Episode 4, David and Terri discuss visiting Virtual Museums while stuck at home due to Covid-19. They discuss the Louvre, BattleGuides, British Museum and The Anne Frank House. After discussing the virtual museums the discussion turns to technology and hits home for kids growing up in the 80s.
Show Transcription
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[00:00:04] David: Hey welcome everyone. I’m David Allen Lambert, and I’m here with Terri O’Connell your Virtual Historians. Got to talk about ways of visiting museums without having to leave your home. Terri, what have you found while scouring the internet for our viewers on virtual museums? Anything exciting?
[00:00:23] Terri: Well, I’m just excited that there’s stuff out there because we know a lot of these places are closed due to COVID restrictions.
[00:00:31]So myself being a travel agent in the daytime, Travel and Leisure has a video out there of the top virtual tours that you can take to see things while you’re sitting at home. So I thought that was pretty cool. I’ll have the links to everything we talk about in our blog post and in the comments below, but there’s so much out there.
[00:00:54] What about you?
[00:00:56] David: Well, I mean, I’m really excited to maybe take a virtual tour of some of these battlefields. This is a great a website called battleguide.co.uk, where they actually take you out to the different battlefields. So for me, a museum doesn’t have to be structurally in a building. It can be outside.
[00:01:12] And I guess for me, I’ve spent many, many hours going through cemeteries in the warmer weather during COVID. And those are really outside of museums, but battlefields that’s the next best thing for me. Cause I feel like I’m learning the history and also being in there. But if I can’t get over to Europe to see these world war one and world war II battlefields, that’s the next best thing.
[00:01:32] But museums. Oh, I miss the museums. And, you said you found a couple of them on there and I tried out some, the British Museum that has a 360 walk through where you can put on your trusty VR headset and actually look around the room. And it’s all done with these really high-end GoPro cameras, where they do a 360 spin.
[00:01:56] So you’re actually getting a complete turnaround of the view for those of you that are not VR ready. It’s gonna make you want to get a set just to actually explore.
[00:02:11] I mean, one of the things I enjoyed was going to the Louvre and the Louvre has its own VR experience to watch the Mona Lisa. And it brings you together with AI technology and kind of making it all right in front of your face, which I think is.
The other thing that you can find on the internet is there a probably small museums that you may have frequented in the past, and maybe you can use by putting on a small donation, for instance, Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson has for $10, you can do a virtual tour. You just pay upfront. And then you can actually watch this video, which is really kind of fun.
[00:02:53] Terri: I think it’s important to note that I know people would be like, Oh, it’s on the internet and I have to pay. All of these places or a majority of these places, if they’re not closed down now they’ve been closed down and this is how they’re keeping going.
[00:03:04] So we really do need to support these local, might not be local to us, but it’s local to somebody, these museums, so that when it’s time to reopen the world, they’re going to still be there.
[00:03:18] David: It’s very true. And I think one of the things is you could always go to the museum shop, even if they are free and buy something virtually online, maybe a t-shirt a book or some sort of a bookend, if you will.
[00:03:33] I, you know, I went to the British museum and I bought a copy of the Rosetta stone. I’ve got that as something I keep on my desk. So it’s interesting, you know, even though they’re free, you can still support these museums, which is really important. And of course the next best thing is actually going as COVID-19, uh, slowly fades away and the world becomes back to normal.
[00:03:56] Virtual reality is that teaser that you can use to actually get ready for a trip and kind of decide what part of the museum you want to actually explore. And I’ll tell you, when I’ve been to the British museum, you can spend an entire day there in the Louvre. Try maybe multiple days, because there’s just so much to explore and VR does makes it all together easier, but you don’t need VR to do it.
[00:04:20] I mean, Terri. And I were watching some of these videos before we turned on the show today to tape for you. And, there, you can watch them right on YouTube.
[00:04:31] Terri: I think it’s amazing that YouTube has got it’s regular, but you could click to watch that 360 view. I will tell you this I’ve only been to Paris once I’ve never been inside the Louvre, but when we took the train, in the areas surrounding the Louvre, As you’re going through, like these tunnels, they have the art pieces in, behind the glass, in those tunnels so that you can see stuff.
[00:04:59] I thought, my God, that’s amazing. That would never fly in Chicago because people would find a way to break in and get it. But I just was amazed that that is the coolest thing ever. So I’ve got to see some of the artwork of the Louvre, but I’ve never been inside.
[00:05:15] David: Yeah. I’ve seen the Mona Lisa. I mean, that was obviously a big part of it.
