Present Me, Future Me

After a much longer blogging hiatus than I'd expected, I've brought back two activities to those starved for a taste of time travel. At a season when our thoughts naturally turn to the new year and the goals and accomplishments we anticipate will burst the seams of the coming year(s), why not set in motion communication with your future self?

FutureMe.org offers you the opportunity to send yourself an email at a future date you specify. Imagine sending a letter to remind your future self where you are at this exciting moment in time, or injecting your goals as a kind of cosmic post-it note to keep going. You can keep your email private or post it to the community anonymously and read other's cyber-dips into time travel.


Over the break, I also researched the best method to make a time capsule. According to the International Time Capsule Society, outdoor (in-ground) capsules are the least desirable. Many city and town municipalities have tried 100 year ones only to discover someone forgot the location. If you do attempt to bury a time capsule, consider marking its location using a GPS device. The Minnesota Historical Society has great tips on the best materials and procedures for preserving specific items such as photos and important documents. Barring high-tech capsules, the contents are often subjected to the destructive elements of water, humidity, heat, etc., so make sure you don't put anything in there you can't bear to see ruined.


In addition to ideas on how to secure the contents and mark the celebration of a time capsule, the ITCS will add your capsule to their database, ensuring someone at a future date can find it again. While you're there, check out the nine most wanted time capsules in history yet to be found, including the story of one the M*A*S*H cast and crew buried in the 1980s.


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