[00:17.11]Have you ever thought about what you would save from today to show to people in the future?
[00:24.19]Some people are thinking about it.
[00:27.35]They are involved in a project to save objects in a container that is not to be opened until New Year's Day,1,000 years from now.
[00:38.79]The container is a times capsule.
[00:42.61]Time capsules are special devices built to protect papers and other objects usually for one hundred years.
[00:52.09]The purpose is to help people in the future understand what was important when the time capsule was closed.
[01:00.26]The idea for this time capsule came from people at The New York Times newspaper.
[01:09.02]So it is called the "Times Capsule".
[01:13.38]The papers and objects to be put in it are to help people in the year 3,000 understand about life in the world today.
[01:23.36]First, a container was needed to keep the materials safe.
[01:29.29]So the newspaper invited forty-eight architects and designers from around the world to take part in a design competition.
[01:39.11]An architect from Spain, Santiago Calatrava, won.
[01:44.25]His winning design is a shiny steel container.
[01:50.34]It has one-and-one-half cubic meters of space inside.
[01:55.80]It is shaped like a flower with eight separate parts.
[02:01.47]Mister Calatrava says he wanted the container to be beautiful, yet create a feeling of mystery.
[02:09.83]Some of the things that will be placed in the Times Capsule have been chosen.
[02:16.46]They are being shown along with the Times Capsule at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.
[02:26.18]Among the objects are: Six magazines published by the New York Times, which describe the last 1,000 years.
[02:36.71]A recording of the sounds of life in New York City made at 9:09 in the morning of the ninth day of the ninth month of 1999.
[02:49.14]Pictures taken of what some people in New York were doing at that same time.
[02:54.89]A small container of fresh water from a river in Brazil.
[03:00.51]An American military medal.
[03:03.90]A ceremonial chair from Zimbabwe.
[03:06.93]A Beanie Baby doll popular with collectors.
[03:10.69]Marlboro cigarettes.
[03:13.65]Other things will be chosen to represent life at the present time.
[03:18.90]Visitors to the museum can use two computers to enter their own suggestions.
[03:25.58]The objects chosen by a Special committee will be placed in the capsule before it is closed in April.
[03:33.92]Then the large steel container will be moved to its permanent home, outside the entrance of the Natural History museum.
[03:43.69]Although the Times Capsule is not to be opened for 1,000 years, it should not be forgotten.
[03:52.52]A guard will be paid to watch over it and remind people of why it is important. |