[00:05:19]Seeing so many statues that you see through history or paintings you see? I mean, and then there are a lot of people that are big DaVinci Code fans, and of course you’re walking down the main gallery and you’re seeing all of these paintings that you saw in the movie. I mean, so there’s a lot of people that are, you know, fascinated by that, but so much history under one roof. It’s absolutely amazing.
[00:05:43]I’m a big fan of Egyptology and there’s a lot of things out there that you can do in VR. You can visit the pyramids. In fact, some of them, Terri, you can actually go in to the great pyramid and actually go down the ramps, places that normally we couldn’t go as tourists.
[00:05:59] Terri: That’s cool. I’ve not done that yet.
[00:06:02] David: If you’re claustrophobic, you might not like it. But, I actually enjoyed it a great deal. Cause I’m looking around, like, I don’t think I’m ever going to be in here. So you go right into the King’s chamber, in the great pyramid, which was amazing. I mean, I want to explore places in person, but you know, the finances of, you know, going to the Acropolis or going to Rome and touring different things.
[00:06:27] People are out there. With these GoPro cameras and these three 60 cameras exploring putting that out there for you for free. And you can see so much of this history, right from your own VR headset or better yet from your screen, you can actually watch YouTube on your computer or if you have it connected to your TV, you can blow it up on a big screen TV.
[00:06:51] It’s amazing.
[00:06:54] Terri: Wow. I, okay. So I’m really excited about doing the pyramids because Holy Cow!. I don’t think I would ever last in the desert. I am way too Irish for that and it just does not excite when you think about it. But, that would be way cool to go and visit.
[00:07:13] David: And one of the places that, we’ve probably discussed in part, I don’t think we’ve really discussed it here in great detail is the Anne Frank House.
[00:07:23] That is, not touring it with a camera, but through all of the visual that you would normally see in person, but it’s tactual so you can pick something up, you can look on the wall, you can push the bookcase aside and go to see Anne Frank’s house. And, you know, I haven’t made my trip over to that part of Europe yet, but I plan on going, but this made me actually feel like I was experiencing it.
[00:07:53] And it was in the VR headset. It was a free app. Well, worth it.
[00:07:57] Terri: I was amazed at just all the details in that. [00:08:00] Again, and I loved that you could do it two ways. You could explore it on your own or you could follow their story. So it kind of like, you know, just tells you as you go along. Really, just, I haven’t even finished.
[00:08:19] I think I got like halfway through it and I was just so amazed.
[00:08:23]David: Well and the other thing is just it’s such a story that really pulls at your heartstrings, this young girl that obviously was escaping the Nazi persecution with her family, hiding out. And then ultimately of course she died in the concentration camps, but her story, her diary really kind of touched upon the, the world.
[00:08:43]I mean, after it was published and translated into pretty much every language. To go, there is something that’s on my bucket list, but then actually have experienced it in VR. Actually, it kind of brought me to tears. I mean it was, it was really a, it was a moving experience because you’re seeing the photos on the wall, [00:09:00] you’re reading it.
[00:09:05] And, it really brings her story to life on a very personal level using 21st century technology. I’m sure she would very much approve of the job that was done.
[00:09:17] Terri: Right. Well, you know, what’s funny is, okay. So like, think about your lifetime, my lifetime we’re a couple of years apart, we know that. And the big thing is a kid was reading the book, you know, Anne Frank’s Diary.
[00:09:28]I don’t even think they had a movie at that point. It was just the book. And that was enough to really tell you that story. You thought going through that VR and thinking about all the people that lived in that little, that small space and how they couldn’t really move during the day, uh!
[00:09:46]David: Well, you know, what really touched me is that she was practically the same age my mom was.
[00:09:50] And, my mother was a teenager during world war two, of course, living stateside here in America. And obviously not facing the perils that Anne Frank did, but it, I, I felt I connect with my mother’s generation thinking that if Anne had lived and had children, they’d be around our age, Terri and, or a little older, a little younger and it was really, so important to actually experience that.
[00:10:14] And I was a little hesitant because I didn’t know how emotionally I would feel about going through this story, but, it was so very much moving and I definitely will watch it again probably multiple times. And we’re talking about kids in technology. I mean, so the kids today are as adults today. What amazing technology we have, but if we, you went back 30, 40 years ago, I can still remember playing electronic baseball when you and wow.
