Say, there’s a fine movie plot: Rising new leadership of America appearing spontaneously on YouTube.
Panama’s New Product Find
My brother-in-law came over about lunchtime yesterday as Elaine and I were discussing nothing-in-particular to tell us we simply had to see the product video about this new stuff called “NeverWet” which has a YouTube video over here.
“Oh George, why don’t you order us some?” asked the missus.
NEW Neverwet Never Wet 2 Part Spray Rust-Oleum 18oz About $32 bucks…so it’s not cheap.
I have no idea what she’s planning to do with it, but about the only thing I could think of was a pair of gray slip-on tennis shoes I’ve got. After watching the video, though, it may not be the cost of the hydrophobic coating so much as going through bottles of condiments smearing them on so I can watch them slide off.
The most interesting possible applicatgion? I wonder how this stuff would perform on the bottom of a boat? Would all that water repelling make a seriously faster boat for the same input power?
People Out of Synch
New Scientist has a jim-dandy of a new column out this month about a person who seems to be able to hear people before they speak. Just like some satellite TV programs seem to have the video out of synch with the sound, except the effect is more pronounced and works on real-time humans, not just TV programming.
I wonder if this has anything to do with…
Snapping People
Ever since that story back in 2010 about a Korean girl who starved to death while her parents were busy raising a “virtual child” online, I’ve been wondering if excessive time in front of the computer, or some other yet-to-be-documented psychosocial effect of excesive computer time.
An inexplicable number of people seem to be reporting “snaps” lately.
Reader Lisa Marie thinks astrological events might be involved:
“Grand Trines – rare event, check with your astrologer ( Didn’t seem to hurt Reagan and his policies!!) “The Week’s Planetary Highlights ~ 3 Grand trines, 3 Planets station, wow what a week!” “
Others report senseless acts of emotional violence as well. Take brother Paul’s report:
“George,
Over the past year, especially the last six months, I’ve had a sense there’s been an uptick in irrational behavior in general, an epidemic of the crazies. I wondered if this was just my mind spinning off somewhere or are things actually getting unhinged.
The comments from your readers lead me to conclude “unhinged” is the proper conclusion.
It’s a long series of large and small actions, many of which are people doing and saying things that are detrimental to their own well being.
Corporate and government leadership seems to be particularly infused with this growing nuttiness, as though they exist in an over-caffeinated fog. Babbling and arm waving without coherent thought.
I keep having the feeling that these people cannot return to calm thought until they go through a violent, sword swinging event to release whatever it is that plagues them. Like they have a mental drum beat of, “Gimme a war, any war! Gimme a war, any war!”
This epidemic of the crazies is violent, not cute.”
Yep, so I’ve noticed. So has reader Greg:
“Something in the air? Methinks so.
I’ve noticed an uptick in depression among my friends – plus a goodly dose of what I call, “the twitchies” – as if waiting for the next wave of misery to engulf them.
I myself took yesterday off from work after a lively session with my PsychoTherapist – who ALSO seemed askew [ as she reached for the correction fluid, grumbling “…well, I fucked that form up!”] !
Now, HARRP may be off the air… but what makes anyone think it’s the ONLY such system in the world?
I’m reminded of that great 1970 sci-fi flick, COLOSSUS: THE FORBIN PROJECT wherein the US smugly reveals its new mega-computer only to discover that Russia has one, too… then: the fun really starts!
And of course there’s the possibility that the culprit may actually be a super-secret-something as yet unknown to the public ala’ censored Nikola Tesla technology, eh?
Whatever it is, it’s also affecting my cats. They too have been unusually active, tag-team racing up and down the stairs at all hours like little thundering Elephants.
So, I’d say, yes… there is a disturbance in the Force, Luke! But… what do I know? I’m in therapy! “
One of Ure’s pet axioms is the people who get therapy don’t need it. But the ones who don’t get it….well, they maybe should consider it….
Product Durability
I was whining earlier this week about the lack of good products, anymore; the kind that will last decades and delivery flawless service. As luck would have it, reader Mary’s actually got one of those rare beasties: a 64-year old toaster!
“It’s a Toastmaster, flexible, woven cord (I like how easily it wraps).
No, it doesn’t do bagels, but I can live with that. My parents married in 1933, had 3 children in five years, so were experts at making things last, and fixing what didn’t.
There are odd little things that please me, from my childhood: The sound the little drip coffee pot makes right after you pour in the water, the sound that this toaster makes when it’s time to pop “my” toast . . .
Anyway, my mom found a duplicate of her toaster and gave it to me. I also have the coffee pot.
Both are reminders of breakfasts with Mom and Dad and sweet memories.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the math — I was an afterthought, and surprised them in 1949. “
Got a pet theory about consumer products, if you’re interested. Since the average marriage in the US now lasts only 8-years, companies don’t have any reason to make things that will last longer. By the sound of it, Mary and her appliances are reminders of better times in America.
But that’s not saying we’re all toast, of course…
Write when you get rich…
George Ure (george at ure dot net)
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