# If you could witness one event in time... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 12, 2002, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919 "2002-10-12T03:15:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/21 "2002-10-12T23:06:01Z")
I’d like to see my own birth. That would be really trippy. The crusifixion and ressurrection of Christ would also be a very good thing to witness with one’s own eyes. Sure, those who believe without having seen are better off, but hey, I’m sure Thomas felt a lot better when he died. The creation of Stone Henge. Whatever it was that killed the dinosaurs. So long as it’s one of those “Witness without interraction” kind of events. Whatever events prompted Beowulf. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Magic8ball](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Miss\_Magic8ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Magic8ball)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2002, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/22 "2002-10-12T23:45:47Z")
I think I would like to see a real Live Medievel Joust. Actually, I would want to be in it… Thats not possible though, cuz I’ma girl… But the whole swordfighting-running-at-each-other-with-pointy-sticks thing id very intruiging. I’de also like to go to court.(Not jail kinda court, Elizebethan social court). I’m not one for politics, but I hear they had great food and nice dresses. I’de also love to see an original Shakespear play. Fresh outa his head. I can’t remember the name of those stones that Are ina circle… the huge monoliths? Some say they were used for magic… I’de love to see what they were all about. ---
**Author:** ![jacksen9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce73a5/32.png) [@jacksen9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacksen9)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/23 "2002-10-13T01:12:05Z")
I would like to have been in the audience watching the _I Love Lucy_ shows being filmed; especially the one when she was on the assembly line eating the chocolate. I would like to see James Meredith registering @ _Ole Miss_ . I would have liked to have seen Farnsworth’s face when he realized that he could transmit pictures - TV. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/24 "2002-10-13T01:26:53Z")
Jesus performing a miracle. Man landing on the moon (in person). Tunguska meteor hit. Any cavemen. Dinosaurs. ---
**Author:** ![FisherQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/58f4c7/32.png) [@FisherQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FisherQueen)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/25 "2002-10-13T02:06:52Z")
Shakespeare’s premiere of Macbeth, so I can find out for sure that I’m right about the identity of the Third Murderer. Jesus, specifically the resurrection and ascension, 'cause it’d be nice to be sure. Dittos to Elvis’s Thomas comment. An opera starring Farinelli. Am I allowed to make changes? I have some advice to offer my mother, during her freshman year of college. I want to do that last, though, since it may negate my existence. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/26 "2002-10-13T02:48:24Z")
Looking back, I noticed the OP says nothing for the event having to occurred in the past, just “in time.” I’d like to witness the end of the universe. Will it really end with a wimper, or a squish? Also, mankind’s first contact with an extraterrestrial race. Eh, it may never happen, but if it does, that’d be a pretty momentous occassion, no? ---
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/27 "2002-10-13T02:58:46Z")
I would like to have been around for woodstock, Maybe been on Banstand too. ---
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/28 "2002-10-13T04:18:55Z")
It’s true!! here’s proof! I am the infamous thread killer! ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/29 "2002-10-13T04:46:48Z")
I’d like a while to sit and read at the library in Alexandrea, before the f\*ckers burned it down. I’d like to witness the October Revolution, and a couple years preceding and following it. I’d like to see the period before the destruction of the Second Temple. I’d like to see the Ichiriki Teahouse when it first opened. And finally, I’d like see where all Marco Polo actually made it to. ---
**Author:** ![Atreyu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5e9695/32.png) [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/30 "2002-10-13T05:22:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mangetout \* > \*\*Take a good book with you; you’ll be a little early. \*\* :smack: ::looks at his own goof-up again:: :smack: :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_of\_Graymatter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/74df32/32.png) [@Baron\_of\_Graymatter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_of_Graymatter)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/31 "2002-10-13T06:04:01Z")
In no particular order… 1. Winston Churchill’s “Finest Hour” speech 2. Lindbergh landing at Le Bourget 3. Pickett’s Charge (Twice…once from each perspective) 4. Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address (Since I’m there already…) 5. Mazeroski’s homer in the '60 Series 6. The Battle of Cowpens 7. Gherigs farewell speech 8. Baseball’s 1st All-Star Game 9. The Last Supper 10. Lee’s surrender at Appomatox ---