[00:10:47] There’s a baseball game. Now I can put a VR headset and actually be there at the pitcher’s mound as the batter’s batting and the ball whizzing by my head. I mean, it’s a totally different world.
[00:11:00] Terri: I have played a couple of games and I like there were things [00:11:00] moving and I really felt like something had touched me.
[00:11:06] And I was like, what the heck was that?
[00:11:09] David: Probably your daughter going behind you while you’re doing it.
[00:11:12] Terri: No I’m smart enough to do it behind closed doors.
[00:11:18] David: There’s a little bit, so much too reality to virtual reality sometimes. But for me, the technology is just amazing. I mean, getting aside from VR, I mean, I remember when I got my first Atari 2600 and it was a Christmas of probably 1982 and, my aunt got me or maybe it was a little difficult. Pac-Man all the lines are incredible for Pac-Man and you’re sitting there playing this little dotted thing across and it’s retro now. People still like it, but wow, that was the coolest thing. I can still remember my parents getting up on Sunday morning and you hear , and they’re basically, they’re playing bowling.
[00:11:57] I’m parents run a bowling league in the sixties and here they have virtually bowling on our color TV.
[00:12:03] Terri: I got a funny one for you. My mom. And one of my dad’s cousins worked, for some company and they were beta testers for Pong.
[00:12:14] David: I remember playing Pong in Washington, DC. on a tabletop game. And right next to it was another thing called death race or something like that, where you took a steering wheel and over four steering wheels you drove around and this other cars are gonna run into.
[00:12:32] I can still remember dropping at least $3 in quarters playing Asteroids when that first came out.
[00:12:39]Terri: I loved Astroids, yeah.
[00:12:41] David: The sound and just a little, when it exploded. That was fun. I mean, I can still remember. How cool it was to, not me personally, cause I was older, but like they had Speak N Spells like a, B, C, D. Wow. It’s talking, you know, it’s like a cow, large oversized calculator, you know, on steroids
[00:13:02] Terri: I think I had those for my kids too, though.
[00:13:05] At least for at least for my oldest.
[00:13:07] David: Yeah. I mean, they were great. And then, I don’t know, just with the technology with movies, I mean, we’re the kids that grew up watching Star Wars and how cutting edge that is. And then you look at it now and it’s like where they show the making of it. It’s like it’s on a string and you’ll act out.
[00:13:26]Terri: Let’s just geek out a little bit about Star Wars. Let’s talk about how low budget the films were. there’s something that, came across my Facebook feed yesterday and I don’t know what, who was holding, but it was a Gillette razor that had been painted and like marked up to be whatever it is it was supposed to be in the movie.
[00:13:47] I thought that is the coolest thing ever.
[00:13:49] David: Oh, that’s amazing. Well, I mean, some of the droids were reused. In fact, if you watch some of the movies, you’ll see some of the George from the first movie in the second movie, in the third movie, because they’re just reusing props. I mean, it was great stuff. I mean, especially in some of the movies, it’s like, if you look closely like. The land speeder, you know, obviously in the original and you can see it’s kind of scratched out, you know, cause it was going and of course it had wheels, but we didn’t think Luke Skywalker’s land speeder was actually not flying. It appeared like it was. So thank you, George Lucas.
[00:14:23] And, and then you look at movies like Titanic. They came out almost gosh, nearing 25 years ago. So some of the viewers may have watched them when they were younger. just the cutting edge to when I saw the Titanic on the screen for the first time I was just totally blown away. Yeah. Might as well have been King Kong felt larger than life, and you’re dealing with a model that is, you know, green screened all of this stuff in here.
[00:14:51] And it’s just amazing, amazing stuff. Well, I mean, technology is just improving. I hope I live to be 250 plus years old. I’ll be probably well versed in all the VR technology and I can say Terri. I remember when the Oculus first came out in the old days, when you actually had to put it on, now it’s on your glasses and you just press a button.
[00:15:14]Terri: That would be amazing.
[00:15:16] I don’t still think that the Jetsons that we watched as cartoons back when we were kids, I’m still waiting for the flying cars,
[00:15:26] the Jetsons, and Back to the Future , they set us up to fail.
[00:15:28] David: Where’s my flying DeLorean. Come on, Doc Brown, bring it to the house. I want to get to work quicker or get out of time and get to work before I need to work.
[00:15:40] Terri: Yep.
[00:15:41] David: Oh, yeah, no, it’s, it’s been an amazing, at least for me, half century to see everything that’s changed. I was three weeks old when man landed on the moon, it’s now we’re going back and it’s going to be a lady on and on. That’s all. I want my daughters to see that that is pretty dark.
