What would you do with a time machine?

[JohnnySavage]

I suppose I'd like to watch them build the pyramids.

 

[domroger]

Travel back through my family tree and see if the stories I was told as a boy were true .
edit .
And bring back Blackbeard's treasure along with Captain Kidd's .

 

[KingOrfeo]

And bring back Blackbeard's treasure along with Captain Kidd's .

Probably pointless.

In media the goal of every pirate is to plunder shipping for the large wooden chests overflowing with gold, jewels and other valuable trinkets invariably carried by every vessel on the high seas. Mundane cargoes carried in the ships' holds are completely ignored as cackling buccaneers make off with their ill-gotten riches, which they then buried or hid in a cave on a remote island, with only a Treasure Map to remind them of the location.

The reality of piracy was a lot more pragmatic. Food, fresh water, weapons and ammunition, timber, ropes, and sails were all of more immediate value to the corsair than a chest full of gold (which, if they ever got any, would promptly be spent on food, fresh water, weapons and ammunition, timber, ropes, and sails, with what was left going to drinking and whoring before they got caught and hanged). These things kept their ships and crews operating outside the reach of the law. In addition, very few cargo vessels carried that kind of wealth. Those that did were warships sailing in groups with enhanced security to fend off any pirates that might attempt an attack. (Certain, more mundane-looking cargoes, mind, might be more valuable than we would think of today—alcohol, fabrics, spices, and various "exotic" items from extremely far afield)

Furthermore, pirate ships probably didn't have space for huge chests: real pirate ships were often very small and fast, although a few of the more successful and grandiose pirate captains got quite big ships.

Pirates sustained themselves and their vessels by using supplies and cargoes plundered from their victims and selling what they had no use for. This provided the coin for obtaining things they couldn't steal, paying their crews and spending a raucous night enjoying the pleasures of a seedy port.

 

[TDRay1612]

Shakespeare's truth!

I heard that shakespeare was a fraud and his works were actually written by some noble who didnt want to let people know that he wrote these plays. I mean, Shakespeare only form of education in his younger days was grammer school, then how could a man with so much limited education write such plays. I want to go back in time and find the truth of shakespeare.

 

[Adre]

I'd go to a 1927 Yankees game.
Have a few daiquiris with Hemingway in Cuba.
Go to an early Jimi Hendrix concert.
Befriend Mark Twain.
Buy a few thousand shares of Google and Berkshire Hathaway.
Ask a young Grace Kelly on a date.

 

[pointless]

I heard that shakespeare was a fraud and his works were actually written by some noble who didnt want to let people know that he wrote these plays. I mean, Shakespeare only form of education in his younger days was grammer school, then how could a man with so much limited education write such plays. I want to go back in time and find the truth of shakespeare.

poor bastard. if only his parents had had the good sense to send him to grammar school instead.

 

[M. Jordan]

All these lofty goals and all I want to do is bang my old high school girlfriend.

 

[KingOrfeo]

If you want to go treasure-hunting in the past, your best bet is tombs. You can easily compile a list of known ancient royal tombs and very rich folks' tombs, all of which by now have of course been plundered of their grave-goods -- possibly by you.

Also, practically every great artist who lived before the 18th Century is known to have produced many works now lost. Perhaps you can find them.

 

[KingOrfeo]

All these lofty goals and all I want to do is bang my old high school girlfriend.

You don't need a time machine, you need a telephone.

And perhaps a roofie.

 

[Hard_Rom]

I heard that shakespeare was a fraud and his works were actually written by some noble who didnt want to let people know that he wrote these plays. I mean, Shakespeare only form of education in his younger days was grammer school, then how could a man with so much limited education write such plays. I want to go back in time and find the truth of shakespeare.

Another good one. Take in a performance at the Globe.

 

[KingOrfeo]

I heard that shakespeare was a fraud and his works were actually written by some noble who didnt want to let people know that he wrote these plays.

Practically all scholars nowadays consider that a crackpot theory.

 

[pointless]

i'd also stock up on coca cola. original recipe only, please.

then i'd fuck some more flappers.

 

[Hard_Rom]

i'd also stock up on coca cola. original recipe only, please.

then i'd fuck some more flappers.

I would prefer having my friends see me drink a Pepsi than drink a new Coca Cola. YUCK!

 

[KingOrfeo]

i'd also stock up on coca cola. original recipe only, please.

I'd stock up on original-recipe absinthe. (Its manufacture was banned a long time ago; overuse tended to make the drinker absinthe-minded. *bad-dum-BUM*)

 

[domroger]

Probably pointless.

I know ,but that's what makes imaginary life fun .anything can happen in your mind .
The sea going members of my family used to piss their wages against the wall when they were not in a brothel .
Family motto "A short life ,but a merry one" .

 

[domroger]

I'd stock up on original-recipe absinthe. (Its manufacture was banned a long time ago; overuse tended to make the drinker absinthe-minded. *bad-dum-BUM*)

You should be banned for that pun .

 

[pointless]

I would prefer having my friends see me drink a Pepsi than drink a new Coca Cola. YUCK!

i meant the kind with drugs in it.

 

[KingOrfeo]

i meant the kind with drugs in it.

You mean the Real Thing? The cough syrup with cocaine in it?

 

[KingOrfeo]

I suppose I'd like to watch them build the pyramids.

It would get pretty boring after the first day.

 

[pointless]

You mean the Real Thing? The cough syrup with cocaine in it?

and morphine. like a speedball.

 

[KingOrfeo]

and morphine. like a speedball.

I don't think it was ever made with morphine.

 

[pointless]

huh. it appears you're right. i must have just mixed up the fact that its inventor was a morphine addict or someone else did and i read that, but whatever. i can always add my own morphine.

 

[KingOrfeo]

If we're talking about solving historical mysteries, I'd like to know what really happened to the Princes in the Tower. The Richard III Society will fund the expedition.

 

[KingOrfeo]

It would also be wonderful to travel through time recording music that was made before musical notation was invented. What was ancient Greek music like? At present we can only speculate.

 

[PattiJolene]

Would it be possible to zap some people to another time zone and hope they never find their way back.