**Author:** ![Lodrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@Lodrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lodrain)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/32 "2002-10-13T06:08:35Z")
Ook, so much history, so little time. A chat with Hitler would be in order, if I believed I could convince him to stay out of politics. The Berlin Wall, when it went a-tumbling down. The atmosphere must have been simply electric. I’d like to see a dinosaur, too. Any dinosaur, even the wussy chickenosauri. I’d settle for anything. Rome, during its golden age. India, Greece and China, too, if I could swing it. Hamburg, about six months ago, to try to stop a death that should not have been. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/33 "2002-10-13T06:15:21Z")
If I could just see next week’s lotto results a little early I’d be happy! Oh, and that Alexandria library thing would be pretty cool too. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/34 "2002-10-13T07:21:01Z")
1. Either the Vikings or the Pilgrims coming ashore in North America 2. Sir Francis Drake coming ashore in California 3. Mount St. Helens erupting. 4. The detonation of the “Tsar Bomba” 5. First manned landing on Mars. (Hey, you didn’t say it _had_ to be in the past. ---
**Author:** ![Sivalensis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c4cdca/32.png) [@Sivalensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sivalensis)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/35 "2002-10-13T15:49:10Z")
I thought of a couple more I have to add! 🙂 The evolution of humans - there have been findings that have totally messed up the way we think we evolved, so I want to know how it really happened Japan before the Europeans came, in its full samurai splendor The end of human civilization (the end of the universe is probably going to be really far away and pretty much like the start of it) - how many centuries or millenia do we have left? ---
**Author:** ![jimmmy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/73ab20/32.png) [@jimmmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimmmy)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/36 "2002-10-13T15:54:30Z")
No way I could answer this without limiting myself in sone way, so I say if I had 1 day to TT: 1. Any day in Jesus’s life. I think the biggest test for me would be to choose the first time he appeared to the Apostles to see if I could see him come back (i.e. Could just believers see him? or could anyone?) 2. I’d photo as much of the Library of Alexandira as possible 3. Probably something like day in Rome (the Archives about 100AD?) or Egypt around 1000BC or record an incident in the whole Henry VIII debacle – that is the truth. But if I was trying to be altruistic, probably the biggest truly value add in 1 day of time travel, would be a study of some aspect of Prehistoric culture (anywhere) or in pre-Columbian America. I’d be tempted to “waste” it solving a crime (finding the Ripper, vidoe taping the condo on Bundy or being at the Lesuire World shoot.) Not a “waste” certainly to those at risk or thier loved ones – but to history ? maybe … ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/37 "2002-10-13T17:43:52Z")
1. I’d like to meet Abraham. I’d also like to see Elijah being taken to heaven. 2. I’d like to be around when Mohammed got his first revelation. 3. I wouldn’t mind being at the signing of the Declaration of Independence. 4. I’d also like to spend a day in the life of a teenaged Henry Ford. I live in his hometown, and if nothing else I’d like to see how it looked in the late 1800’s. And I’d bring pictures of Ford World Headquarters along with me so he could see what he eventually accomplishes. Happy ---
**Author:** ![Lab2490](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Lab2490](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lab2490)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2002, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/38 "2002-10-13T17:59:00Z")
I also would like to have been there when Roger Marris Hit the Home run Record ---
**Author:** ![moe.ron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed8c4c/32.png) [@moe.ron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moe.ron)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/39 "2002-10-14T05:15:05Z")
I’d love to watch Franklin’s discovery of electricity. One single experiment which has revolutionized this world. I wonder whether he had any idea what he had discovered, or whether he was just looking for fame. I wonder if he knew of some invisible force (such as electrons) or if he accepted the experiment for what it was, and left it for others to figure out. Moving ahead, I’d love to see the departure of an intergalactic vessel, which would confirm a human mind’s ability to bend the laws of space-time. THis is of course the relations between discovery and imagination, which is rarely realized as a concrete end in this world… Anyway, you’re all aliens who are out to get me, so I obviously stand no chance 😉 . [/tin foil hat soap-box derby] ---
**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/40 "2002-10-14T10:10:02Z")
Good call **Baron\_of\_Graymatter**. I too would like to be at Gettysburg for the battle and address. See Lee surrender. Then walk ten miles and see what my grandparents plantation looked like then. Watch George Washington sail across the river. Sit in on the Constitution debates. Stand on the beaches of Normandy during D-day. [sub]All of those would most likely having me crying like a baby.[/sub] There are a lot of other things I would like to see, but I’m not sure how many “leaps” I would get. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919.md?page=3)