Events / The Great Synchronized Note Giveaway!
When:February 10th, 2008 @ 2:00pm to 2:15pm
Where:
Wherever you are
Anywhere
Enrollment
15/unlimited
Organizer:
Tricia Tanaka
Description:
On February 10th I'm "hosting" a synchronized letter giving project.
Write an interesting note/letter or two (the more the better!) and send it away in a unique but earth-friendly way at 2:00-2:15.
Anna one had this ideas:
"Alternatives [instead of balloons] I can suggest might be making paper-boats that have the message written on that can be released into a lake, river or handy body of water. Perhaps there is a manufacturer of biodegradable balloons? People could send their message as a postcard to Postsecret.com or to a random stranger via postcardx.net- the internet makes for a vast collection of possibilities. One could always slip a note into a random book at your local Borders or library."
So be creative!
Let's all experience the fun of giving letters together!
You can give your letter away at any place you want.
Also, don't worry about the time difference. Give away your letter when it's 2:00 where you are.
Responses
15 Attending
2 NOT Attending
Terms
(none yet)Comments
It depends on what elements you are trying to factor in, if any, or if you are just trying to pound a stake in the ground for everyone to reference.
The former could be important if you're trying to factor in the way the sun affects the weather, for instance, so you would want folks to release at the same local time (the same sun time).
As for the latter, it is totally arbitrary anyway, so it really doesn't matter one way or the other.
So awesome IF the balloons used are not mylar or mylar/foil, please!
I'm personally not crazy about latex either because the balloon industry likes to point out latex breaks down and will not be eaten by animals, which is a claim you should weigh thoughtfully--it may be true, certainly I've seen latex in my yard break down relatively quickly. Generally, animals have no reason to eat latex balloons. But sea turtles kind of do. Just be mindful. And for gosh sake don't use a metallic plastic ribbon or non-degradable string to tie it with!
They won't all be at the same time anyhoo since we are GMT and you are on some crazy time zone.
Well, if it were being done for true simultaneity, then noon in Texas is dinnertime over there in UKia.
I'm happy to see people wanting to attend, but as some of you have pointed out, balloons are bad for the environment.
This was mainly brought to my attention by a kind letter from Anna:
"Releasing a few balloons here and there may not have the massive impact that a giant release like we've seen at stadiums and big events- but the damage is on an individual level- when wildlife and marine life see the brightly colored deflated remnants of balloons they don't know what they are and many animals will eat them thinking that they are food. Since balloons take a considerable amount of time to degrade, the remnants get caught in the digestive tracts of animals who ingest them, unwittingly damning them to death by starvation. You may have seen the images of marine birds with plastic soda-can-rings caught around their necks, choking them- balloons have the same effect, but internally."
So I'm going to change this event a little bit.
Hope it's just as fun!
I've been looking for an excuse to slip notes into books at a bookstore, or maybe make a paper boat and put a message in it, so I'll probably do one of those. Whee!
I was gonna just do paper boat, but now I think I'll do that and the book store thing.
I'd been thinking about throwing paper airplanes somewhere public and crowded - perhaps a mall - but on second thought I've already done that.
I was going to do the book thing, and then maybe the bathroom at the library, and then maybe the paper boat thing, and then maybe tie them to trees. I don't know!!!
Great minds think alike, Doktor Harmon!
I was thinking about doing paper airplanes as well.
It'd be funny to send them flying at people from a hiding place!
Feel free to post your success once this is over.
If someone jumped the gun for the 2pm start time, I would like to know. I stepped out for a smoke about 10min ago (11:00am PST) and over downtown oakland there were appox 16 unidentified flying objects, white in color and at a signifigant altitute (a single prop plan flew between one of them and my line of vision). Someone standing with me confirmed i was not going crazy and that he also saw them. Upon completion of said cancer i attempted to look at them at a different angle, but only one could be seen. Returning to the original vantage point, the one had now seperated into what looked like a tight cluster of mutiple contacts. None of the other specs of white light could be seen. That lead me to think that they had increased their altitude (like a balloon). I really hope someone takes credit for this otherwise im going to continue freaking out thinking it was an actual UFO / Communist Death Satilite Attack
I launched a couple airplanes from the upper level of a mall, down to the lower level. All planes are confirmed to have been collected.
As for notes? Well, the planes were folded from printouts of the score to No Man's Land - with a little handwritten "sf0.org" on the back of each.
(And no, I didn't jump the gun. This happened at about 2:05 Eastern time, which is the time zone I'm in.)
I left a note in a coffee can in the chem lounge at my school. It was a handwritten note and had sfzero.org at the bottom (to avoid confusion). Hopefully it will be discovered at approx. way to late by someone who needs a little cheering up (I know that chem gets me down).
I took 12 post-its and wrote down small parts from everything from "The Book of the Dead" to the recipe on the back of the Ovaltine can. I put them in the series of Ciff Notes at the downtown library.
I created five paper boats to release into the L.A. river. A sudden lack of automobile prevented me from more than repairing it.
I wrote three notes that said: "Tell us a little about yourself. This is for art. Love, SF0.org." And included my email address. I left them in 3 spots in a CVS near the friend's house I was visiting this weekend. One is in a maternity magazine, one is in a bridal magazine, and one is in a box of thank-you cards. I'm hoping that the people who are likely to pick up those items are also at a time of life when they're going to be happy to respond. We'll see what happens. "This is for art." is awfully snotty but I wasn't quite awake when I wrote them and could not think of anything better.
Shouldn't they all happen at the same absolute time, rather than the same local time?