If You Had A Time Machine... (ancient, Romans, Egypt, European)

[ovcatto]

what period in history (it's broken and won't go forward) what era(s) would you go to. Due to popular demand for the machine, you are only allow to use it 3 times for a period of one week per trip.

Management apologizes for any inconvenience.

[tuteishungry]

Originally Posted by ovcatto

what period in history (it's broken and won't go forward) what era(s) would you go to. Due to popular demand for the machine, you are only allow to use it 3 times for a period of one week per trip.

Probably around when the Beatnik Generation had just started.

[Grandstander]

ovcatto.....

What are the reality rules here? Before I went wooshing back in time, I'd like some notion of of what I would be facing. Will I be an invisible observer, existing on some ghostly plain and not subject to harm of any kind? Or will all the familiar laws of physics apply save the fact that this is me in dislocated time?

Do I just sort of appear somewhere out of thin air with no one taking notice? Will I need to eat? What will I do for money? I can hardly attempt to spend 2009 dated dollars in an era before the bills were printed.

May I alter the past, or simply observe and return? Will I be subject to the jeopardies of misadventure, just as I am in the present? In short, could I be killed in the past?

Would I gain some mystical mastery of the language for whatever time and place I visit? It would not do me much good to visit ancient Thebes or pre Columbian America if I wasn't going to be able to understand anything anyone was saying.

All these things I would insist on knowing before going. If it was the ethereal route where I am some sort of disembodied but danger proofed observer, I might select an era long past. If I am going back as a mortal human, I think I would narrow the range to some more immediate time period where modern medicine exists and cities would not overwhelm me with their smells and lack of sanitation.

[jtur88]

Originally Posted by tuteishungry

Probably around when the Beatnik Generation had just started.

Never mind. I've already been there. The coffee-shop fare was terrible. No latte, no shade-grown. The pot was inconsistent, too, and most of the time, it was like smoking any other weed from any roadside, and getting high was psychosomatic. Jack Kerouac was a worse writer than Mickey Spillane. Most beatniks were Maynard G. Krebs wannabes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_G._Krebs

Originally Posted by phonelady61

1940s my grandmothers era. I would love to go back and see what she was like as a child.

Been there too. Let me sum it up for you in three words. She played outside.

I saw 1950 and you're gonna see 2050, and there is no way on earth that I would want to change places with you. So if the time machine deal means switching with somebody, don't even ask.

[phonelady61]

1940s my grandmothers era. I would love to go back and see what she was like as a child.

[ovcatto]

Originally Posted by Grandstander

Or will all the familiar laws of physics apply save the fact that this is me in dislocated time?

Einstein's Rules, so be careful when and where you decide to land. It could be pretty ugly if you drop down in the middle of Paris during the week of August 23, 1572.

Do I just sort of appear somewhere out of thin air with no one taking notice? Will I need to eat? What will I do for money? I can hardly attempt to spend 2009 dated dollars in an era before the bills were printed.

Interesting questions. Ok, the machine will take you to any set coordinate that you choose, so choose well. Money can be purchased at the concession counter as can the appropriate wardrobe. We accept all major credit cards and bank cards.

May I alter the past, or simply observe and return? Will I be subject to the jeopardies of misadventure, just as I am in the present? In short, could I be killed in the past?

Most assuredly, but then you can be killed by terrorist or just common bandits on a trip to Cancun.

Would I gain some mystical mastery of the language for whatever time and place I visit?

Nope, so we suggest brushing up on the linga franca of your place and period.

It would not do me much good to visit ancient Thebes or pre Columbian America if I wasn't going to be able to understand anything anyone was saying.

Hey, early European explores seemed to have managed. I bet you can too.

If I am going back as a mortal human, I think I would narrow the range to some more immediate time period where modern medicine exists and cities would not overwhelm me with their smells and lack of sanitation.

That choice is yours. So we can exclude you from the X-Time Machine Option.

[sayulita]

Good questions all, Grandstander. But for the purposes of this exercise I'm going to assume the following:
1) I am invisible, with no need for food, comfort or sleep. I am there only to observe.
2.) I have no physical needs or limitations as regards traveling about within the era chosen. That is, I do not tire from walking and can get from one side of the city/country by taking a side trip in the time machine.
3.) I can understand and read the language.
4.) I cannot change anything, nor can anything change me.

That said here's where I would go.
Egypt at the time of the pharoahs and pyramid building.
Rome and all of Italy at the height of the Roman Empire
Paris in the 50's (with the no need for food rule suspended!)

I'll probably think of others, but for now these are my top three.

[ovcatto]

Originally Posted by phonelady61

1940s my grandmothers era. I would love to go back and see what she was like as a child.

That is disgustingly sweet! But it also makes me a little weepy eyed. So stop it!

[DubbleT]

Can I take a horse with me, or no?

My first thought was to go back to Salem in early 1692 to watch the beginning of the witch hunt debacle, but considering the rules I'm not too sure I'd want to suddenly appear there unexplained. Could be a tricky situation. I'll have to consider that choice for a while.
Instead I'll make my first trip to Florence, Italy in 1504, to see if I can sneak a look at the 'dueling frescoes' of Michelangelo and Leonardo. Maybe wander around and stick my head into as many artist workshops as I can without getting caught.

[ovcatto]

Oh, my picks would be:

The week of July 1st 1863 (Gettysburg)

The week of June 7th (D-Day)

Any week in 1939 or 1940 in New York, (would love to see Charlie Parker).

I might swap D-Day or Gettysburg for 216 to watch the Romans get pwned by Hannibal at Cannae.