# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/41 "2002-10-14T10:36:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jimmmy \* > \*\*3. Probably something like day in Rome (the Archives about 100AD?) \*\* Ooh, no, you’d better go much earlier. Rome lost ALL of its early history to some fire, or some sort of catastrophe, and they ended up inventing a whole bunch of stuff that are now the lengends of early Rome. It’s pretty much crap. I’d suggest 500 BC as a good starting point. Actually you may as well do both. Good early history and Imperial history. Heck I’ll go too. Sounds like fun. ---
**Author:** ![sirtonyh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ad7895/32.png) [@sirtonyh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirtonyh)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/42 "2002-10-14T12:30:18Z")
So many choices; - Michael Jordans dunk at the all star game - Brazil in the 1970 world cup - My own death (I’d like to know when it happens so I can do everything I wanted before I die and leave as much debt as possible ) - The Beatles playing at the Tavern in Liverpool - New Mexico when ET was supposed to have landed - Who shot JFK I’m sure there many more that will come to me onve I’ve hit Submit ---
**Author:** ![ioioio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ioioio/32/316_2.png) [@ioioio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ioioio)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/43 "2002-10-14T14:07:31Z")
I want to hear Beethoven play the piano. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/44 "2002-10-14T18:12:50Z")
Hey everybody! Oswald shot JFK!! Get over it! * * * Sometimes the correct answer is the easiest. ---
**Author:** ![Anubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/45 "2002-10-14T18:33:24Z")
Any point in Ancient Egyptian history; The day when Jesus (supposedly) was resurrected; Library at Alexandria for me too; The beginning of the universe; Cavemans face when he discovered fire; Contact with extra-terrestrials to name a few. ---
**Author:** ![SpartanDC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@SpartanDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpartanDC)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/46 "2002-10-14T19:02:51Z")
A lot of these have already been said, obviously: The Sermon on the Mount The first performance of Hamlet The Gettysburg Address The battles of Hastings, Waterloo, Gettysburg, the Bulge, Normandy, Britain. Library at Alexandia, definitely The Congress of Vienna, and the U.S. independence, Constitutional, and slavery debates. Helen of Troy and Cleopatra in their respective primes. The Cuban Missile Crisis ---
**Author:** ![Dravin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/da6949/32.png) [@Dravin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dravin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/47 "2002-10-14T20:32:22Z")
The moment when Joseph Smith uncovered the Golden Plates, would really let me decide once and for all if the Religion that I was brought up is true. Of course the whole Prayer in the Grove event would decide things just as well. I know, they require the assumption that said event actually happened, but then so do the crucifixion and resurrection replies. (For the resurrection part at least) Now if we are going for purely secular events I’d have to say I’d like to be there when the Declaration of Independence was read by the King of England (or at least when he was told it’s contents if he didn’t read it himself). Now if it was interfere and not event then I’d got get the framers of the Bill of Rights to clear up the 2nd Amendment. ---
**Author:** ![EchoKitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@EchoKitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EchoKitty)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/48 "2002-10-14T20:33:44Z")
1. Woodstock 1969. 2. The infamous Clinton/Lewinsky blowjob. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2002, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/49 "2002-10-14T21:53:04Z")
I would want to go back several million years and, from a safe vantage point – say, sitting on the moon – watch that gigantic meteorite plow into the Yucatan. ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/50 "2002-10-15T12:53:53Z")
Most of mine are cultural: One of the first performances of _Twelfth Night_ Both of Chicago’s World’s Fairs Performances by Jenny Lind and Houdini A typical market day in a large Medieval English town The Great Chicago Fire The premiere of _Oklahoma!_ Mozart performing one of his own piano concertos The first public showing of “Gertie the Dinosaur” to see the audience reaction Paris in the 1890’s ---
**Author:** ![Dragline](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@Dragline](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragline)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/51 "2002-10-15T15:42:03Z")
My personal favorite would be to see the dinosaurs taken out. But I’d like to watch 'em for a few years first, though. But I’d also like to tag along with some of you fundamentalists to see some of the biblical events you selected, and then watch the look on your faces when you realize that it’s all a bunch of bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2002, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919/52 "2002-10-15T21:39:05Z")
Years and years ago, when I was a young lad, I found a small square of green paper on the pavement; on it, in neat handwriting, were the words “Roxell Roxell Bowshot”. If I had a time viewer, I’d be heading back there to find out why somebody wrote that. If I was able to interact with the past, I’d have a whole list of things to do. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-witness-one-event-in-time/131919.md?page=2)