Thanks for diving down a deep and amazing historical rabbit hole with me. I feel like the deeper we went, the more unanswered questions we were left with. Meanwhile, it was a wonderful journey delving into the history of the bridge, the park, the earthquake…and even the ghost! The story of this postcard will always have a warm place in my thoughts.
I'm so glad that you joined me down the rabbit hole of this postcard, and into everything that it connects to. It contains multitudes, worlds within worlds. This is how we learn, this is how we evolve, and most of all, this is how we connect - to our past, to our future, to great ideas, to the art of the possible, and to each other...
Always happy when your videos are in my feed. I remember the US mail had much more stature in the past. I remember get morning delivery and afternoon delivery. No email then.
What a wonderful thing to hear. Thank you so much. I'm really, really glad that my work means something to you, and that it makes you happy. Seriously, thank you. This is all about connecting with each other and leaving something of value that's meaningful to our fellow humans and our progeny, and if we can, the universe, or the universe of universes, or whatever we come to know in the future, and simply *having* a future. All of this stuff, the history, the present and the future all have real relation. This idea of time travel, and legacy, and artifact, and preservation, and discussion and connection - it's important stuff, and it's really what everything is about in the end, so I find it fascinating and really rewarding and worth pursuing and preserving and celebrating, and learning from and sharing, and such. Here's to more of it!
That person sure had a nice calligraphic handwriting ! As to that bridge being destroyed by the 1906 SF earthquake, it could've easily been a misunderstanding.
Are you satisfied with that as an explanation? I'm not. The whole point of this video is not being satisfied with the first thing you see, or the first conjecture that enters your mind. Notice that the other copy of the same postcard I showed had a postmark date of August 12, 1909, three and a half years later. It had the same error. There could be multiple reasons for this, but it seems pretty likely that such an error would have been corrected after three and a half years.
Confusion is definitely a possibility. One source of this confusion might be that though the bridge itself was spared destruction, the observatory on nearby Strawberry Hill was toppled. (In fact, it was the only structure in the park damaged by the quake. Even the flower conservatory was not significantly damaged.) A motion was made to rebuild the observatory, but sadly the work was never approved.
@@amelia_camelliait's such a shame that the observatory was never rebuilt. The statement that *something* was destroyed, and ostensibly the bridge, because that's really what's pictured, could be down to a few reasons, but we don't know what they are. First of all, what were they saying was destroyed, the bridge? The park? The observatory is a part of the park but it's not pictured, and it's not referenced explicitly, although it is part of the park. I think it's more likely that they were referring to the bridge itself and that they were mistaken, but why were they mistaken, and why was the same mistake printed on the same postcard over three years later? It could be that a huge number of postcards were printed initially, which would just make the story of their enormous production and distribution so long ago that much more interesting, or it could be that they reprinted the postcard and didn't particularly care about getting the information right because they were being cheap and greedy and didn't want to have to remake the postcards, or they realized that seeing a photo of a bridge with a caption saying that it had been destroyed by a great earthquake is just an eye-grabbing money maker which could have been the reason they used it in the first place, or the postcard with the far later postmark could have been old leftover store stock in a very quiet and remote town, or it could be any combination of these possibilities, or some combination of others. Whatever it is, I find that interesting and I wonder about it. Why does it say the wrong thing, or does it?
Thanks for diving down a deep and amazing historical rabbit hole with me. I feel like the deeper we went, the more unanswered questions we were left with. Meanwhile, it was a wonderful journey delving into the history of the bridge, the park, the earthquake…and even the ghost! The story of this postcard will always have a warm place in my thoughts.
I'm so glad that you joined me down the rabbit hole of this postcard, and into everything that it connects to. It contains multitudes, worlds within worlds. This is how we learn, this is how we evolve, and most of all, this is how we connect - to our past, to our future, to great ideas, to the art of the possible, and to each other...
Always happy when your videos are in my feed. I remember the US mail had much more stature in the past. I remember get morning delivery and afternoon delivery. No email then.
What a wonderful thing to hear. Thank you so much. I'm really, really glad that my work means something to you, and that it makes you happy. Seriously, thank you. This is all about connecting with each other and leaving something of value that's meaningful to our fellow humans and our progeny, and if we can, the universe, or the universe of universes, or whatever we come to know in the future, and simply *having* a future. All of this stuff, the history, the present and the future all have real relation. This idea of time travel, and legacy, and artifact, and preservation, and discussion and connection - it's important stuff, and it's really what everything is about in the end, so I find it fascinating and really rewarding and worth pursuing and preserving and celebrating, and learning from and sharing, and such. Here's to more of it!
What an interesting card. That handwriting is fantastic.
Isn't it something?
Cool! Interesting stuff. Thanks.
Thank you, and I'm so glad that you enjoyed it. It's such a cool story.
That person sure had a nice calligraphic handwriting ! As to that bridge being destroyed by the 1906 SF earthquake, it could've easily been a misunderstanding.
Are you satisfied with that as an explanation? I'm not. The whole point of this video is not being satisfied with the first thing you see, or the first conjecture that enters your mind. Notice that the other copy of the same postcard I showed had a postmark date of August 12, 1909, three and a half years later. It had the same error. There could be multiple reasons for this, but it seems pretty likely that such an error would have been corrected after three and a half years.
Confusion is definitely a possibility. One source of this confusion might be that though the bridge itself was spared destruction, the observatory on nearby Strawberry Hill was toppled. (In fact, it was the only structure in the park damaged by the quake. Even the flower conservatory was not significantly damaged.) A motion was made to rebuild the observatory, but sadly the work was never approved.
@@amelia_camelliait's such a shame that the observatory was never rebuilt. The statement that *something* was destroyed, and ostensibly the bridge, because that's really what's pictured, could be down to a few reasons, but we don't know what they are. First of all, what were they saying was destroyed, the bridge? The park? The observatory is a part of the park but it's not pictured, and it's not referenced explicitly, although it is part of the park. I think it's more likely that they were referring to the bridge itself and that they were mistaken, but why were they mistaken, and why was the same mistake printed on the same postcard over three years later? It could be that a huge number of postcards were printed initially, which would just make the story of their enormous production and distribution so long ago that much more interesting, or it could be that they reprinted the postcard and didn't particularly care about getting the information right because they were being cheap and greedy and didn't want to have to remake the postcards, or they realized that seeing a photo of a bridge with a caption saying that it had been destroyed by a great earthquake is just an eye-grabbing money maker which could have been the reason they used it in the first place, or the postcard with the far later postmark could have been old leftover store stock in a very quiet and remote town, or it could be any combination of these possibilities, or some combination of others. Whatever it is, I find that interesting and I wonder about it. Why does it say the wrong thing, or does it?