[00:16:04] Terri: Somebody told me there’s a way that you can put your name in to possibly be one of the people that goes up.
[00:16:10] There’s some kind of a raffle. I want to say it’s like donations or something if you do every time when you donate your name gets entered into a raffle to be one of those people to go up. I don’t remember who it was through or anything about it.
[00:16:26] No, but it was, it was some charitable organization that is working with him.
[00:16:30] I think.
[00:16:34] David: Terri, and I want to go to the moon and we’ll do our entire show from the moon. We’ll change our background. We’ll say NASA rocks.
[00:16:49] Yeah, well, technology is just evolving and as it does, we’re going to be bringing it to you. May it be what’s going on in the VR world or in technology. We’ve been talking recently with some amazing archeologists and historians, which we’ll see in the coming weeks on our show. And of course, I hope that you enjoyed the episode with Daniel Horowitz cause Deep Nostalgia. Completely blew my mind away. I don’t know, about you Terri, but I get more photo’s that I animated.
[00:17:18] Terri: Now that Daniel’s not here, can I tell you what it reminded me of? It reminded me of the Haunted Mansion at Disney world and the, statue. The very end statue part, like after you come down and they’re all there and like the ones broken and laying on the ground, when you go back next time. ride it. And when you see that you’re going to laugh and think of me and be like, she’s crazy. But that’s exactly what I thought. If I could just see these statues all lined up in there.
[00:17:50] David: That’s crazy. Daniel, if you’re listening, she isn’t really lost her mind. she just has a vivid imagination generally geared towards Disney.
[00:18:00] And talk about Disney for technology.
[00:18:04] Terri: Well, so when you talked about star Wars and all I could think of virtually was flying that Millennium Falcon and how great that was.
[00:18:16]David: Are you’re kidding. I was eight years old and Chewbacca, well it was actually, my daughter was right next to me and it was just amazing. I mean, and I know that, you know, when I walked up to it, Life size. I don’t want to go anywhere else in the park. I just want to sit here, look at this,
[00:18:38] Terri: Right. All I could think of is Wayne’s World. We’re not worthy.
[00:18:42] David: Are you kidding me? I went out and bought myself a lightsaber, Galaxy’s Edge. I got the Darth Vader one. When I go back again, I get to get the Luke and the Obi Wan Kenobi. I mean, I’m going to have a whole wall of lightsabers because to me that was my childhood. And Disney definitely makes you feel like a kid again.
[00:19:00] Terri: That’s for sure. Well, I will tell you, I rode it twice. I stood in the long line and then I did the single rider line so I could ride it a second time. It was amazing. And I can’t wait to go back.
[00:19:08] David: Yeah, no, I can’t do. In fact I have to go multiple times. So my entire family will actually get to do all the positions kind of like playing musical chairs the first time around it was Hannah and I in the front we were riding. Okay. You have to go left, go right. Go down. And then the other ones were firing the cannons and stuff. It was great. Fun.
[00:19:27] Terri: They have always been ahead in technology, hands, hands above everybody. so to be able to bring our childhoods to life in a timeframe where we could enjoy it is amazing.
[00:19:41] David: It is. And just to think what the next decade twenty-five years.
[00:19:46] Terri: I couldn’t even imagine, like, what’s better than flying the millennium Falcon.
[00:19:50] David: I know exactly. Right. They need a VR experience so you can sit right within it. But I think they’ve already kind of done that with some of that done.
[00:19:59] Terri: I think it’s done in the video.
[00:20:01] David: I mean, and now there’s so much more [00:20:00] technology, so much more, you put that green screen on, you can be anywhere you want to be. But now with the VR headset with like, we talked about Wander, you can go anywhere you want to. It’s amazing.
[00:20:17] Terri: Yes.
[00:20:18] David: Uh, technology. I wish I was 10 years old now, so I can enjoy more and more, but, well, that’s all we have this week for a year for Virtual Historians.
[00:20:29] I hope that you’ve enjoyed this episode would be kind of talked about things you can do in the virtual world from home. Or you can actually go and put on your VR headset and explore. Or sit back with us and reminisce. We’d love to hear the stories that you remember from the technology from when you were a kid.
[00:20:49] And , if you weren’t playing pong or you were playing asteroids or you’re too young to even remember those, we still want to hear what your earliest technology memory is. So get in touch. Thanks very much. And until next time, virtually yours, Dave and Terri.
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